“My house may be a mess, but you should see my garden” – can you relate? As a homesteader, we could add, “but you should see my pantry, or my barn, or my cellar. It seems there are always more important things to do than cleaning and organizing the house. Implement the FlyLady system to support homesteading.
FlyLady is a housekeeping system founded by “The FlyLady, Marla Cilley. It is aimed at people who struggle to stay organized and keep their homes and lives in order.
The FlyLady system also works well for people with very little time for housekeeping, making it a strong fit for homesteading.
Winter is a great time to start with the FlyLady system, so when the busy spring planting comes around, you can ditch that old sign because your house will be in order.
I first heard of FlyLady many years ago. At that time, I watched a few videos, and the thing that stuck with me was the timer. As Marla Cilley says, “You can do anything in 15 minutes. That alone was life-changing. Did you know that most house cleaning tasks really do take less than 15 minutes?
Over time, I have added more from the FlyLady system. Marla Cilley’s books offer many helpful tips. Take what you like and apply what is useful.
The importance of Daily routines
Daily routines are the framework of the FlyLady system. Most homesteaders are already using routines. If you don’t have any yet, start by establishing daily routines from the FlyLady System, such as making your bed and putting on shoes. Even if we work from home, we can still dress nicely.
Laundry and cleaning the hotspots are also part of the daily routine, as well as the FlyLady’s famous shiny sink.
Routines are also great in the garden to keep gardening easy. If you spend about 20 minutes each day in your garden, you will never have to work your garden much. Plant a bit, harvest a bit, manage weeds, compost, and prune. I rarely work beyond having fun.
Add another 20 minutes each day to preserve the harvest, and you will be surprised how much food can be preserved.
Have a Daily Focus
Daily focus is another one of FlyLady’s helpful tips. Each day of the week, you focus on a different task. Her list is this:
Monday – Weekly Home Blessing
Tuesday – Plan and Play
Wednesday – Anti-Procrastination Day
Thursday – Errand Day
Friday – Clean out your Purse and Car Day
Saturday – Family Fun Day
Sunday – Renew your Spirit Day
These are just suggestions; I don’t plan and play much; instead, I have a ‘work on the blog’ day. My purse and car also do not need weekly attention; instead, I might have a baking day.
The weekly home blessing is a cleaning routine of the main area of the house. You can take 10 minutes each day or a full hour on one day; it’s up to you. The FlyLady’s tasks on Weekly Home Blessing include vacuuming, dusting, quick mopping, polishing mirrors and doors, purging magazines and catalogs, changing sheets, and emptying all trash cans.
A daily focus on a homestead, even if it is just one, can also help you to feel more accomplished. If you need a single management tip to help you accomplish more and feel great at the same time, here it is: Make progress on one thing a day.
The Weekly Cleaning Zones
The weekly cleaning zones, and decluttering are other of FlyLady’s genial ways for cleaning and organizing the house without ever needing a deep clean. The FlyLady zones for the month are as follows:
Zone 1: Entrance, Front Porch & Dining Room
Zone 2: Kitchen, Pantry
Zone 3: The Main Bathroom and One Extra Room
Zone 4: The Master Bedroom, Bath, Closet
Zone 5: The Living Room, Den, Family Room
You can adjust the zones to your needs and home, but the idea is to clean and organize one area of the house for a week each month. That doesn’t mean you work on it all week; take a bit of time each day to clean something in the zone area.
For example, in the kitchen: take one day to clean the windows, another day to clean the oven, yet another to sweep through the drawers, and so on, you get the idea. You might want to can your dry beans that week, since canning is low-effort but requires being in the kitchen for hours. While you are at it, you can clean the kitchen.
During the summer, you can add weeding tasks to the zones. For example: during the entrance zone week, the front yard gets weeded, during the bedroom zone week, the garden beds. Speaking of weeds, read more about how to deal with garden weeds here.
During hectic homesteading times, I might not clean in my zones at all. After all, they received attention all year and can easily wait another month without becoming a disaster. The FlyLady system for homesteading makes keeping the house clean and organized simple.
Where to get more information
The book: “Sink Reflections: The FlyLady’s Simple Flying Lessons Will Show You How to Get Your Home and Your Life in Order” is a great start.
There are also Facebook groups, newsletters, and even an app for the system. You can find all of this on flylady.net
If you have experience with the FlyLady system, please share in a comment below how you implement it to support homesteading.
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I love the FlyLady system. I bought the Control Journal PDF on her site and it’s amazing. Putting an end to CHAOS! (Can’t have anyone over syndrome!)
Good to know about the control journal, thank you for sharing.
Looks like ur surviving winter,that is good!!Yeah that is a interesting way to go about cleaning. HA!!!!! Enjoy 2020! Bye.
Winter has been good to us so far, the next cold spell is coming in a bit more intense. Thank you, best wishes to you too.
Thank you for this practical article Anna. I was thinking I’m the only one with a messy house and feeling overwhelmed especially after the holidays. Letting some things slide is OK with a plan to get back in order eventually! 🙂
No, you are not the only one. A plan and a good system can be of great help.