FlyLady

Last updated

FlyLady is a support and self-help group that offers advice to help people with housekeeping, founded by "The FlyLady", Marla Cilley. [1]

Contents

The group is based upon the website FlyLady.net, as well as a Constant Contact group for its email mailing list. [2] Members of FlyLady have stated that the group has helped them and has changed their lives. [3] [4]

FlyLady's messages cover topics include clutter, the value of routines, weekly and monthly cleaning, increased self-esteem, and letting go of perfectionism. As of 2016, she had over 300,000 subscribers on her email list, and 550,000 followers on Facebook. [5] In 2020, FlyLady announced an additional presence on Parler. [6] In 2022 FlyLady also began to diversify her platform by publishing on Truth Social, and Bitchute. [7] A store on her website sells organizational tools and housewares, sent from the FlyLady Distribution Center in Brevard, NC. In 2007, sales from the store reached US$4 million. [8]

In November 2015 Alex Elsea, Marla's nephew, launched FlyLady Premium, a paid virtual mentoring service which adds extra support to followers of the FlyLady methodology in small private online groups. [9] FlyLady Premium released an app, FlyLadyPlus [10] in July 2016. Later in 2016, FlyLady herself released a subscription-based iOS reminder app, FlyLady Messenger. [11]

History

Marla Cilley, founder of FlyLady, is from North Carolina. [12] In 1999, Cilley joined a web forum called SHE's Online, based on the housekeeping system created by Pam Young and Peggy Jones, ("The Slob Sisters") detailed in their book Sidetracked Home Executives: From Pigpen to Paradise (1977) [13]

The book covers many of the key topics that were adapted to become the FlyLady system; daily task lists, routines, "slipshod cleaning", and a systematic view to housekeeping. Marla Cilley refers to Pam and Peggy as her mentors and inspiration. She licensed the "Sidetracked Home Executives" system, and the Flylady system is based upon it. [14]

Marla first created an email group (first on e-Groups, then Yahoo! Groups), then published her website, Flylady.net, in February 2001. [15] "

The name FlyLady was Marla Cilley's screen name, as she was a fly-fishing fan and instructor. One of the members of the FlyLady e-mail list later created a "backronym" for FLY: Finally Loving Yourself. [12]

Methodology

FlyLady's methodology is outlined in Cilley's book Sink Reflections (Bantam Books, ISBN   0-553-38217-9) and on the web site. The system encourages "baby steps" to develop routines and habits to organize and maintain your home. The primary focus is on "Finally Loving Yourself" by making your life easier by decluttering, menu planning, "anti-procrastination" day, and establishing routines, as well as financial and health-related self-care [16]

In 2007, Marla Cilley and co-author Leanne Ely also released a New York Times bestselling book called Body Clutter: Love Your Body, Love Yourself, [17] which aims to apply the FlyLady's housekeeping methodology to caring for the reader's body, through self-examination and increased self-respect.

Key points in the FlyLady system include:

Babysteps and Routines
New recruits to the FlyLady system are called "Flybabies" and are introduced to "babysteps" - a series of 31 small daily tasks which introduce and then reinforce aspects of cleaning and decluttering, building up to creating personalized routines for morning, afternoon and evening. Once these routines are established, the "Flybaby" has "graduated" and will no longer need the scaffolding of the emails.
Shine Your Sink
Cilley's first instruction to new members is "Go shine your sink!" She asserts that even in a messy kitchen, the cleaned-out and polished sink provides positive reinforcement to the person who cleaned it, encouraging further cleaning in the rest of the room and home.
15 Minutes at a Time
Cilley recommends using a timer to work for only 15 minutes at a time. The short time commitment helps stop procrastination, and reduces opportunities to get sidetracked or bored.
Clutter Cannot Be Organized
Cilley recommends that her followers get rid of excess items in their homes, and bring in fewer items, rather than attempting to organize them. This reduction "decluttering" is done 15 minutes at a time. One such exercise is FlyLady's "27-fling Boogie," in which the follower quickly selects 27 items in their home to discard and 27 items to give away.
Weekly Routines
Cilley advises the use of weekly routines, whereby each weekday is assigned an additional task or focus; Monday is daily cleaning, Wednesday is errand day, Thursday is grocery day and Friday is "desk day", focusing on paperwork and finances, as well as the day to declutter the car.
Weekly Home Blessing
Cilley's adaption of the Pam Young and Peggy Jones' "Slipshod cleaning" is the one-hour housecleaning mission called the "weekly home blessing." Using their timers, followers are instructed to vacuum, dust, mop, empty trash, change bedsheets and clean up old magazines. Each task is allocated ten minutes only.
Get Dressed to Shoes
Cilley insists that her followers "get dressed to lace-up shoes" before beginning their housekeeping tasks - or contacting her for an interview. [18]
Zones
Flylady divides a house into five sections or zones, which are allocated to the five weeks or partial weeks of the month. Each day the email list will provide a "mission" with a detailed cleaning task in the current zone.
Control Journal
Flylady advises the use of a "Control Journal," a household management notebook or binder, to store the owner's routines, lists and other important household information.
Flylady Reminders
Daily reminders of the routines, zones and missions, as well as "testimonials" of the system and products, are sent to subscribers of the FlyLady list.
Perfectionism leads to Procrastination
FlyLady asserts that the most frequent reason for procrastination and inefficiency is perfectionism, as people won't start a task if they think they don't have the time or the ability to do it perfectly. Some frequently repeated sayings in this respect are "good enough is good enough" or "housework done incorrectly still blesses your family".
No Whining
FlyLady often repeats that her Facebook page is a "No Whining Zone", and that "If you can't say anything nice, say nothing at all".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homemaking</span> Act of overseeing the organizational, financial, day-to-day operations of a house or estate

Homemaking is mainly an American and Canadian term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping, housewifery or household management. It is the act of overseeing the organizational, day-to-day operations of a house or estate, and the managing of other domestic concerns. A person in charge of the homemaking, who is not employed outside the home, in the US and Canada, is called a homemaker, a term for a housewife or a stay-at-home dad. Historically the role of homemaker was often assumed by women. The term "homemaker", however, may also refer to a social worker who manages a household during the incapacity of the housewife or househusband. Home health workers assume the role of homemakers when caring for elderly individuals. This includes preparing meals, giving baths, and any duties the person in need cannot perform for themselves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft Outlook</span> Email and calendaring software

Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager software system from Microsoft, available as a part of the Microsoft 365 software suites. Though primarily being popular as an email client for businesses, Outlook also includes functions such as calendaring, task managing, contact managing, note-taking, journal logging, web browsing, and RSS news aggregation.

Discipline is the self-control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed, and the ability to keep working at something that is difficult. Disciplinarians believe that such self-control is of the utmost importance and enforce a set of rules that aim to develop such behavior. Such enforcement is sometimes based on punishment, although there is a clear difference between the two. One way to convey such differences is through the root meaning of each word: discipline means “to teach”, while punishment means “to correct or cause pain”. While punishment might extinguish unwanted behavior in the moment, it is rarely effective long-term, while discipline usually is.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gmail</span> Email service provided by Google

Gmail is the email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide, making it the largest email service in the world. It also provides a webmail interface, accessible through a web browser, and is also accessible through the official mobile application. Google also supports the use of third-party email clients via the POP and IMAP protocols.

Housekeeping is the management and routine support activities of running and maintaining an organized physical institution occupied or used by people, like a house, ship, hospital or factory, such as cleaning, tidying/organizing, cooking, shopping, and bill payment. These tasks may be performed by members of the household, or by persons hired for the purpose. This is a more broad role than a cleaner, who is focused only on the cleaning aspect. The term is also used to refer to the money allocated for such use. By extension, it may also refer to an office or a corporation, as well as the maintenance of computer storage systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outlook on the web</span> Microsofts personal information manager web app

Outlook on the web is a personal information manager web app from Microsoft. It is a web-based version of Microsoft Outlook, and is included in Exchange Server and Exchange Online

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of notable webmail providers who offer a web interface in English.

The "Good Wife's Guide" is a magazine article rumored to have been published in the May 13, 1955 issue of Housekeeping Monthly, describing how a good wife should act, containing material that reflects a very different role assignment from contemporary American society. The text and supposed scan of the article have been widely circulated via email. Lack of confirming evidence has cast significant doubt on its origins. The list is very similar to the advice written in the book, 'Fascinating Womanhood' by Helen B. Andelin, published in 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tickler file</span> Collection of date-labeled file folders

A tickler file or 43 Folders System is a collection of date-labeled file folders organized in a way that allows time-sensitive documents to be filed according to the future date on which each document needs action. Documents within the folders of a tickler file can be to-do lists, pending bills, unpaid invoices, travel tickets, hotel reservations, meeting information, birthday reminders, coupons, claim tickets, call-back notes, follow-up reminders, maintenance reminders, or any other papers that require future action. Each day, the folder having the current date is retrieved from the tickler file so that any documents within it may be acted on. Essentially, a tickler file provides a way to send a reminder to oneself in the future—"tickling" one's memory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Professional organizing</span> Using organizing principles to design process and organize spaces

Decluttering means removing unnecessary items, sorting and arranging, or putting things back in place. This article deals with the clearing of places of residence, such as in homes and commercial buildings, but the principles can also be applied to other areas. The activity can be done independently, or with help from family, friends or professionals.

Google Workspace is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It consists of Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Meet and Chat for communication; Drive for storage; and the Google Docs Editors suite for content creation. An Admin Panel is provided for managing users and services. Depending on edition Google Workspace may also include the digital interactive whiteboard Jamboard and an option to purchase add-ons such as the telephony service Voice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Aslett</span> American businessman and author (1935–2024)

Donald Andrew Aslett was an American businessman, author, and expert in cleaning and housekeeping. He co-founded Varsity House Cleaning Company in 1957, which later evolved into Varsity Facility Services, a major building service contractor. Aslett authored numerous books on cleaning and organization, advocating for efficient, clutter-free living. He also founded the Museum of Clean in Pocatello, Idaho, which showcases a vast collection of cleaning artifacts and promotes environmentally-friendly practices. His contributions earned him recognition, including induction into the Idaho Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestic robot</span> Type of service robot

A domestic robot or homebot is a type of service robot, an autonomous robot that is primarily used for household chores, but may also be used for education, entertainment or therapy. While most domestic robots are simplistic, some are connected to Wi-Fi home networks or smart environments and are autonomous to a high degree. There were an estimated 16.3 million service robots in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital hoarding</span> Excessive acquisition of digital material

Digital hoarding is defined by researchers as an emerging sub-type of hoarding disorder characterized by individuals collecting excessive digital material which leads to those individuals experiencing stress and disorganization. Digital hoarding takes place in electronic environments where information is stored digitally. The term gained popularity among online forums and in the media before receiving scholarly attention. Research indicates there may be correlation between individuals who exhibit physical and digital hoarding behaviors and acknowledges there is a lack of psychological literature on the subject.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geralin Thomas</span> American organizing consultant

Geralin Thomas is an American organizing consultant best known for her appearances on the television show Hoarders. She is the proprietor of the company Metropolitan Organizing, based in Cary, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie Kondo</span> Japanese organizing consultant, author, and television show host

Marie Kondo, also known as Konmari (こんまり), is a Japanese organizing consultant, author, and TV presenter.

Acompli is a discontinued mobile app that allowed for user interaction with email messages as well as management of multiple email accounts in one programme. In addition, the tool also organized one's calendar and shared files. This application provided for integration with cloud storage platforms such as Dropbox, OneDrive, and iCloud; it also carried support for Microsoft Exchange and Gmail. Acompli launched on 24 April 2014. The startup company, which had $7.3 million in funding, was led by CEO Javier Soltero, J.J. Zhuang (CTO) and Kevin Henrikson.

Tasker is an Android application originally developed by a developer known as "Pent", and later purchased by João Dias. It enables performing user-defined actions based on contexts in user-defined profiles, activated by click- or timer-based home screen widgets. It is expandable via AutoApps plugins from the developer and third-party apps. The app is available from Google Play; a 7-day free trial version which does not allow restoring backups can be downloaded as an APK on the app's website.

<i>Tidying Up with Marie Kondo</i> Reality television series on Netflix

Tidying Up with Marie Kondo is a reality television series developed for Netflix and released on January 1, 2019. The show follows Marie Kondo, a Japanese organizing consultant and creator of the KonMari method, as she visits families to help them organize and tidy their homes. Marie Iida acts as Marie Kondo's interpreter throughout the show.

References

  1. ↑ Molly Millett (2003-02-22). "To bust clutter, who you gonna call? FlyLady!". Lifestyle. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 10. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  2. ↑ Getting Rid of Email Stress!
  3. ↑ Mary Beth Breckenridge (2003-04-27). "FlyLady helps you put house in order". The Miami Herald. p. 20H. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  4. ↑ Aman Batheja (2005-01-02). "FlyLady fans log into domestic support group". San Diego Union-Tribune . Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  5. ↑ "Interview with Marla Cilley aka FlyLady - Nixon Virtual Strategies". Nixon Virtual Strategies. 2016-09-19. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  6. ↑ "I am also on Parler. You can find me @flylady". Facebook. 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
  7. ↑ "Missing my Flylady emails". Constant Contact. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
  8. ↑ Susan Hauser (2007-08-16). "How FlyLady nags her way to millions". Fortune Small Business . Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  9. ↑ "Duke Student's Startup Refreshes 17-Year-Old Home Organizing Guru FlyLady". ExitEvent. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  10. ↑ "FlyLadyPlus on the App Store". App Store. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  11. ↑ "FlyLady Messenger on the App Store". App Store. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  12. 1 2 Deirdre Donahue (2002-09-30). "FlyLady says a tidy soul comes first". USA Today . Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  13. ↑ Young, Pam; Peggy Jones (January 1977). Sidetracked home executives: From pigpen to paradise. Binford & Mort. ASIN   B000H590VI.
  14. ↑ "Who are Pam and Peggy? | FlyLady.net".
  15. ↑ Elizabeth Lund (2002-07-10). "When domestic chaos threatens, FlyLady buzzes to the rescue". The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 2011-05-16. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  16. ↑ Molly Millett (2006-04-22). "FlyLady devotees find peace through cleaner homes, organization and mother wit". St. Paul Pioneer Press. p. J1. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  17. ↑ Cilley, Marla; Leanne Ely (January 2007). Body Clutter: Love Your Body, Love Yourself . Fireside. ISBN   978-1-4165-3462-4.
  18. ↑ Kate Beem (2010-03-30). "The FlyLady helps you (and thousands of others) reel in spring cleaning". Deseret News. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved 2011-05-05.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.