A long time ago I tried subscribing to the FlyLady philosophy. I am – admittedly – a slob, and this lady had a system that was very comforting to the slobs of the world. She said (in a nutshell), “Your house didn’t get messy in a day, what makes you think it’s going to get clean in a day? Do a little at a time and work on developing some good habits.” It was helpful way back in the day, but I slid back into my slovenly ways. Laziness always wins.
Well, last week we cleaned up the guest room in case anyone coming up for Sujay’s funeral needed a place to stay. Then Lloyd went to Missouri for several days, and I am pleased to say that I did not destroy the house! In fact, I was secretly using the FlyLady app and cleaned more. Yes, an app!
Think ‘sticker chore chart’ for adults. This is gamified cleaning. The app has the day broken down into times, and each time has some daily jobs. You click a circle when you complete a job and it gives you a star and moves the job to the ‘completed’ section.
There is also a separate section for a few weekly jobs, and also a ‘zone’ section that breaks your house down into zones that can get some special attention for a week or two.
It is customizable. I took out jobs that I would never, ever do like ‘polish the furniture’. Seriously? That’s not even a thing. I added jobs that were already habits like ‘cat boxes’, because I really, really like tapping the button and getting a star. (I am a child at heart.) I also have a healthy attitude of not getting bent out of shape if they don’t all get done. It’s the philosophy of “Months and months have gone by without being done, so what is the big deal? Get it next time.”
I made a section for school because there are some things I will put off for a day or two and then weeks have gone by and they never got done. Plus, I get to click and get a star!
I realize that some of you reading this might be astonished that I need this kind of instruction. “Does she also need a chart to tell her how to breathe?”
Maybe.
…Would I get a star?
Deborah says
Look, Lauren, you emptied the dishwasher!
Brad says
That kind of motivation method intrigues me, but I’m too unmotivated to get it up and running. Heh.