How to Create Daily Routines with the FlyLady System

I've been implementing simple, daily routines as part of the Flylady system to help me be much more productive and organized. They've reduced my stress and mental clutter and have helped me to run my household as a mom of four a more orderly, organized way. Now it's time I shared with you how I'm doing my routines and how you can implement them into your life!

What is the FlyLady System?

For those of you who are new to the Flylady system, I want to take a minute to explain what is before we dive into Flylady Daily Routines. To put it very simply, it's a system to help you manage your home and life to reduce stress and chaos. It is a way of life! It helps you to be able to:

• Clean your home systematically, consistently and easily.
• Reduce mental clutter and stress by giving you a plan and a focus.
• Declutter your home by creating a habit of decluttering and organizing.
• Anchor your life with routines and healthy habits so you can be the homemaker and mother you truly want to be.

It's all based on the book by Marla Cilley, Sink Reflections, which I highly recommend buying to get a complete, in-depth overview of the system. It was an easy and enjoyable read for me. I teared up quite a few times while reading it because she truly understands what it's like to manage a home while being a mom. She speaks to our spirits, to our struggles, and offers easy and simple solutions to make our lives much better! She also has a website, FlyLady.net, if you'd like to check that out.

All About FlyLady Daily Routines

In her book, Cilley says out of all of the routines in her system, the morning and evening routines are the most important parts of your day. Why? They act as anchors to the day. If you're going through a chaotic or stressful time like a move, or a death or illness in the family, most of your home cleaning and managing might be difficult to accomplish during that time, and that's okay! She says stay focused on your morning and evening routines and you'll feel more peace and order and let the rest go.

Flylady Daily Routines are Customizable

Here are my current daily routines. You can use mine as a starting point and then customize it to fit your life! I want to emphasize that point – the Flylady system is a customizable system. We all have totally different homes, home layouts, family cultures, lifestyles, family members, and the list goes on. Use my routines as a way to brainstorm for your own routines.

Also, one quick note. When I first started learning the Flylady system, I had no idea what “get dressed to shoes” meant until I read the book. Basically, she suggests you have a pair of indoor lace-up shoes to wear at home – not slippers. Slippers make us feel more sleepy and cozy. Lace-up shoes help get us into action! I tried this out and found she is, of course, right! I do feel more motivated to get into action when I wear lace-up shoes (tennis shoes).

MORNING

• Make bed
• Personal Hygiene – get dressed to shoes, fix hair, do makeup, brush teeth
• Start a load of laundry
• Empty dishwasher or start dishwasher
• Make coffee and eat breakfast 
• Put clothes in dryer or hang up to dry

AFTERNOON

• Help kids do homework, pick up for game time
• Exercise – 30 minutes
• Dinner prep – look at menu plan, start defrosting meat
• Put clothes in dryer or fold

EVENING

• Clean kitchen, shine sink
• Make kids' school lunches
• Take bath, brush teeth, apply moisturizer
• Look at weather for tomorrow, pick out tomorrow's outfit
• Check calendar for tomorrow and make note of things needed, put those things by the door or in the family command station
• Start diffuser
• Netflix or read

Put Your Daily Routines in a Home Management Binder

As part of the Flylady System, I have a whole home management binder (called a Control Journal in her book) I've created. This is the first page in my journal since it's how I start my day. I have a morning, afternoon and evening routines typed out and I'm still adding to them and editing them as I go.

Other Very Helpful Tips

Planning Your Outfit the Night Before

One of the biggest differences I've seen from my daily routine is how I feel when I pick out my outfit the night before. It's made such a difference for me I wrote an entire post about it here! Before starting the Flylady system, I'd get up in the mornings and just grab some comfy pants and a t-shirt and call it a day. This habit comes after YEARS of having babies and barely having two seconds to get dressed while a baby is waiting on me. My youngest is now four-years-old, so I realized it's time for me to move on and get out of that phase!

Have a Central Family Command Station

You likely already have a spot in your home like a mud room, or a shoe rack, where family members drop their things off when they come home. If not, create one with some hooks on the wall and maybe a storage bench or a shoe rack and train your kids to use it when they come home from school. Train yourself to put your purse, keys, jacket and shoes there also so you'll never again have to look all over your house to find them!

At night, after you check your calendar for the next day, gather the things you'll need to leave your home in the morning and put them in the command station. This saves SO much time and stress in the mornings!

Other Posts You Might Like:

If you enjoying learning about Flylady daily routines, you might also like these other posts from my blog:

• Organize and Clean Your Home Better with a Flylady Control Journal
• How to Create Daily Routines with the Flylady System
• Why You Should Plan Your Outfit the Night Before
• How I Kon-Mari-ed My Master Closet
• Organization and Decluttering Tips from a Decluttering Coach
• My Top 10 Natural Cleaning and Laundry Recipes to help you go natural in your home