Anyone up for a new FLYLADY thread 01/01/11?

[ASecretLemonadeDrinker]

I did it yonks ago (origional threads ) , have drunk alot of tea slipped since then and really want to start it again as it really seemed to work for me :) I am going to blitz as much as I can before the 1st (tree/decs away tonight etc.) so I am starting as much as I can with a clean sheet :) Anyone a lapsed flyer (or whatever we call ourselves) or wants to be a domestic goddess () as of the 1st?

hi greedygirl, I am just about to start my control manual and see how I get on. Does anybody have any tips or advice on a 5 minute room rescue, I have come across it in the babsteps but I cant find much else on it.

Thank you

OK still not done any ironing today, but, I have had visitors all evening and the children have friends on a sleep over so that is my excuse. I will some tomorrow morning after the sleepover kiddies have gone home.

It feels good knowing that every bit of your house is clean and tidy. My sink is still shining as every time I use it I wipe round and dry it.

dosey room rescue is (i think) where you take a basket into a room fill it with things that don't belong in the room until the room is clear. Then work at putting them away later.
If thats not right thats my invention of what it means

Jax I have been wiping round the sink each time it is used, knowing it is going to be shiney and clean helps spur me on to wiping the dishes. I used to just leave them there til they were dry

Greedygirl. I just wipe round the sink after each time I wash up so that it is dry and shiney

Wow - missed a day and look at everyone doing so well!

I worked yesterday and was sick so did nothing yesterday. However done my morning routine and evening routine plus two wash loads today so feeling on top of things. Plus DH had hoovered and put all the shite in the loft so house is looking tidy although cluttered iyswim.

Sink still needs to be done tonight and laying out of clothes. Am not sure about this control journal. Is it like making lists of things to be done or just a daily routine?

I think the control journal is just your daily routine atm (but suspect you will be adding much more to it later!)

I am very impressed by how busy you've all been today! On Fridays I stay at home with DD (2) so I have been mostly playing with her Brio train set but did try to get her involved with sweeping the kitchen floor and putting clean laundry away (I asked her to pick out all the socks - she danced about the room with my pants on her head).

We've just started the long & boring process of redecorating the dining room. Had the window replaced on thurs, so now need to strip all the wallpaper, scrub off the distemper and brick up the old fireplace before we can get the walls & ceiling skimmed... My first job is to make room elsewhere in the house for all the stuff that's in the dining room so need to do some serious decluttering!

Hello can I join too? I'm late but the sink gets it tomorrow

Oh Bessie, you have my sympathy....it is two years to the day that we moved into our house, and much of that time has been spent with one room or another being renovated or redecorated, and it is SO HARD to keep the place clean. I just couldn't be bothered half the time.

Our upstairs bathroom was finished on Christmas Eve, so the run-up to Christmas was a nightmare with dustsheets everywhere. Just our bedroom and the stairs/landing left, which should happen in Feb.

I think that's why I'm so desperate to regain some control over the state of the house - after two years living in squalor. Bring on the routine!!

Anyway, sink is shined, just need to drain my glass of Pinot Grigio and I'm off to bed!

Hello fluffy

dylsmum I swear the secret of habitual decluttering is necessity. I rented small one-bed flats for years when I was single, and had to move about once a year. There's nothing like having to pack it all up to make you throw out anything un-necessary! DH owned pretty much from the off - it's a constant struggle to get him to throw anything away, especially if it used to grace his bachelor pad

Hi all, been a bit rubbish for a couple of days- Not shining the sink realy gets you out of the routine of it, doesn't it? I'm back on it again now though, and cleaning kitchen every morning. I've missed a few baby steps- what am I meant to be doing?

BTW, as an update, DH now hangs his dressing gown up!!! Hee hee!

What did he say when he went to bed noeyedear?
I felt a bit odd last thing last night so went to be leaving dh with all the evening mugs etc as he seemed to have the munchies and was making dishes at an alarming rate. He didn't do them last night but I did notice that he did it first thing this morning and swept the floor as well
I also went to clean the bathroom this morning and decided that all it really needed was the bath cleaned as I have been swishing it all week.
This thread rocks! I think this is where we are up to today
Welcome Fluffy one of today's jobs is cleaning out our fluffy guinea pigs. Do you have some yourself?

the washing in bags was a good idea. have put most of the dark bag on today. i find the washing the most time consuming and never ending task. downstairs is reasonable so will try and do upstairs today and clean bathroom.

charity bag collection this week so will give up on ebaying and chuck a load of stuff in it.

Hi Carrots i have a guineau called Billy. my son keeps him cleans him out thanks goodness.

carrotsandcelery he came in from work looking all regretful and didn't say a word! Just put his stuff away! Don't know how long it will last though- if he goes back to his old ways, I will just leave all his stuff in a pile. He can't say anything if I put all my stuff away, and it's just his stuff making the place untidy ( which it usually is anyway, but hey!

I've got a notebook that I was going to put my routines in because I didn't want post it notes all over the place. Do I do the file ting instead, do you think? ( I haven't looked at it though!)

I have a useful clutter tip - with three dcs our living room ends up littered with all their stuff after a day or two. So I bought three matching baskets which sit in the corner - one for each of them - and I whizz round the room with the baskets last thing each day putting in their stuff. Then when the baskets get a little full (or we are expecting guests) they are each despatched to their bedrooms with their baskets to empty them and put stuff away.

It works pretty well - it takes no time at all, the baskets contain the clutter and I'm not forever running round the house putting away odd socks, pencils and random toys.

Anyway, laundry day today - four loads - but no cleaning really as I was so good yesterday.

The clutter baskets sound a good idea. I think I will try that. Dh will need one too infact the dog might need one as well

O.k - sign me up! I used to fly but i stopped a while back. Have been doing babysteps for the last few days again and i feel much better for it. New year,new sparkly home!

Hello Numpty - there are a few people who have flown before on the thread so maybe you can help to keep us right.
We have just done the weekly shop so I invested in Anti bac wipes, Anti bac spray and kitchen towel for both bathrooms. The theory is, if there is easy, quick cleaning stuff in the room then dh and myself might wipe round on a more regular basis so that the once a week house blessing is not too big a deal. I will see how it goes this week.
I am still trying to get my head around today's babystep. Has anyone done it before. It sounds a big job to me rather than a quick one. Have I misunderstood?

alemci we have 4 guinea pigs and 4 rabbits. We used to have 10 guinea pigs (The first two we bought were both pregnant. I kept asking people if they were a funny shape - like a butternut squash - but everyone thought I was mental. Imagine our when we got up one morning to baby guinea pigs running around the hutch. The other guinea pig gave birth a few days later)
My dd(9) does clean them out but I often help her as it is easier with two pairs of hands.

Would love to help but i fear i'm the one who will need helping! I have kept a few habits from before i.e sink shining and i also keep a spray and cloth in both bathrooms and give a quick wipe round while the children clean their teeth etc in the morning. Tiny,tiny little things but they all add up. My major sin is the state of my kitchen drawers. Too much storage is as bad as not enough as i just file things

Well numpty from what I understand of today's babystep, it sounds like the habit for you.

I have just been trying to explain it to the whole family and thought we could do a joint 15 minute declutter.

We are going to declutter the spare room as all the Christmas decorations and stuff have been dumped carefully arranged in there and it is a fire hazard a little untidy

This one has to be a joint one as I can't get the tree up the loft myself etc.

I thought I would get the dcs on board with it since it is Saturday and also because it occurred to me that they will need to learn these skills too.
I have to wait until dh and dd have finished their jigsaw though so I am off to play Super Mario Bros on the Wii with ds first

Carrots - we once had two "female" guinea pigs. We soon had about 14! When we left Germany we gave them to the local zoo. I was only young so my poor mum did most of the cleaning out.

I haven't told my DH about flying yet for fear of ridicule but he just looked over my shoulder and was very interested in clutter baskets! He is a neat freak and the only reason I am probably not up to my eyeballs in my own mess.

I looked at my sink today - I am doing baby, baby steps!

Oh, to be married to a neat freak!

My lovely clean dining room table disappears under dh's clutter within seconds of him walking through the front door. And I had to get him his own bedroom chair for his ma-HOO-sive pile of clothes that need putting away.

Greedygirl my dh did laugh at me a bit when I started this but Silvery said ignore him and I did. He has totally come round though and has started adopting some of the routines - maybe the evening I made him stand and do dishes with me so we could go to bed with a clean sink helped him realise that resistance was futile
My dh used to be a clean freak Cointreau but 18 years of my chaos took its toll on him. Too tidy would be a pain though - somewhere in between is fine. He does exactly as you say though and leaves a pile of mail, keys etc on the kitchen table as soon as he comes in - hence my continual kitchen table hotspotting and his need for a clutter bucket as well as the kids.
We did a 15 minute declutter on the spare room - all 4 of us - and it has made an astonishing difference. Dd then dusted it and I hoovered while dh tidied up the stuff put up the loft til next Christmas. Ds is still taking his clutter upstairs though - he is only 6 so I suppose it will take him a while to get the message
Has anyone else done today's babystep? How did you get on?

My new evening routine is:

• Tidy Lounge (put away toys etc)
• Hotspot (dining table)
• Load dishwasher
• wipe down kitchen sides, kitchen table and highchair.
• Shine sink

I am 2 hours ahead here. Dc in bed. I need to start. So far I have toys all over the floor and sofa, clothes which they were wearing today scattered around. Clean washed bedding on the dining table, towels hang over the backs of the chairs. Kitchen sides are fine but sink is full of dirty dishes. But you know what, it really is a 15 minute job.. Right I am going to set my timer and see if I can do it all in the 15 mins (after my cuppa):)

Evening all
Welcome to the newbies

been a bit busy the past few days. Went out last night for my birthday and have been busy today taking ds1 to a birthday party.

I seem to have lost where we are!!
Babytep 9?
My sink is shiny, tomorrows clothes are hanging up, washing machine is loaded and ready to go again.
I didn't get around to doing my home blessing today, so will have to get that done tomorrow.
Tonight I have to finish filling out some paperwork for work, plan next weeks meals, compile shopping list. zzzz boring.

It sounds like you're all doing really well and I love the clutter boxes for the living room, so gonna get a few of those. My ds's are quite good at tidying up and they have to do it before we go out and before bath time, but when we are just popping out for a bit, tidying can be a PITA, so having a clutter box would be a better way of getting the place tidy quickly during the day. I think I'd make them take the boxes to their room in the evening though.

I have a folder for my control journal. I find it really useful.
I have pages for my evening routine, morning routine, but then i have pages with lists of what set jobs I want to do in each zone on which days. I then add to it as i see fit to.
I'm not very good at keeping up with hot-spots what tends to happen is that anything that is in the kitchen hotspot in the evening, gets shifted onto the bedroom hotspot, then in the morning, it is chucked in a drawer in my bedside table, which is then sorted out on a monday when we are working on zone 4 (which is master bedroom), so I think I'm making more work for myself there and need to start doing it properly

I have done my dining table hotspot and the chair in my bedroom hotspot. I have a relatively tidy house because I attempted my first homeblessing today, have to do it on a Saturday so DH can keep DS entertained.
DS started crawling this week so I am very conscious of clutter at the moment, he sees and tries to grab anything and now he's mobile!!!
Sink shining can wait until before bed, I'm going to tackle my ironing pile whilst watching Iron Man followed by Kite Runner.