Happy New Year, January's here, fly with the fledglings to get clutter clear

[ToffeeChristmascake]

Welcome to the January Fledgling Flying thread. A very big thank you to Ellie, our intrepid leader, for guiding us through the frantic Christmas month.

We are not strict followers of the Fat Fairy and take some of the babysteps - such as getting dressed to lace-up shoes - with a pinch of salt. We also strongly advise against signing up for the FlyLady emails.

From the first of the month, we will be following Flylady's tips on restoring order to our homes, using one of the following methods:

1. Babysteps
2. Babysteps + 15 mins daily decluttering
3. Babysteps + daily missions

Following the babysteps helps to establish daily routines and build a weekly plan.

This month's motto is: You can't clean clutter! See here for Flylady's advice on decluttering.

If you are overwhelmed by the mess in your home, start with just one thing: shine your sink.

And if you need to sort out the house after the New Year revelry is over, a crisis clean is what you need.

Back shortly with tomorrow's babystep .

(With apologies to Ellie for plagiarising some of last month's intro')

morning. Another late night here, followed by a late start and a change of plan. Ds is still very sicky and is staying at his dad's another day to hopefully allow his stomach to settle so that he isnt sick in the car.

I have made the decision to cancel his party. Judging by how ill the other kids have been and the fact that he is off school until at least wednesday and feeling rough for a good while yet. As it is a treat not party so no money paid up front, I feel it would be best cancel with view to re-arrange and give the poor kid chance to enjoy his treat.

So today i am going to finish laundry and sort out my plan of action from now on. As I have just heard that training is being moved so no early starts on monday mornings. And very late evenings instead. So it is all change around these parts.

So life needs planning/considering.

List for today and tomo morning:
Put away washing
load of washing
wrap up ds' birthday present bits that are lurking in silly places.
prep stuff for tomo
tidy ds's room
training

However, right now i need a nap. I feel iffy. very iffy. am hoping to have avoided ds' bug. But will have to hold out judgement.

Party went well, we are all tired out, the car needs unpacking (26 children so we had a hall). Presents all unwrapped, G&T beckons. Several friends stayed at th party and helped out, as well as my parents whixh mad a big difference. Pheww.

Sorry your plans have all gone astray Lair, hope DS makes a speedy recovery and you haven't got it too.

Hope your party went well Chairmum, we did bowling for DSlast year and it was good.

House looks like a tip. Jam sandwich anyone?

Ogre - glad the party went well.

Lair - hope you haven't got the bug too.

Managed most of my list today, so the house looks fairly presentable. However, I hid all the clutter in our bedroom, so that is a tip now .

Babystep and mission coming up....

Monday's babystep is to set your afternoon routine. This goes in your control journal if you are keeping one.

Monday's mission is here, (although it is still on last week's at the moment).

Monday is the day to spend an hour tidying up your house. More on that here.

Hope you all get a good night's sleep tonight.

Evening all,

Have just enjoyed my first few sips of wine in about a week - only a sip or two as I've been working this evening - which is a sure sign that I must be feeling better.

We've had a nice relaxing day here today; DD2's godmother came to visit and we spent a good part of the afternoon playing board games. (It also reminded me that we have far too many and I need to declutter some.)

Unfortunately DS has been coughing very badly these last two nights; I'm wondering whether he could be allergic to something as well as dust, as it's strange how suddenly it's come on. DH has decided to sleep in his room tonight again, as DS seems to sleep better with his head on DH's chest, so I hope he gets slightly more sleep tonight - he was very sleep-deprived and (understandably) grumpy this morning, even though I told him to have a lie-in.

Lair Sorry to hear you've had to cancel the party, even if it's probably for the best. Hope your DS is better soon and that you haven't come down with it as well.

Ogre Glad the party went well - a large G&T is definitely in order for you tonight.

Toffee Hope your stepmother's visit went OK - well done on the presentable house! (I can only get ours looking presentable by shifting all the hotspots into cupboards and drawers.)

Must get back to some proper flying next week, so will be back to post my list first thing tomorrow. Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend.

Evening all

Just Flying past very late; doing a bit of moonlit tidying...I know I am going to regret it in the morning (early start) but have already been to bed once and couldn't sleep. Really tired but have too much "brain buzz" after a really fun but packed w/e.

Hope everyone OK. Will catch up with thread tomorrow, when I must finish my list from Thursday after work.

Hope you managed your early start this morning, SC. I couldn't get to sleep last night either - no idea why, just didn't feel tired - but feel surprisingly awake this morning after four hours' sleep; DH looked far worse than I did, but possibly had even less sleep with DS coughing away.

We woke up to four or five inches of snow this morning and were late getting to the meeting point, so I ended up driving the DDs to school as DD2 didn't want to walk (to be fair, the snow did come up over her boots in places). I should have walked with them really (it wasn't much fun driving on the narrow slippery roads around the school), but it would have taken far too long with DS and I didn't have time to drop him off at kindergarten first.

Anyway, must make the most of feeling OK again and get on with my list:

Bank delegated to DH due to snow
Quick food shop ditto
Morning routine
Wash all DS's bedding in the hope that he'll have a better night tonight
Mission
15 minutes decluttering in girls' bedroom (needs it more than ours)
Revise weekly to-do list
Make flashcards for English lesson
Afternoon routine
Piano lesson
Help DD1 revise for test
Thank you letters x3
Evening routine
Enter recycling collection dates in calendar
Order contact lenses
Book flights for summer
Fill in kindergarten form for summer

Hi Linzer and everyone,

Yes, I'm at my desk with strong coffee by my side! I did manage to get to sleep eventually - nothing like pairing dh's socks to encourage the sand man!

Sorry to hear your ds is poorly and hope he recovers soon. No snow here but has gone quite cold again.

Sorry to hear your ds is ill as well Lair and that you had to cancel the party. There are a lot of bugs about at the moment. Hope you don't succumb.

Ogre and Chairmum Congrats on the superlative organisation of your parties.

Thanks for steps Toffee, fab round up on Saturday and well done for cracking through your list yesterday

Arabella GOOD LUCK returning to work today!!!

Take it steady Pushme and go easy on the heavy lifting!!!

Glad your migraine is gone Ihate

Waves to Swan Nettie PA Optimistic Ellie Feetheart Bob and everyone else!

Hope you have a good week everyone.

lair - glad you cancelled, it is a relief to make a decision on these things rather than cancelling at very last moment.

Ogre and Chairmum a pat on the back...I'm next...only a month to go before the dreaded March twin fest..must make it easier for myself this year and avoid Stress.

Well I'm back in the house of DOOM again.

Brain dead after efforts to find dd a newspaper article for school that did not involve long words and/or scandal/heartbreak. Eventually found one about the retail sales for Dec, and Chinese officials having to look after their elderly parents to gain promotion.

The Monday mess is piled high around me, and I have loads of builder related errands again, but luckily no builder till tomorrow.

todo
bin liner for recycling - we are nearly submerged by newsprint and plastic pots
put away laundry very very quickly and avoid getting bogged down in drawers
remove small pile of rubbish from playroom
put sample tiles in one place/box
wash roasting tin
load dw
shake out tablecloth
put away cereal
very quickly play piano for ten minutes
lamb stew in oven

then ERRANDS

SC I thought I went to bed early last night at 11pm but it seems to have made no difference - I feel incredibly tired still, and dh's socks are not paired either

Good luck Arabella - hope everyone gives you a warm welcome at work.

Yucky morning here, DS did not want to go to playgroup. Finally got him out of door and up there. Am now having MY breakfast , that I abandoned earlier. There is one child there who can be a bit rough, and DS says he is being pushed about. Negotiated him going if he could take new stuffed frog (finished last night!) and me to let his keyworker know why he was unhappy. Just hope he feels better when I collect him.

So today not got very far yet
Morning routine - doing
WI paperwork to secretary done
Breakfast - just done
Clean washing away - doing
Washing on airer
Washing in machine for tonight
WHBH - doing
S/s
Make beds
RR/hotspot living room
RR/hotspot kitchen
RR/hotspot bathroom
Zone clean/declutter bedroom (oh yuck!)
Zone mission
Log this week's zone missions into CJ done
Bins, recycling etc in when bin men have been
Post letter
Handwashing
Mending
Collect DS from playgroup
Garden - 15 mins
Playgroup paperwork
Our computer finance stuff
Item from Paper file
Make tea
Tea
Bedtime routine
Evening routine

So, need to stop drinking tea and get on with it, rather than dawdling my time away on MN

Pushme - I understand your desire to keep your toddler captive. I managed to do it until he was about 2 1/2, then he worked out he could climb out of his cot , so we had to change it to a bed, and put in rules about where he could go when he got up in the morning.

I dislike mondays.

My brain is tired, my body hurts. but that was the last 4:30am start for a while. thank fuck

Done so far today:
training
ring school
ring about association membership needed for comp
renew membership over phone
confirm safe arrival of credit card
Sort of details of picking ds up.

about to
get some wd40
empty car
drive 2hours
walk around ikea
drive 2 hours
not kill whiney poorly ds

Early night!!!!

Sorry to post and fly. It is really mad around here recently.

Quiet w/e here compered with most it seems
Well done with parties. I am Mean Mummy and DC have only had one party each so far - when they were 5. I have said they can have another when they are 10 :o
However we have been having discussions with DD as she is 8 next month. She wants a couple of friends round on the day and then to go to the London Aquarium as a family at some point. No problem I thought, then she asked for a dolphin cake .... bugger!

Need quick list as only have this morning to get stuff done as they are starting a Reading Buddy scheme at school this afternoon and I've volunteered.

• Morning routine - done
• Ironing away - done
• Emails - accountant, School Committee, other school people
• Order free clematis from Gardeners' World (before 31st Jan)
• Package up the meagre quantity of stuff I have sold on ebay
• Hoover downstairs
• 15mins in our room
• 5mins in Living room
• Mission
• Lunch
• Reading at school

Hope poorly DC get better and grown-ups steer clear of germs.
Have a good day everyone, especially Arabella

Hello all! Re the party talk we celebrated my DD 6th birthday this wk! Soft play area, 25 kids, great fun!! Feetheart re a dolphin cake, you prob would get a how to make video on Youtube, We had a princess cake for my DD, it was fab!!

Mission for wkend was Sort out playroom done

Today
S&S Kitchen
Mop floors
Laundry
Finish off few bits and bobs in playroom

Linzer Snow again!!

kitchen done-ish

now attempting to declutter a giant chest of drawers in upstairs bathroom which I want to chuck - and have failed miserably to carry it downstairs as it is too heavy, even without drawers
However if I ever get a job again requiring evidence of intelligence found all my degree certificate and A-level certs - so small silver lining, no idea that they were where they were... plus a huge cache of giant hama beads [aargh]
several pairs of emergency specs...tracing paper...1000 thank you letters to me....

more bin liners needed...run out again

Just updating so I feel I've got somewhere today before collecting DS

Morning routine done
WI paperwork to secretary done
Breakfast done
Clean washing away done
Washing on airer done
Washing in machine for tonight - no full load to do
WHBH done
S/s done
Make beds done
RR/hotspot living room done
RR/hotspot kitchen done
RR/hotspot bathroom done
Zone clean/declutter bedroom (oh yuck!) done
Zone mission done
Log this week's zone missions into CJ done
Bins, recycling etc in when bin men have been
Post letter
Handwashing done
Mending
Collect DS from playgroup
Garden - 15 mins
Playgroup paperwork
Our computer finance stuff
Item from Paper file
Make tea
Tea
Bedtime routine
Evening routine

Cobweb wow!
just having lunch now, then returning to the landing of doom again 30 mins on that and then the errands!

landing of doom dealt with mostly

Not been on thread since Friday need to catch up, house pig sty been out all day and out all night! Be back later or hopefully tomorrow to catch up with you all

Linzer - four hours' sleep ! Hope you get a better night's sleep tonight.

Still - hope the strong coffee did the trick at work

Lair - hope your poorly DS is better soon. Sorry to hear you have been up since 4.30am .

Feet - London Aquarium is great, but terribly expensive!

Dolanette - welcome back. Glad to hear the party went so well.

Cobweb - you are still Queen of Lists.

Swan - you have been busy! Are you still on the landing of doom?

Nettie - have you found your way out of the laundry mountain yet?

Today's list:

Am routine done
Meeting with psychologist done
Weekly house clean -
Dust a bit
Mop done
Clean mirrors and windows done
Purge papers done
Empty bins done
Defrost shepherd's pie done
Washing done
T/D done
School run
Eve routine

Had a very good meeting with a therapist (recommended by the GP) about DS1 this morning. He was really reassuring and gave us some very good advice.

Back soon with steps...

Tomorrow's babystep is swish and swipe in the main bathroom. Flylady's describes what to do here. (I don't use old shampoo in the loo like she suggests, though - I prefer to use antibacterial spray).

Tuesday's mission is in the bedroom.

Tuesday is a free day, although Flylady does suggest watering your plants.

I hope everyone manages to get a good night's sleep tonight, as it sounds as if there are a lot of tired fledglings on this thread today.

PS: Arabella - how was your first day back at work? Hope it went OK.

Er - should have put done next to 'school run' on my list. I haven't left my children at school, honest.

So tired, so tired, I haven't slept very well the last few nights, either worrying about the blooming party or reliving it last night, been getting to sleep between 1 and 2. Busy day today too. House looks worse than it did this morning (groans). The rest of the week is looking hectic too, have asked friends over for coffee on Weds in order to force myself to get back on top of things.

Arabella - hope the first day back was OK

toffee - that's good about the therapist

Swan - I've got the dining room of doom, it is the middle room of our Victorian terrace and is the thoroughfare to the kitchen but is also the place where everything just gets dumped when there is nowhere else to put it.

Better go and do a bit more stuff I suppose.

Thank you so much for all the good wishes for today. It was very busy and a bit of a shock to the system after a year's mat leave! The best thing was that the baby enjoyed her first whole day at nursery(820 - 540pm). She even waved me off with a smile - that made everything alright!

And toffee that's great news that the new therapist is helpful