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')

Update while DS is finishing his tea (he's taking ages tonight)

Morning routine done
Playgroup payroll done
DS to playgroup done
RR/tidy house - living room, kitchen, DS room, our bedroom, bathroom done
Send apologies, as mother is ill, so can't go out this evening to meeting done
Washing up done
S/s done
WHBH done
Email to move tomorrow evening meeting to here done
Make tea - lasagne done
Make thank you card with DS done
Post thank you card with DS done
Bins in done
Washing in machine for tonight done
Pay bills done
Zone cleaning done - first time since I started flying that I could really get on with zone cleaning the living room without having to declutter (still some decluttering to do, but only little sections)
Zone mission done
Item from to do paper file done
Our finance onto computer
Tea doneish
Invite DS friends to play done
Bedtime routine
Evening routine
WI paperwork for meeting tomorrow
Cut material for cushions
Exercise

Toffee/Swan I have found the only way to successfully do a WHBH is to dash madly round the house beforehand putting things back from where they've been dumped used during the weekend by DH and DS, so I have some clean surfaces/floor etc.

Toffee I'm with you on the number of cleaners v dumpers in the house (though I only have one DS). DS is actually better than DH, as he knows to put his shoes, coat, bag away when he gets in, puts toys away at the end of the day, and puts dirty clothes in washbin! DH on the other hand tends to leave coats, shoes etc anywhere, leaves his toys out (I always check for sharps and solvents before I go to bed, or first thing) and sheds clothes like a snake shedding its skin!

Lair - I am exhausted just reading about your current schedule.

Thanks, Ogre . I have enjoyed it.

Ihatecobwebs - at least your DS is eating his tea! Neither of mine touched their turkey meatloaf - and it was lovely too. DS1 was feeling too ill, so he couln't help that, but DS2 is just being incredibly fussy and will only eat pasta.

What do I do with a fussy child? Do I insist he eat his dinner and refuse to give him anything else until he does (made me miserable when my parents did that to me, so am reluctant). Or do I give in and give him pasta every night?

Steps coming up....

Hello January peeps thought I better get back on and say thank you very much to toffee. So sorry for not quite flying like I should. I promise to do better in March!

Had lovely weekend, charity race night Friday, day trip to London eye and natural history museum with dc Saturday, got back at 11pm. Sunday kids party and out for a birthday cinema trip and meal with dh. Today been at softplay for 4.5 hours. Ds swimming lesson.

Consequently house is a midden of all middens and my list keeps getting longer. Ocado shopping being delivered tonight, me tesco for missing items and B&q for painting spare room! Then mass tidy up! Packed lunch for ds and clothes to be ironed!

Hope you all ok, still mid thread catch up!

Ihatecobwebs - just read your next post. Re: WHBH - yes, that makes sense. I suppose there was just too much clutter everywhere, which needed clearing up first.

{grin] at DS being better trained than DH.

The last babystep of the month is here.

Tomorrow's mission is in the living room.

Tuesday is supposed to be a free day (to make up for the hours slogging away at the 'home blessing' I suppose ), but Flylady recommends you water your plants, which I actually did do last week (I don't usually remember, so it was quite useful). Tuesday's reminders of basic routines are here.

Might pop back tonight, but, if not, see you all on the new thread tomorrow.

Thanks, Nettie. Looks like you had a fab weekend .

Toffee - another DS who would eat pasta every night here. I tend to have one meal a week he won't like, then try and get him to at least taste it, if he doesn't like it fair enough, he can have some bread and butter. The other nights we tend to rotate pasta/pizza/curry/sandwiches. I used to do the standoff you're not having anything else routine, but decided that a) it doesn't work and b) he would probably have ended up traumatised for life. Pudding availability is somewhat dependent on attitude as well as quantity of main consumed.

Same for DD but she likes different things . They both like pasta and pizza thank goodness.

Pasta is also about the only thing that all three are guaranteed to eat here - in fact, it's about the only thing that visiting children will eat too, so I do it whenever we have visitors and otherwise try (usually unsuccessfully) to encourage the DC to be a bit more adventurous on other days.

Our appointment with the paediatrician was really useful; he spent nearly 1.5 hours with us and we've also got a new type of inhaler for DS to try. We didn't get back home until 8 pm and I felt quite guilty about picking the DDs up so late from their friends, but fortunately neither set of parents seemed to mind.

Thanks for the fab leadership this month Toffee and for keeping us all on the straight and narrow. See you all on tomorrow's thread!

Evening all! Just popping by to say a welcome goodbye to January, the most depressing month of the year . am ending on a high though as I have managed to complete my list, woooohooooo. The fact that it was my only completed list in the whole month is neither nor there . see you in February!

Eh up everyone

Welcome to all Newbies

DD at home ill and probably will be tomorrow too which means I am going to have to catch up with work on my Flying days this wk [sigh]. Tried to Fly today without much success. Will see what the morrow brings ...

I've had a truly appalling January in terms of housework. If you want to know how bad; the (boxed and labelled) Christmas decorations have only made it up to third floor landing and not the roof (our house is tall and thin).

Mount washmore in slightly better state but needs attention. Ground floor OK. MAster bedroom a disaster. You've heard it all before!!!

Thinking about it, I do this every year - I'm always determined to make a new positive start to diet and house in January - and in reality I never get going properly until Feb.

GOT TO DO BETTER NEXT MONTH!!!! Arrrrgghhhhh!! I allow myself far too many excuses ...

anyway .... catching a bit of Ellie's positivity dust ....hope all of you lovely fledglings are OK. Sorry I'm not up to date with thread. Just Flying past to say humungous thank you to Toffee for posting all the steps and being a great thread leader this month and look forward to seeing you all bright and early tomorrow!!

WE WILL PREVAIL and all that (said with Churchillian growl) ....

Er, sorry, I'm doing a "Lair" and forgot to change name!! (I've been changing it a lot since a friend of mine was recognised on here in rl and I prefer my anonymity!!)

Cryptic plumage = Stillchuckingit!!

See you tomorrow everyone!!

Still one month for Christmas Decs is nothing, a couple of years ago ours stayed in the living room from one Christmas to the next (they were out for 18 months)

Linzer, ogre, feet, toffee - That one paragraph really resounded with me too. In my case some days it stays tidy (with constant little tidies), and one bad day and I feel like I'm starting from scratch with it all. I'm not of course because I am really really flinging!

House blessing wise I think it doesn't really work well until you've done most of your decluttering - I think it relies on everything having a place and the blessing just being a general whizz over. I couldn't do my place in an hour yet, but I can see it happening one day, if I get an hour without children :)

I have had an odd, but productive day today. Up at 6.30 again with a baby that makes us all wake up! Then:

• morning routine
• toddler to nursery

- Got a couple of boxes of stuff out of the shed, have a juicer for the charity shop

• sorted and chucked a whole load of old paperwork and cards, including valentines and anniversary cards that made me angry.
• ate biscuits to cheer me up
• changed bedcovers
• hung out washing (on airer)
• lunch with baby
• collected toddler from nursery
• played with trains (oh fun!)
• tidied stuff while baby napped on my back
• sent kids off with XH
• evening routine (part1)
• WeightWatchers then collected baby
• evening routine (part2)
• relax!

See you on the new thread!

oh and somewhere along the way i rearranged my tiny front 'hall' with some new storage

Chairmum halls v. crucial!
Toffee thank you for being such a great leader
SC/CP a friend never makes resolutions till at least April

well
I've done
exercise
Scouts/Cubs x 2 sessions drop off and pickup
made supper
watched last 5 mins of Glee
supervised homework x 2 - crying with frustration at ds1's inability to research 2 sentence things. Dh took over, then he too was grinding his teeth. Finally ds went upstairs saying he was going to do it himself (which was what we wanted tbh, only to write complete rubbish. So I'm afraid dh crossed it out and said he'd have to do it again tomorrow morning. But ds1 took this in good grace - I think he's just lazy and slipshod at the moment.
Dh is now confiscating all the comics, annuals and Simpsons books, having seen for himself how ds's intellectual concentration has lapsed. And has said that from now ds needs to read the [wonderful] Children's DK Encylopaedia as Wikipedia is hopelessly complicated for a 10 year old. The internet really is no good for research unless you know how to use it properly, which ds just doesn't.

Threw away a few things today too, not quite 27 though I did my best

off to bed!

Cobweb hope ds feels better tomorrow, that was lovely you could give him the time.

toffee I aim nice food at dh and 10 year olds, am resigned to under that age preferring boring things...but possibly might have a taste of the exciting thing...

Thank you all for your good advice on fussy toddlers. What on earth did children eat before pasta ? I think I will stop expecting DS2 to eat our meals and just give him pasta dishes or sausages and bread (the only other meal he'll eat, provided they are the 'right' sausages), with the option of trying our food when he feels like it.

Chairmum - I see what you mean about needing to declutter before achieving the one-hour 'home blessing'. That makes sense. I suppose I was tidying up as I cleaned today, which must have added loads of time.

Thank you all for being such a lovely bunch of fledglings to 'lead' this month. It's been fun Flying with you.

Over to Pushmepullme ...

Er, Pushmepullyou, I mean .

Ihate re Christmas decorations: coming from you (who I always think of as the ultimate domestic goddess) that does make me feel better!!

Swan your friend sounds very sensible! I sometimes think those medievel monks knew a thing or two when they started fasting and doing penance on the first day of Lent - when there is at least a glimmer of Spring about and its not so dank and dark. Easter is too late this year to leave it until then unfortunately!!

Linzer/Ogre/Feet/Toffee/Chairmum - yep I reckon "everything having a place" is the key - have managed it in a very few specific areas but there is still a whole load of flotsam and jetsam in this house that needs tackling ie clear out master bedroom = piles of things on landings. Tidy up landings = clutter in bedrooms!! You think I would have sorted that out by now!!

And although dh is tidier than me in some ways because he's much more consistent in his efforts than I am, the minute he sees a clear surface, he sees it as an invitation to dump keys/wallets/computer cables/papers all over it. Arrrgghhh!!

Speaking of dh, he's just come back from business dinner and I stayed up to join him and have a bit of a snifter ...hence this late message. Stumbling off to bed now ...

Waves to all ... see you on new thread ...

Far too late here but quick heartfelt thanks to Toffee for leading us through the most depressing month of the year.

I must try the hardcore Flying approach again in February as it seemed to work for the 3 and a bit days I did it last week :)

Bed now..............

evening. i suppose technically i should post this in February's thread.

training x 2 lots done
ds is not sleeping well atm.

so tomo's list (latre's list) is
panic
laundry
ds' birthday present.