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')

Just testing a namechange here, bored of being MrsD now.

Spurred into action by you lot, I have:

Started with crisis clean, using timer for 15min onslaughts - kitchen is now spotless
Hoovered everywhere, upstairs and down
Put d/w on
Put washing in drier
Swished and swiped in bathroom
Thrown out boxes that breadmaker came in (which DH was saving in case we had to send it back )
Emptied bins and done recycling

DS2 (5) has mopped kitchen and bathroom floor and thrown away all the stuff he doesn't want into a black binliner. He wants a reward of 5p to go in his toy safe. Bargain!

DS1 (11) has decluttered his bedroom and wants to watch an episode of the new 'Just William' as his reward. Another bargain.

Have hoovered and tidied up the boys' room. Have a horrible feeling that the last time I tackled it properly was when MIL arrived, which was - ahem - two months' ago. Still, it looks lovely and tidy now.

Have had a long discussion with DS2 about tidying up his Christmas Playmobil world, which is still all over the sitting-room floor. He was very upset about the thought of packing it all away, even though I said he could set it up elsewhere. But my mum and stepdad are coming tomorrow and I can't have toys everywhere and an unhoovered floor (mum is very, very tidy). He has finally come round to the idea, so we are going to pack it all away in a shoebox. He has been allowed to have it out for nearly a week, which seems more than reasonable to me (it has turned into a bit of a daily soap opera, so it has been played with every day).

Back in a minute with tomorrow's babystep.

Tomorrow's babystep is to repeat what you have already done, which is encouraging you to build good habits. According to Flylady, it takes 28 days to create a new habit.

It's Monday tomorrow, so there must be a mission too. Back in a min.

At the moment, the missions are still set to last week's, but, hopefully, they will be reset tomorrow. I'll check in the morning. They are here.

If you are brand new, just stick to the babysteps. If you are used to the babysteps, Flylady suggests you spend 15 minutes per day decluttering in the current zone (that's where I am). Once you have decluttered, then you can move onto the daily missions.

Monday is when we do our 'Weekly Home Blessing', in Flylady's inimitable style. Set your timer to do 10 mins each on the following: vacuum; dust; mop; polish mirrors and doors; purge magazines; change sheets; empty the bins. More here. Those still on babysteps should probably ignore this for now.

toffee the link will work fine. If you post the night before it updates automatically .

OgreTripletsAreSoCute Great name, take it it's Shrek or do you really have triplets? .

Sure it must be impossible to be a FLY lady with triplets?

Well, I am the proud owner of one shiny sink, one new kitchen timer and a cutlery tray that actually fits my drawer.

[polishes halo proudly]

WTD Yes, DS has been saying this ever since he first saw Shrek 3, no I don't have triplets, just two DCs age 6 and 4, it is hard enough Flying with just the two. Sounds like you have made a good start!.

Evening! Slept really really badly last night so have done very little today....and indulged in a couple of naps but consequently feel slightly more human!

In terms of housework........
-load of washing in but not yet out
-chores rota devised with DDs
-meals provided as required
-party shopping list written

Don't know quite how the chores rota will work but I am determined that the DDs will do a bit more this year - and at the moment they're not unwilling

ds1 has inexplicably taken against Shrek so refused to watch 3rd over christmas. Feel like I'm going to have to hire dvd in secret just to find out what happens [sad emoticon]

Long live good intentions (mine have a habit of disappearing by 14th Jan)

I had 2 little naps today too... shhh!

and instructed my 4 year old that he could make his bed in the mornings for some pocket money too...will delegate clutter away

Evening all. I am feeling a little smug today because I have achieved all my list and actually shined my sink like a proper flybaby and I mean proper shined unlike a quick wipe which has been the mode of the day recently . In addition to my list i have also:-

Changed our bed
Bathed dc's
Decluttered for 15 mins in bedroom.

I am determined to do this lark properly this year. Last year, when I did it properly, it worked and I need to get back into it properly instead of lounging about chatting ( can't stop chatting just need to actually fly as well!)

Apologies for no personal messages but dh has gone out, dc's are in bed and I am going to enjoy some peace and quiet along with some washing.

Oh and WTD 14th jan? Mine normally don't last past the 4th .

4th is ambitious for me Ellie By the way, "Good intentions" Whats that?

Well as usual ds has gone to bed and CBA has crept in very quickly and firmly.

So i currently have half the christmas decorations on my bed. A pile of clothes awaiting putting away and no bedding on my bed. But porgress has been made which is the fly lady way. Babysteps

Best get busy getting sorted then. Glad someone is feeling a bit smug ellie

Hello and happy new year to all

Sorry for the delay in reporting in, but our broadband went on the blink, and dp was still quite poorly (he caught it from ds), and I mean really poorly, not man flu; he's actually been struggling in to work.

I've not done much flying up to now, but tomorrow:

holiday morning routine (doesn't include lunch boxes, but I do insist on getting breakfast and dressed at reasonable times)
dd's bedroom needs a good clear-out (she wants a desk for homework - finds dining table a place that's too distracting, and she's only 10)
ds's bedroom needs a good tidy and sort out, but not on the same scale (he's 6 but can easily sort and put away clothes)
washing (basket full of bedding, some already on)
THE TREE IS COMING DOWN

And dinner (dcs actually get their own light lunches now, good training really and I discreetly supervise) My freezer is depleted and I'm restocking. Only a little though, as I want an extra freezer in the garage, this one's too small.

As far as the tree goes, I made a monumental effort to declutter the toybox (some of you may remember the toybox that kept appearing in my lists, and never actually got tackled) and moved it into another location. Result is the tree stands in a corner that'll be unused after it's taken down, so I'm going to take stock and look at whether to move the toybox back or rearrange stuff to take advantage of the feel of more space.

Well, am starting to drag myself back into termtime mode, so today I have

Put breadmachine understairs
Use the space created to move several things off the counters into cupboards and clear counters generally
Wipe down all worktops
Changed DS's bed
2 x washing
put out several hotspots
Got bread machine back out and mad bread rolls with it (thanks for the tip PA )

Tomorrow's list
Check PE kits, calendar, book bags, dinner money etc
Sainsburys
Sort out work clothes for Tuesday (gulp!)
Take down ddecorations, tree to tip, hoover up pine needles
Get DCs to write thank you cards
Write DCs birthday invitations

Thank you for links and encoouragement Toffee

"D" H is being an arse!!!

There, I feel better now I have typed that out!

Always good to get it out PA
Hope he starts behaving soon

List for tomo:
Find spelling book.
clear out car
washing
Put clothes away
shine sink
wash car outside

Hello all!

This afternoon
Hoovered all upstairs, tough job as hoover is fecked.
Online research re hoovers and tried out my MIL's Miele (Hoovered her hall!! - brownie points for me!!)
Think I'll get a Miele.

To do
Wipe down Leather couch
Quick tidy-up of sitting room
Go to bed, DH out with his mates!

Don't worry lair. You should know me by now, smugness only happens once a month at best with me, I'll be back to being crap tomorrow . Cba is my default setting .

pa and breathe. Better out than in as my grandma used to say. I have to say after two weeks cooped up due to Christmas and crappy weather, relations are a little strained over here. Can't wait to go back to work .

Bed for me at least until drunken dh comes tumbling through the front door!

evening all just checking in and checking out, sorry for lack of mentioned had very busy day and need to head to bed but wanted to update my list.

update January calendar-nope tomorrow
birthday cards for January-not tomorrow
research theme park tickets for holiday-nope tomorrow
Book car hire for holiday-nope tomorrow
move all dd clothes onto new hanging rail in her room-done
get dh to put up the other on in ds room and move his clothes.-done
get dh to put up blind in playroom-done
go buy some storage boxes for christmas decoration and take down put away-done and done
go get quote for bedroom furniture-ooo im so excited we have ordered new bedroom furniture suite
put away outside decorations before march like last year-still to do
put up trampoline-halfway through when dh discovers he done it all wrong and so has to be taken apart and started again and with the dark descending we are puttin it back on list for tomorrow.

also made cottage pie, s/s, shined sink, doen washing to infinity, swept floors, cleaned fireplace.

off to bed take care of youse

Thanks for the welcome everyone, still lurking, although I do like the idea of quick bursts of stuff. We are serial hoarders here and whenever I try and declutter I get so sidetracked and disheartened. I also need to be better at throwing things out, I'm great at chucking everyone elses stuff out but not mine! Bessie and Lair, bookmark idea sounds great, but cant see 'mumsnet new' anywhere?

Morning everyone.

DS took against Shrek a while ago but luckily that didn't include Shrek 4, so we could watch it over Christmas. Sadly though we haven't been able to watch the original for ages. It is so much better than interminable hours of Captain Mack!

So yesterday I:
did my morning routine including the beds and swish and swipe
did 2 sessions of 15 mins decluttering (and a couple of 5 mins because the kids wouldn't leave me alone - anyone worked out how to declutter with preschoolers around?)
did before bed routine including shining the sink and getting out my clothes

So basically a good day. It would have been better but DH decided to use the kitchen just when I was going to do my afternoon tidy up. He really needs to go back to work and get out of my hair!

Today I need to find our dining room table. I know it was there but at the moment it is hidden under a mountain of clutter. Sadly I don't think just one 15 min session is going to cut it though.

Hello :) I hope everyone had a lovely christmas and new year, our laptop has died but mil bought herself a new Apple pro something or other so we have her old one. We were all ill over christmas and it was a little bit of a let down. I've managed to keep up with the routines mostly but no decluttering which the house is in serious need of.

I will try to scan back a few pages and see how everyone is, and hopefully find todays missions.

Happy New Year :)