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')

Good luck with the new job Ogre. sorry to hear about your heating/water disaster sr. We've had similar here a few times so I really sympathise.

Not a bad day here either .

Two of the eight loads of washing done and one more to go on before bed.

Bathroom cleaned
Leather furniture cleaned with babywipes (thanks nettie!)
Many loads of washing put away
Store cupboard in kitchen cleared out (eight bottles of glycerine with sell by dates between 2006 and 2011 anyone?)

Tomorrow need to

Take down Christmas tree
Go to tip!
Go to B&Q
Finish online shop
Pay in cheque
Transfer money to DSis

Oh dear swan, hope you are warm and get your water sorted soon.
As for feeding the hoardes, its a nightmare. I have boxes that they are allowed to dip into and a cupboard they are not allowed to, but can ask me first. I do go to the supermarket about 3 times a week and I often think I have enough for a whole week, only to have to replenish a couple of days later!!

Not a new job for me today, its my old one, but not been there for a few months.

So far this morning i have taken DS to swimming training.
Done sandwiches
Washing machine loaded and on
Dishwasher on - loaded last night, but forgot to push the on button.

Today I need to:
Survive work
If ok after work, go to bank
ironing
cook curry

Have a good day everyone - and good luck to Ogre.

Morning everyone. Last day of freedom here today and I have quite a few things to cram into it. List looks like this :-

Washing on
Drier on
Washing away
Uniform to buy for ds
Banking
Schoolwork
Online shop
All school stuff etc plus swimming gear to find
Enjoy some time with dc's with a trip to park.

pa hope it goes alright today and the same goes for you ogres.

sr what a horrible welcome back. I hope you get the heating and hot water sorted soon

Morning all,

Good luck for today Ogre and hope it goes well for you too PA.

Enjoy your last day of freedom, ellie!

It's our last day in the UK today; I can't believe how quickly the last ten days have gone. I've only been decluttering our two bedrooms, swan - we have a lot of clothes here as I keep an extra set for us all at my parents' (I bring clothes over that the DC are just starting to grow out of so they live in clothes that are slightly too small whenever we're here), so I now have a big bag of definitely-too-small clothes to go to the charity shop.

Must go and have a shower before we go to Morrison's; will probably go into town this afternoon to stock up on a few more bits and pieces too (must avoid buying any more books, though).

Morning all,
DH is back to work today so hopefully we can get some organisation back to life! I'm not sure what me and the dc's are going to do today though.

Yesterday I didn't do much as we went to visit my parents new flat (lovely) and see my sisters new girlfriend (also lovely!) but I did:
morning routine incl making beds and swish and swipe
evening routine incl shining the sink and getting the laundry on.

I also did some decluttering as I needed to find something to take to my parents house and had to go through the whole dining room table only to find it in the lounge - typical.

Today I've done:
morning routine incl making beds and swish and swipe. Still need to swish and swipe the downstairs loo and also put away the breakfast things.

Today I will:
do some decluttering
keep up with the washing up
afternoon routine
evening routine incl sorting clean laundry

Hope everyone had a good first day back to normality.

Morning :)

Reasonable day yesterday right up until dd puked all over me including in my hair at about 10 o'clock last night.

Today
-Strip and remake our bed done I upgraded from 5 year old Primark bedding yesterday to 1/2 price Sainsburys, one day I will have beautiful bedding but it's a bit nicer for now.
-S&S bathroom done
-3 more loads of washing half done
-Turkey soup
-Take DS out to get feet measured
-Wipe down kitchen worktops done
-Wipe down walls in dining room
-27 Fling boogie
-Locate school things

We will see how far I get, it's a 2 hr round drive to get feet measured so a big chunk of the day gone.

Have a lovely day everyone :)

Good morning all! Hope you enjoyed dinner Toffee.

Yesterday I cleaned the kitchen
One washing load
Bought document files to aid office organization
New pictures put up in DDs nursery
Lots of stuff brought to recycling centre - husband drove it there for me

Panic about return to work following mat leave shortly!!!
I very much fear that my working brain has severely rusted during mat leave

good morning everyone (aaarragghhh its 10 o clock already)

today so far

up and dressed
laundry loaded and moved on, dry stuff still to be sorted
dw stacked
sink cleaned

Last day before normality and must get kids out and do something with them. just cant decide what energy levels i have. little softplay or hike round the zoo! ZOO is free as we have passes. softplay not but softplay is only a couple of hours. or we could just go to the rescue animal sanctuary? The dilema

right well i better pull my finger out and get on.

good luck ogre pa with work today.

humungous waves to everyone and will be back after ive aired my children in some form or another

Good morning, fledglings. We had a lovely evening out, thank you, and DH has had to go back to work with a hangover (I did warn him last night, but would he listen....?).

Best of luck to all of you who are back at work this morning or getting ready to go back to work this week.

Swan - argh! No hot water or heating! Very much hope you can get it sorted quickly.

Mum and stepdad are coming round shortly, then DS1 has a friend over for the afternoon. I have promised DS2 we will make chocolate cookies whilst they go on the computer (both fans of Roblox). Lots of school prep to do, although I'm hoping most of it is already sorted (I did wash and iron their uniforms ages ago so I wouldn't have a last-minute panic).

And I must get the boys to do thank you letters today - that has been on my list for days.

Still in my dressing gown, so must go and get ready now. Don't know how I am going to get us all up, fed, dressed and out of the house by 8.30am tomorrow .

Haven't caught up for a few days, hope I haven't missed anything important. Will need more time than I have to do that this morning but need a quick list:

• Morning Routine - mostly done
• DC ready to go out - fed, washed and DD doing hair but will need to finish it off in a minute
• Out in 30 mins(eek!) with friends for run around and lunch as 'last day of holidays' treat
• Ribs, wedges and carrots for dinner (ribs marinading, wedges done, carrots to buy on way home)

Need to hoover, iron, sort out dinner money, book bags, etc this evening. May be back later.

Have a good day everyone

Morning. it will be a slow start here as ds got up at midnight and was bouncy and very very awake until 5am this morning. Meaning that i didnt get to bed til 5am. On a plus note he is in a much better mood today and so far we havent fallen out yet. So the day is already better then yesterday.

revised todo list:
play copious games of monopoly deal
find spelling book
See if ds will finish reading his book
sign off ds' reading in reading record
put t-shirt in pe kit
clean lunch box out again
put lunch into lunch box
lay out school uniform for ds
EARLY NIGHT

anything else i can find th engery to think about doing and actually do.

quick post! Hot water and heating restored, amazing how quickly things descended into utter squalor on our return from Ireland, especially when you can't have a shower [grr] or use any of bedrooms too freezing cold...

hope pressure doesn't drop again on boiler [fingers crossed] and no system leak...plumber said he was not sure where the water had gone...

Feetheart hope your parents didn't suffer from big freeze in Northern Ireland. Bet you were glad you didn't go!!

no time even to think of new year's resolutions!

just pledging to come back and start the year right...

The snow is back. just looked out of the window. We were expecting snow? Must add look at weather forecast to evening routine.

its empty in here today so the first thing i must do is congratulate everyone on sticking to their mn less new year resolutions.

good news

in this house this is the highlest level of activity today

finally going to get up. Must pootle to the post office before it shuts and the library if it is open. nice to have a lazy day though. especially as havent had to be evil nasty shouty mum today thank fuck glad to be rid of her for a bit.

Great news, Lair! Good for you! Will have a proper look at your thread later, though it looks as if you have had some excellent advice already (am surrounded by make-and-do stuff, cookie dough and demanding child at present ).

Today
-Strip and remake our bed done I upgraded from 5 year old Primark bedding yesterday to 1/2 price Sainsburys, one day I will have beautiful bedding but it's a bit nicer for now.
-S&S bathroom done
-3 more loads of washing done
-Turkey soup done
-Take DS out to get feet measured done
-Wipe down kitchen worktops done
-Wipe down walls in dining room done
-27 Fling boogie
-Locate school things

I'm just going to attempt to sort out all the school things ready for Thursday.

Mmm cookies sound good Toffee I have been making super snot and mucous with ds from his science experiments kit.

Did you get much snow Lair ?

That must be a relief swan hope it's nice and warm now :)

Afternoon, somehow it's 3 pm already, and I don't know where the day's gone!

DH first day back in office today, since 17th (yes - 17th) December, so he wasn't very happy this morning - and had he got his stuff ready yesterday?? Have a guess!

So just DS and me in the house today, and it has been easier to get things done. Our schools don't go back until next week, so I have another week of amusing DS before he goes back to playgroup.

So far:
Morning routine - done
Got DH out of the door - done
Recycling done and at bottom of drive
Bins - done and at bottom of drive
Food bin - done and at bottom of drive
Empty compost bin - done
Wash compost bin - done
Wash bread bin - done
Washing up - done
Clean washing away - done
Wet washing on airer and radiators - done
Washing in machine ready for tonight - done
Aga service - done - will wait until tonight to switch it back on again
Clean Aga whilst cold - done
Room rescue living room - done
Hotspot kitchen table - done
Address envelopes for delivery round village - done
Take DS round village delivery envelopes - done but took a long time as he insisted in jumping in every pile of snow
Lunch - done
WHBH - done

To Do
Iron porch curtains
Put up porch curtains
Zone cleaning
Sort out veg currently stored in porch
Clean out fridge
Wash cleaner filter
Plant some very late bulbs for indoors
CGS seed distribution list
Filing
Paperwork for WI committee meeting
Sort out drawer for stationery in kitchen
Sort out craft boxes/cupboards in kitchen
Cook tea
Tea
Evening routine

We've only had a little snow here today, and hopefully that will be all, as we haven't got rid of the first lot yet!

Back to work, or tomorrow's list will look suspiciously like today's , and DH will wonder what I've been doing all day.

Bob - urgh, snot and mucus! Bet your son loved that. For my sake, I'm glad we were making chocolate cookies instead.

Ihate - my DH doesn't get anything ready the night before either. Drives me mad, but I refuse to do it for him. They need an evening routine, don't they?

Have finished making cookies with DS2 and told him I have Things to Do Now, and have given DS1 a surprise new Anthony Horowitz graphic novel to read to keep him busy (and distract him from tomorrow), so now I have to get stuff ready. Have made a list so I can focus:

Buy water from corner shop for school
Put wet washing away
Put wet washing into dryer
Lay out school clothes
Polish school shoes (all muddy at the moment)
PE kits - check
Put socks in shoes
Check scarves, gloves, hats and coats
Write in DS2's school book
My clothes
THANK-YOU CARDS
Tidy up after cookies
Dinner (sigh)
Boys' bath and decent bedtimes
Lunchboxes
Cut DS1's fringe
Load d/w
Shine sink before bed
Bed at decent hour

Will do babysteps now because DH has just emailed me to 'book' the computer for tonight.

Wednesday's babystep is to to write down the negative voices that you hear in your head. Have never bothered with this myself, but maybe it helps sometimes.

The mission is here.

Do you have a weekly plan? Flylady gives an example of her basic weekly plan here, but you do what suits you. I try to clean my fridge and make a grocery list every Wednesday. (Well, that's the idea ).

Happy Flying. Good luck to all those returning to school and work tomorrow.

Good afternoon/evening.

Ihate and Toffee - scary lists!!

Toffee hope the playdate went well and I will be thinking of your DS tomorrow. Hope it goes ok.

Work went ok. I have an ocean of backlog admin to wade through as soon as possible, as you can imagine. I had to go to the bank for work, so managed to do what I needed to aswell. Other than that, I have lain on the sofa studying the insides of my eyelids all afternoon. Lots of studying of eyelids predicted in the afternoons this week.

Hope your day was good Ogre.

Have a good evening everyone.

PA - thanks for your thoughts. The playdate did go well (if you think the boys eating pizza and grunting at each other whilst playing on the computer is a good playdate ). Have just added another bit to my thread about him, as I had another comment. It is really useful to hear people's thoughts, I must say.

At the moment, he won't even talk about school tomorrow. I have reminded him of how much he's overcome before (thanks, Swan). Will just have to see what happens.

Glad going back to work went OK.

On with my list now.....

Pizza together and grunting over the computer is a hit!

Have just set my alarm for 5.30 am tomorrow - eek! I have to remind myself that it's not much earlier than I would normally get up during term time (and also that it will already be 6.30 in Austria), but I'm sure that it's still going to be a shock to the system. I just have a few last-minute bits and pieces left to pack, but otherwise we're more or less ready.

PA Eyelid studying sounds most relaxing.

Toffee Hope things go well for your DS tomorrow - will be thinking of you.

Must go and put the DC to bed ready for our early start tomorrow.

Evening all,

PA I need to study my eyelids tonight, didn't sleep very well as I was thinking about the new job. Glad you survived your first day back. My first day was uneventful, just showing me where everything is, getting a computer sorted out etc, etc. THey seem like a very friendly bunch, which is good.

Linzer - hope you have a safe trip back

Toffee - hope DS's first day back goes OK, I have been reading your other thread but have not added anything as it is outside my experience, will be thinking of you.

Bob - is it the Horrible Body Parts kit? DS got this for Christmas, it has been put on a shelf for the time being till I pluck up the courage to look inside.

LOTD you got some very good suggestions there for your letter to school

Swan - glad you got your hot water back

Ihatecobwebs - I am constantly in awe of your lists! Mine feel somewhat pathetic by contrast

Waves at Ellie, Loosinas, Feetheart, Camdancer, Arabella, Nettie, PMPY and anyone else who is around.

Managed my morning routine OK today, DCs had to be dragged from their beds, got back from work at about 1.30 in time to take out the Christmas tree and do a quick hoover before doing a bit of MN admin on the computer and getting the DCs from school. Feel the house is gradually getting back to normal.