If your nest is cluttered and getting you down, join February's Fledgling Flyers and turn it around

[pushmepullyou]

Welcome to the February Fledgling Flyers' thread. A very big thankyou to ToffeeChristmasCake (who will presumably return under her non-Christmas name ) for seeing us through the thick and thin of January decluttering.

All flyers and fledgings old and new are very welcome - we have a fairly relaxed attitude to flying 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.

If you are overwhelmed by the mess in your home, start with just one thing: shine your sink. It's amazing what you can achieve by just doing a bit at a time!

Pleased be warned that my month's leadership comes with a bit of a caveat as I am due to have DC2 at the beginning of March so there is a chance I may disappear mid month! Thankfully Toffee has very kindly offered to deputise in the event of the unexpected appearance of DS .

Apologies to Toffee (and by extension Ellie) for blatant intro plagarising and thankyou to Nettie for the thread title

See you all in February!

Good afternoon ladies!
Hope you are all having a nice day!
Happy birthday little Ellie, hope you are getting spoiled rotten!
Thanks for the praise!
We didn't get to sleep until around 4am! DD was WIDE awake!!! So, am understandably pooped today! Not done much at all, but no doubt shall be wide awake again and flying tonight!!
Choc is def a must to keep me going today!!! xxx

Done list:
DD up, washed, dressed, fed x 2, played with several times, cuddles with mummy , now napping!
Me up, fed, watered (still to shower... - last night has put me all wonky today!
All today's dishes done, sink re-shined!
2 out of the 4 loads of washing put away,
Bag of old DD clothes put away in wardrobe,
16 more thank you letters written (still 35 to do!!! )
Booking form filled in for holiday accommodation in August,
Cake decoration ordered from ebay,
Spoke to friend on phone,
Replied to various texts and emails, and spent too long on MN!
Applied cream to cat's sore leg,
Wrote Capital One ANOTHER snotty letter re their bad mix up, hoping it is all sorted real soon
...............think that's just about it for now!

Done
playroom tidied and hoovered
pick up
taken ds2 (with dd)to piano lesson and back on foot
ds2 homework
ds1 (back from Netball) violin
said goodbye to carpet man NEW CARPET YAY!

now unfortunately have stalled..carpet looks lovely but still have to put all the landing stuff back...and rest of bedrooms, laundry, supper, rubbish....[sees tasks stretching into infinity..]
Bin men have NOT COLLECTED RECYCLING think they must have come earlier than usual tarnation!
and Help at Beavers this eve
and stop dh being irritating

MissJ good luck with baby sleeping - hope she finds life less exciting at 4am this morning

The Cyber Choc is clearly working MJ, most productive..

swan, yes, thanks, the cyber choc is def working!!!
Yes, hopefully she will just have a wee nap, and then will go to bed at a more normal time tonight! Got to be up early tomorrow!!!
You too have been busy!! Pat on the back!!!
Good luck with the rest of tonight. xx

missj hope your DD sleeps better tonight

Happy birthday littleEllie

School run done
post very important letter done
check emails done
supermarket done
lunch done
dinner done

Living room
dust done
declutter done
hoover

Kitchen
clean the dishwasher filters done
load dw done
washing done
declutter the kitchen counters done
shine sink

upstairs
make beds
dusting

bathrooms
clean shower
and
loos

hallway

now I am shattered I keep getting side tracked and have so far
scrubbed out bins done
sorted out recycling done
cleaned living room windows done
none of which were on my original list but oh well.
Oh and I have fallen in love with my e-cloths

Wow leo, that's SOME list you've done there!!! Well done! No wonder you're tired!!

done - WOO HOO - have actually finished all 90 thank yous!!!
Just got to print out 90 photos now, and attach the thank yous, envelope, address, stamp..............going to take weeks!!!

Good evening all

(whispers) Leo what are e-cloths?

Well Feeling shocking today, think I'm coming down with DHs lurge plus I have been to the Docs and have an infection and now also have to have a fasting Glucose test - I really hate that, hanging around for 2 hours!

Meeting at uni went ok I guess although I have to re-write an essay which I could really do without. DH has gone out so going to put DH to bed then clean up the kitchen and get some uni work done

To Do

• Clean kitchen
• Uni work
• Fold clean clothes
• Put bins out
• Update Diary
• Sort out childcare for next week
• 1 x washing
• Pack ballet bag for tomorrow

Back later

Oh, I'm so excited I've just worked out how to change settings and colour posts and bookmark.

Now I can find where I am up to

all Hello!

Nice to see you all, have read the thread but really haven't time to say hi to individs - hope one day i will and thus become part of the thread properly

I am coming to terms with the fact that every day is a super busy day with three children!

Drama here, today was the day we were picking up our new car (well, it's a year old) and part ex-ing DH's. Guess what, his car wouldn't start this morning!!! LOL
Well I was so proud of us both, neither of us moaned, panicked or flapped. He rushed into the garage and hooked it up to the battery charger, fed the cable thru the letterbox and took my car to work, and I laughed and said how typical it was! My work on being less stressed and calmer is definitely working!
All's well that ends well, it started at 4.30 when he came home to collect it and went to the garage and swapped it for the new one!

See you tomorrow

Well done, Wendy! You both sound incredibly calm. Hope you enjoy your new car.

Makingchanges - you can get e-cloths (also known as microfibre cloths) from Lakeland, Waitrose and Tesco and probably elsewhere too. They pick up the dirt better than ordinary cloths, so you don't need to use anything more than water to shine your surfaces. They are excellent at shining your sink! Also, I love the 'bookmark' setting too, except when it disappears. (Has anyone else noticed that? Sometimes it just isn't there ).

Ellie - really hope the birthday went well today. It sounded like you had it all very well prepared.

MissJulie - 90 thank yous! I am very, very impressed. I struggle with fewer than 10.

Leo - glad to hear you are feeling the e-cloth love too .

Swan - only real choc works for me

CHB - hope you sorted the paperwork.

120 and Love - glad you like us! (I have also found this thread absolutely lovely and friendly).

Linzer - I am jealous of your new app . I want one!

PMPY- oooh, am getting excited now! Just make sure you tell us the good news as soon as you can (circumstances permitting, of course - I know you will have other priorities!). And do let me know if you want me to post steps or do a round up.

Sorry, I can't scroll back anymore or I will be here all night. So waves to OM, Feet, Still, MissJ and everyone else.

Not much of a Flying day today. Well, actually none done at all. Went on a school trip with DS2 this morning. The children were very sweet and very noisy! Came home for lunch, then out again for teacher meeting this afternoon. DS2 had a glowing report from his teacher. It was lovely to hear, but I was also well aware that none of it had anything to do with me and was simply a matter of lucky characteristics for DS. I used to spend hours discussing DS1's disruptive behaviour with teachers and worrying that it was all my fault. I have treated DS2 just the same (actually, have probably been less disciplined with him, if anything) and he is a teacher's dream - bright, well behaved, considerate, etc etc. He just happens to have a character which makes him easier to deal with, whereas DS1's differences made him feel stressed so that he was much harder to deal with in a group setting. DS2 has never been told off; DS1 was in the headmaster's office by the end of his first week at school.

Anyway, DS2 was none of those things once we got home and behaved probably worse than he's ever behaved before. I hope he was either feeling ill or tired, otherwise he had no excuse. (He was so awful, I even checked for chicken-pox spots).

Neither boy would settle to sleep at bedtime. After I finally thought I'd got them both settled, they sprang out at me from behind the sitting-room door. I almost died of fright. I think it might be time to dust off the reward charts again.

I'm going to attempt an early night tonight, then pick up where I left off with Flying tomorrow.

Goodnight all.

Evening all,

Resting tonight as my back has been aching, hoping DH has done the washing up. Hd a very busy after school/teatime period tonight. DS was grumpy because the Wii was broken and DD ws OK till bedtime and then a right little madam. I needed a stiff by the time Dh rolled in at about 8.

We're going to need a new thread in a couple of days at the rate we're going..................

Evening all

In the persistent absence of a new baby I thought I'd make the effort tonight ans post the babysteps and round.

So...

your babystep for tomorrow is one I know quite a few of us struggle with - to set a specific bed time and stick to it. Mine was 10pm, so that's going well .

Tomorrow's mission is here It's a double mission including making a list of any bathroom products you're running low of and clearing your desk. Desk clearing not a favourite with me .

Thursday as always is errand day - I am planning an exciting trip to the Post Office!

Toffee - had to :o at naughty boys frightening Mummy. Sounds like good cooperative behaviour even if not directed very well!

CHB - Mmmm, carrot cake. Have baking frenzy planned tomorrow and carrots to use up, might be tempted.

Wendy - you're here and you're Flying, you are part of the thread. No-one can keep up and do many personal messages at the moment :)

leo - not surprised you are shattered, just reading your list wore me out :)

Currently watching rather gory Life after Death Elephant thing though keep having to look away as it gets too yucky.
Have recorded Masterchef to watch tomorrow as DH feeling rough and gone to bed. Apologies now if I become Masterchef bore over next 6-8 weeks, been waiting impatiently since the Professional one finished. Think SC and Ogre are with me, anyone else?

Think I did OK on list today though there wasn't much Flying involved:

• Morning routine - slack version done
• Costco - done in less time than I thought
• Post stuff for work/ebay/Mum - no
• 2nd-hand uniform sale at school - done and made £67 with very little effort. My sort of fund-raising :)
• Very quick dinner - Macaroni cheese in oven using timer (fingers-crossed emoticon) - done
• DD to Brownies - actually my turn to pick up - done

Also managed 15mins decluttering in living room though needed more time so some still scattered over floor

Programme nearly over so bed now.
Night night

Hi all, making, i am glad you asked about e-cloths, i was very , changing colour settings and bookmark????? again!!!

Toffee - hope you get a good sleep hun, and are none the worse of your fright! I think it is def time to dig out the reward charts! ;) xx

ogre - hope your back is better soon hun, i too suffer from a bad back, it's the pits!

cold ;) xxx

push - glad you are ok!! Am never going to manage to stick to a bed time! - am a night owl, and looks like DD is taking after me!!! xxx

Right then here's the roundup.....

ellie's DD is three today and has been up since the crack of dawn! I hope she has had a lovely birthday!

feetheart had a bright and early start clearing up cat kills. Bleurgh. We moved the appliances round to lay a new floor in the kitchen a few weeks ago and discovered 3 small rodents in varying stages of fossilization that had obviously escaped from cats at some point, but not entirely unharmed.

Linzer has got her DDs well trained in the art of flying and is enjoying the 'home routines' iphone app. I have a blackberry and I don't think they've got anything similar, but do use the task list in outlook for work lists and the odd bit of flying does tend to sneak on there, particularly when I'm working from home.

Makingchanges is feeling rubbish today and has a glucose fasting test to make it worse. The thread has helpfully educated her in the wonders of e-cloths, which I'm sure will have helped no end

SC is tired and still feeling a bit grotty around the edges as is her DH. She has been stepping womanfully (?!) into the breach and posting the links and roundups every night in my absence, which is particularly impressive (and appreciated) as she is probably feeling at least as grotty me!

swan has had a busy day removing carpets and supervising the writing of huge numbers of thankyou letters.

balinderry and OM popped by to wish ellie's DD happy birthday

120 joined us properly having arrived briefly earlier in the week. She's made a good start today and is planning to stick around. Hello, it's very nice to meet you

CHB has had a wonderfully productive morning, and is celebrating with carrot cake. Mmm, cake.... (Me not CHB! )

leo has finished her OU project. Hooray! She has also managed a properly impressive list and is unsurprisingly shattered!

ogre has backache and is hoping to delegate some flying to her DH. Same here, but it is not going particularly well! Hope you at least managed to get him to pour your

lovenamechange hasn't been here much since the summer but popped back today to tell us how lovely we all are . Which was very nice of her indeed

missjulie was shining her sink at 2am, which seems very keen so is understandably feeling a bit tired today, but has still managed a pretty impressive list

wendy is keeping up with flying and the thread and has had car drama today. But she has a new car instead now so all's well that ends well and all that. What did you go for in the end?

toffee's DS2 got off to a good start today by being praised for his good behaviour and general all round lovlieness by his teacher. Unfortunately he rather took the shine off it when he got home! I have a little girl like that here tonight as well.

Everything is quiet here. No baby or sign of baby. He was obviously just teasing at the weekend! Managed most of my list, apart from putting the washing away and finishing the big report but no matter, will do them tomorrow.

Just wanted to reassure any of you who are struggling to keep up with the thread that daily posting and chat are not mandatory , and pretty much all of us dip in and out depending on RL and the state of our houses! Please don't feel that just because you don't have the time to post personal messages to every member that you aren't welcome on the thread .

Quickly popping on to register that I have spent the evening sorting my paperwork inbox, doing a load of laundry and tidying the kitchen. My baby step of not going to sleep on the sofa is definitely paying off. Very proud of myself

Next thing I need to address is the paperwork bombsite hiding in my bedroom. In small chunks. Basically I stopped filing papers when I had ds. He is now 4. Since when we have had another child and moved house. I leave the resulting state of things to your imagination. Things I am hoping to unearth include passports and car insurance documents - so quite important, really .

Quick post before I go to bed.

DH is still full of lurgy, he spent the day in bed. DS is better sickness wise, but we're left with a problem with very frequent trips to the potty. We need to get it sorted before he can go back to playgroup. So, at home again tomorrow, and hopefully we can fix it during halfterm. I'm not really sure what to do, and the doctor's advice was "try and eek it out a bit"!

So, limited flying here, whilst acting as nursemaid to DH, getting DS to wait for a little bit every time he wants to go to the loo, and wondering when my temp will go down and my throat and ears stop hurting

Done:
Morning routine
Clean washing away
Washing on line
Handwashing
S/s
Clean bath
Order prescription
Make DS bed
Lunch
Empty and wash kitchen compost bin
Playgroup paperwork
Zone cleaning - finished for this week now, bar cleaning outside of windows
Play and activities with DS, including bead threading
Menu plan
Online shopping list for delivery next week
Cook tea
Tea
Bedtime routine
Evening routine

Systems - at the paperwork. The same thing happened to me. I used to file it all and also kept tabs on our finances with Microsoft Money. Then I had DS1 (11 years ago) and it all fell apart. Moving house, having DS2 and having various building projects completed didn't help. I have just started throwing any bills and other important papers into a shoebox - I think that is a step in the right direction .

Ihate - sorry there is a lot of illness in your house at the moment, including you. You should be resting, but obviously you're not - what with DH and DS to look after and a long list like that, not to mention going to bed after 1am. Try to look after yourself too if you can, otherwise you'll be more ill in the longrun .

DS2 woke me up half an hour ago because he was scared and said he felt ill. He's gone back to sleep. He doesn't have any obvious symptoms, although being generally awful yesterday evening is an indication of something. I could do with him going to school today though. Oh well, we'll see.

I haven't been keeping on top of my routines, so the house is looking unloved. Luckily, I have a very tidy friend coming over for a cuppa after lunch, so that will give me the incentive to tidy up this morning. I think a crisis clean is in order.

Hope everyone has a good day.

Morning all,

Hope your DS is OK Toffee and that his bad mood yesterday was just due to tiredness, perhaps (DD2 is absolutely awful when she's tired). DD2 and DS were both in foul moods when they woke this morning, insisting they didn't want to come and visit the friends we've arranged to meet this afternoon, but they'd both calmed down after they had a chance to wake up over breakfast and decided they'd like to come after all!

cobwebs Poor you, having to look after DH and DS when you're not feeling well yourself - I hope you get the potty problem sorted and that you're all feeling better soon.

systems Paperwork is one of the few areas I manage to keep on top of (more or less) and it does make a huge difference. Now I just need to persuade DH to sort out (preferably cull) his paperwork too; he has folders and folders full of stuff in the chest of drawers in our bedroom (the drawer is buckling under the weight), not to mention yet more drawers, boxes and shelves full of old folders and other paperwork in the cellar and upstairs. I don't really feel I can nag him too much until I've got the rest of the house under control, though!

PMPY Glad to hear you're OK and that the baby is still allowing you some time to get things done!

missjulie If you click on Customise at the top of this page, it will take you to a list of options where you can choose whether to have the OP's and your posts highlighted (and in which colour) and to display bookmark links.

Right, must get on with today's list:

Buy bread from baker's done
Take white T-shirt into kindergarten done
Sign DS up for lunch tomorrow done
Morning routine
Mission - bathroom
Mission - office
15 mins decluttering in office
Clean fridge
Menu planning
Write shopping list
Purge magazines
Pay hotel deposit
Pay church tax
Afternoon routine
Send photos to GPs
DD1: thank you letters x2
DD2: letters x2
DD1: homework for dyslexia lesson
Sort out magazines for friend
Visit English friend
Evening routine

Many thanks linzer, off to have a look!

Since last here, done list:
printed off the 90 photos to go with the letters! Phew! (changed ink several times!!!)
Fed DD, did al dishes, shined sink again, looked out our clothes for today, including swimming bag, made up all meals for DD ready for today, sorted duvet cover (keeps coming apart, is 2 thin ones that double up with poppers), purchased required goods on ebay. Replied to MN threads. Think that's about it for yesterday!

Finally managed to go to bed before 12!!! (made it by the skin of my teeth!)
Up 6.30am as busy, busy day today. Not sure how much 'flying' will get done as got swimming with DD, then my counselling session (badly needed), then friend coming for lunch, she apparantly needs a MJ hug, then another friend coming to pick my brains (yikes!! non left due to baby brain!!!)

Hope to update at some point today before bed!

Hope you all have a lovely day! xxx

Oh my! That customising malarky is brill!! Thanks peeps!
Clicked on the bookmarking thingy too, so shall have to see what that's like later! x

Morning everyone! The morning after the day before and I am absolutely pooped.. Thank God it's only once a year!

We had a lovely day yesterday. House was filled with family and friends who spoilt DD rotten and she loved being the centre of attention. She got some fabulous presents and spent most of the day dressed as a princess . Today I suspect, due to tiredness, she will mainly behave like a spoilt princess .

The plan for today is quite simple. We did a lot of tidying up last night but still have some clearing up left to do.

List:-

Washing (still trying to break mount washmore)
Drying/Putting away
Tidy living room and dining room
Washing up
General tidy upstairs
Change DD and our beds
Bank
Dinner
Do crafty stuff this afternoon as it is a miserable day here.

My mum is having the Dc's for the day tomorrow so am going to try and get everything done bar the washing today so I can have a nice relaxing day tomorrow.

Back later!

Morning all
I never did return yesterday as I forgot I had a school coffee morning and then I was meeting my mum for lunch so not a lot of flying done...I did make a coffee cake and do a 1-2-1 lesson but that was it!! Oh and I went to Tesco

Today:
washingwashingwashing
make various phonecalls to book various cars in for MOTs etc
look into attempting a holiday sometime this year with all three DC and DH ( easier said than done!)
meet friend for coffee
supper?

Ellie- glad miniture ellie had a good day hope she's not a spoilt princess today but don't get your hopes up!! Your plan sounds fab! Enjoy your day off tomorrow.
Missjulie - i'm impressed with your 90 letters/photos . Mind your don't burn out!!
linzer/cobwebs - those are scary lists: good luck!!
toffee - hope DS2 is OK.
Big wave to everyone on the thread especially PMPY - thanks for a great roundup!