If you're house is cluttered and you're Mad as a Hare, join March Fledgling Flyers and get it all square

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Following on from the February Fledgling Flyers thread, welcome to March. This is the thread that follows the Flylady website (loosely) for getting your home decluttered and your housework into routines, whilst dispensing tea and chat freely.

A big thank you to PushMePullYou for leading us through February ably assisted by ToffeeFudgeCake. We had a huge influx of new posters as well, which was lovely, anyone else who is lurking, please say hello, you will be 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!

Rubbish!! I better find linzer instructions

CHB Best of luck today. Would DS let you doze whilst he watches a DVD, maybe? Or could you ring your mum and ask for help? You need some sleep.

WhoKnows - thanks for the fab round up. It really helps us to keep up with everyone. Apologies for tempting you all to spend at Lakeland!

Nettie - underneath the bit you write in, there is a box which you tick (converts links automatically). Or you can surround each link with and . I'll have a go with your links for you.

I don't think I'm ready to come out of the closet yet with a Flylady calendar!

Spent half the night sleeping with DS2 ("Mum, I'm scared!"), then I read him stories in bed when he woke up. That was lovely, until DS1 joined us in a manic very lively mood. Everything suddenly became very noisy and physical. Herded them downstairs for breakfast, did my best (and failed) to keep them out of DH's room (his lie-in this morning) and am now being pestered by DS1 for this computer.

I have a headache. I wonder why .

Going to do my routines, then we are all going into town. Those boys need some exercise this morning.

Hope you all have a good day.

Will try link:
www.flylady.net/pages/FlyShop_calendar.asp

Yep, it worked (that was ticking the box, Nettie).

Hello! I'm a newbie who hasn't been around much this week. Things have been busy, but have stil tried to do some FLYing and read the thread, just haven't had much of a chance to post as I would want to.

Everyone sounds sooooooo busy - which is reassuring - it's not just my life which is manic.

Am pleased with the state of my hallway this week after the daily missions, so really want to try and work the same magic in the kitchen next week - but it's a much, much, MUCH bigger project!

I've also been really trying with the 15 mins decluttering. Have been slowly chipping away at the mountain of interiors magazines I've managed to collect.

We're having building work start in a few weeks to knock walls down to make a new kitchen/living/dining room and ensuite - so am hoping these new habits will help keep the new, sparkly things new and sparkly for longer. The decluttering should also help because I'm going to have to pack everything up soon.

Taking it easy today. Not much FLYing planned as DH husband isn't here much during the week, so need to concentrate on planning for the new kitchen etc - too many decisions! So plan for today:

Morning Routine done
DH taking DS swimming whilst I pop to some shops to look at tiles and curtains (DS-free = bliss!)
Meet DS and DH for lunch
Pop round to neighbours to ask question about their new kitchen
Bake cake with DS
Make dinner
Load WM
Bedtime Routine
Finish the magazine decluttering
Nag DH to go up to the loft and check to mouse "situation"

WhoKnows - thankyou so much for your updates and all the links, so super helpful.
Nettie - really hope your DCs don't squabble all day for you.
CHB - I thought it was bad that DS seems to think 5.30am is the start of the day. 2am is unthinkable. Boo. Hope you manage to get some rest, somehow.
Toffee - hope your headache doesn't last, and that the fresh air works!

Had a lovely meal out last night and also managed to go out for breakfast at the local baker's before we picked up the DC. Now back to normal noise levels! We went out shopping this morning and I bought myself a new feather duster (actually a retractable microfibre duster, which is lovely and soft although probably not the best thing for my dust allergy) and a variety of boxes to try and organise some of our clutter (yes, I know - you can't organise clutter). DH has also promised to help the DC organise their Lego and Playmobil, and possibly even get rid of some.

I'm another one who has been tempted to browse the Lakeland catalogue and spend far too much money. . Their postage rates to continental Europe are very expensive, but not quite expensive enough to put me off ordering entirely.

MrsSharp Glad to hear the missions and decluttering are making a difference.

Toffee Hope your headache clears up soon.

Nettie It's much easier to do links now that you can tick the "Convert links automatically" box below the message box. Otherwise you can, as Toffee said, enclose everything in two square brackets - the link itself plus any words you want to be highlighted. So, for example,

Today's babystep is {{http://www.flylady.net/pages/bbd5.asp here}}

(but using square brackets instead of curly ones) would give

Today's babystep is here

CHB Hope you manage to get some rest today - flying should be very low on your list of priorities.

WhoKnows Well, I'm envious when you all talk about Tesco, online supermarket deliveries, John Lewis, Lakeland, school days that don't finish until 3 pm... I could go on!

hi i'm still here without wisdom tooth but nurofen is taking the edge off. not much flying done yesterday after dentist - just lay up eating yogurt, and feeling sorry for myself.

DD had birthday party to go to today so 3 hours of flying lost but sure top hats made up for it :) even with sore mouth .

am now going to play with polly pocket ice cream pool thing - which has turned our living room into a wet room!

will try to get some more flying done

enjoy your saturday all!

quickly popping on whilst ds2 and 3 are watching humpf something educational.

not much flying done here today either. feeling completely unmotivated today. need to watch how clean is your house. that always motivates me! but cant get near tv between the hours of 7am and 8pm.

so to try and get motivated i am writing out what i want to have acheived today. im at home all day so have no excuse really.

shine sink
brush/hoover downstairs
clear livingroom hotspot
put wash in washing machine
put load in tumble drier
sort clothes

nice simple little list

will catch up with thread later, boys have started fighting in livingroom

done
tidied kitchen
took dcs to various activities including BOYS BALLET (which just about passed muster with ds2 - a football hooligan [smile)
did a bit of garden tidying, yard tidying

other than that dh and I are both yawning
....and I have to go out tonight to PTA dance (by myself boo hoo - but may find people to share glass of wine with - Yay!)

house pretty slovenly but liveable
dh now complaining that dishwasher has not been stacked correctly [grr]

oh dear dh now fed up with tiresome kids

Right, an early roundup tonight so I can walk away from the computer. Although I really need to research new gas and electricity suppliers as we have just come off a fixed rate and will be paying through the nose. Not really what I want to spend Saturday night doing!

Anyway, we have had a nice day, I took the DCs to their swimming lessons, DH has been doing this for the last few weeks, so it was nice to see the progress they have made. Took them to a local country park this afternoon with their bikes (they are both being weaned off stabilisers) and back for tea and Dance Junior on the Wii (who needs to go to the gym).

Tomorrow I think we will do more bike practice, need to keep the momentum going.

Today started very early for CHB, thanks to an insomniac DS, hope you managed to get a bit of rest later.

Nettie was up early too, and was planning to take the DCs out for the day

Toffee had to sleep with DS2 and has ended up with a headache

MrsSharp has seen the benefits of Flying with her hall and is planning to tackle the kitchen next (it is next week?s zone) in advance of building work

Linzer reminded us that while she gets to go on date nights in Vienna she has to pay extortionate postage for Lakeland stuff

Balinderry is minus tooth but plus pain, hope it starts to ease soon, my wisdom teeth have yet to put in an appearance, hopefully they never will, but the dentist tells me it?s never too late.

Snot, I think I will call you SDDBs instead, just feels rude calling someone Snot! Hope you managed to get remotivated.

Swan ? boys ballet, glad it went well. There is one boy in DD?s ballet class (a twin who goes with his sister) it is nice to see that it is not an exclusively female pastime. Although watching my DS dancing with the Wii tonight I think DD?s position as prima ballerina is undisupted.

Right, links next, have a good evening everyone.

Sunday

Babystep An important one this, hotspots, 2 minute bursts of focussed decluttering in small areas such as the hall table.

No mission as it's the weekend, next week we are in the Kitchen.

Quite a good day here today, although I haven't managed to get any paid work done, unfortunately. I did my routines this morning though, which means the house is looking ok. Sticking to the routines and decluttering really does make all the difference. We have friends coming for lunch tomorrow and I don't even need to have a crisis clean first (most unusual!). It also helps that they are not in the slightest bit houseproud.

Took the boys into town this morning, combining exercise, family trip out and shopping. DS2 whined and wailed through most of the trip, lamenting that this was the worst day of his whole life EVER!

My headache went eventually (Paracetamol and Codeine did the trick). Think I might have a bit of a bug, as I'm feeling tired and achy too. Nothing awful though - just a good excuse not to do too much .

DS2 cheered up when we made cakes together this afternoon (his reward for completing last week's 'go to school' chart, even though he was off school for two days ).

Was going to work a bit this afternoon, but ended up instead browsing for ideas for DS on making a topic book on fish/oceans (his choice). I have absolutely no idea where to begin. I have a rough idea that we should cover all the curriculum, so maybe I should suggest looking at artists who draw fish, get DS to draw/paint fish or read a story about fish/oceans, as well as examining fish scientifically, but I have never done anything like this before, so I am a bit stumped. Also, I don't want to put DS off by being too prescriptive. Any ideas from teachers / home edders most welcome!

Swan - thoroughly approve of boys' ballet! I have my eye on DS2, who loves to dance. My mother was a professional ballet dancer, so we keep hoping her dancing genes will come out somewhere.

Snot - that's an excellent list for a Saturday. Flylady says it is meant to be a family day (she doesn't seem to cover single people or those without children ). I love 'How Clean is Your House' - always makes me feel better about my own house .

Ballinderry - sounds like you should definitely be having a Fly-free day today. Take it easy and I hope you recover soon.

Linzer - glad you enjoyed your meal out (you really did have a date night on a Friday!). Sorry to tempt you with Lakeland ...

MrsSharp - hello newbie! Sounds as if you are doing a great job with your Flying. How exciting about the building work! I was in love with my new kitchen for some time after it had been installed. I used to come downstairs in the morning and just stand in it (had never had a brand new kitchen before).

Promised to make the boys pancakes before bed, so must go and do that now, plus get to the wine bottle before DH finishes it all. Am cheating with ready-made pancakes from Waitrose.

Hope you all have a lovely Saturday night and a relaxing Sunday.

Toffee - maybe look at how fish stocks affect us, overfishing etc, how we need to choose sustainable fish etc. A few weeks ago some of the TV chefs were running a campaign about that (Jamie Oliver etc), there might therefore be some fairly recent, accessible stuff on the internet.

Toffee (disclaimer - not a teacher) - maybe you could cover geography: oceans different fish live in, move through etc (includes ocean currents ...), history: change in fishing techniques/boats/our taste in fish, environmental issues: pollution, climate change, fish farms, science: food chains, life-cycle

Routines only fly day here. DS had a birthday party today, 12 - 2, so that seems to have taken up most of the day. Ended up having to make the birthday this morning, as yesterday evening went seriously pear-shaped. By the time I'd done that, a few jobs etc, it was time to get him changed and half hour drive to party. By the time we got back, it seemed that most of the afternoon was over. DH wants me to repair car roof, so spent time working out how to do that, then its been cooking tea, eating, and getting DS to bed.

Morning routine done
S/s done
Make beds done
Make birthday card done
Get DS ready to go out done
Party done
Washing up done
Look at car roof done
Bins, compost bin etc done
Clean washing away done
Cook tea done
Tea done
Bedtime routine done
Evening routine done

As I lost my "me time" yesterday, I'm hoping to get some sewing done tonight - DS is reluctant to give up his Christmas quilt until he has a replacement, so need to get his next one finished.

Evening all

Sorry to have been missing for last few days, manic time at uni and had an assignment to complete. Have been up all night as well as DD was sick as soon as DH and I went to bed so not a good day today. My brill sister volunteered to have her today though whilst I went to Machester for a 1/2 day seminar on getting first teaching job.

Can't believe you guys have re-ignited my Lakeland obsession by viewing links (Can recommend the peeler and oven mate - both fab)

Done today

• Bedding washing and complete bedroom clean up
• Kitchen clean up
• Shopping
• Fetch Pizza from pizza shop
• Registered for another seminar in March
• De-any hallway (again)

right pizza eaten, time to start on choccy. Sorry for lack of personals, I read 3 days of thread and n can't remember who did what

Dh and ds1 gone away for a few weeks/months respectively, ds2 living in England and dd at ds-i-l's with her cousin for the night. It's most odd being here with just the dog. Still I've got loads of washing and ironing done over the past few days and my sink is shining so I'm going to really try and keep up with this thread (famous last words). And I really need to spend less time in front of my computer. Not easy to do both .

Thanks for the ideas on the fish topic, WhoKnows and Ihate. I knew my Flying friends would have some good ideas.

WhoKnows - thanks for the round up. Glad you had a lovely day. I have often wondered about getting a Wii to keep the boys entertained and active on rainy days. But I'm worried about having yet another computery thing to police. Are you glad you have yours? Would you recommend it?

Ihate - I'm very impressed that you are not only arranging your son's birthday party, but also mending the car roof. You are a woman of many talents!

Makingchanges - sorry to reignite Lakeland obsession! Have noted your votes for oven thingy and peeler. Sorry you have had such a difficult and manic time last night and today. Hope your daughter is feeling better soon - and that you can catch up on sleep tonight.

Longtime - welcome to the March thread. You are right, it is tricky to balance the motivation provided by this thread with its potential to distract. I usually try to do my morning routines before turning on the computer, so that at least I feel I have achieved something first. And I try hard not to click on Active Threads!

Just off to make pizza dough for lunch tomorrow (am cooking another meal for the adults, which I'll prepare in the morning)...

Goodnight all.

Toffee Kensuke's Kingdom - desert island book - Morpurgo, has lots of lovely Hokusai like pictures as well
fishmonger's (list of fish there!)
make a beautiful model fish out of clay to scale and paint it?
Paper fish from mobile to hang in his bedroom
A fish from different ocean, tropical, cold water taht sort of thing,
Sea Shanties -sing together [ahem]
Nelson turning blind eye
Francis Drake playing bowls
ocean bed including volcano out of papier and mache
watch Finding Nemo!
watch any film about seafaring - Moby Dick is serious stuff!
Learn the different oceans - make a basic map of them and colour in
Whale music
Erosion - white cliffs of Dover
Holland - reclaimed from sea
Little Boy and the Dyke

just some slightly inebriated thoughts
The Longest Whale Song - JW (a weepie - perhaps a bit girlie

sorry, my last sentence got detached!

bbon Sunday eve...

Toffee its only a soft top so is just sewing really (though on a heavy duty scale), my welding skills are very limited!

evening.

trying day but did manage to sleep this morning.

Decided to try to resuce so stuff that had fallen behind something. Soooooo not a good idea. Have also spent an hour decluttering/tidying my room. there has been a slight dent put in it.

Just finished clearing up after making pizza dough. It goes against my Flylady habits to leave a messy kitchen. I'm wide awake, but I know I'll suffer for it in the morning if I don't go to bed soon.

CHB - glad to hear you managed some sleep today. Congrats on decluttering too.

Swan - am adding your inebriated, but most useful, ideas to my list. Thank you so much. Whale song reminds me of a Star Trek film featuring whale communication and explaining how intelligent whales are and how mankind is destroying them - DS would love to watch that one evening.

Re: fishmonger - very nice fishmonger in Waitrose today saw my youngest eying the fish eagerly and offered him a small piece of haddock to try (75pence worth!). I cooked it for him at home and he loved it. So I might take DS1 there on his own one day and get him to choose some fish, ask the friendly man about it and then cook it himself at home. He loves cooking.

Have also been looking at the London Aquarium website, which has lots of useful information. Maybe we could save up to take DS there as part of his project. Who was it who was taking their daughter there for a birthday outing recently? Someone on this thread, I'm sure.

Sorry, seem to have drifted well and truly off the Flylady topic here .

Off to bed now. Really. Night all.

Morning all,

I'm the only one up so far, so it's lovely and quiet here at the moment - but it's bound not to last much longer.

We're planning a quiet day at home today; DH wants to organise all the Lego and Playmobil, and I'm hoping to continue the decluttering. I finally forced DH to declutter one of the drawers in the bedroom; it was buckling under the weight of all his papers so it had to be done. He got quite annoyed with me last time I tried to do it, but admitted yesterday that he really needed to go through it.

He got rid of what seemed like tonnes of old paperwork, although persuading him to part with some of the more sentimental items may be a little more tricky. He had all his old primary school books in the drawer, including the message book that got sent home to his parents (not sure what the English equivalent is as we didn't have them in my day) in which the ink is so faded that you can't actually read any of it any more. Also discovered an old calendar from 1995 in which the only entries were random numbers on particular days - I suspect they may be the kilometres he cycled on that day.

I know you're only supposed to inspire your partner to declutter, not force them to do it, but I'm not sure how much longer the chest of drawers would have survived otherwise!

A quick question for those who use the Lakeland oven cleaner: it says that you can't use it with self-cleaning ovens. We have a self-cleaning oven, so does that mean I can't use the cleaner at all or just that I can't use it for the self-cleaning programme? Have just ordered their latest catalogue.

Hello, can I play please?

Have had several attempts in the past but have never stuck at it although in the short term it did make a difference. Have just moved house and really need to get into some good habits!!

woke up bright and early, only to find dd would not let me use the computer ("just five mins more Mummy, pleeease")as she was already watching some Tracy Beaker on it [grr]
for some reason I am unable to Fly when my children are on the computer although it doesn't really make sense...
anyway I have given ds2 breakfast, read Guardian Review, had a cup of cofffee, and am now debating whether to put the bins out
and now I've lost my moment, as I think I'll have to go and bring dh a cup of tea

Out to Stoke N (other side of London)for lunch with cousins.
Needto
check directions
check Silverlink Metro
get all dressed in smartish clothes (ie: non grimey)
ring my other friend and try and organise a meetup whilst I'm there (should have remembered that yest
avoid rows

Linzer he'll probably enjoy the decluttering and understand the point of it. The satisfaction of the lack bin liner! My dad never recovered from the fact that his mum threw away all his letters from boarding school (she was a kind lady, but every now and then, just to keep the show on the road, as she had many children, a ruthless declutterer) and has been a hoarder of all memorabilia ever since. It is difficult to know what to keep.

Dd checked a puzzle yesterday for me which I wanted to give away to a four year, and lo and behold, she refused to part with it -having not done the puzzle for the last five years It is a painful process.

neenook hello, and good morning.