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!

makingchanges the x factor tour is on. Tickets were ds's christmas present. That must make you quite local to me!

morning all( well just about)

have shone my sink!
usually have a signing class this afternoon but it has been cancelled again!!!! we have an exam in 2 weeks time!
anyway am going to use this time...whilst baby is sleeping to do a bit of a declutter in my bedroom...wish me luck!

So I have been had by my scheming delightful DCs yet again, havent I??? Pancake day, is indeed next Tuesday. I am so flippin gullible!! Thank you for letting me know my stupidity!! So, now I have a fridge full of shop bought pancakes to use up!!

DCs are very good at this, they have persuaded me that they all have day off school before and sooooo nearly got away with it. I will get them back!! I can hear them cackling now at school, thinking they have got one over me! No excuse for DH - he is just gullible too and would believe them just to have pancakes!

Hello everyone. Would like to join in. Have been aware of flying since 2004, but very on and off, discovered mumsnet as broke ankle/ fibula on new years day and needed entertainment. So now I have plaster off and able to stumble about a bit am keen to get going on house which has been neglected since before Christmas.

So have discovered that I can sit and sort through stuff even though i'm not very mobile. Today decluttered DD2s room while she's at school and hid the giveaway stuff in guest ensuite (not as posh as it sounds, think icebox with no window) as can't get to charity shop. It feels good to do something useful at last.

Meanwhile builders are knocking out a fireplace in dining room to put in a stove, and so far have removed 3 tons of rubble, and raised a lot of dust. All the dining room contents are also in spare room so I need to go through all that before I put it back in the room once it's all finished.

When I read the decluttering testimonials on the flylady emails it gets me really motivated to be ruthless.

Anyway glad to have found you all

PA put pancakes in the freezer...then next week convieniently forget to take them out untill kids are in bed and bing on them!!!!
My DS has been counting down the weeks till pancake day with sunday school and has requested we have just pancakes for every meal next tuesday, he is only 4.

binge on them not bing!!

PA You made me chuckle
Ellie I am a Sheffielder born and bred

Ok The entire downstairs has been scrubbed, hoovered, mopped and sprayed. I am exhausted.

Now I have written my letter and parcelled my parcel and off to post office and shop for DDs cooking ingredients.

Not getting far on my essay writing though

Back later

Quick update to keep myself going:

Put rubbish out done
B/fasts done
Lunch box done
School run done
DS1 - reading time (last vol of Cressida Cowell's 'How to Train Your Dragon' series, which he has loved) done
Swish and swipe done
Unload d/w done done
Wet clothes in T/D done
D/W - towels done
Empty dishrack done
Shine sink done - hope MIL impressed
Make up guest bed
Make up DS2's bed
Put washing away (all over radiators) done
Take crate of clutter upstairs (surfaces look better now, though) done
Tidy sitting room done
Tidy DS2's bedroom (where MIL is sleeping)
Wash wooden floors downstairs done
Wet washing into t/d doing next
MIL arrives 10.30 here
DS1 - breaktime done
DS1 - home ed - Maths and English and plan topic did decimals. DS very grumpy.
Lunch next

DS says he will watch David Attenborough's 'Life on Earth' (the oceans bit for his fish project) with MIL, which will give me some free time to work before the school run. I'm not sure he'll manage it all - he can't usually watch telly with her or with his little brother because they both make him too tense.

PA at your devious children!

MissJ - lots of e-cloth users on this thread. They are microfibre cloths that you can use with just water - leave things sparkling. I use one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. They really do make my taps sparkle, especially if I can be arsed to polish them up with the free polish cloth I had with mine (only for visitors - am not that fastidious). You can get them from Lakeland, Tesco, Waitrose and probably other supermarkets too.

Well done on all this morning's sink shiners!

Must go and make more tea and some lunch for MIL. Back later.

Welcome, Asinine . Well done on decluttering with a broken ankle!

OK im in ....but m a bit dubious .......

it will never work for me but Im gonna give it a go .

Maybe that should say 'in spite of a broken ankle' .

Welcome, Spiderbabymum too. Just follow the babysteps - you'll be fine.

I take it you and Bigfatspider are not arachnophobic, then?

Quick lunchtime update.

Done - Posting stuff (a la SAGE), paying stuff, contract invoices.
Have also washed up and shined sink

Now need to move around to get warm and eat

Flylady says throw out stuff that's broken, I should have decluttered the ankle...

Spider baby, flylady was very hopeless at housework, that's why she developed the system, so don't worry.

at decluttering the ankle, Asinine.

joining! and i've already done my air filters (dp nearly broke them by trying to pull them off!)

going to shine my sink now :) i'm feeling very positive

oh, hello everyone

sorry i got a bit carried away!

Wow some of you have been busy!!

I haven't got into this as yet, even though I seriously need to, but I am slightly proud of myself this morning as I cleared out loads of junk and rubbish from my car! All the door pockets were crammed with rubbish and old water bottles from days out (mainly the children's fault of course!) and now my pockets are clean and tidy. I threw out about 7 bottles, a big pile of magazine inserts from the children's comics which they unpack in the car and snack wrappers.

I have to go out again in a minute (been out all morning so the car is the only thing I have done) but once I get back I will do my sink and then do some serious ironing. After that, 15 minutes decluttering the space around my sofa which is a magnet for craft things and magazines. It is beginning to form a little cave where I sit that I virtually have to climb into.

Have just dropped off DD1 at her computer course and DD2 is doing her homework. Have an hour to get on with things before I need to pick up DS and two friends; a friend of DD2's will be arriving an hour later. (After yesterday's episode, plain pasta will definitely be on the menu tonight. The boys' mum was quite surprised that they hadn't eaten the mini pizzas, but it turned out that they normally have cheese and tomato ones at home whereas the ones I'd given them were just with cheese...)

I was going to repost my list but am too embarrassed to admit how little I've done so far, so am just going to get on with it.

Nettie Thanks so much for the postcard - DS will be very excited and I am very .

Ah I can't believe its 1.30pm and i've only just made it on here.

Have a friends DD here today because she's unwell so not got much flying done with a 2yr old and my own baby. (both asleep right now so having a spot of lunch)

Short list but already done most of it

Car Tax done
Quick Shop done
S and s bathroom done
Tumble dry clothes done
Empty and fill DW done
School run done
Put dinner in slow cooker done

Just need to do....

Hoover
Tidy DD's room
15 min declutter
School run
Dinner
Evening routine

I've done it! I've done it! It's taken 3 hours but the piles of paperwork are no more - all have been filed or binned

Going to clean the desk now as it hasn't seen a duster in a while

Well done everyone on all your progress so far today

Lunchtime update

To Do.

• Hoover Hall, Kitchen and Lounge - Done
• Mop all above - Done and the stairs for good measure
• Spray ant killer on all the above. - Done
• Check cupboards in kitchen (they were in the cereal cupboard last year) - Done there are none but been and bought some plactic locking cereal tubs to get rid of open cereal boxes
• Finish essay - (whistles - next)
• Mission
• Write letter to new school placement starting next week - done
• Post letter and some other bits done
• Pick up DHs dry cleaning bother forgot this must go bacvk at school run time and pick up - thats annoying
• Buy bits to make chocolate biscuits that DH promised to make with DD but didn't the task has now fallen to me - done
• Pick up DD and make biscuits
• Make tea for DH and DD
• Swimming lesson this evening

I suppose I can put off the essay no longer - I'll do an hour before pick up

Simonedeboudoir, well done- I am jealous! Paperwork is the scariest thing as far as I'm concerned, it's just so boring and depressing.

After slacking for quite a while I've decided to try flying again. It really does make a difference when I do it.

So far I have
Shined my sink
Swished and swiped
Done a load of washing - still needs to be hung out
Done the sheets, polish and dust bit of the house blessing. (I did the other bits yesterday.)
And done 30 minutes of decluttering in the living room.

However I haven't really done the last bit properly as I still have two full crates of stuff from the decluttering that needs to be put away/dealt with including lots of paperwork.

Must get going again as I have people coming round this evening for a meeting. My plan is to get the living room straight and then make sure they stay there rather than seeing the chaos that pervades the rest of the house.

Daffodil