April Fledgling Flyers: April Fools we are not, babysteps and decluttering makes our thread hot, step right in and mark your spot.

[NettieSpaghetti]

Welcome, come away in you?ll have had your . This is the April Fledgling Flyers Thread.

Thanks to WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes who was champion at leading us through March.

We are trying to stick to the Flylady © Website and her baby steps and routines to help keep our houses out of C.H.A.O.S and ready for everyday, maybe the odd visitor or two.

Check her website out but don?t sign up for emails as they are likely to inspire but fill your inbox so full we might not see you till August.

The principles are:

Babysteps (one at a time)
Babysteps and 15 minutes daily decluttering
Babysteps and daily missions.

This month I will be posting the links and leading you down the road to building a routine and keeping your house under control.

It is amazing what you can achieve in a simple babystep,15 minutes a day and a little chat.

Good night cheerfulyank maybe if I. Was on your time zone I'd be ok as I want to go to sleep but dd is up. 6.30am here!

Love the dh challenge and think sending ds to bed in his clothes is the sheer time management genius I need to adopt

Right, first of the month and this time I'm SERIOUS :)

I've been on here for 15mths or so, have a number of the routines that just come naturally now (swish and swipe, 1 wash a day), some that I could do better with (clothes out, bed at decent time) and some that Need Work (15 mins a day being the most obvious!)
This month I accept the challenge to DO FLYLADY PROPERLY. Tried it a little while ago for about a week and it made a big difference. For my own state of mind I want a more decluttered house. This month it is going to happen!!

Hello to all the new Flyers. Welcome aboard and don't let my evangelism put you off. The system works and taking it slowly is the way to go. I just need a kick up the backside to get me to another level:

Today's scary list:

• Morning routine - S&S, washing in, washing up done, table wiped, kitchen/dining room floor swept, birds fed, 2 min Hotspot. Will have to be done in stages as have mad day at school
• Wrap and post Mother's Day present/card
• Sort out school Mother's Day gifts that have already been done and get them to classes
• DD Recorder concert at 10am
• CRB check sorted and handed in
• 15 min decluttering in living room
• Tidy tiny hallway
• Mother's Day crafts at school - 47 x Yr5 and 6 have signed up, more may turn up! Busiest day so far but hopefully they will just get on with it!
• Coffee and cake in local bakery if time before.....
• Joining all the Mums in DS's Reception class for Mother's Day session with children :)
• Afternoon Routine - DC picked up, fed and watered on way home, bags checked, letters/notes/homework noted, dinner on
• DD to dance with packed tea to eat in car (either with DS or not depending on DH's work schedule)
• Evening routine - dinner for DH and I, clothes out for DS for gymnastics in morning, shiny sink
• Collapse in heap after slightly insane week :)
• EARLY NIGHT

As usual there seems to be very little Flying on the list . Not the best day to start Being Serious!

Hope you don't get tricked too often today.
Happy Flying :)

Morning all,

A slightly less stressful start to the day here - thanks for all your sympathy yesterday! The first thing that DD2 said when she woke up this morning was that she wasn't bringing her friend's school books home today, but I ignored her and it wasn't till I dropped her off that I asked her to bring the work home if her friend wasn't as school this morning. One temper tantrum successfully averted. We were still late getting to the meeting point despite the lack of tantrums this morning and DD2 didn't want to walk to school, but I refused to drive them as it would be a slippery slope .

Right, I am ready for our challenge Toffee, feetheart and everyone else who is joining in!
( CheerfulYank I was finding it very difficult to get motivated last month so Toffee suggested a challenge: we're trying to stick to the Flylady routines and reporting back to the thread to get us back on track. A few others have joined in, but you only really need to worry about babysteps as this is your first month on the thread - you'll build up your routines as the month progresses.)

I'm also just going to post this morning's list to stop me feeling too overwhelmed! Will post my morning routine in detail, which I don't usually do - I have my routines on my iPod and tick them off as I go along, but posting them on the thread as well will provide me with some extra motivation, I hope!

School run done
Empty dishwasher done
Clear away breakfast things
Check calendar
Check to-do list done
Make beds
Put yesterday's washing away
Put washing on done
Swish & swipe
5 min room rescue
2 min hot spot
Get lunch out of freezer
Hang up washing
Ironing
Water and vitamins
Mission
15 min decluttering
Pay Betriebskosten
Pay membership subscription/PII
Make appointment with gynaecologist
Menu planning
Write shopping list
Mend clothes
Clean out bag
Polish shoes
School run
Lunch

Have just realised I've done virtually none of my weekly tasks apart from changing the sheets, but I'm not going to try catching up now - will just try to do better next week. I definitely need this challenge!

Mufti Day/swimming/PE for ds1/Dress rehearsal for play here.
Cue total collapse of any system we ever had

Off to SIL now for Friday baby bonding!

My only Done is that I did a big supermarket shop last night after the children were in bed. And went straight to sleep at 10.30!
And new sheets on beds.

Dunno what Friday will bring...bbl...oh yes we are out tonight, very long trek to Stokey for 50th.Had anxiety dream about parties last night

Morning all,

Well, i'm a bit lazy about making beds (don't make them at all, just leave the duvets turned back all day), but have got in the habit of only doing ours and not the DCs. So I have started making more effort. I am going to do the detailed vacuuming of the lounge and declutter the hall twble today, mission-wise, and also clean the bathroom and the kitchen floor.

Am a bit nervous about after school today, as normally DS is allowed to ue the wii on a Friday (and Sat/Sun) but following very bad behaviour yesterday it has been banned for the whole weekend, I am expecting this to cause a lot of ructions . I have read threads this week where people have been judged heavily for not disciplining their 7 year olds enough and it has made me feel as though I am letting him get away with a bit much sometimes.

Off to a good start here! This challenge is definitely what I need.

Paved the way last night by doing my complete before-bed routine, which meant I came down to a shiny sink and tidy kitchen this morning. All the clothes were laid out, there were no tantrums and we ended up being early for school (unheard of!).

List so far:

Get dressed done
S&S done
D/W - unload done
B/fasts, water, vitamins done
W/M on done
Lunchbox and water bottle for school done
School run done
D/W - reload done
Make beds done, but then realised I had to wash our sheets so unmade ours again and put them in the w/m
T/D done
Daily declutter - 15 mins (should be in the 'living room', but I'm doing our bedroom instead)
Hot spot - kitchen - 5 mins
Home ed - DS finish writing about trip to aquarium, do MathsWhizz (go through exercises DS1 is struggling with), revise English - BBC Bitesize (adverbs, adjectives, story planning) and write story about deep-sea creatures.
Lunch

Have just put our sheets in the w/m. It's only 10am and I'm already on the second wash .

Just about to start home ed with DS, who is looking apprehensive because I told him we had lots of home ed to do this morning.

Well done, Linzer and Feet - looks as if you are both off to a good start as well.

Cheerful - I love your 10-min decluttering rotation with your DH - that's a great idea. As Linzer said, you don't have to do as much as us because you are just starting out with Flylady. You will establish a routine as you work through the babysteps.

Swan - Flying duties excused for you today - you have enough to do. You are being a fab SIL, by the way.

WhoKnows - am PMing you about the Wii ban as it reminds me so much of what we've had to do with DS1 in the past.

Back later with list to update.

I'm not quite sure where to pick up with FLYing. I do the shiny sink and the swish & swipe as routine now, which is good, but I started to pick and choose with the rest and that's when it all started to go wrong! Does everyone do the control journal thing?

Today I have done the S & S, tidied the kitchen and wiped the surfaces, put 3 loads of washing on the line and 4 in the machine (1 still to go out but no space yet). I can't make the beds because all the sheets are on the line/in the washing machine but I should probably declutter something.

Welcome janey. I do have a control journal but rarely use it any more now that I have my routines, to-do list, zone cleaning plans, etc. on my iPod - which were really the only parts of my control journal that I looked at regularly. (I also have sections with a master shopping list, the missions printed out, and general Flying info such as the crisis cleaning plan, tips for not getting sidetracked, decluttering advice, etc.)

Quick update on this morning's list before I take DD1 to her dyslexia lesson; I'll be back later with a list for this afternoon.

School run done
Empty dishwasher done
Clear away breakfast things done
Check calendar done
Check to-do list done done
Make beds done
Put yesterday's washing away done
Put washing on done
Swish & swipe done
5 min room rescue done
2 min hot spot done
Get lunch out of freezer done
Hang up washing
Ironing done
Water and vitamins done
Mission done
15 min decluttering
Pay Betriebskosten
Pay membership subscription/PII
Make appointment with gynaecologist done
Menu planning done
Write shopping list done
Mend clothes
Clean out bag
Polish shoes
School run done
Lunch done

Coffee with DS2 class mums this morning, which was lovely so I'm not going to feel guilty that I'm only just getting started.

I finished the house blessing earlier in the week than usual (ie before the next one comes around) so the to do list isn't as bad as usual.

done

shiny sink
dishwasher on
washing machine on
top up shop
off loaded outgrown school uniform to another mum
decided what to make for DC's and our tea
camcorder charging (in readiness for DS2 concert later)

to do

hot spot x 2
swish and swipe x 2
buy tickets
15 mins declutter
unload dishwasher
hang out wet washing
put away dry washing
get ready for school pick up
buy art supplies
go to second hand uniform sale
go to yet another concert

Welcome, Janey. Are you following the babysteps? If you are, don't worry about what else you should be doing as the babysteps will lead you through it. Re: control journal - I have a control journal and found it really useful when I was starting Flylady. I don't look at it every day, but I probably should. Like Linzer, I have added useful info, such as Flylady's crisis clean. Flylady recommends decluttering for 15 minutes a day in the current 'zone', which is the sitting room this week, I think. Once you have finished decluttering in that zone, you can start doing the daily missions. I am definitely still at the decluttering stage, so I don't do the missions at the moment.

Linzer - you are speeding ahead with the challenge this morning! Judging by the amount you've done on that list, it looks as if you have found your motivation again!

Fun - glad you had a lovely morning with friends .

Have been concentrating on home ed with DS1 for the past hour or so. The second load of washing is going in the tumbledrier now. ( Janey - how did you get through four loads of washing this morning? I'm impressed). Am now doing some ironing whilst DS works. This wasn't even on my to-do list!

Drove home from SIL at 1.45, thinking panic panic there's so much to do in next hour. Baby niece was a bit unsettled today although full of smiles, so I felt not quite so competent as I had on previous occasions. They change all the time don't they...re: feeds and sleeps....

However, now I'm home I will try to focus

essentialtodo
wipe table
clear out sink
pay gas bill againafter yesterdays card blocking dramas!

optionalfun
tidy my bedroom [haha] - won't attempt to clean it
lay out nice outfit for this evening
hoover floor if get time

write card for birthday
ring to arrange possible lift (dreading this)
tidy kitchen for babysitter
put away clean washing

well done all routiners! janey you are meant to avoid missions and even zones until the babysteps are established and the decluttering accomplished.

Toffee - You seem very organised with your home-ed. I'm amazed that you can get so much done at the same time.

Linzer - well done on your list

Swan enjoy your evening out.

Janey Four loads!!

Hello to everyone else. I started off so well this morning, up early and got a few stories and games with DD before school, but then found that her cardigan was dirty and tights no longer fit and ended up late. . Been to shops and posted my book club book from Wednesday list, bought mum and mil cards and presents for mothers day, been to bank and got bits of food shopping. Have also done one load of washing... but then I feel asleep on the settee for a good few hours (whoops - think i'm still recovering from illness earlier in week and busy day yesterday) - So my good progress has been holted.

Still to do

• Pick up DD from school with snacks
• Take her to buy some new school tights to go with new skirt
• Cook tea - Oven still broke so burgers today -not very exciting
• Swimming lesson for me this evening
• More uni work if I can fit in.
• Look up times for cinema this weekend - going to try for a reasonably quiet weekend this weekend as I don't have as much work as normal to do.

Right back later

OK, done so far:

Clean kitchen and bathroom floors
Detailed hoover of lounge
Cleaned bath, toilet and basin
Coffee with friends
Take duvet to cleaners
Take stuff to charity shop
Buy stuff in charity shop - 2 books and a summer school dress
Sainsburys for top up shop
Take some forms for new ISA into the bank
Book school holiday childcare
Emergency dash to school with forgotten PE kit
Lunch

Was planning to go for a run this afternoon but have left myself too short of time, so off to do some ironing instead. Back later.......

Also, yesterday, I got my Brabantia bin and as well as just giving it a quick wipe down I got out the Barkeepers Friend and some ecloths and gave it the full Flylady sink shining treatment, it looks fabulous, would never know it is 10 years old.

Whoknows I get very anxious about my ds2 being too demanding/undisciplined. Sometimes I think he genuinely needs more leeway in some things, due to inherent difficulties. However, I think I've lagged behind when he has already learnt how to behave in many situations that I wouldn't expect of him .
At home, I notice how when I mean no, it works. When I don't really mean it, it doesn't

MC the tights! And Ds2 selected the dirtiest top for his mufti attire this morning and wouldn't change it, I was forced to bargain with his swimwear bag to persuade him...

WhoKnows - I am on my second Brabantia bin and it is broken, just like the first one I had : the lid came off. I still use it and, actually, it's quite useful not having a lid on it, but it doesn't look so attractive. One day I will buy a new one. Am very of your shiny one.

MakingChanges - thanks for saying I'm organised with the home ed, but, actually, I don't know whether I'm doing OK at it or not. I just try to do what I can see DS needs to work on. He wrote a short story the other day and I could see where he needed to improve, hence the story planning today. However, thanks to him turning his light back on last night and going to sleep far too late, he is tired and grumpy today and stormed off before we reached the story-writing bit, so I have shelved that until Monday. By the way, if you fell asleep for a few hours you obviously needed it. DH was off work yesterday because he felt ill - he slept all day. I couldn't believe it! Everytime I peeked in at him, there he was snoring away.

Swan - sorry you are anxious about tonight. It's funny how the things we dread often turn out better than we expect though - I hope that's so in this case.

I have done all my white ironing - DS2's school shirts, vests, tea towels, napkins, even pillow cases... Am feeling very domestic goddessy. I have even ironed shirts for all of us for the weekend .

Our sheets are in the tumbledrier and I've just put a third load on (DS1's sheets). Watch out, Janey, I'm catching up!

Luckily, I don't have to do the school run this afternoon as it's DS2's day to be collected by his childminder and have tea at her house. It always makes such a difference to me to have the extra two hours in the afternoon.

I see on my list that I'm meant to be doing a 15-minute declutter, followed by decluttering my hotspots. Off to do that right now, so I can tick them off my list.

Ohhh, DS1 has just come back in and said he wants to write his story now .

No time to catch up properly, I'm afraid - I've already spent far too long online looking for flights but don't feel like I'm getting anywhere.

Really must make a list (and get on with it) before it all starts going downhill - as usual, I'm really struggling to get things done this afternoon.

DD1 to dyslexia lesson done
Weekly shop part 1 done
Put shopping away
Clear away lunch things
Empty snack boxes
Emtpy dish drainer
Hang up washing
Water
2 min hot spot
5 min room rescue
15 min decluttering
Pay Betriebskosten
Pay membership subscription/PII
Mend clothes
Clean out bag
Polish shoes
Collect DS, DD2 and two friends (both staying overnight) from gymnastics
DDs: piano practice
Dinner

Looking at the ironing pile, four loads of washing was definitely a bad idea!

I did the babysteps last time I 'flew', but I left out the control journal bits because I didn't think I'd use it. I use the Cozi Calendar thing which is really useful. I was wondering if I should start again with the babysteps from the part where the journal comes in and have a go at it - which is why I wondered if anyone used it after they'd made it, or if just making it was an important step on the path to enlightenment

Hi, can I join?

Ive not read this complete thread yet, but will catch up now.

Ive joined flylady on Sunday and signed up to the e-mails , I am going to unsubscribe to these now. Most of them are about how good their products are anyway which I just delete.

Ive not really done much as yet. A little bit of decluttering and shiney sink although its not looking so good right now, but it will get done when I wash up after my evening meal tonight.

Im a bit worried about keeping up with this thread though as I can only imagine how many more posts there will be on Sunday (I work all day saturdays), but I will get there.

Anyway just wanted to say Hi

Hi, Myhouse, and welcome. Glad to hear you are unsubscribing from the emails. I went through the same process myself.

Don't worry about keeping up with the thread - the thread leader (Nettie this month) usually does a round up every so often to keep people up to date with everyone, otherwise it can all get a bit overwhelming, especially when the thread is busy.

I have just realised that I only have 35 mins before collecting DS2 from his childminder and I still haven't decluttered or tackled my kitchen hotspot. I don't want to because it's soooooo boring. But, as Flylady says, you can do anything for 15 minutes.

My control journal is a bit more then the basic fly lady suggested flylady control journal. it has places for stamp storage, birthday lists, addresses and all sorts. Basically it is the all seeing all knowing blue file of chaos (chaos simply because that is what it is like around here - madness, with things changing at very short notice). It does get used, but perhaps not as much as it should. But i know exactly where to find stuff as it is obsessively laid out, just not obsessively maintained or used.

Flying has been a bit on hold again here. Sleep dep caught up again and I had to nap all day. Thankfully this means that I am on the everyday lowest pain it gets level in my knee - basically what i would class as pain free others wouldnt.

List:
mother's day thingy at ds' school done
pick up new plug and fuses done
fit new plug
replace fuse in hairdryer plug
get ds' hair cut - he is too poorly.
training - undecided about this
washing 1st load is on
physio - done x1 only
freeze batch tea - Important must be done tonight latest
sleep off migraine meds from last night done

So first day of the month and my sink is unshined and unlikely to be shined tbh. Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day.

Whoknows sometimes you have to look at the situation wrt discipline. Last night ds was playing up something rotten but discipline was the last thing he needed. I got some evil looks of other parents. But we were challenging his phobias and thus he needed the comfort not discipline. Don't worry what other people are doing too much, just try to keep it appropriate to his age and circumstances.

Good luck to all the hard core stick to the routine challenge people!

Have a lovely weekend all!

just popping in to say hello to myhouse. janey you sound like you know what you are doing. well done.

I'm going to update my list for motivation and direction sadly lacking.

Get up, been awake since 4 but trying to stay in bed-done till 7.50
Dc up/breakfasted/bathed/dressed/nurseried-dh did not bathed
S/s-done
Me work-done
Pick dc up lunchtime-done
bed made-done
purse and bag cleared out

This afternoon
Empty dishwasher finish filling dresser with contents-some done
Wm-nope
Td-done
Put away clothes-some done
Sort out birthday cards and mothers day cards for posting-done but dc got impatient and then i discovered i forgot my addresses anyway, so late again i will be
Trip to post office with dc on bikes-no walked
General room rescues everywhere (happened so fast one minute fine..)-nope

also need to
make boiled egg tea
Tidy kitchen to enable tea making
put away dc clothes
bathe dc
wake dh up and get him off to work tonight
write letter to friend to go with card.
finalise Ocado order
Netties round up

DD is not very well and has some suspect looking spots on her cheeks but cant find anymore.
ds has a black eye as toerag at nursery grabbed him and whacked him.
a dear old friend passed away in the early hour of this morning, she was in a lot of pain and i do honestly believe it was a relief for her. She was told October that it was terminal and she has been living with it since.

right better get on...first stop tidy kitchen unearth cooker to make tea.

be back later..

Right, after spending some time reading this thread - sorry not read every post word for word and starting my own (too long) thread Im kind of 'getting it'

Still unsure of what Im doing as some of the steps Im a bit confused as to how or why to do it. Anyway here is my very short list of things to do

Shine sink
Remove myself from flylady e-mails - done

And my list for this weekend (due to do a proper start on monday) bearing in mind I work all day sat so wont get to do anything on saturdays at all

Shine sink 2X
Complete ironing ready for a proper laundry rountine (am thinking wash a load every weekday morning, getting load dry/hung up, ironing the load on a night)
Think about a control journal. Does it work? What do I put in it?

Speak to you all soon on this thread

Have just got five overexcited children ready for bed - DH is now telling them a bedtime story (although they were hoping he would put on a puppet show ). DD1 has just reappeared; she wants to stay up for an extra 20 minutes "as I'm not that little".

Welcome myhouse. I have five sections in my control journal:

1. Daily routines
2. Weekly plan
3. Zones (missions and detailed cleaning plan)
4. Master shopping list and week's menu
5. Miscellaneous Flying info (on decluttering,crisis cleaning, tips for not getting sidetracked, etc.)

I used to use sections 1 and 2 a lot, but have now transferred them to my iPod (Home Routines app) so the control journal stays in the drawer most of the time. I find it invaluable to have my routines written down and to be able to tick individual items off my list as I do them (very motivating!).

Nettie So sorry to hear about your friend; even when you know it's a relief, it's still incredibly sad.