June know it's the fledgling flyers?

[Stillchuckingit]

A warm welcome to the June Fledgling Flyers' thread.

If the state of your house is getting you down, this is the thread where we follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system (in our own, unique, relaxed style ) with lots of chat and support along the way and where lace-up shoes are definitely optional.

A huge thank you to Linzer for keeping us all on track so splendidly during May and thank you to DroitwichMummy for the thread title.

As usual, we will be following the Flylady three-pronged approach:

1. Baby-steps (a daily step to establish routines)
2. Then baby-steps + 15 mins daily decluttering
3. (And once decluttered) babysteps + daily missions

If you are feeling overwhelmed by clutter and mess, you can make a difference, one step at a time.

For more information, have a look here. You don't need to sign up to Flylady e-mails (we advise you not to do so in fact - you will be overwhelmed - all the information you need can be gleaned from this thread).

All long-standing members, intermittent returnees, lurkers and newcomers welcome!!

Hi ishallwearmidnight good luck with the bag cupboard!

toffee your friend sounds amazing!

Done:
dds friend for tea
cleared up kitchen/garden/bedroom after friend for tea
laundry
changed bed
mopped floors
stuff ready for tomorrow.

I feel a bit sorry for dd. She so looks forward to her best friend coming to play dolls house with her, but best friend mainly wants to play star wars with ds (ds takes full advantage of this situation) .

Toffee so at your sparkly kitchen, wow what an amazing friend!

Library volunteering went great and i got to see my babies that i used to sing with again - some are starting pre-school in Sept. We made a boat, hot air balloon, car and train out of giant cardboard boxes and the children stuck on wheels, steering wheels, lights and funnels.
Open day at DD school was also great as the weather stayed sunny. DH and i were literally dragged around the whole time from the art room to the dining hall to her classroom etc. I managed to eat two slices of cake so was well fueled

Pretty knackered now as all the hoovering and floor washing is now done (noticed my 18mth old tiled kitchen floor has grey scratch marks all over it which wouldn't wash off - realized it's where DD has walked in wearing her tap shoes have had to scrub with cif (haven't got it all off though) whilst giving her an earbashing.

Off to bed, night night all

Evening everyone

Pouring with rain here thank heavens - the lawn is parched - and all the plants need a proper soaking

Feeling alright now (because I'm sitting down!) but felt dizzy and odd while I was out (anaemia) and had to hang on to door frames (I'm sure eveyrone thought I was drunk). Sadly not!! Also feeling very nauseous from iron tablets that don't seem to be working ... Going back to doc tomorrow. This is such a bore ...

School meeting went relatively well and was, in the most part, reassuring although still have some concerns. All the 'ins' and 'outs' too long to list here.

On a lighter note, just before dd back from hwk club tonight, found a note in the garden that she had left out for the fairies...she found some sort of metal clip this morning that she thought was a "fairy horseshoe" and she returned it to them with a note saying "Dear Fairys, I fort this horse shou is won of yours, love from "MiniSC" " [she hasn't learnt to write in English at school yet btw!!) I only just spotted it in time to write a tiny "thank you" letter in return using fanciest computer script available in smallest font possible!! Then tried to make it look slightly old and mysterious by dipping it in some dryish mud and wrapped it up in to a scroll with a tiny bow. DD was delighted - I'm not entirely convinced she is still a "believer" but she loves the game ... as does her 47-yr-old going-on-9-mother!!

So, [rolls up shirt sleeves and adjusts pince nez] how have you all got on today then?

Ishallwearmidnight has joined us! (A very warm welcome to the thread!) Am loving the mending tip - you will fit right in Seriously, sounds as though you are off to a very good start with all that decluttering. Top newbie marks!

Whoknows has concluded that she is too lazy to have a place for everything and everything in its place - not sure I am convinced - but I just want to say, "so am I"!! I can do it for so long, then I just get bored . One solution though is good storage ...(which we don't have incidentally!!)..... but where we do have good bookcases/shelving units .. things are much more easily "contained" ifyswim. Whoknows ... who knows (yes, pun intended!) ... if we stay on this thread long enough ... we may prevail!! As you say, things are definitely improving, albeit slowly ...

Toffee has a truly wonderful friend ... who sounds absolutely amazing! I can see your sink shining from here! Well done on decluttering the dining room too!! Actually - that is a very good idea - swap with a friend and have mutual ring-fenced decluttering sessions. I used to do this fairly regularly with a friend of mine as it happens but she moved to NZ!! I think my home office scared her away !!

Blue has had a long, frustrating and busy day and deserves more (Now I come to think of it, many of my "how to manage your home/decluttering books" that are cluttering up my landing start with the exercise: establish a permanent place to put your keys - Must do this )

Swan has faced her fears and driven a scary route - well done!!! The rest of her day sounds pretty stressful so (as she is driving again tonight) hands over as a pick-me-up before evening meeting and football run ...pops cork for later ...

LadyinPink has had a VERY full day; working, washing, damp dusting, visiting her dd's classroom and doing arts & crafts with pre-schoolers. [Definitely deserves wine emoticon]

Ah yes, I remember that homage to enlightened parenting ...

"There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children, she didn't know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread;
And whipped them all soundly and put them to bed"

Sounds like a great idea for a school play though! Bet the children will love it!

Scatty has eaten her dd's friend for tea ...

Linzer has been frightfully athletic, room rescued, applied for jobs AND put her keys down in a safe place [stern look]

Elliepac conscientious teacher that she is was a bag of nerves this morning on behalf of her charges (hope it all went well!)

Tomorrow's step, no.8, for Wednesday 8th June, is here It combines a review of your new routines plus the start of your control journal. Remember, don't be tempted to enter the Big Tent.

More info (15 steps) on how to create a control journal here

This week's zone is no.2: the kitchen

Your mission for tomorrow (refrigerator cleaning) will appear here once the Flylady site updates itself.

However, for a sneak peak ahead look here!

Wednesday is anti-procrastination day ...

See you in the morning!

*

See, I was so busy I forgot I posted on here! Cooked the meal I planned, remembered to take lunch to work, put in laundry and did dishwasher today. Also made ds hoover kitchen floor. Kids all have uniform hanging up for the rest of the week. That's loads for me!

No decluttering at all (was out of house from 7.30am - 6.30pm) but tomorrow's task looks good. Have only had new fridge 2 weeks so it's very shiny already

You lot have been busy while my back was turned - 5 pages and 2 (or was that 3) new people! (Including another Pratchett fan I see). My hand is still mending & I can't type very well but I am determined to do SOMETHING tomorrow and Thurday while I am at home.

Must make sure I do the basics and 15 mins per room over the 2 days. See you in the morning with . Have any of you lot on the continent got some decent croissants?

Waves at DWM. Had lots of lovely croissants in France last week thank you, sorry, should have saved you one

Well, not much Flying (how often do I write that?) but it was a work day (although largely spent chatting). Managed a few little jobs. Decided to go for a run at 7.15 when DH got home and DS asked to come with me on his scooter, we had a lovely half hour going round together, although it was a bit of a stop start business (crossing roads sensibly instead of just legging it in between cars etc) it was nice to have some time with him on his own for a change. Off to bed now, night night.

I am here, sort of.
Will take any croissants going and slope off to naughty corner to find a comfy chair.
Work busy, Flying minimal, posts short

Lots of nice croissants (I'm particularly partial to the chocolate ones) and other freshly baked goods here DWM - I pass a baker's on the school run, which is always very tempting. I shall send some your way.

WhoKnows How's the running going now that you've finished C25k? I have my 20 minute run coming up tomorrow.

The DDs have just gone off to school in a state of great excitement as they're both going on class trips this morning - DD2 to the zoo in Vienna and DD1 on a walk (or hike, as they prefer to call it here) to some castle ruins. This means no homework today, thank goodness; DS's friend plus little sister are coming at 2 pm today, which will only just about give us time to eat lunch beforehand.

Took DD1 back to the orthodontist's yesterday, who decided that a brace would be the best solution as the sticking-an-extra-bit-on-the-bottom-tooth thing hadn't worked. It all went well until, a couple of hours after we'd got back home, I noticed that the wire had come out on the tooth that's supposed to be being turned. So it's back to the orthodontist's for us; I'll try to get an appointment for Friday as I can't face taking six children there this afternoon and we have a dentist's appointment tomorrow afternoon.

Back to my crisis clean; I don't seem to have been very efficient so far this week. About half of yesterday morning seemed to be taken up with laundry, and by the time I'd fitted in my run and doing the essentials (emptying the dishwasher, making beds, getting lunch ready, etc.) that was basically the morning gone.

Yum - thanks Linzer!

My plan for today is to do everything flylady-style - 30 mins work, 15 mins house, 15 mins playing/MNing/drinking coffee per hour while DS is at school.

15 mins each then for:
kitchen
dining room
lounge
hall
bedroom

Later must plant out last of the bedding plants

Before bed
load DW
load WM
S&S

Check in later - have a great day everyone

[Replenishes "pastries" basket with couques Suisse and Belgian waffles in an attempt to lure Mummy" and Feetheart* out of the naughty corner]

Morning my lovelies ...

Quick check in from office. Feeling a bit better this morning (ain't that always the case when one's finally made a doctor's appointment - still going though)

Fat Fairy hasn't updated mission yet

Sounds as if you are going great guns GoingMad!!

Linzer and Whoknows respect to the runners!!

Have a productive day everyone...

Linzer - I was nervous about the 20 min run but it was fine, that has come round quickly, well done! I have slacked off a bit at the moment due to other commitments, holidays etc but have been out twice this week, I am planning to exercise every day this week to get myself going again. I am back down to 25 mins at the moment but trying to build speed, I am using an iphone app called runkeeper which tracks your runs via GPS. The furthest I have managed in half an hour is 3.7km, I want to get up to 5km in 30 mins as my next goal. ps still no books.

That reminds me, SC - do you recommend any particular delicacies for DH to bring back from Brussels? (He'll be there next week, or possibly the week after - can't remember exactly.)

Done:
Emptied dishwasher
10 mins in home office
10 mins in playroom
10 mins in DDs' bedroom
5 mins in DS's bedroom
5 mins in my bedroom

Saw an advert for a "spatial stylist" yesterday, and felt quite tempted to find out more - am more interested in the decluttering than the room styling aspect as I just don't seem to be getting anywhere on my own. But I can't see DH going for it. And I have enough books on decluttering/home organisation (probably too many); surely I ought to be able to manage it on my own, or rather with the help of this thread.

Well, I was on a roll, but have suddenly found myself back on MN - must get off before it's too late.

WhoKnows Even 25 minutes sounds very impressive to me - I still can't imagine how I'm going to run for 20 mins non-stop tomorrow! I've just bought myself the Nike+ sensor, but have heard it's not particularly accurate; it will still be interesting to have a vague idea of how far I'm running, though.
Still no PM either, so I'll get the book ready to send to you in the next day or two.

SC perhaps you feel worse as the day goes on for good reason, energy depleted. I loved your scroll! The dcs absolutely love any sort of pretend Mummy going! This morning I had to be Goldilocks and Henry VIII.

Scatty it's so great when they cross fertilize. Ds2 loves playing girly games with dd's friends, well not that girly but sort of not quite the sort of games his friends play....(ie: involve small furry creatures)

Droitwich take it easy with the hand
Whoknows and Linzer inspirational! I shall try and fit in a run today with ds1, who needs someone to run with.

Yesterday went well in the end. (no driving SC meeting across the road with five old ladies - who presented me (or Ds1) with children's Pilgrim's Progress. I've just spent morning reading it. Absolutely gripping. I know so little about non-conformism/dissenters, only just realised that John Bunyan was one Did they teach us anything about history at school? I am beginning to doubt it

done
recycling
breakfast
washing out, washing in, washing upstairs
two lots of music supervision

Ellie good luck with the examinees. Whatever grade they get at least you'll know they learnt something.

Todo
I hour tidying
30 mins meal prepping (ratatouille in slow cooker)
veg box away (still on doorstep)
rest of day in new library at school sorting books
piano practice

linzer I've noticed how much storage Dh's parents' (very clean) house seems to have, and other German friends we've visited. It is as if the clutter is there, but just piled up neatly behind closed doors, so it is becomes less clutter, more useful stuff. I wonder that's why Dh and I can't agree on decluttering. He just thinks, more shelves, more cupboards, more drawers, more efficent storage, whereas I think less stuff. He is very good at making clutter look tidy, whereas I just want it REMOVED. I think if you are naturally untidy then you feel much more overwhelmed by stuff and where it goes.
Anyway, it is so difficult, but maybe he has a solution that you can both work with. Dh will occasionally come up with solutions, slightly like getting blood out of a stone as he really is not interested, just bored by my complaints...
Sometimes the only solution is just to TIDY (ad infinitum) Maybe there is no magic bullet...

swan You have put DH's and my opposing attitudes to clutter (not that he would see it as such) in a nutshell. He doesn't think we have a problem, whereas I just feel overwhelmed by all our stuff. I also feel like DH is bored of me complaining and that I have become a bit of a stuck record. We do have quite a bit of storage space (as I said recently, our cellar is just one giant hotpot) but the more space you have, the more clutter it seems to attract. There is no more room in the Playmobil/Lego city in the cellar, so Playmobil is inching its way upstairs; the castle has taken over almost half of the playroom floor and the school the entire table.

Keeping on top of all the clutter does seem to require constant tidying. It is one solution, but I wish there was another way. Efficient decluttering, for example!

Linzer and Swan

I think the storage & clutter have to meet one another in the middle and compromise if that makes any sense

Need to have lots of good, efficient, storage (hopefully some of it closed) to allow you to keep and access a fairly decent load of stuff efficiently but THEN one has to keep within the confines of that storage ifyswim. There are only two places where I have managed to put this in to practice:

(1) dd's playroom where she has a large book case with shelving for books and games and three or four paniers for dolls and dressing up. Once these start to bulge then I know it's time for a clear-out (which we have twice a year, once before Xmas and once before her birthday). We try and get to the point where there is room for new toys plus a little bit extra.

Of course, I say all this, and the stuff we de-cluttered at Christmas is still sitting in bags on the third floor!!

(2) Our boudoirs - we have one wardrobe plus one chest of drawers each - and we have one extra wardrobe for winter coats and another for scarfs/hats/specific clothing only worn once or twice a year (sports?) Again, once stuff starts "flowing" over and hangers and shoe boxes start appearing that don't have a home, I know it's time for a good thinning exercise ...

Anyway .. that is the theory ... sigh ... the rest of the house is a complete tip really

We just need so much more structured, storage that the rest of our possessions (especially papers) seem to flow back and forth in a river of clutter that comes up the stairs and back down again and so on ad infinitum whilst I chase ineffectually behind it with a large broom....

Linzer depends on whereabouts he is staying - can recommend

Swan oh glad you didn't have to face the dreaded wheel again last night. Love Pilgrim's Progress - haven't read it for years ...we had an ancient illustrated copy at home ... used to fascinate me as a child

Whoknows am V impressed by your training programme

Oops

Just realised I forgot to complete recommendations Linzer

Aside from usual beer (difficult if flying - suggest buy at airport) or chocolates, which ARE wonderful, Belgian's version of prosciutto (jambon d'Ardennes) is very good. Also, any biscuits in tins by Jules Destrooper (bicuits au beurre or similar).

It depends where he is going. If he is anywhere near the Sablon, then I can recommend an excellent artisanal chocolate shop called Passion Chocolat:

Passion Chocolat Grand Sablon
(Hôtel nH) - 1000 Bruxelles
Tél. : +32 (0)2-514.77.14
e-mail: [email protected]

their chocolate spoons (serve to dip in strong coffee at dinner parties are excellent)

Afternoon all

Another glorious day here, pity i have no washing to do!

My sister came over and we went for our walk (try and do it weekly) then had lunch so not got much done today apart from office work of course.

My fridge is still organised so will do the cobwebbing and cupboard wiping i missed the last couple of days instead. Have cleaned the patio doors in the kitchen though as the window cleaner came today so they are sparkling

DD at her craft course after school today so have an hour to get on and then prepare dinner before pick up.

BBL

Not glorious here at all, real April showers weather. I was going to play tennis this afternoon but it poured it down. Luckily I also have no washing today. Have spent the afternoon doing boring admin sort of stuff, we are finally getting round to writing our wills.

My DH seems to be totally oblivious to clutter, his desk at work makes me shudder when I visit. He just doesn't seem to notice it. He will start cooking when there is other stuff all over the kitchen counter and leaving him about 6 square inches to work in, I just can't do that.

What can we have for dinner tonight? Got chicken breasts plus mushrooms plus store cupboard stuff.

Talking of clutter I have failed miserably to get Dc to part with any of the (dusty) toys earmarked for the school fair . They claim to still be mourning the toys that were sent to the Christmas fair!

Dh rarely buys anything but won't part with anything either. I am the opposite (I have stuff bulemia).

Done:
school run (avoiding bookfair)
fed DC
reboot laundry

To do:
beavers/rainbows
buy food
find useless tat won on tomolla at rainbows to donate to school fair tombolla.

scatty The DC can never, ever be persuaded to part with anything so any decluttering has to be done on the sly (first into the cellar to see if they miss it, which they rarely do). I have been complaining for months about how full the DDs' toy chest is and went through it with DD1 a while ago - initially she agreed to part with a couple of dolls, but then changed her mind. We must have spent a good half an hour going through it, and all in vain. Anyway, it broke today (as a result of the lid not being able to close properly, I'm sure) and I'm very annoyed that I wasn't more ruthless. It took me ages to track down a decent toy chest and I don't think I'll be able to find another one so easily (I bought it at Lidl).

SC Thank you for all the recommendations; my mouth is watering already! DH usually brings me back Cote d'or dark chocolate, but I've almost finished my current supply (ditto for Cadbury's; I knew I shouldn't have been put off bringing back 4.5 kg - a carefully worked out amount - just because DH laughed at me). The chocolate spoons sound yummy; I shall check where he'll be staying.

House not looking too bad, but only because I spent virtually all morning tidying. I still have a pile of washing to put away, but at least the DC have been fed and I could - in theory - put them to bed. I'm just waiting for my neighbour to pick her DD up; it's been so nice for DD1 to have had a friend here all afternoon as, unlike DD2 and DS, she rarely has friends here to play. (DD2 and DS have had friends over as well, but they were both picked up a while ago.) They're all having great fun at the moment - phoning up my mobile is proving to be particularly entertaining - but it sounds like it's getting a bit too lively and someone will get hurt in a moment. In fact, DD2 has just come in crying because DD1 and her friend won't let her into the bathroom, so must go...

Woo, that was weird. I was in the kitchen (back of house) and remembered I needed to get something out of the car. Glanced out of the window, not raining, walked through the house which took all of 10s, opened the front door to a torrential downpour. Well at least I don't need to water the garden. DH has just rung to say he won't be home till 8.30, how am I supposed to meal plan? Grrr..

whoknows I can currently see very black clouds and torrential rain out of my back window and entirely blue sky and lovely evening sunshine out of the front window. Our house is about 6 m deep

Oh FGS, will someone please give me a kick up the bum to go and put the shopping away? It has been sitting there since this morning!!

I have 183 pages of report to QA tonight as well, and really really cba!