Back to Fly school for September Fledglings

[substantiallycompromised]

Welcome to the September 2011 Fledgling Flying thread! Hang up your microfibre cloths and park your buckets here!!

[Sorry - I've namechanged again - but remain SC]

This is where from the 1st of the month, we attempt to declutter and follow the 30-step wisdom of Flylady (minus cutesy language and a surfeit of e-mails) with lots of chat and support and mutual motivation along the way. (More info available here )

Humungous thanks to our previous thread leader Blue for navigating us all through the August school holidays...and for doing it so consistently and well!!

As usual we will be following a three-pronged approach - and don't worry - we are all at different stages. Some of us (SC stares at feet) -are even embarrassingly stuck at decluttering stage after two years

• repeat or start baby steps (again!)

• repeat baby steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone

or

• reinforce babysteps and do daily missions if you have finished decluttering.

All newcomers welcome!

Oh, you should have come with him SC - then we could have nesbitted together. Viennese coffee houses are the perfect places for nesbitting, and I can provide bourbons (the DC discovered them in the summer so we stocked up).

I've been doing a fair bit of nesbitting this morning. The only thing I actually managed to achieve was the Organised Mum order I'd been meaning to do for ages, although as that didn't involve moving away from the computer it wasn't a huge achievement.

Hi All

Just signing in ready for tomorrow. This month I will get my house under control as I no longer have uni as my excuse.

Linzer chuck the bourbons this way, they are my favourite!!

Just to make sure I understand this correctly, we're going back to the start of babysteps? And doing de-clutter or mission daily?
Is that right?
If so, lovely. Should get my control journal going again.

[SC kicks herself for missing out on a Viennese nesbitting session with Linzer ]

That's right Silvery. Baby-step no. 1 will appear again tomorrow. Each one posted concurrently with day's date.

Tis one of the best things about the Fly system imho - the fact that the baby-steps come around again each month (as do the missions). It stops that rabbit-in-headlights panicky feeling because you know you will get to it all eventually ....

Waves to MC

okay

should have done lots

havent

hides puter again

SC, yes, I do love FLYlady's way, the only thing I don't EVER manage is the detailed cleaning. I don't really need to de-clutter, I'm great at throwing things out, dp says it's the thing he hates about me!
And I can do the morning routine, the evening (mostly), the missions (if they are relevant), but the detailed cleaning, just when am I supposed to fit that in?!
What do all of you do about detailed cleaning? Do you follow FLYlady's lists? Do you do it? If not, what about the bits that aren't covered in the missions?

SC, yes, I do love FLYlady's way, the only thing I don't EVER manage is the detailed cleaning. I don't really need to de-clutter, I'm great at throwing things out, dp says it's the thing he hates about me!
And I can do the morning routine, the evening (mostly), the missions (if they are relevant), but the detailed cleaning, just when am I supposed to fit that in?!
What do all of you do about detailed cleaning? Do you follow FLYlady's lists? Do you do it? If not, what about the bits that aren't covered in the missions?

I discovered Flylady last week and decided I want my house back. Count me in.

Cinders Great to have you back. How's the goat?

Silvery re: 'detailed cleaning', do you mean home bless (or as we call it, home bleurgh?) here if you scroll down a bit. If so, then I do it on a Monday but don't get as much done in an hour as she prescribes ... only do ground floor + guinea pigs + recycling.

Or do you mean detailed missions? (I you being already free of clutter btw. Those should only take 10-15 mins per day and if you prefer not to go along with Fat Fairy's detailed instructions, you can just deep clean 15 mins per day in that week's zone.

Is that right everyone? Please correct me if I've got it hopelessly wrong (I may be leading thread this month but I am not the most accurate or consistent Flyer in the world by any stretch of the imagination)

Welcome all newcomers! [Tries to lure Whyistherumalwaysgone out from behind bar with a couple of Bourbons]

Just come on here to take a 5min break away from school stationery labelling. DD is in a strop because 'I am doing it wrong' apparently. Too much to hope for a little gratitude for over Euros 90 of new stuff plus new school bag and pencil case I suppose

Right ... [breathe] [count to ten] [be calm] and descend ....

SC I feel your pain re the stationery; we're now up to ?130, but as that's between the two DDs, we seem to have got off lightly compared to you (and no new school bags at ?150ish or pencil cases this year either, thank goodness - that's all to come next year x2 when DS starts school and DD1 moves up to secondary school).

Re the detailed cleaning - I have very, very rarely got round to it Silvery so am little help, I'm afraid; I struggle to fit in the routines and missions as it is. (SC As I understand it, we move on to detailed cleaning once we've finished - ha! - the decluttering. More info here [scroll down to FlyLady's Detailed Cleaning List]; the detailed cleanings lists are here.)

SC No, I don't mean home blessing, I know that is scheduled for a monday (but I do it on a saturday).
I mean this
Do you do this? IIRC, she has this scheduled for monday-wednesday, but I never manage to get it all done.
Sometimes the missions aren't relevant, like I don't have a home office (or a work one for that matter), we don't have a laundry room or a dining room, so I make my own stuff up for those bits, but as a general rule I don't do detailed cleaning only the missions or my 'replacement' missions.

Re: Clutter. I hate having loads of crap around me, but dp likes to keep things 'just in case' drives me crazy. He goes a bit mental when I throw his stuff away, but we are in a 2 bedroom flat, we haven't got room to store loads of crap unless he wants to get off his arse and put it all in the loft.
He can keep whatever the hell he likes up there, I won't ever go up there, but he isn't keeping shit everywhere.

x-post Linzer
So I have to do morning routines, evening routines, baby-step, mission and detailed cleaning every day? And get the whole of the detailed cleaning list done???????
*I know we don't have to, but that's what we're aiming for is it??

Oh, and plus whatever daily activity it is i.e. Thursday's being errand day and Wednesday anti-procrastination day etc (can't remember off the top of my head what the other days are)

Oh I am so never going to copletely get fly. I will settle to getting some routines and being decluttered

Sorry OPV Just ignore me. I'm sure no one does ALL of it. There's surely not enough time in the day.
For now, I'm going to do routines, or at least try to figure them out alongside working, do baby-step and attempt mission.
That'll do won't it?

Don't forget your afternoon routine, Silvery! I think by the time you're reached the detailed cleaning stage, the babysteps should already be ingrained/part of your routines/no longer need to be done (e.g. setting up your control journal), but yes - we're supposed to be able to fit in routines, the mission, 15 mins of decluttering/detailed cleaning and the daily focus. Goodness knows how, especially if you're doing paid work as well. If I'm really focused and stay off MN, I can just about manage to get my morning routine, decluttering and mission done before I pick up the DC at midday, but it's downhill all the way from there. And grocery shopping (which involves going to two or three different shops here as the supermarkets are all so small - no home deliveries either) takes up half the morning, so there's no chance of me finishing my morning routine and decluttering after I've been food shopping.

The home blessing "hour" is a misnomer IMO; it takes me the best part of an hour to strip all the beds, wash the sheets etc. and then remake the beds, and it would take me a good 10 minutes to lug the hoover from room to room and up and down the stairs before I even turn it on (we don't have a huge house but it's spread over four levels). So for the moment, I'm going to attempt to focus on decluttering and the routines, and do the rest as and when.

I hope that doesn't sound too negative and put any newbies off, but I do think that FlyLady is a little unrealistic in her expectations sometimes. Longer school days would help (the DDs are home by lunchtime); then again, I don't really want to spend my entire day cleaning and decluttering.

I won't be home in the afternoon soon, thank God!
Think you've got the right idea though, just do what we can manage.
I hope I haven't put anyone off, just wanted to make sure I understood what I was supposed to be doing.

Of my list I have only done exercising. Oh, and being shouty at DS. That wasn't on my list? Hmmph.

Ah well, it's only just after noon here so I've got time I suppose. :)

Hi all, I'm glad 'start babysteps again' was on the list, because thats what I'll be doing i think! I'll try and continue my decluttering. Linzer I know what you mean about the unrealisticness of the Flylady sometimes! I'm just going to do what I can. I always felt like my kids were just sitting in front of the TV while I completed my morning routine as it was. At least now DS1 is back at pre school I won't feel so bad, but now am going back to work a couple of mornings a week, so will have less time but more time, IYSWIM!

I'm also doubtful about really ever being able to do all of it. For one thing, if for example this week i declutter the living room, then move onto the other zones, by the time the living room comes round again it will need decluttering again, it's like a vicious circle. I know that once it is all properly decluttered it should just be a case of putting out the hotspots, but TBH there are so many potential hotspots in this (small) house that I don't know if I will ever conquer them, even if I do get the whole place decluttered. I do occasionally manage some of the detailed cleaning, but it is random and when I notice it, not to a plan. It just feels as though you need to spend your entire life tidying.

ANyway, despite these misgivings I am going to have a good try this month. Starting tomorrow.

morning all! (despite the fact it's mid-afternoon still in august here)

i'm back for a repeat month 1 of babysteps.
with an added, oo, ten minutes of de-cluttering at least every other day. Purge. Purge. Purge. this is what happens when you put three family houses worth of stuff in a two bed condo. be warned!

oo, all you stationary types, i pulled a blinder and did the school supplies shop whilst we still had visitors (to be fair i didn't have much option - other than the dcs going to school pen-less, but, i digress) and my parents picked up the back-to-school tab! for two out of three dcs! result!

if it helps, i read 'nesbit' as 'desperate' in some sort of down-with-the-kids vocab... sort of 'desprit'. i was struggling, to be fair, but it seemed faintly plausible...

ooo, PA! saw you on another thread the other day PA, but didn't intrude. all sounds v exciting!

(and is it so wrong that every time i see NickNacks, i want my NickOfTime username back? i keep thinking it's me with a witty namechange - sorry nick!)

Ha, hotspots. Wanna know how I do them? I pick a hotspot, let's say the kitchen one and I move all the items on that to their relative hotspots, so kids toys would be put in hotspot in their bedroom, my mags etc put in hotspot in my room and so on, so I don't actually sort it, just move them around! [Blush]

Anyway, I think we need to get back to focusing on what we can and will do, not on what we don't think we'll manage, heading for disaster if we focus on the overwhelming.

Roll on september. Goodnight ladies

welcome grockie mrswoodentop whyistherumalwaysgone welcome back cinders

ooo im loving nesbitting _ i nesbit by mopping of kitchen floor tonight in favour of torchwood.

Think we need a fly dictionary:-

"home Bleurgh"
"nesbitting"
"tada lists"
"bstc" bum glued to chair

linzer oh yes still need to do organised mum order too
sm loves it so much she posted twice @ your question when do we do www.flylady.net/pages/FlightPlan_Detail.asp

My list for tomorrow

get up/dressed/nurseried/work
clean caravan
cash and carry
bank recons
take mil to shops, buy myself nice pair of boots similar to cheerful
more work, try and complete huge list i created today.
pick dc up from nursery
wrap keyworkers present
get ds to write cards for room staff and keyworker
make more fairy cakes for ds last day
go to pt session at gym

Have recently had local paper publish one of my tweets feel a slight namechange coming on.

skulks off

Hi - can I join?

I'd be starting with babysteps and doing some major decluttering too... I've a 23mo old and a 3mo old and am a naturally messy hoarder who LOVES order and can't ever quite achieve it. So a fair amount of frustration there... I've used this ebook about decluttering to great effect before too (I started from a REALLY low point!), so I might mix it up a bit.

How do you run it here?