Remember, remember the fledgling Flyers: dusting, and decluttering a lot..

[DarknessSoothes]

Come one come all, fledgling reunite. 1st of the month and we survived the fright. Bonfire month and lets burn though the housework to prepare for the festivities of December.

As from the 1st we will be babystepping, mission and deep cleaning our way out of the C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome).

For newbies and those who need reminding here is the principles behind the babystep system.

The basic is this:

1. Do the babysteps.
2. When you do the babysteps with consistency add in the missions
3. When you are doing the babysteps and missions as a habbit tackle the deep cleaning.

This thread is a mishmash of people at different stages. The lists can look long, but look carefully, some of us are reposting lists and parts of lists from day to day.

Our motto is this: Do not strive to be perfect, Progress is progress and anything is better then nothing and my personal favourite part of the fly lady system is you are never behind, just jump in and start from where you are.

So on that note here we go. With much thanks to Ellie who lead us with amusing roundups last month.

Day 1: Babystep 1 - How to shine your sink

Mission here - this will update overnight ready for the early fledglings

Tuesday's reminders are here: It's planning day

And for those of you who are eagerly awaiting christmas here is the flylady's crusing into christmas page. Personally i did some of this last year and done some this year and it does take a chunk of the stress out of christmas.

Well now that I have suitably scared you, see you all tomo!!

Oh no madwoman I hope dh gets to work ok!i know in England a "Siberian" winter is predicted, yak

Good luck on the key hunt swan

Slowly plowing through my list! I'm glad it's Friday I'm like a zombie!

When are we supposed to be having this Siberian Winter? I cant wait for it and have been prepared for months.

ok, panic over. he's back at home, having driven around in the snow for an hour and a quarter and been turned back by the rcmp. phew.

i had not expected a snow day! kids are on a half day as well, so either today will be really productive, or nothing will get done.

i'm going to finish that desk now i can stop pacing, though.

Where are you Madwoman?

molepom I'm not sure!it was predicting snow on the weather last night though

Well, I don't have a list like you guys, but I have managed to:
Take DD1 into nursery
Find DH's shirt and trousers (oh look, they were in the wardrobe after all!)
2 loads of washing in/out
Kitchen tidied
Sink shiny
Clothes put away (don't do ironing!)
Start packing for w/end away for DNephews' Christening

Don't need to plan tea as we always have fish and chips on a Friday.
All this and BFing a refluxy 4 week old! Really quite chuffed with meself!!!

mad glad Dh is safe. That does sound scarey, darkness falling and blizzard hitting.

lorelais yes, that is pretty good going I was napping at this point with 4 week old.

done
house much much worse than before I started, but nevertheless I think I've managed another five bags of decluttering so I suppose in long run it was worth it. And put all specs and scissors in spec and scizzor drawers, ditto cheque books, and rulers.

Under stairs was hellish as it contains all sorts of stuff ds2 wanted to have car boot sale wth, but I just can't face it sitting there anymore so I've chucked most of it or put in loft as it will go mouldy in the shed. Beano annuals etc...

That's a good list with a 4 week old lorelais I was also sleeping when DD was 4 weeks at every opportunity!

swan that post gave me a visual of your house having lots of specs scissors and rulers laid around

linkies will be late tonight am going out.

Forgot to say Friday is date night according to the fat fairy anyway.

molepom, i live in the canadian rockies.
lol sr - darkness wasn't falling, it hadn't got light yet! the kids catch the bus at 8am and it's still dark. the frozen north and all that (tis beautiful here now, the sun is shining on the fresh snow!)

and bum. i forgot a meeting yesterday. dropped a ball, dammit.

right, desk is underway - and the filing cabinet fits underneath it, so i now have to sort out the contents of that, too... to render it functional as it's stuffed to the gunnels with... well, i dunno, really!

sr - that's what i'm doing the filing cabinet for - another scissors and sellotape drawer . i'm fed up of finding staplers, rulers, hole punches and all sorts everywhere.

I don't think I even own a ruler these days

So ta da for today:

Washed up, dried and shined sink
Washing dried new load washed and is drying
Cleaned light switches and plug sockets
Polished door handles
Collected a parcel from the depot
Kids dinner and teas
Mine and DP tea cooked just waiting for DD to go to bed
Decluttered bag and purse
Stripped beds and put new bedding on

Going to do the conservatory tomorrow after work as have a meeting Sunday with potential mindee

Hope everyone is ok! of snow!

Evening people!

mad Glad your DH is safe and home now.

lorelais Ah 4 weeks old, so lovely and snuggly. That was me with DD a year ago and now she's walking, climbing, screaming her way into toddlerhood. Enjoy! She's my last so I'm clinging on to every moment.

lauren Do you work at the weekends then? Very mad brave of you. Best of luck for the meeting on Sunday- hope you get it.

So todays list...

Empty DW, Wm on, school run done
Pay panto tickets DS isn't sure if he wants to go now
Visit friend for lunch nope DS1 was sick today
Pack DS's off with disco clothes done
Drop and collect at school disco done
Take apart shoe rack
What's for dinner? done
Mission done
Pay online bills can't as HSBC banking is down!!

Tomorrows list

Up, shower, dress, breakfast
Saturdays wash
Empty DW
Room rescues of downstairs rooms
Wipe out fridge before...
...Put food shopping delivery away
Meal plan for the week
Clean bathroom (again!- newly toilet trained mindee has a very poor aim!)
Clean sheet DC's beds

That'll do me. I also want to jump on DH's offer of going to the tip on his day off next week so need to gather all the stuff i want him to ditch!
Aren't i lucky?

am making the most of dh 'working from home' nicknacks, and have sent him to the charity store with another three bin bags full of clothes and shoes. and to get the groceries on the way back.

wm done x 3
dw done

nicknacks as childminding is fairly new (am in 3rd month) I'm still working my old job just at a library for 3 hours on a Saturday morning, I'm planning on leaving by Christmas though only my own DD on a weekend

Just got DP to change curtain rail and curtains in front room and I love them

erm - I know this is nothing to do with housework but reading madwoman's post made me think - what do I need to do to my car to get ready for winter? It's the first time I've owned a car, same for dh and no-one in his family drives!!!
Sorry to derail a bit!

Whatever it is I should probably add it to my to do list for next week...
(Do we get the weekend off from flying? I think I know the answer.....)

Winter checks for my car inolve:
Anti-freeze level,
tyre treads - ie if they are close to needing to be replaced I just get them done instead of leaving them til needed iyswim
Screen wash - always keep some in stock at home as I find i need more with all the grit that is going on, plus i dilute it slightly less as it stops it freezing quite so quick. Although it will freeze even if it is neat.
I keep on top of basic servicing too.

My local mechanic, lovely guy, will do a winter check for a small fee which covers most of the antifreeze/tyres/battery state etc.

Alot breakdowns are flat batteries that haven't coped with the cold.

erm. Although I am guessing that madwoman has a more comprehenisve list and will make more sense then I at the moment.

Fabulous night out. Just dosed up on meds and erm, well linkies to follow.

Right - First things first. No mission as it is the weekend hell yessssss!

On the other hand it is saturday which the fat fairy suggests is family fun hell day. Reminders are here

It si the 5th which means that the babystep is something about being positive One that I ignore and just do what I have done previously - ie get up straight away and shine my sink. if i actually achieved the babysteps hey did warn you do as i say not as i do. You will be far more successful that way.

Think that is about it for saturday wrt linkies. If I have forogtten anything glaring could some kind more with it soul add the linkie.

Sorry - Ellie did warn further up the thread that my leading the thead was a little unothorodox. Btw Can't spell for shit normally and it would appear a night out is not helping lets see you take your red/green pens to the mistakes in that lot.

Thank you darkness, seems like a pretty common sense winter-car approach, a bit embarassed I had to ask!
Glad you enjoyed your night out!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Tbh, onemore, I think alot of stuff is common sense when someone says it, but it is remembering it that is where most of us fall down.

I should have said that I have a potential snowy weather/long journey in winter kit that i stick in the car for emergencys.
I have tow ropes etc in there all year around but have a short handle shovel, some big bits of cardboard, extra blankets, thermos with fresh stocked hot drink, cold drinks and snacks, and a wind up torch. Just in case i get stuck. But then again we do get a fair bit of snow sometimes and some of the roads i drive are single track, and i do a lot of long journeys so being well prepared is essential.

As regards to last night links post I am sooo glad i didnt attempt a round up.

Hope everyone is off having fun and haven't been scared away by last night's postings.

Thanks for linkies, darkness, and glad you had a good night!

Been shopping with DS2, now hiding upstairs while they do "art" downstairs, pretending to sort the laundry. Better get on, lunchtime soon!

I've started a thread in arts and crafts, but I thought I'd ask here too as I know there are several crafty types... Any advice on what sort of sewing box to get gratefully received!!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/arts_and_crafts/1336328-Sewing-box-advice-please

Am afraid i am probably not the person to ask. I inherited loads of stuff off my nan and have the luxary of a sewing room when it is tidy enough to be used for that purpose however i do find that these are really useful when labelled eg with things like tape measures, unpickers, spare sewing machine needles, dressmaker's chalk etc. my nan was a bit of a horder and a lot of it will eventually get used. I have one seperate box for thread and a project container where i keep the stuff for a specific project ignores fact that currently has about 10 projects on the go I have wicker baskets for mending/naming and wool based projects. But that probably doesn't help sorry.

I am working on decluttering projects by finishing them off but seem to be adding to them faster then they get cleared Going to have to be strict with myself next year. Although i think i also said that at the start of this year.

As a complete side note. when i was looking for that ikea link I was comfronted by the words "tonight you could go to sleep in a tidy bedroom" on the site. Have to admit that I quickly clicked onto the link i wanted having thought not unless someone else tidies it up for me or finds me more hours in the day.

Being productive. 4 flavours of fairy cakes made. started making tea for tonight and tea for freezer for quick turnaround night but discovered that i have no mushrooms. which is a complete and utter pita. Much not as much as ds is being about going out to buy more.

Mmm, fairy cakes!

The only things I want to accomplish today are getting the dishes and laundry completely done and put away. That's it. I am setting my sights small for the day. :)