If tidying your home is your New Year's resolution, Flying with us could be the solution

[ToffeeWhirl]

Welcome to the January Fledgling Flyers' thread. A very big thank you to BlueEyeshadow and IceColdBitch for guiding us through the busy Christmas month.

Are you living in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome)? We know the feeling. We follow Flylady's routines, which aim to help you take control of your home, tidying and decluttering and setting up daily and weekly routines that keep your home looking presentable. We also chat quite a lot and swap tips on coping with housework and mess.

From the first of the month, we will be following Flylady's tips on restoring order to our homes. There are three methods, depending on whether you are new to the system or have been following it for a while:

1. Babysteps
2. Babysteps + 15 mins daily decluttering in current zone
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.

Oh, and don't - really, really ^don't^ - sign up to Flylady's emails.

The first babystep will be posted on 1st January 2012.

Happy New Year.

So today's TO DO list
(morning routine)
Shower and dress done
Swish and swipe done
Boys to get dressed done
Clear away breakfast stuff done
Take out rubbish done
(afternoon routine)
washing machine on
Start dinner and load sink
Take vitamins
Sort dry washing
Non iron away
More ironing
clean kitchen
boys in the bath
lay out boys clothes
defrost for tomorrows dinner
(before bed routine)
shine sink
lay out tomorrows clothes
check diary
remove make up
(weekend jobs)
sweep done
mop done
dust done
stray items away done

Now to take the boys out with their bikes.

What a coincidence jas! I don't miss the dining room really - one less room to clean. But I do miss having somewhere to put the clothes drier. It is now stuck in the kitchen.

Good point about wk 1 and 5 zones.

Fairiemum, start with shining your sink - the website shows you how to do this.

Then concentrate on getting the morning and routines in place. These set you up for the day, and I feel help to declutter your mind more than anything else! They really do help to motivate you and get you in the right frame of mind to FLY.

I have a general, quick tidy and clean every day - clear tops, hoover, dust. Don't spend a lot of time doing it, no major cleaning, just a quick once over to get in order for the day. Intense cleaning starts once you have decluttered.

Next have a look at the mission for the day. These are small tasks which, over time, lead to a tidier, cleaner, less cluttered home with the minimum of effort and time. The house is split into 5 zones or areas and you will concentrate on one zone or area each week. You will be given missions for the zone you are working in that week.

Having the zones keeps you focussed, and let's you declutter and clean one room at a time. It stops you from becoming overwhelmed by how much you have to do.

You will need to declutter, but only do this 15mins at a time. You can choose to start decluttering in the zone we are working in but if that area is ok, start on another. Don't do too much. It will take a long time to completely declutter your house but slowly and steadily you will get there. Read how to declutter on the FLYlady site.

Hope this helps.

X posted with whoknows!

Hi all! Happy New Year... May it be a much tidier one! Halfway through shining my sink, and have also cooked dinner, tidied the lounge, and tidied/aired the bedrooms. Aimed to do five minutes or less in each room and was amazed at what a difference it makes :)

Another one waiting on Ikea storage, we have a lovely big house with very little storage, so I'm hoping that spending a but of money on Trofast/Expedit systems will make a huge difference.

Sadly our washing machine died on Boxing Day, so my shelving money got reallocated! Another month of clutter looks likely, which I can live with but DH is threatening to move out

Molly thanks for the heads up that it can get better, permanently! And bitchy thanks for the reminder to start small and build... Three days of blitzing then giving up is totally my style

I'm halfway through shining my sink too, mmm, bleach... I like to think that it's tea that makes it so grotty, but I might be wrong!

I've been sorting out the kitchen over the last few days, trying to be more ruthless than usual .

I find that having a constant charity bag on the go helps. I'm new to flying though.

Shine sink DONE
Cook dinner STARTED
empty washing machine, hang up, sort next load NEXT ON THE LIST

I am going to use this thread (and your encouragement) along with Home Routines app to keep me motivated

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

Excellent thread! Am loving the zones method of cleaning.

Happy NY all!

I am starting tomorrow .

Happy New Year all! I won't be able to start FLYing again until we're back home tomorrow (and probably won't be able to get back into much of a routine until the DC go back to school next Monday), but really must make a start on some decluttering asap.

redlac The HomeRoutines app has more or less replaced my control journal now; it takes up far less space, so is in the spirit of FlyLady I feel!

I've downloaded the HomeRoutine app too, it seems to have been written with the FlyLady in mind .

Tea is the downfall of my sink, that and hard water. I shine it every morning using Kitchen Power Spray, but after about a fortnight I find it has gradually gone all dull and brownish again, so I wipe it out with bleach and leave it for half an hour to restore full shine (stainless steel sink).

OK, so I have shined my sink. :)

I have also changed the sheets on our bed, helped dd with her homework, and done a quick tidy in the sitting room. I am now off upstairs to put away a few bits of laundry and have a quick fifteen minute clear-up of the bedroom.

Still have a long way to go, but house doesn't look too bad, so I'm feeling quite pleased with myself!

Well done Honey
You can do anything in 15 minutes

I can't keep up with this thread.

I have shined sink and spent 15 mins attempting to clear out the magazine/newspaper/junk mail/bits of dust rack.

I think I shall download the app that was mentioned see if it helps.

Broom don't worry too much about keeping up with the thread. I imagine a few people (including myself) will fall off in the next few days/weeks.
Just use the thread for however it will help.
I come and go quite randomly and have done for 3 years!

HomeRoutine is fabulous! Have got it all set up with my routines and personalised the zones :)

Thanks silvery - have done the last jobs on my list for the day, so I'm feeling that I have earned a relaxing evening. But I might just do another fifteen minutes before I pack up for the day because the bedroom still looks like a shit tip I still have a bit of energy left.

Don't over do it Honey it's all about progression, not perfection.
FLYlady says it took your home years to get the way it is now, it will not get better in one day.
Well done for a good start though, keep it up

Happy New Year to you all! As I suspected, I wasn't up to posting earlier today (sadly, you hit the nail on the head, PA ), but, hopefully, you all saw the first babystep for today, which was to shine your sink. That's all you have to do. Flylady explains it in the link, but the idea is that you gradually establish new habits which will keep your housework under control. The shine-your-sink step comes first because it's inspiring to come down to a shiny sink in the morning, instead of a pile of washing up, and it gives you back a sense of control. It's so easy to feel hopeless when the housework is piling up and there's clutter everywhere. You get that 'rabbit in the headlights' feeling and don't know where to start. With Flylady, you can relax and just follow her instructions, knowing that you are doing something constructive to improve things.

Tomorrow I'll post the next babystep, plus the daily housework 'mission' for those who have already established the babystep routines and decluttered. Just to reiterate, the idea is that you begin with the babysteps, then - once you have established good daily routines - you start to do 15-minutes-a-day decluttering as well. Then you can start doing the daily missions.

For those of you who are itching to get on with it all, you can see an example of today's basic routines here. But don't rush ahead and start doing it all. It's all about changing habits, one step at a time.

Good evening. So far today I have

Got dressed
Swept floor, emptied dw
Made bed
Picked up dc who had total of 3hrs sleep
Went for Chinese meal with inlaws
Came back and been stuck to dd side as she is sooo tired in not allowed to move.

This evening I will stack dw, sort out dd swim stuff, try and convince dh to
Measure bathroom so we can look at refurb ie gut and make useable!

Hope you all have a fab new years night.

I haven't shined my sink yet. Planned to get some good cleaning stuff today as mine doesn't cut the mustard. But ended up going to the New Year's Day parade instead.

Have put a load of washing in the machine and put a load of dry clothes away.

Thanks for the advice. I know it won't be sustainable if I overdo it, but just want to make the most of the motivation while I have it - and before I go back to work!

Oooo Nettie well done on DH.
I am finally up to start my Jan 1st. the sink is shiny but it hasnt been used in two days due to being out.

Must go put christmas away but thing i will start with a very large cup of coffee.

Can someone repost the home routine link? I can't face hunting through the whole thread looking for it.
Thanks

1st of Jan and 300 posts . Happy NY everyone

My listing will start properly tomorrow as I have 2 days left before I'm back at work and the kitchen to finish decorating.

Joining toffee in the overindulged corner today so just aiming for a load of washing and the dishwasher before bed