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.

That home routine app looks really good. Trying to personalise it now. It's almost like having someone tell you want to do, which I really need as I have no self discipline and can quite happily sit down eating chocolate surrounded by mess

Thanks for the link Toffee - apparently we should be having 15 minutes of 'loving movement' at some point .

Jas, HomeRoutine is an app; you can search the App Store for it (it's £2.49 IIRC) .

Happy that i have made you feel its all achievable. I found the organising bit was the biggest win for me, everything in its home and all that, it really works.

Storage that works is without doubt the key. I though i would share a cheap ( and certainly fitting for jan) tip i read where you cover bannana boxes with lovely wallpaper to see you through. Cute idea i thought.

Anyway today is not a day off for me, had a full day off in the week so
Morning routine.
Empty dw
Empty wm re fill
Fold previous day clothes
Hang new load
Clear breakfast
Wipe surface and table
Swish and swipe
Make beds, air rooms 2 min room tidies

clean and declutter utility 30 mins
Porch declutter 10 mins
Bleach bin
Empty and clean fridge

Evening routine
Dw on
Kitchen wipe down
Wm on
Clothes away
Quick 10 min hoover down stairs

Pour wine!!

Sounds like a huge amout but its so engrained now i do the daily stuff super speedy and without thinking. I did do a bit extra today to make up for an easy week last week.

Well the cottage pie cooked last night is gently roasting in the oven and I promised myself I could buy the home routines application if I spent a dedicated hour in the study sorting and filing. Well the sorting is done! I have created a number of piles to file tomorrow. Luckily it is a toddler free room so I can take up tomorrow where I left off today.

So it's home routines and Harry potter. And bed straight after.

What time do people get up in the morning? We have gone anytime from 6 - 9am depending on wether DD has been up early and one of us has gone back to bed to catch up on sleep. I am increasingly thinking it would better to get up everyday at the same time and just push on through until bedtime.

I read the "shine your sink" page and was a bity puzzled, until I saw near theend she says "if you have a stainless sink, all the above plus SOS pads" (whatever they are?)

I wonder what the sinks are made of that she has in mind? I've found stainless are the easiest to keep clean and shiny, with a rub over WUL on a sponge, and occasionally a nylon scourer; and the hardest are reconstituted stone, which stain and mark easily.

SOS pads = brillo pads.

Plastic sink anyone? stains and goes yellow. Will never shine

RecursiveMoon - thanks for the App info. No good for me though. I'll have to stick with paper and pen.

I made a space to put the dish drainer when not in use today, so I now have a shiny sink, and clear worktop (No draining board in my new kitchen )

I recently had a kitchen refitted. The old one had a double sink and no drainer...

the new one definitely, definitely, definitely had to have a drainer

Ok, can someone explain to me what Swish and Swipe is? I'm new to all this

I am an absolute fly virgin but have shined my sink as described in the link, and feel happy as even did the washing up to enable me to do that. As far as I can tell that is all I need to do today, and will be getting up and ready straight away tomorrow, not staying in dressing gown....
Thanks for sharing all advice etc as definitely helps :)

the hardest are reconstituted stone, which stain and mark easily

yep, that's what I've got & mine is white (it seemed a good idea at the time). It's full of little pock marks too now, but leaving it for a time with several inches of dilute bleach does quite a good job of brightening it (or at least making it look less squalid)

Libby here you go:

"Use a little windex and quickly "swipe" the mirror, counter & sink.
Next, use a toilet brush with a little soap to "swish" the toilet bowl.
Last, use a disinfecting wipe to "swipe" down the lid, seat and bowl rim of the toilet."

It's one of the things I find really helpful...even if the rest of the house is a mess it's great to feel like that bathroom is sort of tidy. :) It takes about a minute each morning.

Swish and swipe is a quick wipe down of bathroom sink and surfaces, and "swish"of the loo.
It is introduced in one of the babysteps, but I can't remember when, and becomes part of the morning routine.

DP bought the sink without consulting me when he did the kitchen, along with the black gloss floor tiles. It all looks beautiful.....

poela - Swish and swipe is a quick clean of your bathroom - see here for FlyLadys info on it (scroll down a bit), but its basically bunging whatever you have to hand down the loo, round the sink and so on.

Nice and easy and makes life more fragrant.

"the hardest are reconstituted stone, which stain and mark easily"

I still have one (I have several sinks) and use Denture or Dishwasher tablets mostly (for tea staining), and Barkeepers Friend for anything remaining. I have got rid of almost all aluminium utensils or bottomed-pans as they leave grey or black scuff-marks. When it goes, the new one will be thick stainless.

I need to join! My new years resolution is to declutter and clean clean clean! Baby due in June and want the house sorted by then

actually i love a good old declutter

not a lover of flylady find it annoying

will watch this thread too x

Today ive...
Got washed and dressed
made dcs breakfasts
Washed breakfast things
cleaned all kitchen surfaces
put washer on
mopped kitchen floor
put dry clothes away
put wet clothes to dry
dressed DCs
Cleared all toys from living roon
Decluttered mantle piece
hoovered living room carpet
put away shoes in hallway
hoovered hallway

Took FIL a birthday card

Emptied washer
put clothes to dry
put dry clothes away
swish and swipped bathroom
helped DS set up his games console

still to do

Shine the sink
put away rest of dry washing

Ah, I've actually been swishing and swiping quite often recently, even though I didn't realise .

I don't really like using lots of toxic-ish chemicals, so I use a wet general E-cloth on my bathroom mirror, then a dry polishing E-cloth. It's fab, I find it much nicer and easier than using window cleaner. I've started to use Method cleaning products too - it's great to clean then to have lovely smelling rooms that don't smell like they've just been cleaned.

Good heavens, marking my place, and attempting to read everything but may just give up!

I've had a lovely day, and and am looking forward to starting my babysteps propely. Starting before Christmas was just pointless because I had too much to do to get ready for Christmas.

So tomorrow morning I start properly, and will start building my control journal.

Will lay out tomorrow's clothes, shine the sink, and get to bed ready to face a new year.

Right I'm starting baby steps tomorrow. I am fed up of not being able to have people drop in!!
Shiney sink tomorrow

Can someone please tell me....if I sign up to the FlyLady website (reading ahead to BabyStep day 3 she suggests you read something on the website and it looks like you have to sign up to do so) - does this mean I will start to receive the emails which have been recommended we don't do? Or is this information available elsewhere?
Hope this makes sense?!
Thanks, Poeia

Noooooooooooooo dont sign up for the emails and dont go into the big tent. Everything you need can be found here. promise. You will run away in fear and email overload. dont do it. Hth

Couldn't have put it better Bitchy