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.

Just popping in to see how everyone is. I am also keeping my sink shiny in deference to all of you who are making such a huge effort with yours .

Cristiane - it's the babystep for Day 3 today, which is just to check out Flylady's BigTent Group on her website. To be honest, not many of us bother with this. The important thing is to remember to practise keeping your sink clean and clear of clutter and getting dressed first thing. Flylady says it takes 21 days to create a new habit, so keep practising and use 'post it' notes to remind you if you need to. I will post the next babystep later this evening.

DharmaBumpkin - I have my own 'get ready for school' routine. Initially, I used it as a reward chart for my DC to help them get the hang of getting themselves ready first thing. Now I keep it in my control journal as a reminder for me. It is very simple, but I sometimes need simple reminders first thing in the morning: eat b/fast; get uniforms on; brush teeth; comb hair; get shoes and socks on; get coat/hat/gloves/scarves on; remember to take packed lunches, water bottles, book bags and mobile phone and glasses for older boy.

Re: 'This has been the most surprising thing about flying for me... I'm actually relaxing about the housework because I know there's a plan and it'll all get done, it's in a weird way given me permission to stop constantly striving to do more' - that's exactly it, Dharma .

Mollymoomoo - you already sound very organised!

Justgettingonwithit - yes, the purpose of this thread is motivation and sharing.

Seasonsinthesun- I wouldn't let my books go either.

Dysgu - that's a great start

libbysister - dressed to slippers sounds great. Congratulations on the caddy

lisad123 - if I could find my Flylady book (which is lost in the clutter that is my bedroom ), I could check out ironing and Flylady. The search engine on her website isn't working at the moment. However, from what I recall, she suggests setting yourself a time limit for ironing and this has proved very useful for me. Whereas I used to avoid ironing, now I set the timer for 15 mins and know that I have permission to stop when the timer goes off. Much better to do lots of 15-minute bursts rather than one long gruelling session.

openyerlugholes - sorry for the argument . Hope things are better now.

Must go and cook dinner, but waves to Flying, Iwasagnome, Linzer, poeia, membershipcard, peachybums, HoneyandHaycorns, cq, Changebags (you can stick to PJs provided you stick to the Flylady routines ; WaitingForMe (am still processing the fact that you have 15 rooms ); and Jas. And also to everyone else on this thread - apologies, but if I list all the names my family will never eat.

BBL with babystep 4.

dining room and living room deep cleaned yesterday, hot spot by computer not quite extinquished (mostly DH's crap important papers).

rest of the house a tip! plan to shine my sink later...baby steps.

swished and swiped bathroom.

Right. Sink is not shining :( I think this is going to take more than one go. Out of bleach now, there was only a cupful left, I don't really use bleach that much for cleaning, just spray stuff.

However, sink is looking much cleaner than it has ever done before. Parts of it are shining. Maybe Ajax is the key? My Tesco cream cleaner is not that much help. I can't scrub too much as the sink has a 'dulled' finish rather than a shiny one anyway. I suppose I could scrub this off, or maybe you're meant to. I have bits of brown, assume tea stains in my tub which aren't shifting.

I've just done dinner and have washed up after dinner instead of leaving it till later on tomorrow. I am thinking that not having the previous day's washing up as my first job will make me feel better.

Having a cup of tea, then I will either sweep the dining room and clean the table or go and find a storage box for DVDs DS2 keeps throwing around the room.

Thanks jas and toffee. Have calmed down now. Arguments are great for housework - furiously worked all the way through an enormous, overflowing basket of ironing. It is the first time my ironing basket has been empty in a year!

And have done all the filing. So pleased. Must keep up with it now.

Up, shower and dress to shoes - done
Swish and swipe upstairs bathroom - done
Make bed - done
Hang up washing - done
Put load of washing on - done
Hang up 2nd load
Empty and refill dw - done
Hoover - done
Swish and swipe downstairs bathroom - done

Major tasks:

Filing - DONE!!!
Declutter and tidy utility room
Clean utility room
Iron - DONE!!!

I have spent most of today admiring my shiny sink and scowling at anyone who wanted to use it ha ha ha

Toffee i am organised have been doing a version of fly lady and organised home for a year. The more organised i became the more that i found that i loved the control and neatness that comes with it. ( much preferable to piles of washing, filthy floors and depression every day) I even have present boxes and a card box for upcoming birthdays!! Please don't hate me :-)
The organised home website is also fab to go alongside fly lady.

Its the zones i am working on this year, i'm with the other poster, sorry cant find your name. Too many rooms to see how i can fit it all into 5 zones. I'm going to run with it though, ive divided into 8 zones and will just increase the home blessing i think. Just cant leave kitchen and bathroom that long for a detailed clean.

lisad123 / Toffee I've never noticed FlyLady saying much about ironing (obviously haven't read the book thoroughly enough or, more likely, I have a mind like a sieve ) - I'll go and see if I can find anything in her book. The only thing I remember her saying is to take the clothes out of the dryer as soon as you hear the buzzer to save you ironing, but it obviously doesn't work for everything - it's in her Tips for Not Getting Sidetracked, which I printed out and have in my control journal (but, rather like the deep cleaning lists, haven't looked at for a while ). It's great that so many of you are asking questions as this thread is reminding me about so many things I'd forgotten.

I think she suggests doing 15 mins of ironing at a time?

Well, I've reread FlyLady's chapter on laundry and can't find a single mention of ironing. She says that we should think about laundry as a 5-step process: sort, wash, dry, fold or hang, and put away, which leads me to believe she doesn't actually iron. (Unless she mentions it elsewhere - her book could definitely do with an index.)

She also recommends taking clothes hangers to the dryer when you transfer laundry from the WM so that as soon as the dryer is finished, you can hang up the "good clothes". You put the rest of the clothes in a basket, take them to the room where they belong, put underwear in the drawer without folding it, match socks, and fold everything else. Apparently we should be able to do all of this in two minutes.

Not doing very well so far .

Back to school/work today but dh off sick so have lolled about chatting to dh this aft instead of flying .

Done:
laundry x2
tel Mum
tel bank

try again tomorrow.

I do minimal ironing. About 1hr/wk. But I use tumble dryer alot which probably cuts down on the need to iron most stuff.

Thank you Toffee and everyone else. I'm amazed (and pleased!) at how motivated I'm feeling...someone (can't remember who, sorry) said they feel less overwhelmed as you know there is a plan and you will get through it, and I totally agree. Even though I am only doing the baby steps, my house is actually looking a lot tidier than it usually does, and I think it has something to do with feeling in control, whereas usually I put everything off as seems too big a job!
Woohoo! :o

I must admit I find the whole step laundry plan really helpful as so often I have loads of drying, hanging washing hanging about...machines just finished so must hang and get last lot from airer to put away.

my sink is shining now. all round for everyone with a shiny sink!

I've made a lot of progress with my ironing in the last week by lowering my standards considerably . So, now I ask myself 2 questions:

Am I likely to wear it?
Would I wear it if it wasn't ironed?

If the answers are Yes then No, I iron it begrudgingly. We tend to struggle with keeping up with the ironing, so this has helped a lot.

Two mins, not likely! Washing takes up a lot of my time and i never iron.

Usual morning routine
Usual evening routine with hoover today.

Declutter 15mins everyones socks paired and old unpaired socks plus undies sent off to recycling, two carrier bags! New socks for all this christmas so was very ruthless. Not in the zone but overflowing drawers annoying and lo outgrown undies.
Detailed clean 15 mins all brio washed and dried, not in the zone but potty training lo weed in the box. Joy of joys!

sinks still shiny and ive made a path through the new toys that have no homes and are cluttering the living room.washed up straight after tea rather than leave it til the morning so kitchen isnt a hideous site when i get up.managed some ironing and got 3 loads washing done.proud of my productiveness considering all 4 kids needed referreeing allday and seeemed to be making a trail crap wherever they bin

Had a friend round today so not done much but did

• keep sink shiny
• load of washing
• cleaned kitchen floor as DD covered it in chewed up food

I am enjoying this thread also

Hi all, well, I can almost smell the waft of clean laundry and bleach just reading through this....
I can tell this is going ot give me the motivation I need, and I really need some!
Still emerging from Christmas movements and visitors, should be back to shining my sink and organising flat tomorrow.
Look forward to getting to know everyone (if I can keep up!)

I'm very excited as I have shined my sink!!

It looks great, and didn't take that long at all, but I get what people are saying about feeling protective over it. Someone shook toast crumbs in it tonight - definitely not allowed!

Thanks for ideas about cloths. I have a suggestion for good 'drying' cloths - muslin cloths are great for polishing and finishing off sinks etc. I noticed a huge pile in the hot press under towels and given that I have no plans for more babies so they can be recycled as cleaning cloths!

Ok so today I have
swished sink and toilet
Done a load of washing
Folded clean washing
Shined sink

The surfaces are clear and dishwasher loaded.

That's about it really but sink still shiney

No de-cluttering done but yesterday dh and I emptied the cleaning products cupboard under the sink and chucked a load of stuff away. It's all clean and organised now

:( i woke to a leak in the kitchen roof, so sink has not been nice and shiney today :(

spent all day emptying pots as they filled up and mopping up the wet floor.

but i'm back to work tomorrow and i really hope it does not rain!

Back to work today, but managed to s&s two bathrooms before I left!

DH is getting into the swing of things, and has taken over sink shining. Bless him he does love shiny things!

This evening, as well as an hour or so's work I've cleaned the kitchen (twice), dusted & hovered downstairs, and washed the throws although they've still got muddy paw prints on them

After I've BF'd ds I'm going in the bath while DH sorts the bins out & gives the sink a final buff!

Epic!

After reading this thread last night I shined my sink before I went to bed. It's crazy how something so simple can make your kitchen look much better and it was good to wake up to a clear, clean sink! As I'm not back to work until tomorrow, today I've made a good start on the many things that need doing:

• done a weekly food shop
• done three loads of washing, dried most of it except items that can't be tumble dried, and then ironed the dry stuff that needed it
• cleaned out the under sink cupboard, which I've been meaning to do for two years quite some time
• taken 3 bags of unwanted items and clothing to charity shop
• taken DS's books back to library
• cleaned out fridge and defrosted freezer
• polished my boots and DS's school shoes
• done both our packed lunches for tomorrow

It's a shame most of my hard work isn't immediately visible but at least I know that the cupboard and freezer are in a much better state than they were yesterday .

Still need to get onto the major decluttering and paperwork filing .

Wow, thanks to Toffee and others I have a shiny sink and a marginally less cluttered dining room, yipee! You guys are doing a great job keeping on top of the biggest thread I've ever dared venture into...

Mollymoomoo I am inspired by you managing morning routines with kids awake. I will attempt a bit of that tomorrow and see how my rabble respond to a flymummy.

One question, does swish and swiping mean I don't have to spend half an hour a week cleaning the bathrooms? Would a once every 5 weeks deep clean plus S&Sing do? Getting two shiny new bathrooms and a new downstairs loo at the end of the month (to replace the mouldy leaky hellholes in 70s beige we currently boast), so getting very squeaky and excited about keeping them that way.

Dreamfeed, bath, then bed for me, if DS agrees that is...

Night all.

Ooh, GT that sounds like a nightmare. Hope the rain stays away and it all gets sorted swiftly.