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.

I had a rumage under the bed. Would recommend it - I found a bottle of champagne under there Will be renewing my spirit with it once the DCs are in bed.

Yay for champagne! I sent DD under ours to fetch a little ball which rolled under there when we were playing, she came back with the ball, some of DS's pants (clean!) and a pillowcase, not half as good a haul!

I found two old Easter eggs under mine. Well out of date, unfortunately.

very impressed at all this flying over the weekend; have just cleaned bathroom, moped floor and set to tackle kitchen and lunchboxes. Clothes laid out for tomorrow.

wish I could find champagne under my bed :)

i am posting my blog post here because I know you are the people who will appreciate it most

Queenmaeve that is fab. Can you please get on a plane and come and sort out my wardrobe of shame?

thank you! am ver ver proud of it! will post more of my further adventures in decluttering!

Bitchy sorry about your teeth. Thank you and Toffee for helping me not beat myself up. (I must get out of that habit!)

I can?t believe that I?ve done a week and not only have kept to it, but discovered I actually did all the things on my Saturday list that had to be done.

Happy Birthday Slowburner :)

Impressive Queen Maeve.

hotel standard bedroom and bathroom......that's like achieving an outstanding ofstead report.

I need hotel standard status. My detailed list will now include that.:-)

Realised this morning that i have guests tomorrow!! An hour of detailed kitchen cleaning later i'm ready. A great head start for the week still lots to do but it looks lovely. So much easier to do when there is so little clutter.

Usual morning and evening routines plus mop kitchen and hoover downstairs rooms.

Ah everyone's doing so well! Reading/posting on this thread really keeps me motivated! I can't wait until everywhere is decluttered!

I'm really keeping on top of keeping my sink free from dishes and shiny, it honestly makes a huge difference.

Also, doing a quick 2min clean of bathroom every morning once I've cleaned my teeth has made a huge difference too!

Well today I finished my detailed clean of zone 1 (stairs and porch) and tomorrow shall move onto kitchen and dining room. 15 minutes a day is so easy to fit in and really works as well.

Haven't posted for a couple of days but I'm still shining my sink! :)

Thanks all for the encouragement the other day. I think I need to take things slowly and just focus on the positives instead of all the things that haven't been done.

I am doing the baby steps and a bit of decluttering as well. The house looks much better already, and I'm actually surprised at how little effort is required to keep it nice. Back to work tomorrow but determined to keep up the good work.

Am using the home routines app instead of a control journal - is this ok, or should I have a paper version?

Good evening all!

Not much flying today as we've been out most of the day. I must tell you that dh rinsed something in the (shiny) sink and looked panic stricken because there was no e cloth to hand (clean one on nearby radiator). Shortly after the dc decided to wash their hands in the sink. DS (7) then said 'Oh no! Mummy likes the sink to be clean' and promptly picked up the washing up liquid to squeeze in it. I've never moved so fast to stop him, lol!

Toffee my post about being CHAOS free was a 6slight6 exaggeration as you would find out if you opened any cupboard here but it looks presentable on the surface now. Lol at your expired Easter eggs!
Christiane I hope your dd is feeling better now.
Changebag enjoy your Champagne - what a find!
Wannabe I'm jealous of your hotel standard.
Mollymoo good luck getting ready for visitors
Jas do you hoover the WHOLE house daily?

Anyway I've still got a shiny sink, and have done morning and evening routines. Pile of (non Flylady style)ironing to do this evening. I'd rather get it all done in one go as I hate hate hate getting the ironing board out and putting it away. Will find something good to watch and actually don't mind it too much.

Hope you all had a good weekend

No I don't hoover the whole house every day!
BUt it is a very small house - I do the sitting room and bottom half of stairs and hallway every day.
Top of stairs, landing and bedrooms once or twice a week.

Had a fun day out today, cleared two car loads of stuff out of my mates house, and got the kitchen looking shiny.
And dp made a start on the painting while we were out.

Everyone done so well

DH feeling better so have roped him in to helping (he has depression) and it is going pretty well. We have synced our HomeRoutines app whahey! So that is my version of baby step 8. I also have laid out clothes for tomorrow too.

Dd2 ok, ish, poor little thing, she seems to get everything going. Managed to get her to eat some mashed potato and she has been drinking water.

I'd love an ofsted outstanding bathroom, not yet though! I Also have a pile of ironing.haagendazs i'm with you, just want to get it done in one go, I miss Strictly - perfect ironing company! Am a bit confused about what to do with all the laundry still. Considering a tumble drier but din't need the expense. Need to find a place to put a pulley but our house is quite small.

toffee thanks for keeping us all going

Hve a good night all. I work full time. Hope I can keep this going during the week!

Not got much done today as DD woke up with a swollen eyelid so had to nip and get an eye ointment perscription for her so that will entail lunchtime visits to school this week to administer.

Sink has been shined again after DH made a roast for dinner - lots of pots but at least no sauce up the walls tonight. I have been asking him all day to sort out some shirts so I can iron them for him to go away with in the morning - which he had until 8pm failed to do - but he did then say that if I just do him one for tomorrow he'll take the unironed ones with him and do them in his hotel room - Result!

I did make cookies this afternoon and an apple pie for pudding as well as sorting the recycling and taking it out (2 trips down the drive)

Am wide awake after falling asleep with DS2 at bedtime, so here's a quick roundup:

dizzy's poor DD woke up with an eye infection (hope that cream works soon). Her DH decided to iron his own shirts whilst away overnight . She has made mouthwatering cookies and apple pie.

slowburner had a birthday and was supposed to be enjoying an afternoon nap, followed by a Thai meal. (I hope these happened and that you did minimal Flying today, slow.)

Wannabe has a gleaming ensuite of hotel standards and we are all feeling .

Bitchy is struggling to declutter whilst coping with toothache and sleepless nights - an awful combination. (Hope the pain meds allow you some sleep tonight, Bitchy.)

Haagendazs went out for the day and was pleased that her DC had noticed her shiny sink . She was planning to tackle piles of ironing.

Libby is still sticking to the babysteps and reaping the rewards.

Jas is now such an expert at Flying that she is hiring herself out to help others. She decluttered two carloads of stuff at her friend's house .

Cristiane's DD is getting better . She has synchronised her Home App routines with DH and is back to work tomorrow.

Membership was flourishing another impressive 'ta da' list, even though it's Sunday, and not looking forward to work tomorrow .

HeyNonnyNo can already see the difference Flying makes. She and her family have been enjoying family fun at the allotment.

Changebags had an impressive find under her bed and sent us all looking under our own beds for similar finds, but...

WhoKnows only found DS's clean pants and a pillowcase and ..

I only found two out-of-date Easter eggs .

Shouldbeelsewhere is enjoying a sparkling bathroom (hotel standard?) and her clothes all laid out ready for the morning.

QueenMaeve popped in to inspire us with her excellent blog post on decluttering and revamping her DH's wardrobe.

cq wants QueenMaeve to sort out her wardrobe too (don't we all!).

JustGetting did everything on her Saturday list and is rightly proud of having completed a whole week of Flying.

Mollymoomoo wants hotel-standard status too. She is panicking at the thought of guests tomorrow, but can see that the house is looking better already.

Thefoxsbrush finds that this thread is keeping her motivated. She has done her shiny sink today and her detailed cleaning.

HoneyandHaycorns is focusing on the positives and can see that her house is looking better. She wonders if you still need a control journal if you are using the Home App. (I don't know the answer to that because I haven't got a HomeApp . I do know that I find the control journal immensely useful and that it acts as a guide for other members of the family too, in principle - not that any of them actually ever look at it.)

Everyone is doing brilliantly! It's so heartening to see that people are reaping rewards from their new routines already.

Monday, 9th January - babystep 9: this is another good one - learn how to declutter and then do a five-minute room rescue. Flylady says: "...spend just 5 minutes clearing a path in your worst room. You know this area of your home - the place you would never allow anyone to see. Just 5 minutes a day for the next 27 days and you will have a place you can be proud to take anyone." Don't worry about the next 27 days though - just spend five minutes in your worst room today. Once the five minutes is up, you stop. I find this really useful when I need to give rooms a very quick once over (the key is to work flat out for the full five minutes and not to be a perfectionist about it).

Don't forget to keep practising your new routines: get dressed (to shoes ) first thing; put out your hotspots; keep your sink shiny; and lay out your clothes for the next day.

This week we are in Zone 2: the kitchen. Today's mission is to spend 10 minutes dusting in your kitchen. This link also provides a sneak peak at the missions for the rest of the week.

Today's reminders are here.

Off to bed now, but first I have to finish shining my own sink. I actually can't face coming down to a messy sink anymore.

slacked off last night, just went down to grubby sink complete with stagnant water & gross dishes.

I'll be back on it tonight (done DW already)

yuk!

Morning! Room for a small one?
Need to sort my house out, love a shiny sink! Going to make a start but it'll take me a week or 2 to catch up.
I'm going away with work tomorrow and on my return, at the weekend, my dog is going to be put to sleep so having something to focus on will really help me try to get through it.
Forgive my late start and my dumb questions... Have one to start you off:
Is baking powder the same as baking soda?

I know another poster also has the large house problem. Moved to a larger house but with very little storage. The idea of dusting and mopping floors in 10mins each time had me in despair this morning. Surely lots of US homes are large too.

So thankful I've found this thread!

Got a call from my lovely cleaner to say she cant clean today, but I'm not panicking as my sink is already shiny and downstairs is not its normal mess thanks to Fly Lady tips

Hello and welcome MummyNic. Baking soda is bicarbonate of soda, btw.

Ooh, Day 9 feels like a big one for me... not sure how to tackle - seems a bit daunting! Might pick some more hotspots to start me off!

So sorry to read about your dog btw, MummyNic.

Chestnut There's no way I can get all the tasks done in the ten allotted minutes either - it takes me about 10 mins just to put the duvet cover on our bed (let alone change the three other beds)! And I seem to spend the best part of ten minutes hauling our hoover up and downstairs; we don't have a huge house, but have three flights of stairs. At least the mirrors and magazines don't take very long to do.

mummynic But further to what Linzer said, baking powder is not the same as baking soda.

Don't worry about being behind the beauty of this system is that you are never behind. you are always making progress in terms of habit changing. well at least that is the theory.

Jump in when you get back but the key things so far are the hotspots, shiny sink, getting up and dressed straight away pref before kids up, and somehting that i can't recall but will bug me until i remember it Oh yeah laying your clothes out the night before. A lot of the early babysteps are about re-enforcing these basic bits and forming the habbit of having a shiny sink etc.

If that makes any sense. Sorry to hear about your dog.