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.

Morning all,

On my Ta da! list so far:
Breakfast for all
get everyone dressed
made beds
and school run.

I'm off to do a bit more now. Trying to not spend all day on the computer!

I'm in the same state as Honey - barely minimal flying here.

DS has gone back to Uni and I'm still adjusting to no-one being here during the day and evening. It all came to a head this morning where a combination of being up late and not getting DD's uniform ironed last night resulted in me acting like a headless chicken as well as knocking a full cup of tea all over the kitchen worktops!!

There are various piles of crap hotspots around the house so I'm going to concentrate on those today.

Am stopping for a now.

To add to my Ta da! list:

drying up x 1
cat litter tray done
fed cat
decluttered x15 mins.

DD has gone to sleep on the sofa.

Hows anyone else getting on ?

Morning! Off to yet another funeral this afternoon with mum (mum's bil - her sis also died last summer) so trying to get organised before then.

Ta da

Showered and dressed to shoes
Swished upstairs bathroom
Made bed
Shined sink
Emptied and refilled dw
Put on first load of washing
Folded and put away dry washing

To do

Hoover
Hang up first load
Put on second load
Hang up second load

That's about it. Off to hoover then get dressed for the funeral.

Have a good day everyone!

Hi dizzyday x posts.

I am finding if I just focus on a few jobs at a time it helps!

Hi, I'm doing minimal flying too but it still seems to help. Ironing clothes in advance so they can be laid out for the next day has been a total life changer for me doing DH's too which is stopping early morning panics [kisses feminist principles goodbye emicon] Even managed to make the bed and swish the bathroom before work today, just need to work out when on earth I am suppossed to fit in 15 mins of decluttering...

I have given up for now cause I am just too tired!.

Hopefully will be back later or tomorrow.

Managing to keep babysteps routine reasonably, though a bit ?box-ticking? on the de-cluttering front the last few days tbh.

Re L/o?s flying; DS genuinely has no time to help flying, (SN?s and all time and energy is going into exams) but in time?Give grandchildren a broom or talk about flying and a Quiditch match breaks out!

Started on one room in the person?s ?hoarded house?. Attacked results of mould, moths, and mice and sorted and bagged roughly 20 cubic feet of totally jumbled everything. Repeated mantra of ?it didn?t get like it in a day? in head every time it felt hopeless.

Currently the agreement is I can only throw pure rubbish as defined by it?s owner, ie old tissues, and totally smashed plastic hangers, and can recycle newspapers, but still managed to evict two full black sacks and reduce the space taken up, so there?s a bit more room to try and work in.

Grim job but really surprised at how much could be achieved by just attacking it in an organised and planned way, and it wouldn?t have occurred to me to set time limits and time to ?re-build? what had been sorted, before I found this thread. Another thank you.
I have never loved a bath so much!

Was thinking just now that often it is impossible to find 15 minutes in the day to declutter or do a mission. I have had one of theose days today - all rush, rush, rush. However, because I did my before-bed routine last night and went to bed at a decentish hour (for me) everything has run pretty smoothly today.

Just off to cook dinner, then collect DS2 from his friend's house. I'll be back later to read the thread.

I don't know what's happening to me! My friend texted me this morning to say that her TDSs were both sick and she wouldn't be able to going to our regular Thurs toddler group. For a split second I thought about going anyway and then I thought about all the cleaning and decluttering I could done if I stayed at home
Ta da list:
2 loads of washing done and dried
2 loos/sinks swished
Sideboard tidied and decluttered (inside too!)
DW unloaded and reloaded
Made beds
Back and forth and back and forth and back forth to school and nursery and school again

I also made dinner early as DH is away and I normally lose it with my 3 DSs when I'm on my own and trying to cook when they're all tired and hungry. Whereas this evening it was all timely and I remained fairly calm.

I think I must have been doing an awful lot of sitting about before starting the flylady stuff. The little and often approach is working for me.

Evening all. We've got builders in doing up our skanky bathroom, so there's not much point doing the zone this week! I'm sure my 15 m are well used making tea, chasing shower suppliers and stopping toddler playing in wet plaster! Or is flyer expected to project manage and declutter all at the same time? The routines are a godsend as we're staying pretty tidy despite the chaos and dust upstairs. Now I have 3 houseguests for the weekend, and didn't need to do a big tidy before they came! Whoop! (3 blokes who wouldn't notice however good it looks, so don't be too impressed)

I got my act together and managed to:

• Tidy 2 hotspots (hall windowledge and kitchen table)
• S&S downstairs cloakroom
• Complete clean of our en-suite (I'm counting that as this week's mission )
• Change all towels and all washed and hung to dry
• Sorted recycling
• DW on
• Sorted DD's uniform for the morning

and spent a couple of hours after school doing a jigsaw with DD!

Hello, bed at last. I managed to shine the sink. And putting out clothes is becoming second nature now which is great. I think I will have to catch up n my hotspots at the weekend and get to grips with all that stuff. I suppose I did do a five minute room rescue today, and quite a good tidy of the kitchen. S not too bad.

Hope everyone else doing ok.

Roll on Friday!

For some reason, DS2 just wouldn't go to sleep tonight (it took him till 11pm ) and kept calling me, plus I had to get DS1 settled, then tackle the kitchen. Oh, and eat pancakes with maple syrup (just because they were there). The washing up is done, but the sink is not shiny and I'm not doing it now so won't be off to such a good start tomorrow.

20th January - babystep 20 : add your laundry to your morning and evening routines. Flylady discusses laundry habits here.

The last week's mission is to clean the skirting boards in your bathroom.

Friday is de-clutter your purse and car day. The day's reminders are here. It is date night on Friday night - plan a special evening with DH/DP or friends.

Am working tomorrow, so probably won't have time to get on here till evening. Hopefully, I'll have more time at the weekend.

Bit of a slow start this morning as DH came home last night so did the school run and I got a lie in!

He's out for a couple of school guvernor meetings now and as we are away for the weekend, this morning I'll be ironing his shirts and DD's uniform for next week as well as packing our bags.

Also have to empty the DW and put another load of washing on, sort out some paperwork DH needs to sign and remake up DS's bed as things are going t*ts up at Uni and he's coming back home for a few days. :(

Sorry your son isn't happy at uni, dizzy. I hope it can be resolved. Have a nice weekend away - hopefully, you can put your worries to one side and enjoy yourself.

Have done my morning routine and am here with DH (working at home) and DS1. DS1 is complaining that he's ill and can't do any school work, so he's in his room, feeling bored. I have hidden his computer and banned telly, much to his annoyance. Am hoping to bore him so much he'll want to go back to school!

You are all doing so well in sticking to the routines. Sorry I haven't got time to do any personals, but I have read the thread and I'm impressed by how many of you are still persisting with the babysteps. The system really does work if you keep at it.

Just about to start work (at home). I'll pop back later.

OMG!!! E-Cloths.... They are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! I have cleaned EVERYTHING and just used cloth and water!!!!!!!! I'm beside myself with joy!

Managed some decluttering today and cleaned bathroom as set DCs up with paint and paper in the kitchen. The mess they made took me hours to clean up so probably have made a net loss in my FLYING today.

Despite this monumental blunder I feel fairly positive today. Hope it lasts

Hi all, had no time for "Flying" so far today as dealing with other stuff.
might manage some later.

Must get some E-cloths!

toffee hope your plan with ds works

Have had an hour in work so back home to put the last coat of paint on the bathroom ceiling. Coving up tomorrow and that's the bathroom finished! Next got to decorate the hall.

Ta da

Up and dressed to shoes
Swished upstairs bathroom
Made bed
Emptied and refilled dw
Shined sink and worktops
Hoovered
Wiped floors
Folded and put away dry washing
Hung up wet load
Put on second load
Swiped downstairs bathroom
Decluttered car

To do

Declutter purse
Paint bathroom ceiling
Hang up 1st load
Put on 2nd load
Ironing (if time)

Off out for a meal this evening with my ceilidh band (yay) and dds are having their three cousins over for a sleepover. Five 10 to 12yr olds plus at least two teens (don't know if their friends are over tonight). Am sure dh will cope!

Pleased as have got loads done today! Have some time before I need to get ready for tonight so will do the filing. Have a lovely evening everyone!

Ta da

Up and dressed to shoes
Swished upstairs bathroom
Made bed
Emptied and refilled dw
Shined sink and worktops
Hoovered
Wiped floors
Folded and put away dry washing
Hung up wet load
Put on second load
Swiped downstairs bathroom
Decluttered car
Declutter purse
Paint bathroom ceiling
Ironing

To do

Hang up 1st load
Put on 2nd load

I have failed today on the Flying. I have only managed a couple of babysteps
but then I was out of the house quite a lot.

There's always tomorrow!

You haven't failed, BlackCat - remember, you are never behind. RL takes over and we can't keep up with the babysteps. That's normal. Congratulate yourself on managing two babysteps, even though you were out of the house a lot, and start again tomorrow (or, even better, start with your before-bed routine tonight ).

Lugholes - well done on that long list! My plan with DS didn't work today as he still wouldn't go to school . School has turned into a huge monster in his mind now and he says he just can't go. We have been down this road before and have lots of support in place, so we will just take it day by day.

FleeBee - E cloths are great, aren't they? I have them in the kitchen and bathroom now. The best thing is the pack that came with a free buffing cloth - makes my taps sparkle .

How sad am I?

BBL.

I too am an E cloth fan .

toffee Poor Ds and poor you. It must be very stressful for both of you trying to work things out.

I have also been a poor flyer. Have been busy trying to juggle work and childcare so that I can switch to a 3 day week. Think I have it sorted and will have 2 days a week at home from 30th Jan. Can't wait.

Also having to wash clothes in the bath since the WM is broken.

End of the week and I am pooped. We think that our terrible sleeper slept six hours solid for the first time ever last night so I am feeling as if an end might be in sight for being up every three hours.

Have kept cleaning to a minimum over oast three days but did thirty min while dinner was cooking last night and I am writing a menu and the food shop as I type (honest) ti then go and do the supermarket shop.

At the end of three heavy hard days the house is looking ok, the en suite is clean, the beds are made, my clothes were put out every day, DD has had the right things for nursery each day, we've managed two baths and the playroom is tidy.

Time for when I get home. toffee I hope things settle with your sone soon, and _dizzy I hope you son gets his head round uni, is it anything in particular?