April Fledglings Fly into Spring, Get That Clutter into the Bin

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Welcome to the April 2012 Fledgling Flyers thread. Come and join us for a bit of chat and a lot of housework (or possibly the other way round).

A huge "thank you" to SanguineChompa for leading us through March

If you're house is a mess and you are strugging with C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome) and S.T.U.F.F. (something that undermines family fun) then this is the thread where we (loosely) follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system (in our own, unique, relaxed style) with lots of chat and support along the way.

We advise not signing up to receive the Flylady e-mails as you will be inundated! All the information you need will be linked here on a daily basis. Feel free to browse the Flylady website as well, links below

From the first of the month, we will be following Flylady's tips on restoring order to our homes, and as we are all at different stages we will be using one of the following methods:

• repeat or start baby steps

• repeat baby steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone

• reinforce babysteps and do daily missions if you have finished decluttering.

More info here and here!

All long-standing members, intermittent returnees, lurkers and newcomers welcome!!

Morning all. Put me on the bold step, was up late again last night
Had a lazy morning, Dp not in work until 2 today so had cuddles from dc and tea in bed which was lovely.
My list for today:
s&s
Dw done
wm
clean washing away
Hoover
phone insurance co done
meal plan
declutter dd1s clothes
15 mins in bedroom
?craft with kids
download tv shows

Bbl with actual results :o

BBlllarrrrggghhhh!

Just popping in for a mid-afternoon groan/catch up! So far have only done item one of my list + one load of washing and I'm stuck on "urgent domestic paperwork"... which is taking forever.

My own fault entirely - it's something I have dreaded and avoided and then procrastinated over again - and now I have my come-uppance. To add insult to injury have run out of coffee and I can't hear myself think because someone is digging up the street so please someone send me a cyber-espresso before I expire ...!!!

Sounds as if a lot of you have the urge to spring clean ....

Messy so.. I'm guessing you are Irish right ...?? [nosy emoticon]

A warm welcome to Issima and Stuffit

And hello to Pimpmytunnel (forgive me - not sure if you are oldie or newbie or returnee - but warm welcome anyway!!!)

Issima do you have any links/info about home app please? I'm sure it has been mentioned on here before but I haven't quite grasped what it is all about [old fogey emoticon]

Scatty snow!!

How are you doing Bitchy?

MC whatever works

How's the holiday prep going Blue?

Better go .. fussinrussindickdasterdlyblllarrrggghhhh.....

sc I am Irish, was it the bold step that gave me away :o
No flying today, am having a poas panic

MadameMessy It was! I'm only three-eighths Irish apparently (value that fraction though!!) but I still find myself repeating my late mother's words ..."for shame dd, that was a little bit bold!".

Good luck with poas!!

Flying visit.

My restarting of baby steps has not gone well.

DS is ill. My work need me to do more hours due to end of financial year (I WAH) so I have no spare time.

Still, I'm making sure I have a shiny sink, and and S&S ensuite and downstairs loo. Will look at bathroom tonight possibly.

Best laid plans!

Hi to lots of Newbies

Not sure which way we are hoping the POAS goes but I have my fingers crossed it's the result you want Messy (can i call you that?, seems wrong on a flying thread)

Had a truly rubbish morning. A new client has changed her mind about LO coming to me and it's made me feel crappy and doubt myself. Reasons given seemed genuine and nothing personal but i'm fairly low confidence person and take it to heart.

On the plus side- I had another parent on my waiting list- sibling of a current mindee who i called up and she's accepted the place. So had a vacancy for oooo around 5 hrs!

Will give me a bit of time with my own Dc's this holiday which is always a good thing. Have also lost another 2lb this week so :)

Anyway absolutely no flying down today but I don't care! :)

BBL

It's 8am here so just starting day 3. I am being bad at following the steps but last night I shined my sink and did launchpads. I also bought clothes storage bags. I have 3 DSs from 9 to 0 so a lot of clothes to store and hand down. Starting on ODS closet today.

Ta da list:

Up and dressed by 8.30 am
Swished and swiped bathroom
Changed loo roll
Changed towel
D/W unloaded and reloaded
B/fasts done
DC dressed
Sink cleared and shined
Oven top and taps polished with new microfibre cloths
Washing on
DS2 delivered to his friend's house
Ironing done
Ocado delivery taken in and put away
Online order to M&S done
DS1 delivered to his friend's house
DS2 collected from his friend's house
Lunch
Washing hung on line
Phoned mum
Made copious cups of tea for decorator
Welcomed DS1 home and praised him (he went out!)
Admired newly decorated sitting room.
Then pondered if wallpaper on 'feature wall' is 'too busy'....
...and worried that the colour doesn't exactly match the paint on the neighbouring walls

Decided we need to live with it for a bit, then decide...

To do:

Dinner (chilli con carne)

Load d/w
Sort kitchen
Put washing away (soooo booooring)
Bedtime routines, etc.

The sitting room has no clutter in it as we had to remove it all for the decorating and it looks so much better. In fact, it may actually encourage me to declutter before putting anything back.

Am so pleased that DS1 managed to go out. He was invited to his best friend's house (the only place he will go other than home at the moment and he hasn't even been there recently), but initially said he couldn't go because there would be two other boys there. However, he changed his mind and suddenly decided he would go. Then, when he arrived, all the boys decided they would go out to the local playground, so DS had to go with them, which was way outside his comfort zone. He said his legs were shaking . Never mind, he did it! Makes me feel there is hope after all . (Newbies: sorry, this isn't Flying related, but the 'oldies' here know that my DS1 (12) has anxiety issues and is currently off school and unable to go out).

Got to go and cook dinner now. Yet again, I'm going to be rubbish at personals. Sorry. But welcome to all the newbies. And waves to the old timers.

toffee - that's quite a list! Sounds like a big achievement for your DS too today

Toffee so pleased about your DS. Do you think it will encourage him to try more out of his comfort zone?

toffee, that's brill your ds went out to the playground! It is a really big deal, well done to him :)
Jnice I never shine my sink :o meh
scatty, we had hail stones today! Last week i was in a sun dress!
nicknacks. Yes call me messy. It is what it is :o we are not hoping for a positive, but test is off until tomorrow as dd1 is sick and is still a bit early.
sorry to others I've missed
Ta da list for today so far
S&s done
Dw done
wm done
clean washing away
Hoover done
phone insurance co done
meal plan
declutter dd1s clothes
15 mins in bedroom
craft with kids dd sick, i will not mix vomit and glitter :o
download tv shows

Oh wait, clean washing is away, yay

Madame - I'm not taking it too literally to me it's just ensuring that at night time the kitchen is clear and clean ready for morning mayhem! I did shine it once though and it was amazing the difference on stainless steel.

Stopping for mid-morning bf for ds3.

Ta-das

Lunches made, kids out the door (with DM).
Kitchen done, DW unloaded and reloaded.
DS3 napped (hurrah!).
Nappies in wash.
Laundry folded and away.
DS1's closet decluttering 80% done (last 20% is the hardest isn't it?).

Off to PND support group soon so must finish DS's room as he will be back with DM before me.

Quite impressed with my list but wish I wasn't still in my PJs

Evening.

I have:
drunk too much coffee,
driven far too many miles,
been in one place too long and
missed getting to another I wanted to go to.

However, I have also:
packed for ds' trip away
Ds gone on trip
Ikea hell
Sorted out information for the next month - no other people
Sat down and done planning for the next week.

Unfortunately I still have a load of paperwork to do for tomo. Really CBA but I think a trip to super market to finish a few errands and pick up some ice cream might help.

Am tired, SC my sleep pattern is fucked. not sleeping til between 3 and 5am and then getting up around 8-9ish (although some days have been much later over the weekend)

Would it be really bad to ignore the paperwork and build the flat pack furniture?

I expect I have just x-posted with loads of people as I have been sorting tons of stuff out since starting this post will go back and check after hit post. Sorry.

Jnice, Carpe, Madame - thank you for congratulations for DS1. It is a really, really big deal for him and I am so chuffed that he did it. The boys came back later and asked him to come for a sleepover, but that was a step too far for him. No matter. He is chatting happily to them on Skype now, so at least he has found a way to stay in touch within his comfort zone.

Madame and Jnice - I have not done the shining-sink step for a very long time , but I did it this morning and it really does have an uplifting effect. Life just interferes with Flylady steps, I find. It sounds so easy to shine your sink every night, but sometimes I fall asleep with one of my children and then stumble into my own bed at some crazy hour in the morning. The last thing I'm thinking of then is shining my sink!

Ah I knew i had forgotten something very important!

Well done Toffee's ds1 that is huge!

Jnice - I had PND after DS1. Hell on earth . I hope the group is helpful.

Ta da:
drunk too much coffee,
driven far too many miles,
been in one place too long and
missed getting to another I wanted to go to.
packed for ds' trip away
Ds gone on trip
Survived Ikea hell
Sorted out information for the next month - no other people
Sat down and done planning for the next week.
Been to supermarket
Strip ds' bed
Put ds' duvet on to wash
Play ref for the other people ffs
Eat a large proportion of a tub of ice cream - whoops
make sure calendars are on the right month
Update my calendar
Procrastinate

Re babysteps. They have kinda slipped atm. have been focusing on decluttering instead.

To do list for wed:
Meeting in next town
Doc appointment
wash ds' pillow/bedding
wipe down ds' bed
build ikea purchases (2 of)
Pick up some fabric for 2 projects which have deadlines that are looming
take ds' bin out
dis-infect ds' bin
start to tackle ds' room
sort through box of books from office.

Right now I have paperwork to do and I really am procrastinating. Must get it done as need it for the meetings tomo.

Evening all,

Blue - hope you got away OK today

SC - hope you got whatever it was paperwork nightmare sorted

Scatty - did you get any snow?

PimpMyTunnel - wow, you are really going for this, good start! Careful not to burn out though!

Bitchy -

Stuffit - welcome on board, another good start, well done to you too!

MC - bribery gets used frequently in this house too

Issima - welcome to you too, I think a few people on here use Home Routines, we were discussing it a few weeks ago

MadameM - good luck with POAS, whichever way you are hoping.

Carpe - oh dear, just do the minimum, the rest can wait, sometimes RL has to take priority over housework, hope DS is better soon

NickNacks - sorry to hear about the client, it must be hard not to take it personally, but well done on the other one. And the 2lb.

Jnice - clothes are an issue for a lot of us I think. I have one DS and one DD, so I don?t have to save for hand me downs but it still accumulates like mad. Whereabouts are you BTW?

Toffee - well done to DS! You will be pleased to know that I have spent 2 hours filing and organizing all DS?s paperwork for his SNs, I have thought of another reason that I need to apply for SA ASAP, which is that the brilliant teacher he had last year who supported us getting diagnosis retires in the summer and I want her input. I shine my sink in the mornings by the way, CBA at night.

Yet again not much Flying done here . I have been at work most of the day though, and DH went out straight from work so no help from him this evening. DCs had a nice day at their grandparents. Not much else happening really! Back in a minute with links

Wednesday 4th April

Babystep Reminders on Post-It Notes Again, I would say this is optional, as to my mind it counteracts the decluttering effect, but whatever!

Mission Walls and Windows zap those fingerprints!

Reminders helpful - I'm not going to post this every day as it stays largely the same, but worth a look once in a while

Detailed Cleaning Just in case you need it! if you have finished decluttering

How old is DS Carpe? Hope things improve today and you both get a bit of rest