Fledgling flyers - it's the month of May: if your house is a mess, try the Flylady way

[ToffeeWhirl]

Welcome to the May Fledgling Flyers' thread. A very big thank you to WhoKnows for guiding us through last month.

Are you living in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome)? Flylady's routines 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. On this thread, we do our best to follow these routines (although we also chat quite a lot and sometimes forget why we're here ).

There are three methods of the Flylady system, depending on whether you are new to it 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.

Today's babystep is to shine your sink.

Hi everyone!!

Sorry I have been missing a few months, what with the eviction of XP and the revelations all of that brought up I wasn't really up to flying! But I miss my clean house so I'm back! I'll be back later to read this months thread and have a catch up!

Plan for today is to catch up on the thread and declutter my room ready to start cleaning fly lady style tomorrow! I've been keeping up with hot spots and basic routines so I'm ready to jump back in! I'll shine the sink before bed too!

I hope everyone is ok!!

I have the attention span of a gnat. Am hoping routine will get me there though...
Have paid the bills and decluttered the sitting room though. Must hoover it before the school run.

Hi Lauren welcome back!

How are you?

Hey Lauren - good to have you back again, been wondering how you got on with XP moving out and everything.

Welcome to Foad and Feedmecake too.

Can't stop now, all this talk of filing systems has made me realise I ought to catch up with some paperwork. See you later.

only managed 4 hours sleep last night so have not managed any flying today The only thing I've managed to do apart from washing trash tv and a very bad rom-com is pop to the corner shop and pick up some bread and chocolate chip cookies And dusted a bit of the lounge.

Think I'll dig out my A4 binder to restart my control journal (while watching Downton Abbey )

Thank god no one is holding me to the wiser part. Spent most of training making an unearthly and painful thud. So not quite going with a blast. It's going to hurt big style tomo. Although comp stuff is getting nicely polished.

Have cheated and bought cake. It's chocolate, has chocolates on the top
Just going to through pizza base ingrediates in bread machine and collect ds.

Training kit is in washer as of about 30secs from now. Need it for later.

Hi nicknacks I'm actually fantastic! life's so much easier without XP here and I've lost a stone since February with more still coming off

whoknows the actual move out went quite painlessly, my mum had DD so she didn't see anything, it was his other woman ringing me trying to get me to have him back as she didn't want him either in the weeks after that caused the most stress. I haven't seen him since he came for his things and I don't intend to ever see him again

Happy birthday bitchy!!!

Happy Birthday to Bitchy!

10 minutes till school pick up time and it's peeing down with rain. I have done a very small amount of paperwork and cleared some hotspots. Looked at the thread about carry forward filing, but I think my present, much simpler system works well enough.

I've been AWOL for the past week, having started work again - its been fine, when i'm here (currently typing at desk, dangerous as monitor faces door for all to see and trying to give the illusion of being super professional laydee, so just a quickie) but the before work and after work parts have been difficult.

Am sure it will improve as i get into a routine and used to it, but getting me and two small dc out of the house by 7.30 and trying to fit exericses in before that point is testing me. Am therefore doing all preparations the previous night, but this means not sitting down until 9pm - suspect i need to practice the being a well oiled organised machine in the meantime.

Whilst flying has been very limited on my part, as i've been out of the house all day, there isn't much to messy up which is a bonus.

Also, one day a week PIL come to look after DC at our house and MIL does flying for me!! Why does my kitchen always look so much cleaner after she has done it? I had previously found 'helping' as an irritant, particularly the day i returned to find she had ironed all of my knickers but now take any help i can get, dc love spending time with their grandparents, and i get help around the house too, bonus.

I'll try and catch up later in the approx half hour i have to myself after everything else!

Just a quick one - thanks honu for the link to the organisation thread, i had it on watch but was yet to read

toffee pleased to catch sight that your ds is doing well

and lastly bitchy a big happy birthday!!!!

Big wave hello to everybody else, more later...(hopefully if i'm not asleep)

Happy Birthday Bitchy

better find a light bulb , that many candles would be a fire hazard

forgot to say happy birthday bitchy

have been shamed inspired by your posts to get off my arse and do something...

washing-up
kitchen surfaces inc hob wiped down
kitchen floor swept
load of washing on
done most of prep for dinner tonight
salad for lunch tomorrow mostly ready in fridge

morecats this is exactly my prob. my dh leaves paperwork everywhere, and when I tidy it for him (put it in a pile on the lounge table or in front if his computer in study) invariably he can't find something or worse, bill goes overdue, and of course it's my fault!

though in my last relationship I was the messy one. My exBF put a shoe box of my crap next to my bed and whenever I couldn't find something he'd say, "Have you looked in your shoe box?"

It was so irritating, especially as he took it to extremes. I'd take off my glasses while reading, pop to the bathroom and they'd be gone when I came back!!!

Nagging is my only solution to DH and his clutter, I do sometimes just shove all his stuff in a box round his side of the bed, then leave it and leave it, but it can take months if I don't remind him. Also threaten to take it to the tip. That works quite well. Especially if I get a load of it onto the floor and start shoving it into binbags. We have got to the stage now where it is noticeable that most of the crap is his, which has shamed him into being more pro-active about dealing with it. TBH it's just like dealing with the DCs, same tactics apply.

Just had a lovely chat with my friend over a slice of date and walnut cake. Anyone want a slice?

Although I'm not quite as far down my list as I'd hoped by now. Here we go...Here's my updated to-do and ta dah list;

dress to shoes
feed, change and jiggle baby as required- so far so good
shine sink
phone nurseries and make appointment to see them about places
see friend for lunch
washing
clean toilet and put empty bottles in bin and declogged the sink (smug)
dishwasher on and then emptied
washing up, drying, put away
make dental appointment
bake a cake
clean rest of bathroom - just bath, floor, bin and mirror to do
make beds
clean hob for first time in months having baked marmelade to it arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh - in progress
clean out nasty stuff from fridge and wipe down inside and out
declutter all surfaces in lounge
put baby in bath then bed
make dinner

Reasonable afternoon but have come back to find that DS has pUT nappy in washing machines and washing machine has been on with his clothes in it.

Oh.... whoops....

Have now hoovered it out, and rinsed clothes, and they're now on again to try to get them clean. So not impressed!

having had to deal with many exploded nappies, I feel your pain carpe but afraid I did giggle. Amazing how far the contents of a nappy can go. Hope you have now fixed it. Don't forget to check the machine filters if machine seems under the weather.

Here's my updated to-do and ta dah list;

dress to shoes
feed, change and jiggle baby as required
shine sink
phone nurseries and make appointment to see them about places
see friend for lunch
washing
clean toilet and put empty bottles in bin and declogged the sink (smug)
dishwasher on and then emptied
washing up, drying, put away
make dental appointment
bake a cake
clean rest of bathroom - just bath, floor, bin and mirror to do
make beds
clean hob for first time in months having baked marmelade to it arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh - in progress
clean out nasty stuff from fridge and wipe down inside and out
declutter all surfaces in lounge
put baby in bath then bed
make dinner

To be honest, I've had enough now so will leave the rest until tomorrow. Feel quite proud of myself though for a first day. Celebrating with another slice of cake. mmmm

Ok. Today I will:

Declutter sitting room (not too bad, mostly children's toys) and hoovered!
Put the laundry away (really bad, been hanging around for weeks)
Pay bills online
Find something for supper tonight
Clear out the fridge (as per Flyladys mission of the day) - shame bins just gone!
Stop eating the childrens lunchbox bars.
Find and A4 file for my (Out of) Control Journal

Bitchy - think you can buy cake for your own birthday - it's above and beyond to make your own!
Carpe - Sympathy - I've had that exact thing happen too...
Will sort laundry into piles whilst watching TV this evening and then put it away in the morning.

Hi all, just checking in ready for my first day back tomorrow! I've shined my sink, wAshed the kitchen floor and cleaned the oven in preparation as its kitchen week! Not sure how well I will do with keeping up but it's got to be worth a go!

All this talk of cake is making me drool! I'm on a diet and have just finished my 30 day shred workout for the day, so it's a shower then soaps on catch up for me!

I'll be back tomorrow!!

Washing machine looks okay. Will check the filter, but not tonight!

WAH job is officially pissing me off. Report that exports to excel has been buggered, "fixed" by programmer twice and is still buggered. My work depends on it, and it's needed for Friday, and the IT manager (not the programmer, but the only guy with the programmers details) is off on holiday. I'm going to have to print the correct report, and manually input all the figures into the relevant spreadsheets. But I can't do it until tomorrow night, as I'll need my work to email me the report figures so I can input then. ARGH!!!!

Hi everyone,
I'm afraid I'm skulking in the naughty corner.......with a glass of sauvignon blanc (NZ to be precise!) Anyone else in here?

Didn't clean my sink last night or lay out my clothes....went for my run this morning, came back and dawdled over a trashy magazine then ran late late late for the rest of the morning, leaving the kitchen
in chaos and my handbag at home! :-(

Ran late all day....

I did buy a new folder for my new control journal (read all about it on flylady website so I did one positive thing today!)

Back to babysteps tomorrow :-)

Happy birthday bitchy!

Toffee - picture a small lough, currently shrouded in drizzle!

Timer has gone off (another first for me, so need this one!)
I'll be in the naughty corner if you're looking for me.

Finished the rest of my list and did a few extras besides. Knackered now, but the house was spotless when my parents arrived. Tisn't any more, but hey.

Waves to all.

Just spent evening catching up on last weeks post, provided suitable comments and then lost, agggghhhh, now can't recall personals - did snort at toffee's trolling son and was quite taken with ellie's sage observation
"I prefer to think that terrible twos shows a gritty will and determination and individuality which will be an asset in later life" I'll think of this next time I explode when dd plays up, probably 5 minutes after she wakes up.

lauren how are you finding the shred? I found it really useful for getting me in to the habit of exercising.

That's it, I need to go to bed so can attempt own exercises tomorrow.

No flying tonight, good intentions of sorting through paperwork went straight out of the window the moment I sat on sofa.

Flaps wings at all, now I'm on a roll, 2 posts in a day, will try and make it a hat trick tomorrow

Night all