It's September so the Fledgings Fly, as we wave our clutter bye bye

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Welcome to the ongoing Fledgling Flyers thread for September, thanks to Bitchy who kept us posted through August.

Right, most of you should know how this works. It's a three pronged attack.
Phase one: The babysteps master these and you will be working like clockwork.
Phase two: Adding in Decluttering this will help you keep on top of the amount of stuff contributing to CHAOS.
Phase three: Missions Targeted activities to keep the chaos at bay and starting the deep cleaning.

The golden duster of Flying is stage 4: deep cleaning. This is for most me anyway, somewhat unrealistic and in theory you don't need to worry about it until you have finished decluttering that's never then. Just do it if you want to.

Now for those of you who are completely lost, lets rewind a bit.
CHAOS: Can't have anyone over syndrome. We've all been there

The fly lady approach works by breaking the house down into tiny activities which you do repeatedly until they become habit and don't feel like chores any more. The house is split into zones, each zone is tackled for a week before moving on and comes round again at the start of the next month.

There are lots of experienced Fledglings on here, hence lots of advice and support and chat about anything except housework some days. the main thing is that you can post any time you like even if you haven't lifted a finger around the house that day because with Flylady you just pick up again the next day and off you go again.

We advise against signing up for Flylady emails as they can lead to a great deal of clutter in the Inbox, each days steps will be posted on this thread to save you having to find them yourself.

In the meantime here is a link to the Flylady website for anyone who would like a browse.

Getting started Remember - don't subscribe to the emails!

Eek hello! Thanks whoknows

Very nervous as September is always so different to August. Glad I have you guys :)

Be back Saturday!

Marking my space as I have been über messy and have 1 month to sort myself and declutter as we are hopefully having an extension built in Oct

Oh I was previously: MummyNic and the Flyingwithoutwings

Hello! I have in the past stupidly signed up for Flylady's emails...
Can you nudge me along without the hectoring?
I already wash a load a day, pack & run the dishwasher daily, make the kids tidy up their toys every evening in the lounge, make the bed.
I am shit at hoovering regularly, 'putting out hotspots', and cleaning the bathroom daily (weekly / fortnightly yes).
I really need to declutter.

Any helpful nudges, tips will be really appreciated

You will find that all here Gin
Much thanks for taking over Whoknows
Just a quick heads up. In process of pondering a new name. N/c at some point in the current future.

Ooh, hello! Popping on to mark my place before disappearing for the w/e.

Thanks, WhoKnows!

Hello, marking place for Saturday.
I REALLY need to get back on track. I have been faffing around the edges for far too long and need to make some big changes. I've just had a big birthday and its time I had a house I actually enjoyed living in. This will take some work so proper Babysteps and DECLUTTERING are needed - I may need my hand held.

Thanks for leading us through last month, Bitchy, and for taking over this month, WhoKnows.

Am just on my way to bed and too tired to stop for long. Our holiday dog returned home to her family this afternoon and we are all bereft . The house feels different without her. It will take a while to get used to her absence.

Hope you are all ok. Off to bed right now. Night all.

Thanks Bitchy for last month and thank you Whoknows for taking us all on this month.

I really need to get into some routine again as we have had no access to any money since we left the UK due to a right royal balls up, so the dream of a cleaner maid is still a distant dream.

I did get a washing machine yesterday though, so after 6 weeks of hand washing, I was quite excited. However, the electric wires are worn and exposed, the plug is broken and fallen apart, the pipe does not fit into the "in" pipe well and so sprays water like a shower all over the place. The wire goes from the shed, around a corner and through the kitchen to be plugged in, it has to "stretch" quite a bit!! Yesterday we had an umbrella keeping the exposed wires away from the showering pipe. Health and safety here, is so hot, I tell you!!!
To be honest, once the washing was on the line I was disappointed in how dirty it all still looked. I think I will be soaking overnight before I wash, maybe that would help.

Oh, I think I should still be on the other thread, sorry. I thought it was the 1st today, but I am not that ahead of you! See you all tomorrow!

PA you were, it appears to be our founding member. Along with Counting. Bet your never realised what you were starting
Otoh at your washing machine. You are definitely experiencing the more raw way of life. Hope you manage to fudge the electrics a little less water exposed. Hope all are well despite their many adventures.

i meant

Thank you Bitchy Yes, SC started the thread and I was her first "recruit". By the end of the first month we had bored everyone else silly with our inane witterings and it was just us. I think Ellie joined us in the September. Now look how many people we are boring with our inane witterings we are helping to get homes spick and span!

Hello! It's been several weeks but I'm back! (if anyone remembers me at all!) still trying to keep the damn sink clean

There were others like feetheart (irrc) who was about in the early days too. loads of us. funny cos it doesn't feel that long ago. clearly in denial

Morning Trazzle, well done on the sink ignores her own sink

Morning Bitchy, if it makes you feel better, it didn't get done last night. DD was sick all day. I've just fed her now and am trying to stay awake for a bit to see whether she throws up

Not really, i can't remember when I shined my sink. Have been focusing on decluttering Hope dd improves and recovers soon.

I'm still here folks but missed the party . Now munching remains in naughty corner. Signing on for another month - in August got the control journal merged with the bring forward file and that is working fine, but still absolutely shite at DECLUTTERING. New term starts next week and I so need to get my act together. Extension going well but soooo slowly and compressed living has lost all its novelty.

Thanks for the thread whoknows and leading last month bitchy!

Waves to everyone else!

Helloooooo. Signing in. Still at the caravan on my holibobs but back to normality very soon. Like you bitchy can't believe it is 3 years since i joined the inane wittering of pa and sc.

Back from hols tomorrow with a renewed purpose for flying. Bit embarassing that after 3 years i still can't do it properly.

I was quite early too I think, maybe January or February? I think the thread was mostly SC, Bitchy, PA, ellie and Whoknows. My house is disappointly not spotless, but it is approaching 'normal' and I'm not ashamed of it any more!

If only I had discoverd MN and the Fledglings 3 years ago (rtaher than 3 months ago)..what state would my house now be in? ....

Thanks for last month Bitchy and for picking up the torch this month WhoKnows

Sorry I missed the party!

I?m ready to jump back on the Flying wagon after a dismal August (can I blame the Olympics?).

I?m doing really well with evening and morning routines, harder now I?m back at work but even more important! Also, managing to get a load of washing (or two) on everyday I?m home.

My problems right now are decluttering (has ground to a halt), our hotspot (dining room table) and DH .

On the day he?s home with DS he normally does NOTHING ? got home yesterday from a day?s teaching to find the washing-up from the day not done, no washing on, DSs dirty romper and sleeping bag soaking in a bucket (but couldn?t he have just put a wash on instead of me doing it when I got home?!), toilet roll finished and not replaced.

So I ended up doing it all before dinner and pushing the hoover around downstairs.

DH suffers from depression and is still struggling right now, especially with sleep. I try and make allowances but sometimes I just get so fed up with being the one who has to hold everything together. To be fair to him he did apologise yesterday for not getting anything done and he finished off dinner (he does most of the cooking because he enjoys it and he?s better at cooking than me )

DH also has a tendency to start doing something in the house and then leave it half finished. He started a mosaic YEARS ago in our kitchen. It?s still unfinished. We bought a combi lamp-fan for our bedroom a few years ago and the box has been sitting in the upstairs hallway for a few years. Last weekend he finally decided to investigate fitting it, took off our light fitting in our bedroom and found out that it?s not going to be as simple as he thought and then left it like that for now ? so we?ve had no light fitting for a week ? bets on how long it?ll stay that way?

Decluttering is also an issue ? the house his crammed with HIS rubbish (this is his house ? he bought it 10 years before he met me so all of his DIY stuff from when he first did it up is here as well as all his childhood crap which I decluttered when I moved here to live with him). I am trying to set a good example ? I decluttered my wardrobe a few weeks ago which spurred him on and together we threw out 4 bin bags of clothes.

Enough of my whinging! I feel a list coming on. Have a friend coming over from the States this weekend to see us on his grand tour of Europe. He and his girlfriend aren?t staying with us but will be over for dinner on Saturday and then we?re heading out together for the day on Sunday.

I know technically it's still August, but I'm here now.....

Ta da
Yesterday?s ?and last weekend?s-- washing finally away
Wash done and in the td (raining here)
Chat with DM
5 mins on Hotspot (not clear but looks better)
Washing-up

DS is napping now so should make the most of it and perhaps do some paperwork.
Going food shopping with DH this afternoon to get everything in for dinner tomorrow night. DH is going to make tiramisu and we?re going to do lots of finger foods to eat ? sausage rolls, cheeseboard, bread and herbal butter, bitterballen (Dutch party snacks ? VERY bad for you but yummy all the same), pizza. Also have to get packed lunch foods for Sunday (we?re going to a National Park with ?free? bikes to whiz around on, art museum in the middle with masses of Van Gogh?s and a sculpture garden, followed by dinner at a pancake house ? very Dutch).

Must book ferry for going to UK in a few week for sister?s hen do
Write reference for ex-colleague ?that I should have done ages ago?
Take school stuff out of boot and sort out what I still have to get done before lessons on Tuesday
Water plants
Dust lounge

Marking spot for tomorrow.

I need to post tomorrow's links early as we are going to be out late, and out again early in the morning.

So, here we go:

Babystep for the first day of the month we are going to start shining our sinks. Despite 3 years here I still sometimes lapse from this one, so it's good to be reminded again every month.

There's no mission tomorrow as it is a Saturday. However we have a few tips and reminders. Reminders

On Monday we will be alunching into Zone 1 - Entrance Front Porch and Dining Room

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