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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

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

805 replies

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 30/08/2012 21:22

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!

OP posts:
strictlycaballine · 10/09/2012 13:57

Just rushing in and rushing out. Back to reality with avengence today. House still a bit of a tip after weekend festivities despite best efforts this morning. Dh stressed out with work having actually taken a bit of holiday for once. Very oppressive sultry weather (about to break tomorrow apparently), constant dust and loud drilling from building two doors down (going to last a year Sad) and DD knackered from Saturday night sleepover and therefore a complete pain in the bum before school this morning. Even dh was cross with her. No doubt will have repeat performance on return school run and before ballet tonight ... and there's a parents evening to follow too. Oh joy.

What does everyone else do with regard to term-time sleepovers and nine year olds please? Does anyone have any set rules?

Bit difficult here as important for dd (being an only) to have friends around and sleepovers are good because they allow something nearing normal-similar-to-sibling-interaction instead of planned 'artificial' orchestrated activities but majority of her friends (being expats like us) are away during the holidays. But she doesn't seem to be able to cope with very late Saturday nights and school on Monday mornings, even when we have reasonably quiet Sundays. Would appreciate any advice.

Ta da:
morning routine inc s&s, dw on, wm on
school run
rabbit husbandry
hang out cool whites wash (and bring in again because of dust Angry)
do yellow/grey/pink wash
arrange coffee with friend
wrap up Internet shopping parcels to return
newspaper articles to send to nephew and cousin

To do:
parcels/letters to post office
more laundry
dining room table hotspot
tidy playroom
chop loads of veg and prep tomorrow's supper
prep tonight's supper
school and ballet run
times table revision with dd
school meeting
afternoon/evening routine

Bum, another day just "maintaining" rather than decluttering. Must up my game. And it's nearly 3pm here ...argh ...

Sorry for v. rushed following personals:
Whoknows your early morning visit to beach sounds glorious
Sorry you had a bum start to the day too toffee
Hope list going ok Bitchy
Shock at Madwoman's grizzly!!
Big hello to RowingBoat Foad Lauren Mymum orangeyes Castlelough Ellie Swan Getknitted Blue Engels Feetheart Nettie and everyone else I've missed

Better scuttle off ...

strictlycaballine · 10/09/2012 13:59

Bit of a whinge-fest that was, wasn't it Blush

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 10/09/2012 14:21

Arses (may I call you that Blush?) - well done on the kitchen, that's what I'm doing today too.

SC - don't know what the answer is re sleepovers, I wouldn't do them on a weeknight, how about a Friday if Sat is still too tiring for Monday? Although I've got two, I kind of see where you are coming from with this, my two are just ready to flop when they get in from school and ignore each other, then they play beautifully together after tea (one reason why our bedtimes have crept late) but that is when any visiting friends have gone home.

OP posts:
madwomanintheattic · 10/09/2012 14:29

I avoid sleepovers as far as possible, sc. Grin mostly it's just school hols...

I'm going to finish all the jobs I started over the weekend today, so will post TA-da later.

Rowing, I only got back to the thread on Friday, I don't think I've been flying for... A year?! Blush

Dance starts tonight.

swanthingafteranother · 10/09/2012 14:59

blast, messages disappeared,

I am doing massive declutter atm, it is going quite well...it does seem to take DAYS to see the difference though...but I feel I am now at stage where I can see the progress

toffee sorry about ds1, they are sooo irrational aren't they...
Sc I find dd is the same and she is 10, so we stick to Fridays. Her friends' mums don't understand because she is always beautifully behaved at sleepover, but I am now much firmer at resisting lure of these "fun" events.

swanthingafteranother · 10/09/2012 15:01

oh no, pick up time. dd has friend over...need to have shower Blush and do final bit of putting away clothes. I am knackered

swanthingafteranother · 10/09/2012 15:03

ps, don't think I ever had sleepovers except in hols as a child, and in term only at secondary... what about a whole day spent playing in someone's house instead? Just as good really...

strictlycaballine · 10/09/2012 16:10

Thanks Swan Whoknows Madwoman - much appreciated

Friday night it is then/or whole days Saturday and only when we are up to date with sleep and homework.

Wish I could avoid them totally tbh, being an unsociable grouch at heart, nothing would give me greater pleasure ...but needs must and all that ...and to be fair dd's bf is no trouble at all, in fact things are often much more peaceful when she is here ...

laurenamium · 10/09/2012 16:17

Another list dump just so I know where I'm at when I get back from nandos!

home bleugh
bedding washed
walk dogs
Clean bathroom including mission
food shop
dog food shop
shine sink
counter tops
Kitchen floor
wash windows and mirrors
DD and mindee to playgroup
DD laundry
Playroom!!

Getting there! BBL!

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 10/09/2012 16:50

I don't recall ever having sleepovers with friends till I was old enough to be crashing out on their floors after parties etc. I would be quite happy to avoid them for the DCs too, but I agree SC needs must.

Well, I haven't done what was on my list, but have spent the afternoon giving the kitchen a thorough detailed clean, I hadn't done any missions in there for a couple of months at least and it was getting quite grotty. I also had a complete clearout of the big cupboard that gets everything shoved in, thrown out a few things, put an old food processor on Freecycle (needed the big cupboard clearout to find all the never used accessories for it). Been watching the London 2012 parade on my laptop and feeling quite emotional.

OP posts:
elliepac · 10/09/2012 20:33

Woooofeckinghooooo I have done BOTH morning and evening routines!!!!!! I am, however, now too tired to move or even speak (a rare occasion indeed).

Am now going to settle down and wath the highlights of the Olympic ParadeSmile.

NickNacks · 10/09/2012 20:41

Apologies for going AWOL. Blush

I promise to be back in the morning with a huge to do list.

I promise, I really will. :)

BitchyDragons · 10/09/2012 20:45

Ta da
(pre sleep post midnight)
Important research for business plan thingy
Finance review - most but don't do online banking so need a trip to bank to finish off.
Read some more of book
feel guilty about ds' foot somemore as it woke him up sad
Work on knitting my current a 10cm x 10cm square -15mins
(Post sleep)
ds up and out at double speed (incl. 2x getting dressed, school lunch making)
Put into dryer: load from last night's wash
Get started on today's washing - My bedding done, 1st load other on
Fold and iron pile of clothes abandoned in clean washing mountain
sort through hanging wardrobe stuff.
sort out ds' training kit for tomo
sort out my training kit for tomo
Empty bins
take recycling out
Put ds' washing away - batch one
Start on the great sort through of all my clothes - 1st 1./3rd done
Bins to disinfect
More ironing and folding
yet more laundry (yep got a back load)
Ds clothes away batch 2
Stand on scales and get back off again in disgust. :(
Put away next batch of sorted clothes
Clean drawers which are waiting to be put back into chest of drawer units to enable this.
Unpick a load of name tags out of clothes that ds has grown out of.
Sort out training kit vs training aids
Sort out next batch of clothes
Even more laundry, and folding and ironing
Pair the old sock pile of terror
Change the pictures that are on the wall.
Speak to ds' teacher
throw snack at child
Ikea trip with ds
Deal with a broken car
ds' reading homework
remake bed
layout clothes for tomo
implement new storage purchased.
set washing machine up for tomo
put last load on to dry
sort out ds' foot
clear bed of stuff in progress

And that they say, is that. Off to bed. Not catching up as tomo is my stupid o'clock day. And lookie no nap

NickNacks · 10/09/2012 20:48

(makes a mental note never to post my ta da list next to bitchy's) :)

elliepac · 10/09/2012 21:03

I hear you nick, and here was I proud of myself for doing a morning routine WinkGrin

BitchyDragons · 10/09/2012 21:10

But you have been at work all day Ellie I haven't all i have had to do today is try to tame the house. Many more hours to try to do stuff. Plus I might have kinda over done the coffee today. Apparently it makes me scary hyperactive and veeeeeery grumpy. At least I have started to reclaim the house a teeny tiny bit. It's still a fucking disaster zone though and you can't actually see where I have been Blush

elliepac · 10/09/2012 21:12

Thought you were off to bedWinkGrin.

GetKnitted · 10/09/2012 21:28

Thanks for the welcome everyone. Today I shined the sink :)

I think I'd better get dressed to shoes tomorrow as well, otherwise everyone at work will talk. Got away with taking my shoes off when 8 months pregnant, but 14 months on the excuse probably won't work.

Bitchy, I'm exhausted looking at your list!

swanthingafteranother · 10/09/2012 22:38

well for once the house looked all right when dd's friend came round,
and it made a big difference to my mood, and my ability to produce supper!
[turkey escalopes with ham and cheese on top, peas broccoli and wholewheat pasta spirals for starch)
packed ds2 off to football when he and dd started fighting ferociously over some "slime" {SC I really can't imagine why you should think siblings ever play together nicely Wink,} [although I know whoknows yours do Smile

to be fair ds1 read ds2 Mr Gum in a friendly fashion Hmm
done
ds1 did homework about some unpronounceable Babylonian something or other
dd friend over
bought catfood
evening routine (sink, dw, table, uniforms, laundry, eat snacks etc, lunchbox prep)

Ds1 has brought home a slip inviting him to a communal run, which I suspect is for lean fit runners, and he has to apparently turn up a school in PE kit on Tues and wed at 7.50 run for 20 mins, then shower at school after long run, and be on time for school in full school uniform....so sad to say...there is no way that an unfit disorganised child is going to manage this particular run/getting changed in time, not to speak of getting to school a whole 40 mins earlier than normal with lunchbox, uniform and the bulging sack of booksSad what is the point of these initiatives? I had a brainwave that all I had to do is just host the run, a deux at this end, and that would achieve the same thing....
so ds and I are going running first thing tomorrow morning for ten mins!!!!

BlueEyeshadow · 10/09/2012 22:48

Waves to all - good evening! Hi to rowingboat - I think I remember you from before - and madwoman (or did I do that already?).

No idea about sleepovers, I'm afraid SC, but I hope things improve.

Well done to WhoKnows, Ellie, Bitchy, GetKnitted and Arses :)

Haven't done much flying today, but morning routine is still going well and evening is getting better.

Ta da!
Everyone in the right place at the right time
Picked blackberries
Written blog post
Played interminable games of dinosaur top trumps with DS1
Been to Zumba

Off to collapse in a heap!

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 10/09/2012 22:59

Evening all,

Keeping it fairly short tonight, as it's late. House is pretty well totally decluttered, but superficially untidy as all the hotspots have raged into infernos while I have been concentrating on cupboards and drawers. So tomorrow I need to do a deep clean of the bathroom and put out some of the hotspots.

OP posts:
WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 10/09/2012 23:06

Links For Tuesday 11th

Babystep Inspirational Sayings hmmmm

Mission Clean your bathroom trash can and 5 mins declutter of your other room

OP posts:
castlelough · 10/09/2012 23:38

Good evening ladies!

Haven't had a very productive day here.

ta da

-discovered a baby frog (yes, really!) sitting in the toilet this morning, so all that swishing and swiping must be making my toilet very nature friendly or something for he was very much alive and hopping all over the bathroom after I fished him out and released him back to nature. The cat has also been caught several times drinking out of the toilet bowl this week....... Confused
-went to work
-went to admire my dhorse at the trainers yard - he has gone off to boarding school and is looking in great shape.
-spent a few hours doing financial overhauling and budget planning; am doing very well and hope to go back to the bank regarding mortgage application again shortly...
-dinner

No actual flying in there. Just off to clear up now after dinner Blush and shine my sink before bed - this is the only one habit that has become ingrained so far....and have a relatively early night!

Bitchy you will most definitely scare off newbies and oldies with such impressive lists!!! Clearly the bbr is working out for you!!!

Waves to everyone else - haven't seen SC or Swan in ages, welcome back!

castlelough · 10/09/2012 23:42

Whoknows Wow! You're completely decluttered!
You've reached the HOLY GRAIL!!!! Is anybody else at this stage? I have not been decluttering in weeks so I need to get back on top of this again.
Chat tomorrow xx

ToffeeWhirl · 10/09/2012 23:50

Can I join castle in speechless wonder at WhoKnows's casual declaration that she is "pretty well totally decluttered" Shock?

Am also struck dumb by Bitchy's list.

And all I came on to say is that I have done the washing up and shined my sink Sad. It seems so paltry now....