October-fest: a fledgling (at best) might spruce up its nest (then take a rest?).

[strictlycaballine]

Welcome to the October 2012 Fledgling Flyers thread. Park your mops, buckets, microfibre cloths, golden dusters and spiders-web-removing-implements here!

A huge "thank you" to Whoknows and Pushme for leading us throughout September!! (Hope you are recovering well Whoknows - take it steady!)

If your 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, support and along the way.

This little-and-often system is designed so that you can follow a series of steps and routines each day (which gradually become second nature) in weekly designated zones of the house; defining and minimising housework - which in theory should leave you with more time to do other more interesting things instead! At the same time it is intended to reduce that panicky "rabbit in headlights" feeling when you are overwhelmed and everything needs doing all at once. No problem if you miss a day or two; just jump right back in and it will all come around next month again anyway!

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.

From the first of the month, we will be following Flylady's steps and routines using a three-pronged approach (dependent on the stage everyone is at):

• start or repeat 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.

[And if you are really enthusiastic and have finished decluttering - you can go on to detailed deep cleaning in each zone.]

More info here on getting started, and the flylady system here and here Don't be put off by the barf-tastic language of the site - the underlying system is sound.

All welcome!!

Yet another 15 min break, house blessing almost done (just need to mop) and a 5 min room rescue on the boys room, and thats me done on house cleaning til the school run, lovely . so this afternoon I will be doing my christmas things that I need to catch up on, mainly buying xmas stationary, will be doing presents when all boys are at school. Ooh I need to change beds too (darn I forgot that)

mercury it only happens when I have the motivation, (i.e. when the kids have clean school clothes on then end up going to school filthy after sliding all over the floor) and when I stumble across a flylady thread on mn. I do have my off days, and days where I would much rather procrastinate at friends houses and avoid my own, however I also have 5 people in a 2 bed house so it gets cluttered very quickly and can also be cleaned very quickly.

Hope you all have a nice afternoon ladies :)

Ta da :

Sorted through rubbish from downstair's cupboard and put one bagful out for the dustbin men
D/W unloaded and reloaded
Kitchen surfaces wiped down
Beds made
Sitting room - room rescue
Various snacks provided for DS1 who is now better
Home ed - Maths, Biology, Project (English/IT/Geography), Spelling
Round 2 of ongoing argument about 18-rated games won by me

Still loads of stuff all over the dining-room floor. I refuse to put it all back in the cupboard, but DH has gone to bed with a raging headache after his visit to the dentist, so it will have to stay there until tomorrow. Am hoping that having it all out will spur us on to sort through it and take loads to the dump/charity shops.

lauren - you might not have 11 years to wait for teenage behaviour - it often starts earlier!

Gossip - you are looking very organised with your Flying. I need to start using my timer again. It's easy to forget how much can get done in just a few minutes.

issima - another supermarket snob here .

dizzy - hope you have a working toilet soon

Just a dump list of remaining stuff:

Still to do
P/up D/s
Try to find banana boxes for friend
Refuel car
Put friends washing in car for tomorrow
Reset printer drivers, try to make friends printer print photo for CC form. Weep-whimper-weep
Library
Remake bed when fully aired
Sort through cleaning cupboard
Put cleaning stuff in car
Check English
Prep psychology
Prep C/S project
Ensure everyone showered
Dinner
Listen to friend
try to get back here
Early night

Tis a bank holiday here, so we are all at home, and our guests leave today. All flying has been cancelled until after lunch, when it will recommence with a vengeance!

Other news: I got a job! I had two interviews on Thursday, and was offered one on Friday morning. No evenings or weekends, and (manna from heaven) they have offered me the early shift, which means I will be home when the kids get in from school. it's not quite full time, but it's better pay than I was expecting, too.

I think it's fair to say that it set me up for the weekend!

Home will get blessed later, and as an added treat, it's laundry day chez mad, so it will smell fresh and clean, even it means the ironing is also due. Will try to dry and hang as much as poss without ironing... It's raining today, but as I can't see the mountains, I am betting it's snowing up there!!

Congratulations Mad the job sounds perfect
Ta dah:
Washing machine allegedly fixed (dodgy door), I'm not convinced.
Copious coffees for builders
Shined sink
Laundry
Rescued lounge (a bit)
S&s
New shoes for DS - he's jumped a whole size, no wonder he started moaning about his hoes at the weekend
Concrete is in the trenches for the foundations.
Neighbour shouted at builder for parking on shared drive (but he wasn't blocking him in)

To do:
Ironing
Set out clothes for tomorrow

Crikey...Full day's supply today and booked for Tues, Weds and Thurs am. House like a tip, mountains of washing, no-one can find anything, chaos reigns.

So - must blitz tonight - will report back later...

Hey all I have had a successful day of flying: morning routine and house bleurgh done and three hot spots cleared - yay! Thank you gossip you really inspired me I used the timer on my phone and because it was short focussed bursts I managed to get lots done. I also went to a meeting about restorative principles at the dcs school today which was really interesting. The idea is that if you talk things through with dcs instead of simply telling them off and punishing them their behaviour will improve. I have become a bit shouty lately so Im hoping if I implement this along with flylady our home should become calmer Well done on your job mad sounds fantastic. I will also keep my fingers crossed for you shifty that your wm is fixed. I know how infuriating it is when they breakdown. Off to start bedtime with dcs. Have a lovely evening everyone.

Evening all,

Bugger all to report here, but didn't want to just disappear. DH has been managing the housework sort of, the children's school and activities (by the skin of his teeth) with quite a lot of shouting rerminders from me. I'm more or less confined to bed still, that is how it's meant to be for the first couple of weeks so there's minimal preessure on the stitches. I am doing lots of crochet and telly watching, and MNing.

Anyway, I'm enjoying reading all your posts and looking forward to gradually getting back into my normal lifestyle, it will take a few more weeks but so far so good.

WhoKnows - perhaps you could write up your Christmas cards

.

Although I normally leave them to the last minute I might just do that once I'm sitting up a bit more. I am dabbling in online Christmas shopping, this is freakishly early for me.

Dizzy... Duuuuucccckkkk

Cleared my ironing here
Desperately tired so off to bed shortly.

Nighty night all

Found out which button makes my posts disappear, wont be pressing that one again (darn dp and his stupid fancy keyboard). The timers are awesome, when times up you turn it off and think oh well that's done then and you take your break or go on to the next task and before you know it your looking a a spanky clean area .

Congrats on the job mad :).

Well my afternoon routine is done, kids are in bed ds1 has done a bit more of his homework (he has adhd so we tend to get him to do a bit at a time, else he goes off target), I'm ditching the before bed routine, as I have been wearing the bad bra and my boobs, ribs and back is killing me, really should invest in some proper bras for big boobs :( also the house is fairly spanky clean so dont need to worry about it.

Dp has popped out to take my brothers girlfriend to the hospital as she's very uncomfortable and pregnant, so I've now got an hour or so to kill, think I may have to spend it in bed.

Oooh and I brought my xmas stationary, wrapping paper, selotape, scissors and tags and I'll be buying the first lot of pressies tomorrow, that flylady xmas thread is brilliant I would have been flapping until December 24th else, I highly recommend it, (it also gives me another designated place for lists )

whoknows I hope you recover well and try and rest as much as possible.

mercury thanks, I think it may be down to the thread because thats what inspires me.

hope everyone has a nice evening :)

Well after last week's excellent start its all gone downhill I just can't seem to get a grip this week. DD doesn't give me a minute's peace and DS is having the mother of all growth spurts. I had a huge nap today instead of tackling the housework, but feel much better for it.

So back to babysteps I think, obviously been trying too much.

Hi everyone, i'm in. Registered on MN to join this thread :0) Managed to FLY before the kids were born and have wanted to get back in to it for so long. I hope this thread is the key!

OK, so this is a lot later than promised, but DH and I have managed a truly humungous flying effort to return some most of the house to its pre-builder state. So not exactly prefect, but most of the plaster dust has been removed

Congratulations on your new job madwoman , hope the hangover has eased

Hope your DH and DS are feeling better toffee, sorry to hear about the x-box sulking. I look at DS running around and excitedly learning to say (s)'pider' and I can't imagine that he's going to turn into a stroppy teenager as surely he will. Then I look at 3 year old DD having a proper sulky strop because we're watching Peppa and she wants to watch Disney clubhouse and quake with fear because I can see it so clearly already

Nice to have you back castle. I love looking for my name too - I think it is one of the things that kept me on the thread in the early days - feeling like I was enough part of the thread to respond to.

Hello again tooimmature. Am I right in thinking you have a newish baby DD? How's she doing?

A big hello to trazzle if you're reading. I hope you're having a lovely time at home with your DS, glad to hear your DD is feeling better

Also hello to sc, whoknows, justgetting, arses, ellie, maggie, mercury and everyone i've missed.

Off to hand wash our clothes . Only 9 days until the new washing machine arrives!

Hi ricecrispy welcome to mumsnet and the thread . Have you been lurking for a while or are you properly new? This thread has definitely made a big difference to most of us who have been hear a while - although strangely we still seem to be largely without spotless houses

x-post with teuchter and gossip. Hello both

Hi everyone. I hope you will forgive me if I just post the steps tonight and leave personals until tomorrow as it's been a long day and I want to get to bed before midnight (one hour ahead UK here). Looks like everyone has had a very productive day though!!

Tomorrow's baby-step no. 9, for Tuesday 9th October is here. It contains a review of morning and afternoon routines, a lesson in decluttering and suggests adding a five-min room rescue to your morning routine.

Newcomers: explanation of room rescue here

Good article on decluttering 'the selfish house guest' here

We in Zone 2 all this week: the kitchen more info here . Try and spend 15 mins decluttering in this zone per day. If you have already decluttered, you can go on to detailed cleaning

Tomorrow's mission is wiping down the kitchen counters

The daily focus for Tuesday is planning social events, medical appointments, holidays, menus etc etc

The habit for October is getting rid of paper clutter. Try and shred/recycle/jettison papers you no longer need, 15 mins per day.

If I've missed anything, have a look at tomorrow's flight plan which should update automatically with the date.

And for those of you talking about Christmas countdowns, more info here and here.

One good tip (stolen from Flylady) which I've found useful is to get yourself a "Christmas/going out" outfit together while the shops are still relatively calm, they have all sizes in stock, and you have time to buy something at leisure, rather than in a last minute panic (spending more money than necessary) or update an outfit you already have. Make sure you have jewellery, make up, right underwear, all acessories to go with it etc etc - then you are all set for Christmas festivities. I try and do this for summer weddings, summer parties etc etc) and winter season - then you are all set for unexpected invitations too.

xpost

A very warm welcome to RiceCrispy!

Toffee - Thanks for the bucket. Water wasn't reconnected until @2.30pm and you could say I was bursting by then even though I held off drinking too much - must have been psychological!

I had washed out the kitchen bin on Sunday so didn't need to do that today.

After being here a month we still haven't had any refuse bins delivered but I have put the recycling out in various boxes/bags that the lady at the council assures me will be emptied in the morning. If they are not, sparks are going to fly.

Gossip - I am half envious of your Xmas preparations. I loathe the "C" word with a passion, but I think this is because EVERYTHING is down to me. I made a joke last year that DH could organise/buy presents for his side of the family, and his brother commented that they wouldn't be getting any then!

You missed me *WhoKnows" - hee hee hee! . I have been known to write ours whilst I was watching DD at Tumble Tots. I got a few funny looks/comments but it was half an hour I would have been doing nothing else in.

Evening all.

I've been very grumpy all day today, but have Zumbaed it all out now. :) Still horridly stiff though.

A little more paper clutter dumped, but there's a looooong way to go! Paper rules our house...

Big waves to RiceCrispy and well done on the job, madwoman!

Really need to get off the computer now. Good night!

Glad the bucket was reassuring, dizzy, even if you didn't have to use it in the end. What a relief to have your facilities reconnected !

Blue - I have been grumpy today too, but no Zumba to work it out. I just wish people in this house would stop shouting for me to do things ("Muuuuum...."). Well done on the paper decluttering.

SC - I'm glad this week's decluttering is in the kitchen, as my kitchen hotspot is out of control . I like your instructions on buying a Christmas outfit early .

PMPY - it all happens so gradually that each stage blends into the next, so it's not a shock when the teenage bit starts. To be honest, my DS1 is very young for his age, so we probably won't have the serious teenage issues for a couple of years yet (which is fine by me). Well done to you and your DH to tackle the plaster dust, etc. Sorry you still have to wait so long for a washing machine.

RIce - welcome to the thread.

Sorry, I can't keep my eyes open so will have to wave to the rest of you instead of typing personals. See you all tomorrow.

Thinking of you, Trazzle.

Morning all...just a dump for now, ill be back around dinner time to catch up on thread...it's horsey afternoon here

To do:
Walk dogs
DD and mindee to singing
Put DD laundry away
Put my laundry away
Today's mission- I do every day but will pull out microwave today
Clean hob
Pack DD CM bag
DD to CM
Horse riding
Date night

BBL!

Good morning fledglings one and all!

Concentrating on the morning routine this week!
Thanks SC for the Christmas/special occasion outfit advice

BBL