There will be no soot in the Fledglings sacks as they FLY through December and into the New Year

[laurenamium]

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 wine 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 Flying lessons. Here's the launch pad for more experienced fledglings. Don't be put off by the barf-tastic language of the site - the underlying system is sound (and you may discover a few of our subversions of the vocabularly along the way).

Many thanks to blue for leading the thread through November (and sc for such a good OP, which has been cut and pasted twice!) and I'll post the first babysteps and mission tomorrow evening.

All welcome!!

gold

Just a quick list dump. DD was much improved last night so her routine in the day is definitely the deciding factor!

To do:
Put things in loft
Continue sorting playroom
DD has play date with my friends little boy so gossip while the DC play!
Routines
Kitchen floor
Kitchen hotspot
Walk dogs
My laundry
Put DD laundry away
Pick up dog poo

BBL!

Congratulations nightshade.

I can't do the mission. doors are off hinges here for painting. No knobs for polishing either.

Ds is back today. I am soooo not ready for this. chaos is still very very much in evidence! best get a move on. need to leave at 12 and not even dressed yet and have a car to empty and crisis cleaning to attempt.

Ahhhh, can relax in the knowledge that all is well in the world now that Toffee is polishing her doorknobs again

Just a quick "goodbye" until the beginning of the month - will definitely be back by 31st and will set up scary Jan thread then!!

Wow- what fab news - many many congratulations to you and your fiancé Nightshade!!! x

Glad you got a bit of shut eye Lauren

Same here Swan - dd used to love helping me sort out cupboards/ice a cake things like that. Now she doesn't want to help me with anything and I have to get strict about it which is very wearing ....[sigh]

Anyway, must dash. Humungous waves to everyone!!

[Dashes around house trying to find dd's boots, dd's gloves, dd's Wellingtons, dd's jodhpur boots ....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr while dh remembers that before we can get in car he must visit office for one last time, visit an embassy to sort out a detail on his visa, visit printer to finalise some copy, pay an important bill ....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr again]

Tally-hoooooo!!!!

oh, forgot to say, enjoy your respite from builders Honu

great you had such a good Christmas Goth

well done re: the decorating Bitchy and enjoy having ds back at home!

Waves to Gold and eveyrone else!!!

[Sprints around house looking under piles of bubble wrap and old wrapping paper for said missing items ....)

Morning all, we may go to Lakeland this afternoon - just for something to do - as I'm interested in getting a steam cleaner. Anyone any thoughts ??

My to do list for today is full of sad things following my dad's death on Sunday: visit undertakers,
collect death certificate,
register death,
look after my mum. .
PLUS I'll do all the usual routine things....
Tidy up living room - put away Xmas presents
washing etc...

On a more cheery note - I may get to use a steam cleaner this afternoon (assuming I buy one).

I love the fact that today's baby step is Make sure you look after yourself. V v important at the moment! (This is why I love Fly lady because she always emphasising looking after ourselves).

This thread has kept me smiling over the last few days when tbh it's the last thing I've felt like doing. to you all.

Have you got anyone with you for support Cuddledup? That's a very sad list you have there

Sorry for insensitive comment below about all being well in the world when you are going through such a horrible time.

Hope the day goes as well as these things ever can. Will be thinking of you - lots of love and unmumsnetty hugs from across the channel x

Roomba sitting room
laundry
bath
bank
Ring window people
recycle
routines
kitchen
walk dog*
hens*
tidy bedroom
fridge
declutter 15 minutes
dinner

done
cleared out some toys from under dd bed. Will go in a sack for niece, but cannot actually throw them out (SIL will not want anything extra in her house for next few years I reckon)
another bag of rubbish collected
a wash in

Children have gone to Natural History Museum to look at crystals. Ha Ha. Don't see that being the reality of it. I think poor Dh will get one shot at the crystals and then off to the Blue Whale.

strictly thank you for your message.
Today has been fine (all things considered) - retail therapy at Lakeland has definitely been the highlight of my day. I'm now the proud owner of some strange whirly mop device not a steam cleaner. www.lakeland.co.uk/23739/E-Cloth-Spin-Dry-Mop-Set
Zero housework has happened today - so I'm now going to launch into action!

Hi all! Just checking in off my shiny new laptop

Ta da:
Put things in loft
Finished sorting playroom
DD has play date with my friends little boy smile so gossip while the DC play!
Routines
Kitchen hotspot
Walk dogs
My laundry and away
Put DD laundry away
Pick up dog poo
Visited my mum

I have had a lovely day today, catching up with my friends and family and getting the house in order. I have taken the Christmas cards down because they are looking tatty and now my living room looks really bare! Will be taking the tree down in the next few days too. The mess is driving me mad!

I'll be back soon with tomorrows links as might as well do it while I'm online!

Tomorrow's links...

Babystep 29 is doing the weekly pamper mission

Tomorrow is family fun day

There is no mission tomorrow as it's the weekend. We are still in zone 5: the living room and the detailed cleaning list is here

Have a lovely weekend!

A belated Merry Christmas to one and all, and I have never been so efficient in clearing up all the wrapping paper! Thanks to the motivation of this thread, my house looked really festive when the inlaws came on Christmas Day, and despite the tidal wave of prezzies spreading from under the tree, it has been a joy to maintain! Even my OH has resolved to keep the dining room as clear as it is just now to use it for the purpose its name intended!
Ta das include:
Go to the library
unload dw
make pie
reload dw
wash table cloths
hang up other wet washing

and to dos go a little like this:
change our bed
turn the mattress
tidy respective upstairs present piles
fold washing
update new diary

And knowing my infrequency at logging in whilst not at work, I'll say a Happy Healthy and well organised New Year! Big up 2013 (it even rhymes with clean!)

Well i braved ikea hell only to find i have to go back because one of the bolts is not going together right during assembly. not my idea of fun and i wanted the flat pack done and built. arses!!!!

That is infuriating, Bitchy. Is your DS back at home now?

Cuddled - retail therapy for grieving is a very good thing. A dear friend took me shopping after my grandfather died (I lived with him and my grandmother from aged nine, so was very close to him) and it was the best thing she could have done. I still feel comforted when I wear the coat I bought that day.

And I am very jealous of you going to Lakeland .

Jdub - so glad the Flying worked so well over Christmas .

lauren - glad you have had such a lovely day. Congratulations on the shiny new laptop!

Am ahead with the links again, as I managed a pampering mission this morning - face mask and all . Had a nice, relaxing day today. DS1 is happy because we agreed to buy him COD (after much soul searching) - but only on condition that he go to a class once a week (he has chosen climbing) and accept time limits on the XBox. He has spent the evening chatting online with old school friends, so I hope this is going to bring him back into his peer group's social world again.

The dog has eaten a lot of turkey and chicken today, but is still looking up at us with pleading brown eyes.

DS2 has constructed a town on the sitting-room floor, complete with police station, army base, church, school, railway line and 'wilderness'. It has battery-operated candles to light it when the lights go out.

My DM is returning home tomorrow. She has been such a help with washing up, tidying and spending time with the boys. I will be sad to see her go, but cheered up by the fact that, as she leaves, one of my dearest friends arrives to stay for New Year.

Ooh, get you, Lauren! Serious laptop envy here, DP has a new one too.

Cuddled Lakeland is a great place for retail therapy. We don't have one here, I don't know whether to be sad or glad as I'd have no cash. I'm a sucker for pretty baking things. Hope you're doing alright.

Jdub Well done keeping things going over Christmas.

I wish I'd managed to keep it going. The place is a pigsty now and it's driving me nuts. The dining table still has piles of crap on it - major hotspot, I just can't seem to clear it. I really feel like just sweeping the lot into a bin bag. We're trying to use the last of the leeks out of the garden so I decided I'd make leek and potato soup. I had a couple of chicken carcasses in the freezer and we had lots of veg left, so I made stock in the slow cooker overnight, then made soup with it this morning. Unfortunately I had to wash up and clear the worktops so I had space to prepare the leeks, and then had to do it all over again so that I could make dinner a few hours later (which included the couple of leeks I hadn't used in the soup.) So I've basically spent all day tidying the kitchen, and chopping leeks. And because the weather has been so foul, we haven't been out of the house, so DD was not remotely tired and didn't go to sleep til 9.30!

So tomorrow's to do list, including but not limited to:
Do more laundry, and put away clean stuff
Vacuum lounge
Clean hearth
Dust TV stand (glass, whose idea was that?)
Clean downstairs loo
Clear the dining table!!!!

Sorry for the long and slightly ranty post.

Good morning all, not been on for a couple of days. Went to work Thursday which was very hectic, but had yesterday off. Had a lazy day yesterday, plenty of pampering, long soak in the bath etc then put new pjs on. Intended to spend the afternoon on the sofa watching River Cottage on Good Food channel, but fell asleep . Had an Indian takeaway for tea then spent the evening watching tv.

Lots to do today though.

sort out dining room - get rid of extra table and chairs
hoover living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway
dust living room
ironing mountain
catch up on washing
walk dog
go to hairdressers
retrieve stuff which belongs in dining room from bedroom

Many hugs to cuddledup it's not easy to lose a parent, but must be extra difficult at Christmas time.

Morning all

Congratulations nightshade

Hope you are getting on OK cuddled mop sounds great and I g am tempted. I have a lakeland microfibre one and oit's fab but it needs a new head and I can't work out how to take it apart.

Hi Lauren and toffee and anyone else who's around and thank you very much to sc for the dreaded January thread
Need to get on top of a few things today but am out most of the day so going for a short but important list

To do
Cancel DD
Meal plan for next week
Edit online shop
First stage of toy clearance

Had a full eight hours' sleep last night . Am feeling much better for it (sorry, lauren and anyone else struggling with sleep deprivation).

Done:

Walked the dog
B/fasts

To do:

Kitchen chores
Washing
Delegate dog walking to DS1 and his friend
Lunch and dinner

DM is going home today . DS1 has his best friend over for the day. My own best friend is arriving this afternoon to stay for New Year .

Hope you all have a good day.

done
tidied three dc bedrooms thoroughly yesterday (although ds2 promptly wet the bed again this morning is it worth ever changing his sheets?)
hoovered living room

and that was fantastic, a six hour clearing fest, I feel detoxified as if I had been to the finest Spa and drunk dandelion juice! Not quite face pack worthy though

MrsPenny ooh I know that feeling so well, the virtuous using up of leeks and carcases ending in all day washing up Why does stock create so much mess? I had a veggie box again for Xmas, and the mud factor was an added dimension (although I suppose all the veg tastes nicer for it)

BIL is planning a new job. This has set off a chain reaction in Dh who seems to think I am cross with him for not having highpowered job

so...another row brewing.

And they say men aren't as insecure as woman? They just show it differently!

I fudged it last night so no return trip to ikea. However did take ds out for a full food shop. I normally would never ever ever ever consider this but there was no alternative. And it was actually quite a pleasant trip. Although that might have something to do with the fact he wanted to play his new wii game and i said no way in hell unless good behaviour first thing. But normally that comes with reluctant shuffling and bare minimal attempts. this was extra ordinarily light, and cheerful and yes i am still in shock. regulars and old timers will understand.

ta da
food shopping
set up wii
put all clothes back into wardrobe after going through them
sort out time needed to be heading out for ds
speak to a friend about ds having his friend over next week
sort some more stuff waiting for return into my room
Sort out ds' kit for training.

Also that pin board i made. looks pretty bloody in practical though. :( peg keep coming unglued and as I used super glue not sure what the solution is.

Hi all! Have read the thread but on my phone so just a quick one while tea is cooking!

toffee I'm no longer sleep deprived DD slept for fourteen hours straight last night! So I got a good 10 hours in

Quick list dump...

To do:
visit family
visit mum
walk dogs
update 2013 diary
Kitchen hotspot
Shine sink
Routines
My laundry away
Tackle hotspot in my room

BBL!

Belated happy Christmas to everyone on the thread!
My house is in complete chaos. Have just arrived back from spending Christmas with my parents, DH stayed put as he was working all over Christmas. Can genuinely say he hasn't done a thing at home since I left last Sunday, and while I left it tidy it was not very clean. So tomorrow is going to be a start-over for me with flying.
Think I made a similar post at the end of November . My first month flying was my best one - must attempt to return to those heady heights again in January.

Hope everyone is well. I'll catch ip on the thread tomorrow. Am on mobile for now.
Big wingflaps to everyone xx

Hi.
I need to get back onto this system.
I found my control journal in the back of the wardrobe last week.
I stopped doing this when I started work last year and have spent over a year just doing the weekly home blessing hour and every now and then doing a mission or 15 min detailed cleaning.
I have no idea when the last time i cleaned my black leather sofa's and it;s making me feel a little icky!
This past week, I have done a 27-fling boogie in my boys bedroom everyday and they haven't even noticed!
Anyway, just wanted to drop in and say hi and I will hopefully be joining you (if you don't mind) on Monday.

Morrisons gave me a free goose today as they had f**cked up my Christmas order on the 23rd. So we have a lot of goose fat embrocation in the house now in various pannikins.. and a nice roast dinner. Unexpectedly time to throw out all those onion bhajis from the Xmas selection tray

Managed to clean the yard out, and sweep it thoroughly, and decant some old pots into flowerbeds.
Put some laundry away
2 loads of laundry
read a bit of a book...

Kids wrote three thank you notes. That took all day. Dd's thank you note said "I would love to go shopping with you" This to her godmother
Ds1 did a tiny amount of homework, in between playing computer games with his brother, I have to say, quite amicably.
Short walk (to use vouchers to buy computer game)

toffee enjoy your friend's visit.

We have just watched Woman in Black seriously scary although a bit thin, and now discussing finer points of Victorian fiction/ghost film making with Dh.

deck hope Ireland is not too cold atm. Still remembering that terrible winter of the burst pipes in our part of Ireland, where plumbers were gods!

Bitchy well done on your food shop with ds! I have yet to try that. Ds is fine in theory but has this terrible terrible habit of getting bored, legging it in the middle and running home - I don't realise he has gone, and it is seriously unnerving.. He is obsessed by the fish counter, but once I move onto the cat food say, or the tins he is off with the wind...