The Fledglings' nests will be clean in 2013!

[superfluouscurves]

(With many thanks to Jdub for title inspiration!!)

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 (although some Fledglings find the compilation e-mails helpful)! 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 vocabulary along the way).

Huge thanks to Lauren for being our incredibly reliable and organised shining star in the East and leading us throughout the very busy month of December!!

Happy New Year Fledglings!!

All welcome!!

x posts
Swan it's being active that counts (which you are doing a lot of!) not necessarily the activity - so don't be too despondent!

*

OK everyone! Baby-step no. 4 for Friday 4th Jan coming right up

although this is one we generally ignore Personally don't feel the need to stick post-it notes everywhere to start cj.

Btw, we recommend not joining the Big Tent or you will be inundated with e-mails (although some Fledglings find weekly summary beneficial).

Tomorrow will be our last week day in zone one here

It might be helpful for newcomers to look at this about the current zone and see how the system fits together eg decluttering for 15 mins in the current zone, and once decluttered, the detailed cleaning etc

Friday's mission here (Toffee please look away) involves cob-web-busting in the dining room!

The daily focus for Friday is declutter your handbag(s) and car day

As you probably know by now, the habit of the month is shining your sink!!

And as it's Friday, I'm including some reminders here Can be quite useful to read through once in a while.

If I've forgotten anything, or you want to look at a quick of the summary of the above, click here for Friday's flight plan, which should have updated by then!

Keep going everyone! May the fourth be with you [sorry]

SC re: ironing, I just did the "put everything in the drawers unironed and hope we all wear jumpers over them" thing; I had good intentions and made a optimistic ironing pile, but have given up on that particular good intention, when the cat started sitting on it, as it was the size of mattress [ahem]

re: the washing everything twice, I think we all go through that stage. I remember as a teenager having a compulsion to wash everything by hand.

done
floor swept
laundry brought down
worktops tidied
dishwasher loaded
stew eaten
3 particularily shouty messy kids in bed, thank goodness

And ds2 has discovered a new pursuit with his cheap camcorder, Stop Animation with his lego. He wants to upload onto Youtube, unfortunately we are not tech savvy enough to turn it into a film, as he is showing it to us stop play stop play on his camcorder. It is thrilling stuff...

P.S.Hope dd better soon, don't put yourself down for not being busy enough, it sounds as if you are very busy with worrying about that.

Sink is still shiny!

And I have done some discarding of wrapping paper and putting away of toys.

SC - no, no - it had to be Mark, the rogue. (Did you know there is a fourth book in which she gets together with Mark?). And, by the way, you couldn't be Christina because I was Christina! (or Christina-a-a-ah ).

Yes, Swan, you have a point. Making airplanes is not quite as graphic as shooting zombies on XBox though, although Will did end up shooting people for real in WWI, poor thing.

How come your DC are allowed to use the gym, Swan? DC are not allowed to join till they are 14 here. Instead, DS1 has agreed to do climbing lessons and take up swimming again. I agree with you that it's tiresome that we have to be so proactive about something that should be natural and desirable though.

Silvery - blimey, that is a lot of booze! I hope it's not all for him!

MrsP - well done on clearing the dining-room table and cleaning the kitchen windows . It is a good feeling when spaces and clean spots appear, isn't it? .

Ellie - has your guest gone yet? We are guest-free for the first time in nine days and our little house suddenly feels quite spacious! It was lovely to have friends/family here, but it's also nice to be just us again.

Sorry, I can't read anymore - it's all a bit overwhelming here at the moment (SC - you are doing a wonderful job at rounding up), but everyone looks as if they are doing brilliantly.

Managed to get DC into bed in good time again tonight, although DS2 was still wailing that he was scared/too hot/not sleepy until a few minutes ago. I don't know what else we can do to settle him down. He really wants me to sleep with him, which I'm not doing, although I did nod off with him tonight. I woke up with a start a few minutes later, mumbling that he had won the best legs competition. DS2 thought this was hilarious (he has dear little-boy stick-like legs, so I don't know what that was all about ).

Going to have a little browse, then off to bed at a decent hour.

Night all.

SC - oh, I did tomorrow's mission with the cobwebs on Wednesday . No spiders in them though .

Oh, and good luck at the docs with DD tomorrow, SC. I suppose they have checked her out for diabetes, have they?

Swan how strange - loads of parallels here!!

One of my rabbits likes to sit on my pile of table-cloths (which have been washed and ironed unfortunately) stored under a side board. One day, I was laying the table for Sunday lunch, unfolded one of my best linen numbers, only to discover four sets of nibbled holes ...she has been banished from that area ever since.

And before she felt unwell, dd was filming a story set in her new Playmobil house. She has asked dh to upload ... but like you ... we are a bit stumped which may be a blessing actually.

Well done re: your list and fitness drive!

Can see the glow from here Trazzles!!

Arf Toffee see you have a more adventurous taste in men than me!!! - (I tend to go for reliable types with tweed jackets and straw in their hair !!) Yes, have read the whole lot and re-read them plenty of times too. Can't wait to share with dd!!

Crikey - thanks - hadn't thought of diabetes... will add that to the list ... this will be the fourth time (I think) that we have visited doc for same thing so intending to be a bit more assertive than usual.

Well done for being ahead of the missions and for following through with early bed strategy!!

Arf at best legs competition !!!

G'night all ...

Have just come across this blog which could prove useful.

G'night again!

Ha. I just found the decluttering thread, and was reading through it tonight. have decided to run it in parallel to this one.

I like that the blog is new... It feels shiny.

On an embarrassing note though, I got home from work to find that mil had indeed done a pile of ironing as suspected (honestly, she is compulsive), and cleaned my frigging oven.

She. Cleaned. My. Oven.

She is on holiday. She was lovely about it. But omg.

Ahem. Anyway, lovely friend's dd was here when I got home (she is friends with dd1) and had invited dd1 to sleep over. I took them both home and had a long chat with friend. She is pretty tippy, very on edge, but holding up. She has managed to talk to her h, but is pretty determined that it is over. House was fine, he's moved to work (they have staff accom) and she is starting to talk about disentangling finances etc. she says she just needs to sleep. She's not slept properly since he told her he'd moved out, but obviously today she told her dd what had happened on the way back from the airport, and got home, and so all the 'pending' stuff is done and she can try and regroup a little. Both she and dd are teary, but so far, as good as can be expected. Thanks for all kind words today, you are all fab. She's supposed to be back at work tomorrow, but has spoken with her boss and they've agreed she should just see how she feels, whether she manages to get some sleep etc. I think it will do her good from a distraction pov, even if she can manage a few hours.

So, mil has done my flying for today. and dh is cooking dinner.

Don't do post-it's.

Morning all,

We're back from our night away; it was lovely and relaxing. We're now on the countdown to back to school. DH has an extra week off so I'm hoping that he'll run a few errands for me each day.

Done
Christmas cards down and ready to take into school for collages next year
Majority of decorations down and ready to be packed away
Dishes done
Sink shined
Purse decluttered
Separate spending diary prepped and started
Burning last of Christmas oils now so house smells lovely

To do
Washing x 3
Bring in dry washing
30 mins of ironing (might have to do two bursts!)
Sew button onto school uniform
Sweep kitchen floor (possibly mop depending on how it looks post-sweep)
Children's bedding
Christmas tree down (boo! Hate this part of Christmas)
Dust shelves were Christmas cards had delicately hidden dust :)

Quite the list and that doesn't include the zone so might pop clean dining room window on there too. We're going bowling later so best make a start.

Enjoy your day!

Morning all
Re keeping up with thread and current business: it must be quite hard for all of you that have been here for ages just suddenly being invaded by newbies! I think we're all in the same place thinking how are we going to keep up, so I don't think anyone will be overly offended if they didn't receive personals until everyone gets to know each other.
Don't get me wrong, I am trying to keep up and fully read each post, but sometimes it just have to be skim-read.
As a newbie (returning after a year), I feel welcome here and motivated.

List dump
to do
Morning routine
RR
hotspot
detail cleaning
afternoon routine
menu plan for next week
clear out purse and bag
polish shoes
before bed routine
Put together new bed that came yesterday
Put a new deadbolt on front door as friend managed to break it
Go for a spin in my new car................

.......................yep, dp is getting me a car today (hopefully, or tomorrow). I failed my test last week, but only just. was so close, so dp's decided to get me a car so I can drive to build up confidence before my next test which will hopefully be soon.

I'm not going to everyday type out individual jobs that are included in my morning/afternoon/bedtime routines. I have them written down here, although it is noce to see a mahoosive list with the word done next to every item!

Have a good day everyone, bbl

Morning everyone!

Shiny new car sounds great silvery what you getting?

at your MIL cleaning your oven madwoman! You should start leaving her a list when you go out

Just a quick list dump before I get out of bed started!

To do:
Food shop
Walk dogs
Pick up prescription and get it from chemists
Post parcel
Get petrol
DD laundry and put it away
Routines

That will probably be it! BBL!

I like that blog, SC. Thanks for the link. Oh, and I don't actually have a more adventurous taste in men (DH actually possesses a tweed jacket!) - I think Mark was more of a girlish fantasy . And he was more exciting than Will or Dick, I thought. I did love that bit in the book where Dick kisses her though - omg, the height of my teen fantasy, that was!

DS2 is still very happy that he won the best-legs competition in my dream .

Madwoman - I feel so sad for your friend and her DD. A friend of mine's not-so-dear husband left her and sleep was her problem too. She just couldn't sleep at all. In the end, she had to go to the GP and get sleeping tablets.

I know what you mean about mil helping. I feel the same when mine does stuff. It makes me feel so ashamed. I suppose we have to remember that they are not trying to make us feel like that, they remember what it's like to run a home and care for DC and are simply trying to help. Your MIL was probably very happy to do those things for you.

Makenoresolution - that's a good list. Hope DH helps! Enjoy the bowling later.

Must go and throw some clothes on as one of DS2's school friends is coming round shortly. Am hoping they will play nicely together so that I can carry on tidying in our bedroom. If I need to keep an eye on them, there is a big pile of ironing to do jdownstairs .

Hope you all have a lovely day.

silvery - that's fabulous about the new car. Did you know there's a thread in chat about learning to drive? The first poster recommends buying a car when you're still learning, so you can practise (I have read the thread because I am still putting off learning to drive , but it would be so useful if I could).

Not much flying done yesterday as still poorly, apart from throwing copious amounts of bleach down the loo and swishing and swiping every five minutes.

Did manage to do normal morning routine and Wednesday's mission, couldn't do Thursdays as it would have involved getting dressed and going outside to clean the front door, hadn't got the energy for that.

Feeling a bit livelier today, but not well enough for work, so hoping to catch up on ironing this afternoon and the dog needs walking. Also need to take the tree and decorations down and put back in the loft at some point over the weekend.

Mornin ladies...

I think I am almost getting ths right but i am having trouble keeping up with the thread... It's moving so fast

Ok I have a shiny sink
Menu done til Sunday
Tonight's dinner ready
A clean hall and kitchen, daily swish of bathroom
Dining room was tidy but now has all manner of bath, taps etc as bathroom to be installed v soon. Not v fly but have to close door on this room and press pause.

Today.... Clean out purse tackle laundry to be put away.... Am I missing something?

Can someone please post a link to de cluttering thread? Downstairs ok but upstairs is a shed after 6 months of life in boxes as roof and electrics fixed.

I'm on the decluttering thread too, it's very motivating and I find it's helping to run the two together as you find so much dirt as you get rid of ! Can't link as am on phone but it's help called Anyone want to join me in a minimalist journey

Morning everyone.

Quick list post from me this morning.

To do:-
Morning routine
Get DS to tidy his room
Washing
General maintenance tidy throughout house
Mission

DS has a friend coming over this afternoon so want to get all this done this morning but have been very lazy so far!

Back later.

could I come and learn to fly here too....

I've been trying for the last year or so but can't get into the swing of it.

I'll endeavour to keep up with the thread and see if it helps.

lauren it won't be a new car, just a £500one off autotrader. Little run around.
toffee a thread you say? Must have a look at that later.
I was convinced I wasn't ready for test, my instructor really pushed me and I started breaking down in lessons and messing up really badly, he'd tell me to stop acting like a child and was quite mean the day before test so I told him I was done that I couldn't understand why he was pushing me to do something I wasn't ready to blah blah.
The next day he was due to pick me up at half 12 for a drive round before test at half 1. At half 11, I was still saying I wasn't doing it.
Got on top test, bumped the curb early on then came out too early at a roundabout.
At the end of the test, I had 4 minors and he said if it wasn't for the roundabout, he'd have let me off the curb bump.
So close, such a stupid mistake as well.
Hope you feel better soon baker

Congrats on the new car Silvery, that's a great incentive. I was a mess on my first test. A huge lorry had broken down backing up all the traffic at a junction and it threw me completely.
I wish my MIL would come and clean my oven. I'm not proud! One day soon cleaning the oven is going to have to be included on my list but it won't be today (or tomorrow).
The DCs have tidied the living room and their bedrooms as they have friends coming. I have cleaned the hob.
My sink doesn't appear to be very shiny but my tap is gleaming!
To do:
make pizzas for lunch (dough done, and DCs will make their own)
vacuum
clean under doormat
clear out car & handbag
try to find half an hour to read my book
shine sink
clear cobwebs from behind radiators and cupboard in the dining room. It's like a scene out of The Hobbit behind the cupboard, am a bit scared.

Silvery -here is the link.

Morning routine done. DS2 and his friend chatting non-stop and not needing any parental intervention at all, so am starting on the ironing mountain...