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!!

Afternoon all! Just back from two days away and having read through today's threads I"m feeling inspired to get off my lardy arse and do some FLYing.
To do
Unpack today rather than in next week which is my usual style
Swish and swipe loos
Washing x 2
make up guest room bed (DS arriving tomorrow)
tackle ironing pile whilst watching Borgen (or whatever that Danish drama is called)
Actually before I start all this I think I"ll have a cup of tea!

Whatcha looking for, bitchy?

Dh was so impressed with the bedroom decluttering he took down the tree and all the decorations himself last night. So all I need to do now is put away the Lego Harry potter world that's taken over the coffee table and my living room is pretty well tidy too! . There are still a few Christmas presents lurking, but I have to say I'm pretty pleased. I may go into the walk in wardrobe later and do a bit more decluttering - I did a bit of it by default yesterday as I was putting other stuff away (so for example, it now has a visible carpet instead of more clothes and empty boxes from leftover Christmas wrapping - it all got chucked in there to hide it from the dcs.)

We are meeting mil and fil for brunch this morning at the local diner, so I will be renewing the pressure on my waistband, rather than my spirit, but it will be nice not to have to chivvy kids (they actually eat what's put in front of them in a restaurant!)

Dd1 is off this afternoon to a party and sleep over with her friend - school starts tomorrow, so she has to take everything she needs for party, sleepover, and school. Both she and friend have orthodontic appt in the morning, (friend is actually getting her braces off - dd1 isn't) so she needs to get a move on and sort herself out.

And then I need to think about school, packed lunches etc.

And ironing marathon.

I also have a parent's meeting for a potential guide trip tomorrow night, so I need to actually have something to tell them... At the mo it's all in my head!

And plan my meeting for Tues - I know what they are doing, but I need to make sure we have the supplies! Town has a kid's art competition, this year the theme is 'home is where the art is', so art has to be 'home' themed. Got to find a badge to tie it into - there must be an arty one!

I also need to get the paperwork in for camp. I've had a lovely month off, though.

Engels Well done for finishing the marking, bet that's a weight off!

I went for a nap this afternoon as still not feeling great. Just in time to get nack to work. The universe hates me.

Finish morning routine done
Ds1 to do homework done
Dig out bags for school done
Make the weeks sandwiches for packed lunches
Ironing
Book-bath done
Go for a drive no
Afternoon routine done
Dig out my TA handbook for a meeting that's either tomorrow or tuesday done
Boys to bed early
Before bed routine
Bed early for me.

I'm on track.

2nd post of the day for me!
Since mid afternoon done

Dinner
Washed up & shined sink
Dd in bath
School bag packed including people kit
School clothes out

To do
Dd bed
Applications - getting back up to 2-3 a day, something WILL come up soon
And then

From original list: put laundry mountain away and get my clothes ready for tomorrow.

Then my list gets like bitchy's - sort the whole feckin house. That can wait until another day tomorrow.

Its been a lovely relaxed day in the Mercury household. It was great to catch up with friends. Dcs are all ready to go back to school tomorrow. I will miss them but it will be great to get back into our routine.

Ta da:
Dw unloaded and reloaded x2
Beds changed
Dcs sheets washed
Laundry folded and put away
Pile of ironing done and put away
Ds Middle school application done
Dance school emailed re Dd starting lessons
New calender bought
Dcs bathed, hair washed
Ds and dd homework and reading completed
Dcs lunches made for tomorrow - done by dh

To do:
Kitchen cleaned, sink shined
Preparation for PGCE interview
Early night

On track so far

Primary or Secondary PGCE Mercury?

Still not done my marking but the night is yet young and we have a training day at school tomorrow so no teaching. School's quite a relaxing place without pupils.

Off to do baths and beds. Back later.

Had a partly good and partly bad day today:
good food shop, cleaned out fridge but then.... My lap top died! My DH had to re install windows which meant that i lost all my plans (im a teacher) for the week. :(
Then had to spend the whole afternoon re doing all my planning. Not good.

still to do
Packed lunches
shining sink

Good luck mercuryRising with the interview!

Orchid Oh no! That's not good.
Good luck with the interview mercury a good friend of mine is doing her PGCE at the moment, specialising in Early Years.

I just need to do some ironing and shine the sink. Not sure I'll do the ironing as we all have stuff to wear for the next few days. I know that's bad, but I really cba.
Dp's got some shite on the tv (again), so might just lay in bed reading for a bit.

List dump for tomorrow
Morning routine
Go to work
After school routine
Before bed routine
Check links/website for babystep and mission
Do babystep
Do mission/detail
Filing
Study

Bed

Am all ready for work, got bags packed, everything's laid out for morning. I've sent messages to the other TA i work in class with to remind her of things that we need to take to work for in the week.
I know I shouldn't be looking forward to tomorrow, but there are 6 very special people I've missed a bit.

I finished half of it silvery. Going to do the other set tomorrow, plus finish lesson planning for week (I don?t work Mondays?but will have 15mo DS and no DH to keep him occupied like I did today!).

Oh no orchid

Good luck mercury

I agree ellie. I normally miss the first inset of the year as I?m not in, but in their wisdom they?ve moved it to Tuesday next week. Inset at my school is sooooooooo boring ? I?d rather teach ? but at least we get a free lunch

DH and I both have the back to work blues (him more than me since he has to go in tomorrow)

Think I need a list for tomorrow to get my arse in gear

To do
Finish marking assessment pieces and books
Finish planning lessons for week (including observation from Head on Thursday ? eek!)
Errands in town ? photo framing, pick up sudocrem and bread
Make something delicious for dinner ? my turn to cook when I?m home and DS is at work (he?s better than me at cooking)
Hoover upstairs

We don't get free lunch on inset.

Wish i had an inset!!!
Done packed lunches and shining sink... now laminating.

Did I mention that we have a cup-a-soup and a Douwe Egberts coffee machine in our staffroom? And when it's parents' evening (which goes on until 9.30 depending on how many appts you have) they either get in caterers or order a chinese (these Dutchies have asome funny ideas ).

Is everyone on here a teacher? or work in a school?

Sorry to hear about losing it all orchid If there is anything I need to keep I always email it to myself so I can get it back again.

tada

• wash up 3X
• change bedding
• Fill out petrol form (I get petrol money back for one of my courses if I send in my receipts)
• Dry old bedding
• plan my week.
• Shine sink after washing up
• put bedding away

not tada

• coursework (well I have got 6 more weeks to do it, I was just trying to be keen, but since I had a CBA kind of day today I didn't do it)
• run

So neither of them are housework things anyway.

Right going to get up full of energy tomorrow as its the start of a new week and life kind of gets back to normal (only kind of as DCs not at school till Tues) so here is my list

• wash up 3X (might delogate DH to do the first one if we get up late)
• Shine Sink
• Strip DCs beds
• wash bedding
• dry bedding
• remake beds (only have one set each for them so all has to be done in the same day, have decided today though to get spare)
• Go to course
• Fill washing machine ready for Tues
• Make sure everything is ready for school on Tuesday
• Sort out what Im going to wear on Tuesday (have just looked at Flylady to see what the next babystep is as I wont get on till tomorrow lunch)

Have a good evening everybody.

To do list is complete Settling down with a hot chocolate and mn before turning in for my early night.

Thank you for all the good luck messages. My interview is a week tomorrow and Im terrified already! I'm just trying to make sure I'm as prepared as I can be. It is a primary PGCE Ellie. I'm particularly interested in teaching KS2.

Good luck everybody returning to work tomorrow.

Evening everyone

Thanks for kind words about round up and in-laws.

Not a huge amount of Flying today but decorations are down and packed - but haven't made it up to the roof.

Everyone has been crotchety today. Dh has some sort of flu-type bug. DD is miserable because it's school tomorrow (and she told us 10 mins before bath, manicure, pedicure, laying out of uniform, checking school bag routine this evening) that she has failed to do the set hwk (learning a presentation) because she was away the last day of term and didn't bring the text home with her.

This, despite the fact that I have asked her at least 4 times during the holidays whether she had hwk, to which of course the answer was "no", and the fact that we passed the school at least three times last week in the course of normal outings when it was open for teachers' meetings and childrens' workshops, and we could have easily collected the missing text then. Arrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

I've failed to follow diet today (again) or do any exercise.

Back with links and then will catch up with what the rest of you have been doing.

No teaching (or any school related employment) here, part-time mad scientist. Although more of a pen pusher nowadays.

Badly need a to-do list, the weekend has been slack Flying-wise (DH has done a lot more than me). Been out most of the day, went skating again, I actually managed to let go of the handrail this time, then home for lunch, then spent the afternoon helping a friend choose bridesmaid dresses for her wedding (didn't get very far TBH, don't envy her). Swimming lessons for the DCs and a long phone call to a friend, just sat down now to make a list.

Tomorrow,

Finish OU assignment and submit
Change beds
Get DS to do "homework" for Cubs
Sort some paperwork
Make a list or thank you letters required and get the DCs to do them

I'm sure there's more .

I can see that Jan will be another month where I sort of drift in and out of this thread until the house is unpacked. So no flying, fluttering or anything for me.

On the plus side the laundry room is completely sorted as are both bathrooms. My only two major tasks are the study and clothing. We have WAY too much clothing but not sure of the weather in Sydney so I'm waiting for some space bags to arrive so we can bag up all the winter stuff and the spare duvets etc and get them out the way until we know what we actually need and what we don't.

So... todo list today is the study and to open the last two boxes of clothing.

OK everyone, it's the start of the first full week of the month.

Here is tomorrow's flight plan which should update when the website does.

Tomorrow's baby-step, number 7, for Monday 7th January is a vital one!! Laying out your clothes every night before bed

This week, we will be in Zone 2, the kitchen here. The idea is to try and declutter for 15 mins a day in the current zone

If your kitchen is already decluttered, you can progress to detailed cleaning

You can find tomorrow's mission and all the missions for the week ahead here Look up and tackle dust and cobwebs + clean top of fridge + clean light fitting. Be careful!

By now you know that the habit for the month is shining your sink!

The daily focus for Monday is the home blessing or what we call on here the "daily bleugh". The idea is to do a general quick clean of your house in about an hour (many of us find that quite challenging!) but the idea is not be remotely perfectionist about it. More info here

Good luck to all of you returning to work/school/reality after the holidays!! Hope you have a good start to the week!

*

Home. Knackered. Too much stuff everywhere.

Diet starts again tomorrow, as does flying. School not till Tuesday though.

Wishing particular good luck and reserves of strength to all the teachers on this thread returning to work tomorrow or during this wk!!

Huge respect to you all too - doffs hat - if my dd is anything to go by, you are going to have some v. truculent dc to cope with on Mon/Tues!! Don't know how you all do it!!

Glad the chemo went ok Trazzles

A special hello and "congratulations!!!" to Peppa/Issima. Welcome back! Great to 'see' you and lovely to hear your news!! We were wondering how you were getting on!! Always lovely to have a new born baby on the thread!!

Great to see you too Pushme and arf at yr bil!

Good luck with the unpacking ComradeJing

You sound v. organised for the week ahead Silvery well done!

Am sure I beat you with regard to slackness this w/e Whoknows (and with groaning inwardly at the thought of thank you letters for that matter)

Must admit to feeling less and less connected to UK when I go back too Engels Very wierd feeling because I don't feel really "at home" anywhere anymore [cue violin music] Well done re: keeping the weight off over Christmas!! And huge congrats on doing the marking!!

Congrats on doing everything other than the marking Ellie!! I know from experience how very productive avoidance can be!!

Sorry about your lap top dying and lost work Orchids How frustrating.

Great you are keeping positive about the jobs Goth

Think golden feather duster of the day goes to Madwoman whose Flying has been so inspiring over the past few days, that it motivated her dh to take down the decorations! Arf at renewing pressure on your waistband. (I have a small crisis here in that I can't fit in to my painting trousers which fitted snugly perfectly before Christmas. Can't do up the zip )

Poor you Lplate having to deal with vomit as well as everything else. Hope your ds2 recovers soon!

Glad you are OK Cuddledup (well, as OK as poss in circs) x

Sorry about your wasted trip Bitchy but you've had a v. productive time otherwise!

Lilleth hope 'feeling of deflation' wears off soon ...can be a bit of a grim time of the year. Think the jury is still out on George !!

Toffee arf at cinnamon test!

Well done re lists: Bitchy Dizzy Mercury Goth Bakerofcakes Wewereherefirst Kirk1 MrsPennyapple Nicknacks Peppa Loris

Huge waves to Feetheart Swan Castle Carpe and anyone else I may have missed. (Sorry - all scrolled out!)

xpost

Big wing flaps to Blue too! Welcome home!

Forgot to mention Lauren Justgettingonwithit Carpe Honu Gossip Makenoresolutions Whatkatydid Thekitchenfairy Jdub
LadyDeidre Pootlebug Doublemum Loveinidleness Spanielface Arses DroitwichMummy PA and probably lots of others too!

Hope all newcomers are finding the system is working for them!

I give you one guess as to which very important bit of kit i need to replace Madwoman ds otoh is absoultely delighted with his new stick. just need to cut it to size and tape it now. that's go on the to do list tomo if my brain is working cos no doubt he will want it for training on tuesday

The people are back. Am already in a grumpf. ds has thrown a strop about school tomo and the lack of door to my room is a right royal pita. would blow drying it with a hair dryer help dry gloss paint? It's had a week but still wet on the edge that was sat on the protective plastic sheet.

to do list.
up and out at stupid o'clock
laundry
emails
ring and sort out some important paperwork
send off paperwork
internet stuff
discover the dinning room table from under the washing
ds' homework
early night?

might need to sneak a nap in there somewhere. going to be tired.

Goodnight everyone!

SC Thank you for the wonderful round ups. Am sorry about DD and the homework problem... < personally think it is a little mean that they got that type of homework to prep over the hols>

Arrived home tonight from my parents house.
No ta-da list, but I did do a little exchanging unwanted presents shopping yesterday including a how did my life become so dull? toilet brush which will make swish and swipe easier. We were sharing one between two bathrooms beforehand.

I also purchased some Kilner jars to help with my baking ingredient clutter so I will sort out my various flours into airtight containers tomorrow .

So although not actively flying, flying was on my mind!

Back to school tomorrow here too!
Am starting back to Shred too (have avoided the scales over Chtistmas...)

Night night everyone