The Fledglings' nests will be clean in 2013! Part II.

[superfluouscurves]

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

OK, because we are all so good at chatting housework, we need a second January thread ... .

... where we (loosely) follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system (in our own, unique, relaxed style) with lots of along the way.

This little-and-often system is designed so that we 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 us 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 we get when we are overwhelmed and everything needs doing all at once.

To avoid being inundated with details, we advise not signing up to the Big Tent

We are in the process of 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.]

Flylady site here

Don't worry if you are behind; just jump right back in and it will all come around next month again anyway!

Carry on everybody!

Not done a todo list today let alone a tada list. Although I have done some things.

tada

• Wash up 2X
• Turn on Washing Machine
• Dry Laundry
• Put Laundry away
• Make beds
• ring landlord re kitchen tap

to do

• Wash up after tea
• shine sink
• fill washing machine ready for tomorrow
• get clothes ready for tomorrow
• 5mins cupboard room rescue
• tidy front room once DCs are in bed

So can we start baby steps in Feb again and every month after that then? There is so many I dont do. I dont do missions, I dont even do zones. Im just mainly concentrating on washing up after every meal even though there are odd times on a night I ignore it and keeping the front room tidy. Everything else I do, Ive been doing anyway.

Ordered a carpet for our downstairs bathroom (we have two bathrooms as the house was adapted years ago for a frail old couple) which should come this week and DH will lay it (he's no carpet fitter, but he's not bad at doing it and it costs a lot less than it would if we went to a proper carpet shop) so looking forward to that, it will mean that showering will be ever so much nicer now (we only have a bath in the upstairs bathroom) as the floor is horrible. Its very addictive buying nice flooring. Its the kitchen next.

I have been nesbitting.
This is a problem as there is soooo much to do i am feeling overwhelmed. Time for some outside intervention I think. Lets see what tomo brings.

Hi ladies.
Sorry for going awol the last couple of days. I work through the night on a Thursday and Friday so most of Friday and a lot of Saturday is spent sleeping. I intended to catch up with the thread last night. Dp had gone out, I settled down on the sofa and then woke myself about an hour later snoring

So I thought I would quickly list dump and then try to get on this evening to catch up with all of the gossip.

Ta da
Up and dressed
Meal planning done
Food shop done and put away
2X school run
Helped dsil plan her hen night
Hoovered downstairs
New sheets put on bed
Changed curtains in our room
Packed dcs lunchboxes for tomorrow
Early dinner in for dcs as dd has dancing tonight
Dw unloaded and reloaded
Last nights pots put away
Laundry rebooted

To do
Get dd changed and take to dancing
Bath and bed routine for dcs
Dinner for me and dp
Write short list for dp tomorrow as he has offered to catch up on some housework as he has the day off.
Reading - I joined the read 50 books in 2013 thread and am still only on number 2!

I look forward to catching up with you all later

Quiet in here today....

Hi All,
OK so last week's zone work in the bedroom resulted in: me discovering a ton of cobwebs hanging over our bed (how come I'd never noticed them ) AND DH discovering a pair of trousers had gone mouldy in the crotch area. EEYYUUKK.

DH has now got the decluttering bug and has started decluttering his study . So this afternoon he and put a pile of clobber in our newly decluttered bedroom. Aaaghhh !

I've done a Home Bleurgh this afternoon so the house looks pretty ok. CAB to do anything zone-wise though.
As always am impressed and entertained by everyone else's postings!
Bitchy I may join you in the naughty corner for a party
XX

Ta dah
Beds
Windows
2 loads of laundry
Dd ready for school
S&S
Washing up
Ironing
Dry laundry away
Litter tray
Prep for interview tomorrow
Some emails
10 minute tidy in lounge (not too untidy to start with!)
Bank
Collect Dd
Dinner
Wash up & SS
Knitting

To do
Attack eyebrows as will actually put makeup on tomorrow

Toffee we have a cosy flat, I see it as less space to clean

? Don't mind if I do!

bitchy sorry to hear things are overwhelming at the moment.

toffee I was rolling on the floor with "no time for secs"

Well, have had a great day getting things done. Still lots of planning to do but have finished off all the little bits of marking that had piled up and am really organised for the next 2 days in the classroom. I feel so much lighter. I think thst was the main thing that was making me feel so out of control. Still a big list to get through (which I know will never end!) but am feeling so much better equipped to deal with things now.

Ta da
Yesterday's washing away
One load of washing done and away
Delicious quiche lorraine made and consumed
Washing up done - sink is shining
Letter's posted
Popped to supermarket for few bits (walked! fresh air!)
Had observation meeting at DS nursery
Lunch, clothes and hair ready for school tomorrow
Bins emptied and out for collection tomorrow
Emailed best friend
And di I mention I actually did some schoolwork?

Just going to take off my nail varnish (chipped as hell already, not a good look for school) and sip my

[SC creeps in wearing wierd snood thing on head)

Hello hello. Hope you are all OK. Don't want to be a party pooper but have sinus headache on left side of my head - get them very rarely nowadays but usually when mahoosive weather change - so trying to keep away from screens today.

Feel badly about not catching up with everyone (you are all doing so well) but if you'll forgive me - just going to post links and retire to a darkened room with only minimal personals. Promise to catch up tomorrow!!

In the meantime:

thanks Snowgirl but please no need to creep back in - everyone drops in and out of thread all the time - tis good to see you!!

arf at Toffee's " no time for secs"

Lilleth >"So can we start baby steps in Feb again and every month after that then? " yes you certainly can - that's the beauty of the system - it all wheels around again every month! Quite reassuring really...

Mahoosive wing flaps to everyone else!!!

Back in a mo with links

Bum, just done links and now lost them ..;starting again

**

Tomorrow's baby-step, no 29 for Tues 29th Jan is weekly pamper mission this one is especially for Castle!

Tomorrow, up to and including the 31st, we will be in Zone 5: Living room/den/TV room here

(Back in Zone 1 on Friday.)

Try and declutter for 15 mins in the current zone.

Once you have decluttered, you can start on detailed cleaning

You can find tomorrow's daily mission here - sofa diving!

The daily focus for Tuesday is planning - menus, events, appointments, wardrobes, holidays, etc etc

The habit for January is still shining that sink

In summary, have a look at the flight plan which updates daily.

***

Just realised there are only two baby-steps to go to end of month. Is anyone interested in running Feb thread?

Engels have just heard the news on the radio about Queen B ...

forgot to answer cjb - I just use ordinary J-cloths plus kitchen sponge and (when I'm really organised) I wash cloths in wm (having collected a few of them). Every night, part of sink routine, pour boiling water on cloth and sponge and leave to dry.

Bitchy Toffee and Engels et al ....try not to leave too many fag ends and beer stains on the carpet tonight - they are a bugger to have to scrub out and my knees aren't what they were

Get up make beds done
Get breakfast done
Feed cats done x2
Shower and dress done
Swish and swipe done
Laundry done
Clear breakfast done
Work done - lousy day
Time with boys done we played moshi monsters and then 'basket ball'
Cook dinner done - meatball stew
Clean kitchen done
Laundry done
Non iron away done
Stray items done
Zone work done - I took the cushions off sofa, hoovered it all and wiped it all down
Study nope - waiting for my last assignment to be marked before I move on
Shine sink
Bed

Very proud of myself for spending time with boys before jumping in to housework. I did the zone work after they'd gone to bed. Hope I can keep it up. Much better.

I had a chat with them earlier about the tv. We have agreed that it can go on when we get in from school whilst I cook dinner etc, then when dinner is ready it goes off, we eat, we do homework, we play, we bath, we read, we go to bed.
They were fine with it, and coped well today, let's hope it continues!
Off to catch up.

tada
tada

• Wash up 3X
• Turn on Washing Machine
• Dry Laundry
• Put Laundry away
• Make beds
• ring landlord re kitchen tap
• shine sink
• fill washing machine ready for tomorrow
• get clothes ready for tomorrow
• 5mins cupboard room rescue
• tidy front room once DCs are in bed

Feel so much better when I do all my chores

Right so my plan is all about getting into habits. I already have some habits in place - laundry (that includes washing, drying, putting away and filling washing machine for the next day), make beds in morning and sorting out what Im wearing tomorrow.

This month I have been trying to get into the habit of washing up after every meal, unlike leaving it till later as per 2012 and before. Also of course shining my sink.

Next month Im going to get into the habit of tidying/cleaning the front room every night once the DCs have gone to bed. This I have started early.

Also will have the following mantras:

• Tidy is the new normal
• Dont put it down, put it away
• Never leave a room empty handed (Ive tried to do this before, but it never worked so going to try again) Where-ever I go I will take something that belongs in that room/area and put it away even if its just one thing.

Thank you for doing a wonderful job this month SC Im not going to volunteer as Im not good at commitment and dont want to let people down if I decide to have a CBA day/week or whatever. I will in future though once Im more up to speed with all the missions etc.

A friend once told me of the embarrassment she had in a supermarket. Her DS was looking at toys and when she told him to come along he said just a sec so of course she replied with "you've had lots of secs"

tomorrow's list

• Wash up 3X
• Turn on Washing Machine
• Dry Laundry
• Put Laundry away
• Make beds
• shine sink
• fill washing machine ready for tomorrow
• get clothes ready for tomorrow
• 5mins cupboard room rescue
• tidy front room once DCs are in bed
• possibly go to town for some new clothes for DD2. All her trousers are ruined by crawling and now she is walking Im thinking of getting her some nicer trousers. Might look at some shoes as well now she is walking.
• Dentist
• Running club (I will get there)

Have a good evening everyone.

Beginner I started on babysteps on Jan 1st, but since then (maybe step 3/4) have been ignoring them! will have to get on it next month for sure.

I've just necked the last of the Bailey's. No more alcohol in the house

Oh, FFS!
When I have to catch up, I type replies and stuff on word and then copy and paste it to here. Easier than scrolling up and down. Just done it and forgot to paste. Closed down word so lost it all. Grrrrrrr

Engels would this help? FLYLadies Teacher CJ. I haven't read it.
sc hope you're feeling better soon.

Hi to everyone else

Ooh thats a good idea Silvery

mmm Baileys. I love Baileys, but the only time I ever got really bad hangovers was the morning after drinking baileys so I avoid it now

I don't really like it Lilleth but dp bought a 1L bottle at Christmas so I've been drinking it when he's forgotten to buy any wine

We're out of booze so the Bailey's is sounding appealing - can you pass it over here please as I need some advice from you wise Fledglings.

DD was sent home from school at lunchtime complaining of tummy ache. She has no temperature, just tummy ache. She's done a couple of poos (not diarrhoea) and seems generally ok. SO - do I keep her off school tomorrow or pack her off on the bus at 8 ?

Ok so who's for a fill up.....

Tricky one cuddle. A few poos since lunch time would not be normal so indicates that something hasn't agreed with her......... it may have passed now and she'd be fine.
Suppose you have to wait and see if her tummy still hurts tomorrow morning.
Hope she's ok.
If there's no temp and she seems ok otherwise I'd send her.
Doesn't take long for them to work out the magic phrase to bag a day off. Not saying she's faking now obviously but my ds1 tries the my tummy hurts or the I've got a bad cough line. Normally straight after he's told me how rubbish school is!

Evening all! It's been an odd day here. Survived it though, and been to choir which always restores things a bit. Just done routines, and not enough work, but lots of admin and finally made dentist appointments which have been needed for ages.

Cuddled - I'd go for the "see how she seems in the morning" approach myself but tend to go for sending them in unless there's something very obviously wrong.

SC - will do Feb. thread if nobody else is particularly bursting to.

Silvery - I'm glad your new routine of getting time with your DC went well today . Looks like you have managed a lot of Flying too.

Lilleth - at your friend's comment about 'secs'. Glad I'm not the only one who's made that mistake.

Cuddledup - tricky to know what to do about your DD. It would be more straightforward if she had had diarrhoea because then you would have to keep her at home. I would act as if she is going to school in the morning and only then, if she complains that she still doesn't feel well, take her temperature and make a decision. Of course, you can feel ill even when you don't have a temperature. I tend to think it's better to keep DC at home and find out they're actually fine, than send them to school and then find out they're really ill. (But obviously not if they keep doing it!)

Blue - thanks for offering to run the next thread.

Am pleased with how this morning went, thanks to getting up a bit earlier. As I also got home from school earlier, I had done all my morning routines and had breakfast before I sat down to do home ed with DS1. So my day looked like this:

Ta da :

School run early - arrived on time
Put rubbish out
S&S in bathroom
B/fast for DS1 and myself
Unloaded and reloaded d/w
Put washing on
Unloaded tumbledryer
Put all the plates and stuff on the draining board away
Swept kitchen floor
Emptied bathroom bin
Phoned DH re food shopping
Folded dry washing and put away 1/2
Home education (included watching 'Roots' for our slavery topic )
Packed DS1 off to bed with two hot-water bottles (ill with a virus)
Tumbledried washing
Lunch
School run
Accompanied DS2 to playdate
House
Home for dinner
New bedtime routine
Long chat with DS1 (not sleepy as he slept this afternoon)
Hot chocolate and MN

Night all.