July's Fledgling Flyers: Summer holidays are on their way and the clutter is going to FLY away

[elliepac]

Welcome old and new fledglings to the July Fledgling FLYers thread!

Thank you very much to cpmpy for leading us expertly through June- it's been a while since I lead so I can't promise to be as efficient but will do my best . This will start by copying and pasting pmpy's original June post

If you're overwhelmed by clutter and general household grub then join us as we (loosely) follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system or languish in the naughty corner hoping to do better tomorrow

As usual, we will be following the Flylady three-pronged approach:

1. Baby-steps (a daily step to establish routines)
2. Then baby-steps + 15 mins daily decluttering
3. (And once decluttered) babysteps + daily missions and maybe even detailed cleaning in the weekly zones

For more information have a look here, although to avoid a cluttered inbox, we advise not signing up to the Flylady emails. The basic principle is little and often and don't worry about perfection (no chance of that here!).

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

All the links for the babysteps and missions will be posted here every day and we'll all be here to cheer each other on and chat our way through the month

Hello

I've been lurking for a while trying to pick up tips but have realised I need to do more yhsn lurk around the edges if I'm ever going to sort our house out.

My main problem is that my family of four id living in a large house, shared with my parents. I'm very tidy and they are incredibly messy lovers of clutter.

I need help! Am I in the right place?

Polkadot - I'm a huge ironing avoider. Putting things on hangers straight out of the machine helps, as does giving things a good shake before putting them in the dryer / on the line and not letting things sit around crumpled in the laundry basket when they come in. The few things that do need it, I always do while watching TV as it makes it much more bearable.

Hi hanbee - welcome.

Polkadot¨ So sorry to hear about your dog but well done for tackling the difficult stuff under the sink.
As for ironing: choose a particular soapish radio or TV prog and iron whenever it is on maybe???

keeps very quiet about fortnightly ironing lady
(She is brill though and does in 2 hrs what I would do in a month) Wierd really that I have fetish about ironed stacks of pants and pjs when I am surrounded by falling plaster and stacks of cement. Talk about skewed priorities

Jess /Polkadot yes definitely find a load a day helps with keeping washing under control - and when you next get to buy a washing machine, try and get one with a timer (if you don't have one already) so that you always have a load to hang out as soon as you get up.

Crikey Whoknows your ds was brave!! Well done to both of you for getting through it (without a GA too) what was obviously quite an ordeal. Hope your ds is not too sore tonight and here's a large glass of for you.

Blimey PA 4 stone!! Congratulations!! I'm not jealous at all!! Congratulations to your ds on his new job and hope you get the job you went for yesterday. It's funny about baking isn't it? If I get out of the nack of pastry making and don't make it regularly, it comes out like lumps of dough the first two or three times, then it is OK again.

Swan glad to hear FT went better than expected

Thanks for links Blue!

Hope your friend is ok Ellie

Oh well the sewing material/handbag and wardrobe sort didn't get done so we are all still having to climb over boxes on the landing but friend and friend's dc came over to play (and I did get lots of admin-type things and dd birthday party prep before they came) then I cooked a humungous spag bol for supper, then friend went home to pack for hols and dc stayed on a bit, then dh brought colleague home for "second sitting" of supper, followed by badminton on the lawn - but everyone had a good time so I don't care!

Waves to Bitchy Goth Feetheart Toffee Honu Just Lauren Asheth Lilleth Lplate Princess Carpe Jdub Ohhelpohnoitsa Engels (on holiday) Fireandblood Pushme Castle and everyone I've inevitably forgotten!

x post

You are definitely in the right place Hanbee! Welcome! Could you possibly introduce your relatives to the Flylady system as well (perhaps the baby-steps to start with) as dealing with other people's clutter can be exacting!

I feel a bit like Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady after she cracked the speaking malarkey..Bed Bed I Couldn;t Go To Bed... I could have Danced All Night etc etc.
We had a wonderful evening watching DD singing and acting a large part in Hairspray, and DS2 was great too..tomorrow he has a bigger role (still minor though) in Cast 2 version. She was truly amazing..and there was me worried she wouldn't hit any notes and not be able to act. All the production was amazing for a primary level - I think that maybe children of that age just are naturally musical, even though they are less confident actors than later on..It was wonderful/sublime end to Primary for the twins...and tomorrow I get to hear it all again with different stars!

Anyway I had better go to bed now!

done
washing
cooked meatballs and rice
dw loaded
tiny bit of tidying in playroom

PA your children are very directed! My nephew is 16/17 and I cannot for the life of me imagine him in any paid employment although he is hardworking and serious. He still seems like a child to be looked after. And as for my own...they hardly deserve pocket money atm lazy bones (okay dd you are exempt for a day)

SC that sounds like proper hols to me re: nice flexible arrangements. We love Badminton, although it usually ends with someone being sent to their room for arguing about the rules..

SOunds good to me SC
Glad you had a good time at the play Swan
Ear ache has me up not entirely happy about it but going to take some pain killers and potter or something.

ta da
swear at cooker clock and radio that seem to be conspiring to make me think i am running late
make up training kit
up and doing
deal with ds who is struggling with sleep atm despite sleep meds
take pain killers and swear at bastard ear ache that makes swallowing almost impossible (role on doctors appointment this afternoon)
look at ironing pile and ignore.

and for those of you who didn't actually read that there are only 2 items of flying the rest is swearing

time to go bbl.

Morning all .

Apologies for lack of round-up last night. Friend is ok but spent last night dealing with DD who I suspect may have chicken pox. Never rains but it pours and all that.

Your babystep for today is inspirational phrases. My inspirational phrase is 'lower your standards'. But I don't think that's quite what she is getting at.

Your mission for the day is here.

Today is Errand Day.

Have a good day everyone .

Thanks everyone for the really priceless tips ! Will have to work on the laundry habit ! Doesn't help tht my son has wrecked so much uniform we are down to a couple of very thing and I'm always hunting them down ! Refuse to buy anymore this close to term end !!

Will really try and get on tht tho as it makes me feel like such a shit mom when I find I only have dirty clothes in the morning

Hope everyone has a really good day :) at least the sun is shining

I'm waiting for DM to take over so I can go home until tomorrow morning!!! which means sleep and cleaning the kitchen.

I can't even do a to-do list. There's so much to do in there! All will be revealed in the ta-da!

at 'lower your standards', ellie but I don't think your far off, as we're not to aim for perfection. Mine is 'good enough'.

Back at work today, only 4 more shifts then on holiday- Yay!

Hats off to you ladies who work full time, it's been years since I've had a 2 day weekend - there isn't enough time to do everything.

To do
Bed -Dh still asleep, I'm fighting the urge to make it around him
Packed lunches -Dd coming with me today so taking a mountain of food.
Washing up
Cat litter tray
S&S

Good morning!!
Another lovely day - love it love it love it (although I do need to refill the paddling pool - lots of grass and floating winged debris!)
Dh hoovered so I should dust. And also I MUST hoover my car - it is full of crumbs. But this is a wknd job, so I'll stick to abit of dusting and that'll do in this heat! Have a good day x

Is too hot!

To Do

Bloody everything.

Tah Dah!

Well I have managed some serious sulking about the heat and profuse sweating. Does that count ?

Today I will give in andctake the anti low blood pressure drops. But the last time I took them I went bonkers and cleaned the whole house from top to bottom on three hpurs sleep. It was AMAZING ! I was slighly explosive feeling, but felt like the energizer bunny on speed. Which is why I avoid taking it. I kind of like how raised blood pressure feels a bit too much and have one of those voices in your head that says "if a little is good, lots must be better". Rather afriad I'll overdose on the stuff in my love of feeling like I can go like the clappers for days on end. And have my viens explode ...or something

Morning all.

Jess please, please, in the nicest possible way, could you possibly change your nickname? Pretty please? or I'll have to take you to see our esteemed thread leader in her inner sanctum and she will make you write the Flylady commandments out on the blackboard a hundred times.

Seriously though, a crap mum wouldn't care whether their child had clean clothes for school or not. And I bet everyone on this thread at some point or another has felt like a crap mum or "the worst mum". I know I do on a regular basis. Half the time I don't know what the hell I am doing frankly. C'est la vie! We all muddle along and do what we can (and sometimes when we have the energy we try and improve) but like Goth says, ultimately "good enough" is "good enough". (You needn't take our word for it either, read Donald Winnicott or whoever the bod was that invented the term.) Sympathies over the straying uniform though, dd is on her third school jumper. She used to have two, so we could have one in the wash and one on, but she'll just have to manage with one next year. Thankfully bought the last one three sizes too big because they are so £££ I wanted to make it last.

Enjoy your well-deserved overnight stop at home Trazzles Hope you can catch up on sleep and avoid too much cleaning!

Sorry to hear about the impending pox Ellie hope it is mild version

Really feel for you Bitchy "proper" earache is really, really horribly painful '(used to have it in my teens). Hope the doc can sort it out.

How fantastic about your dd Swan. Well done to her! Sounds as though a career on the stage is beckoning!

A bit cream crackered this morning but must plough on. So is dd who has been going to bed far too late (must rectify this tonight).

Hope everyone has a good day!

x posts,

you should come here Carpe the sun has disappeared unfortunately...

waves to Jdub!

Still at hospital. Am an ungrateful cow. Called DM to remind her food shopping was being delivered around 11 and if she hadn't left then not to bother.

She was in the swear swear swear swear dry cleaners.

Her dry cleaning is SO important to her that it doesn't matter whether or not I get a break from a stuffy hospital and going slowly mad on no sleep. But it's ok because she doesn't have to be here, eh.

So now I have to do a whole week's cleaning in just a couple of hours if I'm lucky.
Am literally at the point of tearing out my hair in chunks. DRY BLOODY CLEANING!

Hey guys I'm
Back how's this ;)

Carpe vinum I really don't mean to trivialise your medical health but DAMN I could use those meds !

Pssst! Anybody want low blood pressure drops!

It's not a big medical problem. It's just my blood pressure drops in heat, especially humid heat. So where did I move to ?

Yup. The soggy hot and muggy bit of Italy.

They keep promising rain, but it's not happening.

Never thought I'd yearn for a british summer, but it would appear they are a better fit with my biology than sunshine is.

today
PO
plumber for loo replacement
crisis purge of landing before plumber gets here
some other things..oh yes the lawn that is prairie

Carpe you made me laugh
Jess ds2's trousers have two enormous holes as they are too small but I am not buying him any new ones as he's going to Secondary next term! One of dd's friends begged me for a spare dress for same reason as she was bursting out of her summer dress. Luckily dd has three summer dresses which just cover her decently. She has shot up over last year, but I bought three very long ones last summer.
Trazzles don't clean the kitchen, sleep. And ask your mum to stay and clean bits of it. Beg her to, rather than get angry about dry cleaning. People have strange extremely annoying selfish priorities but you may find she has her reasons - maybe it is part of the counter hoarding process to keep her stuff cleaned? Good luck, and please sleep.

Lol carpe !

Yay Jess! Love the new nickname

Carpe/Bitchy

Good luck with crisis clean Swan

Hope you get home soon Trazzles

Sorry that should have read Carpe/Jess! Must take more water with it ....

I have been enjoying the lovely 0C temp today. It has been a brilliant way to start the day ignores landing on ass bit and was followed by lunch out with a friend. I have done fuck all and will continue to do fuck all until I get back from the docs. And which point i will probably hang out the washing that has been sat in the machine 2 days now after i have put it on a rinse cycle. I will be picking a fight with the GP if he isn't sympathetic. I have gone through the conversations and different ways it can go through my head all morning. Feel sorry for the doc, i am a difficult patient. Well they do keep telling me i have to be proactive about stuff. So i am

Bitchy's special on the bar for those that need it.