Flying into September - a new term for the Fledglings

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Welcome to the September Fledgling Flylady Thread.

This thread is for people with CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome). We follow Flylady, the website with a mission!

All are welcome on this thread, experienced flyers and newcomers alike.

We try to follow the commandments of Flylady as we run our homes, loosely anyway. In between there's lots of chat and support as we go through our daily lives. We have coffee, cake, and a naughty corner for those who want to chat but CBA with their house some days. However you follow it, this thread is designed to make your life a little easier and more fun.

For those who are new to the system (and those needing a refresher), there are several aspects to the system:

1. Babysteps. These build a routine. Some are really useful, some are downright odd and some are, quite frankly, there to be ignored. They build a good foundation though.

1. Decluttering. Flylade is evangelical about clutter. In order to feel good about our homes we need to ditch the clutter. Flylady divides the home into zones, week by week and repeating monthly. As well as babysteps, we have to declutter in the relevant zone. Once that is achieved we move on to...

1. Missions. Also in the current zone, these are targetted tasks to tackle one particular aspect. One a day, they vary month to month.

1. Deep Cleaning. Once we have completely decluttered (some of us seem to be stuck permanently on that stage) there are deep cleaning lists for each zone. Achieve that and your house will be spotless!

One last thing - the Flylady website encourages us to subscribe to her emails - one word - DON"T! You will be overwhelmed by them. Instead come to this thread every morning and the relevant links for the day will be there waiting for you except when the thread leader has been on the

A big thank you to Bitchy for last month, and also for doing this Sunday's links as I am off camping.

Phew! just made it to log in on the 1st

Engelsemama you've got mail

... and I have done NO FLYING AT ALL today.

Yesterday I took DH for his first ever week of respite care so my tada list looks like this
tada
Walk dog along the front for fried breakfast at café (beautifully cooked and washed up by someone else)
Car boot
Roast lunch at pub
Garden
Visit friends for tea
Make shopping list for tomorrow to include salmon, spinach, goats cheese, sweet potatoes, courgettes - can you tell the sort of food DH doesn't like and I can never be arsed to make separate meals.

I haven't read all of this thread yet but I looked at your thread Toffee and just want to say that when you are stressed about something (your DS1) then it is much more difficult coping with any other stress - it's as if you only have a finite capacity to cope.

And, before I crawl into bed, may I point out that we haven't got to the going to bed babystep yet and I just wanted to thank Bitchy for leading the thread.

Not much of a list today

. Load of towels washed and hung to dry
. Ironed DH's shirts for the week and DD's clean bits
. Washed a few pots etc and shined sink
. Updated calendar
. Put clean non ironing laundry away
. Chivvied DD to finish her remaining homework
. Made us all eat dinner at the table!

Haven't mastered going to bed early yet and I only have 2 more nights before I need to get up for the school run!

Badvoc I feel for you. My Dad died unexpectedly of a heart attack too so I know how disorientating that feels especially when you are dealing with both your own and Mums grief x

urgh coffee is bad. very very bad!!! Early night? wtf is that?

Eugh. That is all I have to say. Forget morning routine this morning. If I can get myself and dc's out by 8am without screaming this shall be a success.

swan DS is 10. He get £5 a week. £2.50 per week whatever and £2.50 of he completes all his jobs. He gets £10/month phone topup.

Swan - I am obviously mean mummy when it comes to pocket money (what's new :) DD (10) gets £2 a week which will go up to £2.20 on her 11th birthday. Think we will review it when she goes to High School as she will get a phone then too. She seems to only buy sweets and save for our charity shop trips and always has money. DS (7) gets £1.40 and it slips through his fingers like water. Not sure if that helps.

Well done to all the newbies - just remember it is all about building routines slowly over a few years months not tackling everything at once though badvoc I know what you mean about the state of the house not helping how you feel. Just take care to look after yourself in amongst it all.

Good luck to all the teachers going back this week and to all of us getting back into the school run routine (and well done to those who are already back in it all :)) I'm going to really miss this summer too, it has been a joy most of the time inspite of the state of the building work/house. Am going to have to have a distinct and unFlylady blitz of work on Wednesday (and possibly Thurs and Fri) to get back on track plus we still have lots of prep and painting to do - its going to be BUSY :(

Right, need to start day with a short run. Hopefully be back later.
Have a good day everyone.

Over a hundred posts by the second day of the month !!!

Happy flying today ! Be back later :)

Morning!

This week's missions fit perfectly with the fact that I noticed my front door needs a good clean yesterday. I don't have a separate dining room, just a dining area in my living room and that is pretty clean and clutter free, so I am going to concentrate on the entrance to my house.

Ta Da
Washing pegged out on line
Washing brought back in 10 mins later as it started to rain

To Do
Tumble dry socks and undies
Hang rest of washing on airer to dry
Wipe around bathroom and toilets
Wipe around kitchen
Sweep kitchen floor
Wipe down front door (inside and out) and clean the window
Sweep front step
Pull weeds up from by front door
Sort out shoe and coat racks in hallway to make sure everything still fits and is used regularly
Check for cobwebs on the ceiling in hallway
Hoover hallway
Get school uniforms ready for tomorrow
Get schoolbags ready for tomorrow
Order Tesco delivery for tomorrow night (have booked slot but it currently only contains a bunch of bananas)
Wipe out the inside of the fridge while it is fairly empty.

Back to school tomorrow (so I go back to work too as I work in a nursery class). Which means today is the last full day at home to get stuff done.

Very busy on here already!!

Ok, so I know it is not fly lady etiquette, but yes, I am going to go with the room blitzing this week.
Not too sure which room it will be today. DD2 is needing to get a uni assignment done, so if she is doing it upstairs, I will chose a downstairs room, if she is down I will do a bedroom.
Today I am also going to visit a residential home with one eye on the future for my parents.....just preparing at the moment, but I don't think it will be long before it is needed.
Just off to go and do the weeks shopping.
Lots of phone calls to make.

Right, get to it, girl.......

Morning all!

Ta da
Up, dressed and breakfasted
Washing on

To do
Supermarket/bottles to recycling/clothing bin
Sort 3 bags of school stuff that have been in the hallway for 6 months
Handwash
Ironing
Filing
Tidy bookshelves
Go through 3 bags of clothes given to us for ds
Book hotels and ferry for nov/dec
Email friends about oct get together
Post letters
Garden centre
Change bed
Mission
Magazine cull
Lounge/kitchen hotspots
Water plants

Did most of home bleurgh yesterday. Hallway looks AMAZING. Thought we'd been burgled when I came down this morning (though not sure why someone would take all our crap!).

We are very mean parents, as we don't give any pocket money. But the DC do get regular hand outs from grandparents, so I reckon that is enough for them.

DS2 and I both have streaming colds. Very irritating. I have taken Boots flu remedy tablets with my coffee this morning. Didn't manage to get to bed till 1.30 am this morning because of DS2 waking up, needing an inhaler, tissues and cuddles.

DS1 had a major meltdown last night (I knew things were going too well), so has had his computer confiscated for this morning. There is a hole in his bedroom wall and we are one glass down.

Will attempt ironing and a general tidy up in the house today. Oh, and prep for school on Wednesday.

Oh dear toffee poor all of you

Monday. Yuck. Woke up at 5am from a weird school related dream with ellie in it and couldn't get back to sleep.

To do
Routines
Mission
Online shop
Dunno

We don't give pocket money either, but like Toffee they get money from their grandparents regularly.

DS2 has been trying to negotiate money in exchange for chores (that boy is a 9 year old version of Alan Sugar) but I want them to do chores because they see it contributes to the smooth running of the household, of which they are part. Mind you, once they hit their teens I may need to resort to cold hard cash

Ta Da
Washing pegged out on line
Washing brought back in 10 mins later as it started to rain
Tumble dried socks and undies
Hung rest of washing on airer to dry
Wiped down front door (inside and out) and cleaned the window
Sorted out shoe and coat racks in hallway to make sure everything still fits and is used regularly
Breakfast dishes washed (by DS1)
Washing machine put on a hot maintenance wash

To Do
Wipe around bathroom and toilets
Wipe around kitchen
Sweep kitchen floor
Sweep front step
Pull weeds up from by front door
Check for cobwebs on the ceiling in hallway
Hoover hallway
Get school uniforms ready for tomorrow
Get schoolbags ready for tomorrow
Order Tesco delivery for tomorrow night (have booked slot but it currently only contains a bunch of bananas)
Wipe out the inside of the fridge while it is fairly empty.
Empty kitchen bin
Pair up socks out of tumble dryer and put them and other tumble drying away
Wipe out washing machine when maintenance wash finishes

Jemima - I agree with you about not paying for chores, but extra chores deserve a bit of payment, I think. DS2 (7) was incredibly helpful when we went shopping yesterday - packed the bags at the checkout, carried one to the car for us, wheeled the trolley back and helped me put the shopping away once home . We hadn't asked him - he was just joining in and being helpful. It was really lovely. I gave him the £1 from the trolley because he'd been extra helpful and I wanted him to know how much I appreciated it.

Still haven't moved from this seat. Am all blocked up and snuffly and seem to be stuck in the MN zone. DH, who has kept the house very tidy whilst we were away, asked me, timidly, if I could possibly tidy up a little whilst he was at work. We do seem to have brought a lot of mess home with us.

PMPY - funny that you had a MN dream!

We do reward extra hard work, just not necessarily with cash. For example yesterday we wanted them to blitz their bedrooms, and the reward if they did it in the morning was that we would go to see Planes at the cinema. They did so we did. Mind you, a £1 coin would have been cheaper than a cinema ticket and an ice cream!

Morning all

We're not very organised re pocket money, she gets her Woodcraft & karate paid for, and the odd bag of sweets at a weekend. My parents send her £5 each month (although that does tend to go into her bank account) and I tend to offload my coppers, and five pennies onto her for her piggy bank (must find some coin bags)
We'll probably be more organised as she gets older, but it won't be linked to chores, as I expect her to do them (no one pays me to do it-sigh) she usually gets a treat if she's been extra helpful.

Today's List
Hang laundry out -last lot spinning loudly as I type
Make sausage rolls, cheese straws & flapjacks
Home bleugh
Ironing

Maybe probably quick trip to IKEA

Jemima - oh, that's much better than cash - I agree with you on that. Actually, at the start of the holidays (when I was energetic and enthusiastic, rather than the husk I am now), I set up a reward scheme for the DC where they earned coupons for good behaviour. The coupon DS2 wanted more than anything was '20 minutes' undivided attention with mum'. Which, unfortunately for me, meant 20 minutes playing Minecraft on the computer with him.

DS1 has just taken full advantage of me wondering whether I was being generous enough... He wanted to go to town with his friend and only had the £2 that his Grandma gave him at the weekend. So I gave him his bus fare and a couple of quid for lunch. Plus I have just topped up the credit on his phone. To be fair he has washed up and helped me tidy this morning and is pretty good around the house generally. Although DS2 has emptied the bins and DD has paired up all the socks from the tumble dryer, so no doubt they'll be angling for a treat too when they realise I've given DS1 money! I might send them down to the village shop on their bikes to buy themselves some sweets and enjoy the ten minutes peace and quiet.

Quick contrast between start of holiday and now:

Start: healthy breakfast, off to 9am swimming lesson, park, walk, practise Times Tables, healthy lunch, excursion or playdate in the afternoon, family meal.

Now: browse MN for unseemly length of time, whilst reminding DC to get their own b/fasts (CocoPops), allow both of them unlimited time on DS/computer, forget to practise Times Tables, not sure what's for lunch, might watch telly in the afternoon and eat dinner in front of it.

Toffee!

Just done supermarket, bottles, clothing donation, posted letters, washing in td, made banana bread. Enjoying cup oc tea and then going to tackle 3 bags of school stuff.

Oh, forgot to say that we did our shopping in Aldi yesterday (budgeting at present). It was so cheap! Am converted.

Back to work today so currently have 6 little darlings under foot. It's dds birthday today and by 6am we had presents opened and breakfast on the table

Ta da
Washing done
And in dryer
Clean clothes folded into piles for each person
Fielded a dozen happy birthday phone calls
Decluttered dressing up box
Decluttered cutlery drawer
Found homes for new toys and clothes
Made beds
Tidied bathroom
Rubbish outside
Snack made for 6

To do
Put clean clothes away
Get DS's to empty dw
Get DS's to tidy bedrooms
Make lunch for 6 and me
Tidy up toys
Settle boy to sleep
Change poo bum

Happy Monday!

Nicknacks - do you have six DC?

I have managed to swish & swipe and hoover the bathroom. Just doing a room rescue in the dining room, then taking boys to the playground.