Is it October already the fledglings utter? We'll Fly with our broom sticks and start to declutter...

[Slimchance]

If 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 and 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 zones of the house which are designated weekly; defining and minimising housework - which in theory should leave you with loads more time to do someting more interesting 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!

We advise not signing up to receive the Flylady e-mails as you will be inundated! 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!

Humungous thanks to Whoknows for leading us through the tricky start to the academic year ....

All welcome!!

zzzzz
feeling incredibly tired this morning, but it is my favourite sort of Autumn wuthering heightish day - mellow sun, followed by rain lashing against the windowpanes - and lots of colours outside the window

done
driven boys to school so that we don't have to rush
dd went back to school on the bus women are tougher
went grocery shopping for next few meals yesterday
prescription re-ordered yesterday
moderate success with homework yesterday and ds2
dd recovered from sore throat by late yesterday evening, and bag packed
stopped ds1 going on Facebook and an early night for him - he has just discovered it and is OBSESSED. Rather sweet actually. "Mum, I now have 47 friends". We have all been there

todo
clear decks for cleaning lady - ironing pile done
clean clothes away in drawers
sweep front path
dentist at 12.30
pick up violin on way home
go back to bed between 9 and 10am until cleaning lady arrives

Morning all

Beautifully "wuthering" here too Swan! Glad your dd is feeling better. You sound very on top of things this morning.

Happy birthday to your dd Goth (not sure of actual day!)

Strangely, I have woken up feeling quite sprightly ... that's the wierd thing about sleep... I tend to feel worse when I have had more of it!

Ta da:
morning routine inc wm, dw, s&s, rabbits
dining room table hot spot
cleared downstairs generally for cleaning lady this afternoon (a task made much quicker and easier by the fact that I did a mega-home-bleugh on Monday. Gah - I hate it when Flylady is right )

To do:
put away ironed clothes from Wed
dye Barnet Fair if I can face it (have failed to do it every day this wk)
tackle dh about finishing hall and installing coat stands/hooks etc now it's coat and hat weather again
draw up plans for dh and myself this Saturday (dd at sleepover)
make SIGNIFICANT progress of some description in boudoir and home office - at least clear boudoir bed - we don't generally sleep on it so it gets covered in clothes and junk
more laundry
get dd to try on boots/old uniform
fish supper
evening routine

Doesn't look too bad if I squint at the list !

Have a good one everybody!

Not much flying done yesterday. What got done was icing some fairy cakes and watching whikst DD and a friend "made" some lipbalm from a kit she got for her birthday! I too saw that Doctor programme and had every intention of going to bed early but it ended up being past 3am again [oops]

Today has been more successful in a getting stuff capacity.

• birthday cards signed and sent *flowers ordered for said birthday
• confirmed electrol role info online
• paid for 2 school activities
• bought DH's car tax online
• posted off a parcel

will need to put a wash on later but currently watching DD plow up and down the pool at swimming club

Still a bit grotty, but can actually do stuff today. The house is looking very uncared for, so I have spent some time Flying.

Ta da :

Cleaned mucky patches on carpet in sitting room with Vanish
Hoovered same carpet two hours later - it looks so much better
Hung sofa throws outside to air
Hung sofa throws on radiator to dry after rain
Took DS2 to GP because he told me he felt "tewibble"
(GP told me he just needed TLC )
Visited library and park
Shopping
Lunch with both boys
Swish and swipe in bathroom
Washing on
Room rescue in sitting room
Home ed with DS1 (English and History)
Unloaded and reloaded d/w
Room rescue in DS1's bedroom
Hoovered rest of house
Put out all recycling and two bin bags
Stripped our bed and put more washing on
Unloaded and reloaded tumbledryer

There seems to be so much clutter everywhere. As soon as I have both boys back at school, I want to have a blitz on the lot of it.

Hi all, very quiet on here today.

Toffee you've done amazingly well to get all of that done while feeling grotty. Still over-run with clutter here although I'm chucking it out as fast as I can.

That sounds like a lovely day yesterday Dizzy far more important than Flying and you still did loads of errands/other stuff.

Going to post tomorrow's links now as a close friend of the family happens to be Montenegren - so we are having a spontaneous gathering for the football tonight - our fish supper is being held over until tomorrow and dh is firing up the oven to cook all sorts of blokey barbecue meats that he now cannot eat, poor thing ...(but fortunately he enjoys all the marinading etc and wielding of skewers etc).

Tomorrow's baby step, no 12, for Sat 12 Oct is here basically keep doing the steps you find helpful, don't succumb to perfectionism and delete your Flylady e-mails which you hopefully haven't been receiving because you've been flying with us fledglings instead!

No zones or missions tomorrow because it is the weekend!

Saturday is family fun day!

And the habit for October is clearing paper clutter

Have a good evening everyone! BB tomorrow!

[leaves out on naughty corner bar] Help yourselves!

Enjoy your meat fest sc - it's raining here!

I'm celebrating the first day of half term here

Ta da
Supermarket
Filled up car
Washing up x2
Coffee with ILs
Hoovered downstairs
finished ironing
Put away ironing and yesterday's washing

HOLIDAY! I have lots of decluttering plans for the week, plus DS' s birthday to organise (and a stack of schoolwork to do...may try and get started tonight).

Evening all.

Hope you have a good evening, SC.

Spent all afternoon on a work project involving a client's proprietary software that has given me a headache by making the text jump around so no flying done. Need to turn the computer off now so as not to make it worse.

Bon weekend, everybody.

Gosh, you have all achieved an awful lot

Well here, the tidy kitchen and children's bedrooms is thanks to cleaning lady. Otherwise I have
done
sausage casserole, green beans and baked potatoes for supper, and more for freezer
dentist (nothing drilled, but a back tooth to come out and another filling over next month [£££££] at least I made some appointments rather than putting it all off again
collected violin (and it now needs tuning which neither ds or I can do, so that is a real BORE as he can't practise on an untuned instrument, being very sensitive
lots of walking
nap
feed children healthy snacks on their return
encouraged dd to do something arty
chatted to boys [ear defenders]
prepare and serve supper
ds2 did some homework

And now I have to do the washing up Boo!

My family is so loud, every meal feels like this exhausting onslaught

Whoknows how are cats getting on? I was thinking of you when persuaded most misanthropic cat to sit on my lap this afternoon. She always regards me with suspicion when I am not giving her food, but finally cuddled up on me in preference to the laundry pile..

Evening all,

They're fine thanks Swan - getting more confident by the day, although they still run for cover if anyone makes a sudden movement towards them. They seem like very relaxed cats though. I am just paranoid about them escaping (we are planning to keep them in until after Bonfire night) but we are all getting the hang of keeping doors shut as much as possible.

I have done precisely fuck all today. I am about to fall asleep and have a lovely early night. Or at least that is the plan. I have decided January is supposed to be a write off and thus ensuring that declaring any other month is the new January is to thus doom it to failure.

Evening all (again) - got distracted earlier. Not much Flying done, but have made a sizeable dent in the Christmas shopping list today. Also went to the DCs Harvest Festival, it's great that they are now both in KS2 and I only have to go to one of everything at school instead of 2. Was going to have an early night, oops, missed that one, never mind.

Good morning all!

whoknows feeling very of your cats :) glad to hear they seem like they are settling in so well. How are you finding the upkeep of them? Have you delegated it out to the children or do you end up doing it? My fear is that everyone is keen to get cats and promises to help but ultimately it will be me left with more to do.

Hope you had a good night's sleep bitchy

So much getting done this month, all the ta da lists are looking very healthy. Mine is an on going list on my iPad which has everything I need to do before we go away and it's getting crossed off quite steadily so feeling organised. Will not bother getting the suitcases out until next weekend as they'll just be in the way all week and I'll end up taking it all out to double check anyway. Excited! :)

Morning all. You can tell it's the weekend because I might actually get some flying done.

The weather here is foul and poor DS is on scout camp. He went last night and I am feeling rather sorry for him!

Lots to do today so a list is needed.

To do:-
Washing on
Tidy/polish/hoover downstairs
Tidy/polish/hoover downstairs
Lots of washing
Lots of drying
Lots of putting away
Food shop

Am meeting dm for breakfast with DD at sainsbos so need to make a start on list before I go.

As DS is away tonight, DD and I are going for a sleepover at dsis's and are planning her first girlie night. Making pizza, doing nails, dvd's and popcorn. She is most excited. Also need to buy DS a desk at some point.

Back later.

Good morning. This week has been manic for me I haven't stopped but the state of the Mercury residence shows that very little of this has been flying So I intend to spend the weekend catching up around the house before Monday. I have decided to make a to do list for the weekend instead of just today so here goes:

Make beds
Rr master bedroom so we can actually see the floor
Hoover, polish our room and dcs
Declutter the bottom of dcs wardrobes
Clean out gp
Declutter microwave
Rr kitchen
Catch up on ironing
Declutter shoe cupboard
Clean bathroom
Declutter desk
Save work onto usb
Remove rubbish from car
Hoover, dust downstairs

In addition to this I am visiting gps this morning and have promised to take the dcs to find conkers. I would like to do some batch cooking tomorrow afternoon.

Wow better get cracking. Sorry for the list dump I will bbl to catch up properly.

You can also tell it's the weekend because I produce evidence of flying for once and there is no bugger around to see it.

Ta da:-
Sainsbo's with dm for brekkie and a few bits and bobs (£48 for a basket of stuff. One DVD and some wellies but they together were only 13 and that is why the second point on my list exists)
Aldi for food shop (£66 for a trolleyful of food)
Living room tidied hoovered polished
Dining room tidied hoovered polished
Kitchen tidied, surfaces cleared and wiped down and hoovered and mopped floor
Washing up
Washing x lots
Drying x lots
Bathroom tidied/quick clean
Dd's room quick clean/tidy/hoover
Ds room clean/tidy/hoover
Our room now has a floor...rest of it is a shit tip but Rome wasn't built in a day
Landing and stairs hoovered
Hall hoovered

To do:-
Washing to put away
Food shop to unpack

Phew. Am knackered!

Afternoon all,

Just me and DS here today, DH has taken DD to see his parents (we would have all gone but Ds has a party and someone needs to stay with teh cats). DH phoned and said DD had thrown up all over the (brand new) car halfway there . She's never been car sick, worried that the new car doesn't suit her.

Nick - most of the cat related stuff has fallen to me so far, but a lot of it is just because they are new (buying things, registering with vet etc). The DCs have been helping with feeding them, but other than that it is just dealing with the litter tray and for the time being I'd rather they weren't doing that anyway.

Had our first cat scare this morning. I took DS to hockey, when we came back DH and DD had gone to the ILs and there was only one cat in the house. After half an hour of increasingly worried searching, I thought I heard a noise from the roof and realised DH had probably been up to the loft to get a bag earlier, so I opened up the hatch and there she was, she must have snuck up the ladder behind him. Phew.

Yeah that sleep was a bit not happening. Having a productive day but banned technology access so that probably explains it.

madly and runs away to get more stuff done.

Hi everyone.

[sings "4-1, 4-1, 4-1" ] The home goal was a bit awkward!

You are all still doing brilliantly!! Can hardly spot you from the ground you are Flying so high!!

Some of your collective rigour must have finally rubbed off on me because the ground floor is looking relatively neat and tidy, I'm very nearly up-to-date with the washing, I did most of the kitchen missions this wk (except the appliance one and cleaning lady mopped floor), all the beds have been changed a day early, dd's room and our room has been dusted and hoovered and I can see the floor of my boudoir!! Yippee!! (Like Ellie, still need to declutter surfaces though.) And home office still a bomb-site. At this rate, I may be able to invite the window cleaner some time soon and not die of embarrassment

Thought dd being away overnight at a 70s disco/sleepover party would mean more time today but it's been unexpectedly time-consuming for some reason.

Ta da:
Morning routine, inc dw, wm, s&s and rabbits
Pain perdu for brkfst
Supervised dd bath, hair wash, cutting of toe and finger nails
Supervised completion of this weekend's hwk in it's entirety (an agreed condition before party attendance) including recorder and guitar practice
Helped dd select outfit and dolled it up to look vaguely 70s-ish (I wasn't prepared to buy something new so we used what we had)
Fashioned dd a frizzy coiff with the help of strips of kitchen roll and damp hair
Sewed on some name tapes
Packed dd's overnight bag
Located sleeping bag etc
Cooked, served and tidied up a pasta lunch
Applied glittery stars to cheekbones and glittery swirls to face
Calmed hysteria induced by revelation of said frizzy coiff well she -said she wanted it wild
Calmed said frizzy coiff through judicious use of hair gel, spray and hair clips
Wrapped a birthday present
Bought flowers for brave, lovely Italian mother who is hosting all the girls in the class tonight
Watched end of Channel 4 racing
Prepped meat bit of tomorrow's shepherd's pie
Prep adult-ingreds-only-supper for dh and I

To do:
Evening routine
Re-boot laundry for morning
Bubble bath
Watch Strictly

Bitchy I need to follow your example and instigate technology-free days here too, much harder work of course but necessary! Arf at "whatever month the new-January is" being doomed to failure! Never fear ... there's always November ... .

Your poor dd Whoknows really sympathise because travel sickness is really horrid. Hopefully, it is not related to that specific car and is due to something else (like a small bug?). Having said that, I still get motion sickness as an adult (although rarely actually throw up nowadays) and the make of car definitely has an effect. Can't travel 5 mins in my dsis's Fiat Multipla without feeling horribly queasy for example. (It kind of lumbers.) Hope she is OK on the journey home and that you and ds have some lovely mother/son time! Phew at finding missing cat! Good to hear they are settling in OK.

Crikey Ellie and Mercury hats off to to you for doing all of that after a heavy week of work! YOu both make me feel quite weak at the knees.

Mercury hope you enjoy visit to gps and that you win at conkers!

Ellie hope your ds survives scout camp (it is a point of honour to rtn home with everything dry except your flannel) and that you and your dd and dsis have a lovely girly evening together tonight!

You sound very organised Nicknacks - good to hear the system is working for you.

That was an extremely respectable list that you got through yesterday too Swan

Gosh Engels half term certainly arrives early in your neck of the woods - not till last week of Oct/first week Nov here. Enjoy your holiday!!

Hope headache has receded Blue and you can stay away from screens this w/e!

Big wing flaps to everyone else!

Right, going to post links and then go and watch Strictly make most of some alone time with dh
*

Tomorrow's baby step, no 13, for Sun 13 is when missions are introduced in to your routine officially that is!

No zones or missions tomorrow because it is the weekend!

Sunday is the day to renew your spirit ie do something that makes you feel good!

And, as you know by now, the habit for October is clearing paper clutter

Have a lovely Sunday everyone and 'see you' tomorrow evening!

Have a good evening everyone! BB tomorrow!

arrgh- sorry for errors - rushing ... should preview before posting!

Also forgot to leave out tonight's case of !!!

now that sounds like a good plan

I made him promise to at least change his pants sc

We went back mid-August sc but has come around quickly.

swan what was DD doing that was arty? DS's nursery say that he refuses to colour or draw (he just pushes the paper and pen back to them).

"I have decided January is supposed to be a write off and thus ensuring that declaring any other month is the new January is to thus doom it to failure." Very wise Bitchy . November will clearly be...November!

Ta da
Skyped DM
Rang Dsis
Rang DGM
Delivered birthday card to friend who lives up the road and took DS to playground on the way back (it's amazing how amazing the world is to a 2 year old...Our 10 minute walk was punctuated by "Dog! Car! Bird! Lorry! Bike! Flower! Tree! Wow!")
Cleared up cupboard in DS room
Thought about doing some marking but DS refused to have a nap I'll blame him shall I

And the strangest thing on my ta da list today? DH asked me to shave his head after dinner. He has had lovely curls but this year has been suffering from alopecia. Stress/depression related and bald spot has been getting bigger and bigger. I know he's been thinking about it for a long time, just wasn't expecting it today.

But on the bright side, if I squint he looks a little bit like Jake Gyllenhaal in Jarhead without the 6 pack but a good half foot taller