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!!

Morning all. Pouring with rain here after a much milder start to the day but slept like a log last night so feeling fairly energetic for once!

Goth Must be sad to see your parents go but good that your dd has her party to look forward to. And good luck with job search!

Blue it is amazing what a good night's sleep can do. Bah to hoover hassles.

Toffee great that your ds1 had a good day!

Swan sounds like a tortuous decision to have to make but good that SENCO provision is good at your ds2's current school.

Not going to waste time writing a 'to d'o list as I have been procrastinating over these tasks for the past fortnight, so all too clear what has to get done today ...

Have a good one everybody!

Morning everyone - I had a productive evening yesterday. Got my hair done, highlights and a cut! New hairdresser who works from home, saved a small fortune.... and my barnet looks beautiful!

Engels I've been thinking about NaNoWriMo for weeks! ;-) Hoping to do better this year! I think I'm writing the sane story as last year as I didn't actually get that far! but with many more twists. Believe me, some of the family secrets I've discovered since Dad died are definitely novel-worthy!!!! In fact, one in particular is so exciting and top secret (for now!) that nobody would believe it! You couldn't make it up! And if you read it in a book you'd be thinking 'yeah right, as IF that would really happen the heroine'. Stranger and more exciting than fiction!!! Mammy and I are planning to do something about our discovery once we get past Christmas, so maybe I will be able to say more then!!! :-) Are you intrigued, fledglings?!!!

ooooh Castle [cue woo woo music] how very intriguing ... I do love a good mystery ....

Knowing my family history castle it is amazimng what can happen in days gone by.

ta da
early training
parcel posted
Magazine for dm picked up
banking done
found ds' birth certificate
filled in paperwork for altering ds' account.
Found all paperwork for this wkend's trip
Set up new phone system
Play hunt the school uniform t-shirt and end up rescuing the too small one waiting it's name tag removed before being got rid of
fill in paperwork for school
Sort out show costumes
Collect laundry from various rooms
get first laundry on
check internet stuff.

Just waving at everyone and sorry, no flying here. Trying to urgently sort SEN situation with Ds, cope with results of hospital disasters and injuries and damage aquired from them, and process implications of tests, which have unsettled me completely.

About one and a half hours to try and sort urgent paperwork and file it, then try and write some sort of plan.

Cripes Bitchy you were certainly up with the sparrows ... . .

Good luck with the urgent paperwork Just and sorry to hear about unsettling hospital tests

Haven't stopped doing various chores this morning (apart from Mnsetting of course) but have still only just got to the point where I can actually start something that isn't maintenance ie decluttering. Apart from anything, it only starts getting sufficiently light in this house to see clearly at about 11.30 am thats my excuse anyway.

Carry on everyone! You are doing brilliantly!

[proffers morning coffee and sultana tray bake]

Ooh, you beat me to it SC - I was about to fire up the espresso machine.

Castle - you tease! I am intrigued. We will be posting on Jan 1st to pester you into revealing all.

Just - sorry, hope you can get your plan sorted and into action.

Ta-da!

School run
Pop into town for errands
Sort out and hide Christmas presents already bought and extract Hallowe'en decorations from shed.
Assemble an Ikea stool
Run vac round downstairs
Empty DW and spend 10 mins scrubbing seals with Bar Keepers Friend as they were in a right state
Second lot of washing on

To do!
Filing
OU work
Bake a cake
Change cat litter
Sure there's more.

After my mammoth ironing session yesterday I:

• Put it all away!
• Took DD to swimming club. (Decided to count the lengths they completed and it was 38 despite them doing some land work and tumble turn training!)
• Made dinner. DH phoned just as I was dishing up to say he'd be late
• Shined sink and filled D/W

Today I have:

• Changed our bed
• Bedding washed and out on line
• Been to PO to return an Ebay item and it got put through as a parcel instead of a letter despite going through the slot . Wish I had just told him not to send it now but I bottled out so now angry at myself for being a woose!

I have had an order for some personalised bunting from DD's Headteacher now she's become a Granny so need to go make a start on that now

Just wasted about half an hour on the computer, we had spotlights fitted in the kitchen a couple of years ago with energy efficient bulbs, which are a non standard fitting, I needed some spares, spent half an hour trying to track them down, got all the way to checking out on a website when it all crashed, tried googling again with different words and found them cheaper on Amazon, which took all of 10s to order. Grrr.

Good luck just hope it goes far better then you fear. x

ta da
early training
parcel posted
Magazine for dm picked up
banking done
found ds' birth certificate
filled in paperwork for altering ds' account.
Found all paperwork for this wkend's trip
Set up new phone system
Play hunt the school uniform t-shirt and end up rescuing the too small one waiting it's name tag removed before being got rid of
fill in paperwork for school
Sort out show costumes
Collect laundry from various rooms
get first laundry on
check internet stuff.
Sort through 3 boxes of random stuff/paperwork/general mess
Take out recycling and rubbish
sort laundry into loads and put 2nd load on
Move the two boxes in the kitchen that I keep kicking to under the dining room table
swear at chest of drawers that is falling apart
15mins in my room
create pile mountain of paperwork to file later
15mins more in my room
take out another load of recycling
sort through the old home ed files and cull amap (half done)
photocopy some paperwork.
Sort out a load of resources to go to a local nursery
wrap nephew's present from ds
10mins in my room
15mins in office, flicking through contents of boxes looking for something

The depressing thing is that most of that is not actually on my long list of things that need to be done today. Suppose i should really get on with the to do list.

Afternoon all.

Just back from the zoo. All exhausted from fresh air. DS in bed and DH and I both on sofas tabletting (new verb?!). Lovely blustery day here. Thinking about popping outside to put my bulbs in.

sc is kale the same as boerenkool or is that soemthing different? They only sell it ready chopped here.

Have a Dutch setting for novel all planned...remote hotel in the woods, lovely gardens, but there's a terrible storm, trees come down and block the road, no leccy, no mn internet or phone signal and when the skies clear in the morning there's a body...da da DAAAAA! Of course I haven't yet worked out who any of my characters are, why they're there, who the murderer is, who the amateur detective is, how the murder happens....but, all small details! Nowhere near as intriguing as castle's real lief mystery by the sound of it!

Glad to hear ds1 had a good day toffee

Thanks for the hug goth

Big wing flaps to everyone. I guess I should try and get something done today...

Haven't stopped all day. Up early to get DS1 off to school and DS2 off to drs for a follow-up appointment. Got all the way there, only to discover that his appointment is tomorrow instead.

"I thought so," said DS2 as we left.

"Why didn't you say?"

"I forgot."

Ah well. At least I got lots of exercise walking back from town. Did some chores on the way too.

Have spent the rest of the day FLYING! This meant me dashing round the house, one step ahead of my lovely cleaner, and moving all the clutter out of sight. A lot of stuff has gone up to DS1's bedroom, poor boy, but it will all be sorted in due course. (Don't worry, Bitchy, I won't throw away any useful home ed stuff - just in case).

So, my ta da looks like this:

Room rescue in all rooms
Decluttered all rooms
Hoovering, mopping throughout (thanks to wonderful cleaner)

Which is a very short way of describing a very long and exhausting process.

Ds1 had another good day. Part of it involved drinking tea and watching 'Family Guy', so he was very happy. It's much more relaxed than school there. However, he is still determined to go to proper school next week.

Am going to allow myself a nap now.

Evening! You are all doing brilliantly!

Arf at ds2! Toffee. So glad ds1 had another good day too. And top marks for your humungous decluttering efforts.

"The depressing thing is that most of that is not actually on my long list of things that need to be done today." Tell me about it Bitchy!!. Can totally, totally sympathise - exactly where I am at atm too. That's another mahoosive list from you nonetheless!

Even more excited to read your novel now Engels!! Not sure about 'boerenkool' - not familiar with the name anyway - will have to look out next time in supermarket. They are very (and I mean very) keen on their root vegetables here... and 'spinazie' of course.

V. impressed by your dd's swimming rigour Dizzy and your sewing skills, which must be v. good if you are receiving orders!!

Another healthy list from Whoknows (which reminds me - must start marshalling my Christmas presents in to some kind of order as they are starting to stack up).

Ta da:
Morning routine inc dw, wm, s&s, dd packed lunch, rabbits.
Tried to do on-line payment and failed.
Admin e-mails.
More admin.

Yet more admin.
Bought some Christmas cards on-line.

Cleaned kitchen surfaces +thorough scrub of food processor including all fiddly bits, then sorted box and accoutrements.
Changed flower water.
Emptied dishwasher again.
Dining room table hotspot.
3 loads of washing.
Quick supermarket shop.
Spoke to lovely cousin.

Ordered godchildren's birthday presents on line.
Sewed name tapes on dd warm tracksuit.
DD tennis.
Homework supervision.
Folded towels.
Cooked fish supper tongiht because we are entertaining tomorrow night.
Cleared up supper and did dining room hotspot again.
Bins.
Evening routine.

No exercise, or French study or decluttering yet again
Brain has gone now though so going to call it a day.

Big waves to everyone!!

**

Well the week has certainly gone quickly ...

Tomorrow's baby-step, no. 18, for Friday 18th Oct is read Flylady's eleven commandments.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Zone 3; the bathroom plus one extra room.

Once zone 3 is totally clutter-free, you can go on to detailed cleaning.

The last misson of the week is: wiping your bathroom skirting boards and doing a 5 min declutter of other room.

Friday is the day when we declutter our cars and handbags.

The habit for October is still clearing paper clutter.

The flight plan which summarises all of the above, will update itself tomorrow.

Have a good day everyone!

*

Logging off now 'cos I'm pooped.
for all you Trojans on naughty corner bar.

G'night!

I should be doing something this evening in my pit of a house. Instead I am drinking , eating cheese and olives and planning my novel by candlelight

Ta da
Zoo
Chilli out the freezer fir dinner
Washing up
Load of washing now in td
Main character brainwave

Tomorrow to do list
Outside bed
Bulbs
Beds
Hoover
Tidy downstairs
Kitchen floor
Handwash
Wait in for parcel (boots!)
Supermarket (once parcel arrives)
One set of grading once ds is asleep

Sounds lovely engels I am still plugging away at my to do list

ta da
early training
parcel posted
Magazine for dm picked up
banking done
found ds' birth certificate
filled in paperwork for altering ds' account.
Found all paperwork for this wkend's trip
Set up new phone system
Play hunt the school uniform t-shirt and end up rescuing the too small one waiting it's name tag removed before being got rid of
fill in paperwork for school
Sort out show costumes
Collect laundry from various rooms
get first laundry on
check internet stuff.
Sort through 3 boxes of random stuff/paperwork/general mess
Take out recycling and rubbish
sort laundry into loads and put 2nd load on
Move the two boxes in the kitchen that I keep kicking to under the dining room table
swear at chest of drawers that is falling apart
15mins in my room
create pile mountain of paperwork to file later
15mins more in my room
take out another load of recycling
sort through the old home ed files and cull amap (half done)
photocopy some paperwork.
Sort out a load of resources to go to a local nursery
wrap nephew's present from ds
10mins in my room
15mins in office, flicking through contents of boxes looking for something
more laundry
food shop
sort out bits needed to buy for trip this weekend
Wash car (ds mostly but big meltdown about it)
Wash front windows read as hose down when rinsing car
Deal with cat diahorria on front lawn
ds' hair cut
Ironing
water plants
Make cheese bread - in progress
Make chocolate brownies -1st batch in oven

Currently waiting for cheese bread dough to come out of bread machine and 1st batch of brownies out of the oven. Next stop, corner shop for cocoa powder, ds to bed and figure out how the fuck i am going to have a bed to sleep in tonight without dumping it all on the floor.

Still to do:
cook bread
2nd batch of brownies
clear bed
more washing into machine and through dryer
ds to bed
file paperwork on bed
make ds' lunch box
find him clothes for out of school uniform day that aren't supposed to be used this next wk
write tomo's to do list and packing list

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

I'd like to be in bed by 10pm but it is beginning to look more then a little bit optomistic :(

Evening all. Thanks for the SC - cheers!

I see Bitchy's been having a busy day...

I have done very little flying today, but did do some dusting and Aldi shopping. Also some decluttering by virtue of piling baby stuff into the car boot of a bewildered friend (remembering being overwhelmed by first baby stuff 7 years ago - eek!)... Hopefully will get rid of some more at the NCT sale on Saturday and more still to a charity shop either tomorrow or early next week.

Can highly recommend the cheese bread

Sounds good, Bitchy. Mmm.

Meant to say, that I got a place on the scary training course. It's about running translation workshops in schools which is miles outside my comfort zone, but really worthwhile. Eek again!

Slim - the bunting is only triangles of fabric so not hard to do!

Ta Da:

• Bunting finished
• Names tags sewn on uniform (still got 4 pairs of trousers to turn up)
• Sink shined
• Dinner pots scrubbed as DH cooked and spot welded them and the unthinking wretch never cleans up after himself!

Thanks for the links SC, I think your day sounds very productive!

As for your latest list Bitchy ..., cheese bread sounds delicious though.

Ooh Engels planning your novel by candlelight sounds very gothic! I love it! And I think you deserve a little 'me' time, don't you dare feel guilty!

Wingflaps to everyone else, so tired, must go to bed.
Apart from going to work today my ta-da list I'd very pathetic:

*piano practice for 30 mins
*drove to piano teachers house, only to remember she is away in Switzerland (80 minute round trip)
*prep dinner & wash up
*work on wedding album choices til laptop died and charger left at school (just as well though as I really need to go to bed!!)

Nite!

Out of that naughty corner bitchy - it is only for those of us that have done nothing and I have seen your list

Just got in from hosting a public consultation for a small wind farm. Very tiring but didn't go too badly (no one hit me or spat at me which is an improvement on last time) so am off to bed without any flying whatsoever!

Morning my lovelies. Hope you are all OK.

[follows trail of crumbs in search of Bitchy's cheese bread]

Have been up since 5am prepping supper party dishes so cheese bread counts as "elevenses" don't you know.. .

Yes, you definitely do not deserve to be in the naughty corner Bitchy after that humungously long list!

And that's a perfectly respectable list after a full day nurturing mini minds Castle .

Lawd Pushme, sounds like an interesting job you have there . Stressful too. Glad no-one resorted to violence last night anyway!

You are on a decluttering roll Blue! Congrats on being accepted for training course - you'll be brill!

And writing novels by candlelight sounds v. Dickensian Engels!

Waves to Dizzy and everyone else!

Ta da:
morning routine inc dw, wm, s&s, rabbits, dd packed lunch
dining room table hotspot
made on-line payment (successfully this time!)
nearly 2 hrs of peeling, chopping, frying and faffing
sorted clean laundry in to ironing piles

To do:
clear boudoir surfaces ahead of cleaning lady!!
more cooking and faddling
pack up on-line shopping parcel to send back
boudoir surfaces
find discount voucher for trousers
write and send letters and cards to godchildren for their b'day
sort wobbling piles of paper on home office desk
buy trousers
take coat in to be altered
school run
get ready for tonight
supper party
evening routine

You are all doing brilliantly! Keep going! And have a good last day of the week everyone!!

Morning all,

Did well yesterday, Thursday is now the one night of the week where the DCs are home by 4.30 and stay home, it makes for such an easy evening compared to nights with Cubs, Brownies etc. I managed to insert two more lots of veg into last night's evening meal (french beans and more kale) which was partially eaten, although not by DH who rang at 6 to say he'd be home by 7, then appeared at 8, by which time his was rock solid and unappetising (it was a pesto/cheesy/green veg/pasta thing).

Today, need to do a bit of tidying and finish the morning routines, clean the bathroom, two lots of washing and maybe make some cakes for friends coming for coffee. Oh and check work emails and check OU website about a few things.

Right, I need a list...

to do:
E-mail
Ironing
Check ingredients for dinner
Sainsbos?
Label stuff for sale
Find bills for tax return

All of which depends whether a vague email from a potential client is going to turn into actual work.

Better fire up the kettle. anyone?