June 2014: half way through the Flying year, fledglings get themselves in gear!

[slackcabbage]

Heartfelt and huuuumungous thanks to Goth for being such a superlative, consistent and professional thread leader throughout May (and wow to all those fantastic round-ups every night).

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.

Flylady link here.

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 something 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!

It's up to you, but 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):

1. start or repeat baby steps

1. repeat baby steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone

1. 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!

Three key points to keep in mind:
(1)No perfectionism allowed - this is harder than you would imagine
(2)You are never behind just start where you are and anything you do is progress.
(3) It didn't get into a mess overnight, it won't get tidy over night - accept it will take time to get on top of things and you will be happier.

If you are new then trying to spend 15mins decluttering and the babysteps is the most. Some of us (mentioning no names!) can have scary looking lists but don't let that worry you! Do what you can, anything is better then nothing, and don't judge yourself against others.

If all else fails, a + the power of three technique + a bit of support on here can work wonders!

Oh and don’t let it put you off if we appear a bit cliquey – some of us have been on here for years – but all lurkers, oldies and newcomers very very welcome!

argh!!! can't find the plug box for my sewing machine anywhere. Nasty suspicion it got caught up in some things I was discarding and got thrown out. Thankfully it is a cheap sewing machine and was in need of work, so at least I'm not completely out of a nice expensive one or anything. I might be better buying a new one that is a bit nicer than actually replacing the plug/cord stuff. Must think about this.

Just flying through (no, again, not Fat Fairy kind -) to say:

Look after yourselves Toffee Engels and Bitchy - sorry you are feeling under the weather or are in the wars ! Take it steady all of you xxx

Very tired today, and v humid weather not helping. Last thing I want to do is get gussied up and go to a party and make conversation but I'll probably enjoy it once I get there. Entertaining tomorrow too - wish I had more energy!

Waves to alice and everyone else!

Castle enjoy the action at the Curragh today - going to miss it myself but Kingman v Australia will be interesting ...

Jumping back in! Need to rescue the month before it is over!
Between having horrible morning sickness until this week, and a frantic last few weeks of school, the flying has really ground to a feeble flap!

After a celebratory staff night out last night - which ended in me, as designated driver, dropping everybody else home, and not getting home until 1:30am - I have had a terribly lazy start to the weekend. It has mostly involved lazing in bed, breakfast, watching Wimbledon on tv, more lazing in bed, and thinking about starting to organise the house...!

To Do: shower, dress etc, reboot laundry, sweep kitchen floor, make grocery list, go to town, grocery shop, inquire about getting a swimming pool membership, prep dinner of some sort, see if my offer to 'babysit' DMiL tonight has been taken up....right off to get started!!!

Wingflaps to everyone!

Happy holidays SC! I know the happy feeling!

Engels I'm really sorry that things are not going well at school. You are right to mind yourself though, and have the fainting checked out.

Engels - so sorry you are feeling so ill. Sounds as if it was YOU who needed the lie in this morning, not your DH. You must definitely see the MW and have your iron levels checked. I'm sorry that work are treating you so badly. Do you think you could manage part of one of the days at school, maybe just going in for the feedback lesson to your pupils?

Bitchy - that's sad about realising age is catching up with someone you care about .

Have just been chatting to a teacher friend of my DH's about all the stress he's going through at work - most of it unnecessary and caused by changes from Ofsted or the head. It sounds as if teachers are just playthings for those with the responsibility to improve schools. It can't be good for teachers or pupils.

DH has taken DS2 off for the afternoon, so I'm going to bed for a bit now. Think I might forget about OU studying for the moment.

Castle - sympathies on the morning sickness. I remember it well...

Sorry -meant to say - back later for more detailed personals

And yes had lovely evening with dh thanks. Didn't go out though. Dh was too knackered after his travels and attendant flight delays this wk. I got my hair cut and then we sat and ate leftovers from fridge in front of Masterchef - uninterrupted for once! [Middled aged or what?)

x posts (and missing bits from previous post - sorry - dh keeps interrupting!)

Yes, sympathies to all exhausted teachers out there!

Just heard that dd's form teacher (to whom she is very attached) has not had her contract renewed . DD will be very upset.

Glad the morning sickness has abated a bit Castle and very glad to hear you have had a lazy morning!! Don't over-do it this afternoon!

Agree Engels you should be the one having the lie-in! And yes, get thee to a doc. Fainting is one of the worst feelings in the world. Hope you are feeling better now. Take it steady today and sorry your work are being so unsupportive.

Enjoy your nap Toffee. Hope you can recover a bit and get thee to a doc too if tiredness continues.

Bitchy hope you held it under the cold tap for 20 mins? Sorry to hear about your elderly friend/relationship. Ageing can be a very cruel process.

How frustrating about the missing machine part Alice. Are there any second hand sewing machine repair shops near you? Agree though that modern machines are such good value for money that it might not be worth the effort/cost of replacing it. I must admit to shuddering a bit at the 'C' word - but in reality I'm grateful for the reminder - if I am going to give people sewn gifts this year, I need to start NOW! Congrats on your long lists!

Right, better go and steel myself for this leaving party. Sometimes I really hate being an expat; the best ones always leave

And just to add insult to injury (very trivial really) but washed my all time favourite cardigan yesterday for party on special hand wash prog of Miele machine (so should have been safe) and it has emerged with a hole [grrr]

Yeah I am fine, not proper burns thankfully. Jam made and in the process of reclaiming the kitchen from the stickiness. Ds otoh is really struggling and there has already been tears. He really struggles having friends in his space, but unless we do this more often he will never get used to it. I have already read them the riot act and told them that if they don't cut with technology and attitude they are both being exercised!

Chocolate cake in the oven now. Whew. DS2 is determined to help with every baking project, which is nice, but on days where he is not listening so well, it can be a real hassle (and worry, obviously, with hot oven!!). I tell him no, and he's shrieking that he's listening, he's doing what he's supposed to... well, no, actually, you're not. You're still standing in the kitchen after I told you to go in the other room and you're too busy shrieking to listen. Ah, four is a fun age.

Feeling much better now, but definitely getting in touch with mw on Monday morning. I just feel exhausted so may call in sick on Tuesday and see how I feel after a day of proper rest (have DS on Monday and tomorrow have to finish 3 sets of reports). But will see how I feel the next 2 days first.

Problem is toffee I'm such a wimp I'd never end up going home and if I came in the 2nd half of the day I'd feel like no one would believe me that I was ill iyswim.

Ta da
mountain of ironing (with wimbledon on)
washing up (DH made a lovely lasagne)
2 sets of reports

sc ((hugs)) for your friends leaving and for poor dd.

castle hope you feel better soon and survive the last few weeks.

Evening. Shattered (party was lovely but a wrench as predicted) dd v. upset, and I'm lying in bed feeling really really tired but can't sleep ifyswim. Also, have not done one bit of prep for brunch guests tomorrow, so need to post tomorrow's links as there will be no time in morning... .

On a positive note, rabbits are a bit friskier and are "speaking" to us again

Hope everyone OK and glad burns not serious Bitchy. Also that you are feeling a bit better, albeit tired Engels.

Toffee hope you are feeling a bit more rested too.

Bitchy v. impressed with you jam making activities (you've reminded me that I must harvest our blackcurrants, well the one's the wood pigeons have kindly left us anyway!).

Alice choc cake sounds delicious but sorry you and Bitchy struggling with your ds's. Here's hoping Sunday is a more relaxing day for everyone!

*

Baby-step no. 29 for Sun 29th is: here. Introducing the weekly pamper mission and emphasising the important point that it took Flylady nine months to develop her routines properly and that ...

... "Anything you do today is better than it used to be!" - definitely one to keep in mind!

Sunday is the first of two days in Zone 5: the living room here.

Declutter (or do anything!) in Zone 5 for 15 minutes a day!

Detailed cleaning list here if you are at that stage.

No missions because it is the weekend!

Sunday's daily focus is: is renewing your spirit or doing something you enjoy.

The monthly habit for June is drinking more water.

To summarise the above, today's flight plan can be found [[www.flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=-120 here]] and will update itself automatically.

Hope everyone can combat the stresses of the week by having lovely relaxing Sundays!

That's a babystep I can embrace sc ! Will be doing foot pamper and face mask tonight once reports are finished.

BBL once they're all done!

Okay, somehow I missed the "drink more water" thing. I have been pushing the dcs to drink more water, as it's hotter and I don't want them to dehydrate (really makes asthma kick in!). But I think I'll start drinking one glass of water for every I have. That'll help immensely.

ta da
usual morning routine
washing up
tidy kitchen
laundry - one load, plus the pillows from the sofa
put away clothing
tidy living room
update my DIY "to do" list

to do
vacuum living room
tidy dining room
sweep fireplace (didn't get it done yesterday)
empty rubbish
put out bins for collection tomorrow
read through proposed statement one. more. time. (sigh)

I was really pleased with the chocolate sponge cake recipe I used yesterday (from BBC good food site). Tasted great and very easy to make. I think I will be using it for birthday cakes this summer. Yum!

The boys have been up since 7am, I have had to yell at them about shouting several times. I believe ds might have sorted them breakfast so god knows what they have eaten Today I really really wish i still drank coffee!!!! At least there is cake still so that will help. I will be glad when it is just me and ds. Problem is that it has shown that we still have a lot of work to do with ds over people in his space so there will have to be more sleep overs for it to sort itself out to be a pleasent experience. Threatening the kids with a long walk in the hills has removed the technology (tv/computer games) but they are currently annoying me with the walky talkies I am going to hide in a bath and get up.

Would anyone mind if I joined you lovely lot? I used to be on this thread quite a bit but fell off the wagon. We've gone a bit crazy decluttering and now the house can actually be cleaned and is usually, but not always, presentable for guests. I just need that kick up the butt that FLYlady gives me to stay on top of things. :)

Bitchy - I admire your bravery. I did exactly the opposite of you: stopped sleepovers and playdates completely until DS1 had matured a bit (too stressful for him and me!). But you are right to get him to practise. I hope you aren't too exhausted by the end of it (when is friend going home?).

Alice - I didn't know that about dehydration and asthma. Three of us have asthma in this family (DS1 seems to have escaped the hayfever/asthma gene) and there are inhalers and hayfever pills lying all over the house. The chocolate sponge cake sounds very tempting.

Engels - don't overdo it today . I take your point about going into work. It's difficult.

SC - hope you're feeling ok today. It's so sad to say goodbye to a good friend - and sad for your DD to say goodbye to her friend too . I hope meet-ups can be arranged, although I know it's not the same.

Am feeling much better today, but DH is reporting aching and nausea, so I think it's his turn now.

So good to have energy again.

Ta da

Up early
Unloaded and reloaded d/w
Put washing on
Tidied and wiped down kitchen counters
Emptied kitchen bin
Cleaned kitchen bin
Tidied dining-room table
Ignored large pile of clean clothes that need folding
Sorted out home ed papers and filed
Tried to keep chatty, active DS2 occupied with books, colouring, chat, etc.

Off to hang the washing up, then have a long soak in the bath.

Welcome back, NickNacks!

Well done on decluttering. Please inspire us!

morning all
blitchy I always find sleepovers exhuasting. Hope you get peace back soon.
alice choc cake sounds yummy
sc glad rabbits are doing better
castle take it easy

chaotic few days as usual!
However house vaguely presentable - and I have given in and hired a cleaner who is coming on Thursday! I decided that working 4 days a week plus 6 kids and 2 dogs and a cat AND keeping on top of clenaing - even with FLYlady routines was just no good for my mental health! (plus Ive just agreed to work some extra on-call shifts for extra money to fund house decorating that is much needed!)Will see how it goes - did try one before and she was rubbish!
Anyway am mostly having fun playing with my new cordless vacuum cleaner this weekend! Have hoovered the whole house twice since yesterday afternoon! No doubt the novelty will wear off.
Need to do some major laundry catch up but it is raining which always causes problems in summer when heating not on...have been lusting over one of those heated lakeland airers - anyone got one?
Also anyone got a steam mop? Am being drawn to getting one but not sure I really NEED one. Don't mind mopping with mop and bucket really and I can't imagine steam mop would be necessarily quicker/easier - but will it get floors noticeably cleaner? Am quite liking reports of hand held steam thing for doing windows/showers etc...maybe...

OK - need to motivate myself

todo
have shower!
get properly dressed!
do day 4 of headspace app(if I can find somewhere to hide from dc for 10 whole minutes )
gather dry clothes from radiators
attempt to distribute next load between tumble dryer and radiators
strip and wash our bedding
sort pink clothes for littlies race for life day next week
dust bedrooms
clean our bathroom
clean downstairs toilet
hoover throughout again because my toy is fun!
reading with ds2
homework dd3 and 4
read to dd4(encouraging her as she seems to be really getting into "enjoying" books at the moment

will no doubt think of more
BBL

Morning, hyperhops. Excellent news about the cleaner!

Hi Toffee

Quite simply we hired a skip! We were both a bit tight and didn't want to waste the money sending it away half full so it inspired us to keep filling. We also had a big holiday earlier in the year and DH Ebayed loads of stuff to raise money. We actually gave our boys the master bedroom because they had so much stuff but now it's been sorted we're moving them back so we can have it again. :)

That's brilliant, NickNacks. Will suggest the same to DH. We have been discussing creating more storage and both agreed that the cupboard under the stairs (full of junk) should be turned into organised storage. And the loft annex is overflowing with stuff.

Am making a start by decluttering DH and his work-related stuff to his new office from next week . That should help clear a space.

Hello NickNacks!!! bloody good to see a previous regular back again.

Toffee the issue is that the child who has come is not very good at no technology. And ds doesn't cope well with a lot of technology. It caused problems yesterday when i took the technology away so today i am just letting them get on with it and will take ds up a hill when his friend goes in about an hour or so to de stress. But tbh ds started the sleep over with the statement "where is he? he is three minutes late already! How can anyone do that? It is not fair." which is so typically aspie that alarm bells were ringing. The visiting child is pleasent and good mannered but I think that should they come back i need to structure things more to help things, where as I have just tried to let them get on with it this time.

Ds has a good friend from the last club he trained at who is a better mix of technology and not technology so I think that we will get him to come for the next sleep over if possible because on the whole they have mostly been 9yo boys it is predominantly that I am utterly exhausted from doing too much this week before we even got to this point. So a stomp up the hills to de stress J is more than i can face but if I don't do it than I am going to suffer for it for the rest of the week whilst he re-calibrates.

hyperhops steam cleaners are blooming brilliant. And no chemicals. All this antibacteria stuff really gets on my nerves. Mainly because I had to write a massive paper at university on the impact of antibacterial products in terms of immune system and allergies. So I like the fact that bugs are killed naturally without antibacterial products if that makes sense. Helps reduce the build up of chemical resistance. But I am a bit weird like that. Allegedly they are easy to use (but haven't dared touch the one here yet) I suspect that you will not regret getting one. Our has made light work of the cooker and the shower/bathroom on numerous occasions.

Also good to hear that I am not the only one strugling with sleep overs. And tbf to the kids they were angels about going to bed. It is just the constant talking in shouts that is giving me a headache how the fuck did my mother manage with me and my siblings? I quite like the peace and quiet of just an only hyperhops your house must be a constant whirl of activitiy and noise. Do you just learn to ignore it eventually?

I'm too cheap to hire a skip. But I have been making sure I toss a few extra things into the rubbish bin each time it's collected. This week it's a couple of kids foldup chairs that are worse for wear and don't ever get used anymore. They are no longer taking up room in the house. I've put a few larger things out at the end of the drive for free and they've been picked up pretty quickly.

I am becoming a scary "colour-oriented" person now. I've painted the living room a lovely pale grey colour, and now that I have seen how much difference there is with actual colour on the walls, I've been looking at the other walls in the house with new eyes. Magnolia walls will be a thing of the past!

Ah thanks guys

Actually the biggest thing was actually getting rid of furniture. I realised I had entire pieces of furniture that we never opened yet was rammed full. Obviously not stuff we needed so we emptied the lot and instead of leaving it empty to fill with more junk we just got rid. One less thing to dust and Hoover round and added floor space instead.