July 2014: fledglings follow Flylady's tuition (don't forget your pamper mission)

[ToffeeWhirl]

A big thank you to slackcabbage for superb thread leadership throughout June, as well as a great intro which I am going to shamelessly borrow from now.

Struggling with C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome) and S.T.U.F.F. (something that undermines family fun)? In that case, you need Flylady.

Flylady is a system for managing housework. Starting with babysteps, it builds up into a routine which becomes second nature. In theory, once you are used to the system, you will have a tidy house you are not embarrassed by and plenty of time to get on with more interesting things.

Flylady banishes the panicky "rabbit in headlights" feeling when you are overwhelmed and everything needs doing all at once. If you fall off the Flylady bandwagon, it’s no problem: you just jump back in where you are and carry on.

Don't sign up for the Flylady emails as you will be inundated! All the information you need will be linked here on this thread on a daily basis.

From the first of the month, Flylady's steps and routines will be listed here on this thread.

Flylady uses 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 detailed deep cleaning in each zone for those who have made real progress – not sure if anyone has reached this pinnacle yet…? I certainly haven’t).

More info here on getting started (but ignore step one!) and Flying lessons. Here's the launch pad for more experienced fledglings.

Try to ignore Flylady’s purple prose (hard, I know) - the underlying system is sound!

Three key points to keep in mind:

1. No perfectionism allowed - this is harder than you would imagine.

1. You are never behind - just start where you are and anything you do is progress.

1. It didn't get into a mess overnight, it won't get tidy overnight - accept it will take time to get on top of things and you will be happier.

If you are new, then trying to spend 15 mins decluttering and doing the babysteps is the most you should expect of yourself. Lots of us here like posting our ‘to do’ or ‘ta da’ lists and they can look quite scary. Don’t be put off.

If all else fails, try the power of three – just pick three things that most need doing and focus on those.

And if you have visitors coming over this afternoon and need a quick fix NOW, try Flylady's crisis clean.

We all know each other pretty well on this thread and some of us have been around for a long time, but all lurkers, oldies and newcomers are very welcome!

Things here are rather insane right now. Trying to deal with the stress and not able to do much by way of extraordinary cleaning and such.

I may be off here and there for awhile. Sadly, I think that just getting the normal stuff done will be a struggle for the next few days.

Ready to kick the vacuum. Perhaps that will be therapeutic.

Sorry to hear things are tough alice . Remember that this thread isn't only about tidying and decluttering. if it was maybe I'd have a show home or have been kicked off long ago The friendly ear and support this thread provides has been invaluable to me (and many others) in venting, thinking things over and providing support and encouragement.

Kick the vacuum. Punch a pillow. Every little helps

Ta da
One bag of toys safely dispatched to DS's nursery
Picked a few weeds out of the driveway on the way back.

Now moving onto bags of clothes. Recorded some trashy films last nigth zo will watch (and eat - starving!) while sorting into keep/wash, do ate and throw.

Engels Thanks. I've already bombarded the SN chat thread with it, so I'll not clutter up this thread as well. Very inconsiderate of me.

engles that is a superb thread, I read it at the time and saved it to a word file, printed it out and went through it with a highlighter pen to find all the things I wanted to implement that I thought would work for us as a family. Really was life changing (even if a few habits haven't yet become as habitual as I'd like).

So. Today I took into the DID nursery two epic bags of outgrown clothes. I've kept the very best of the clothes, washed them, aired them and vacuum packed to give away or maybe use if we have another

What's the best way of storing a mass basket? I'm thinking wash and air any fabric, then store in a vacuum bag and put basket somewhere different wrapped in a plastic bag to stop moths?

At work today. House was looking like a disaster zone before I left for work and I've just realised the basket of wet clothes which didn't dry last night hasn't been put out again so that will necessitate another rinse. All the bedding needs washing as well this weekend after hot nights. And if the floors don't see a hoover soon they might go on strike.

toffee hope you are feeling better today, alice happy to hear rants, I'm just finishing the paperwork for dd1s tribunal.

sootball it's under the goose and carrot goes camping thread, too long to put on here as well. Feel free to read. I'm just stressed and irritated to the eyeballs.

Morning all - just a quick one for me as I'm solo in the office

Anyway, NickNacks - get storage. We have none and everything ends up on the coffee table (hot spot) and it's terrible. Once DS is a bit older, I'm investing in a sideboard!

I've also just realised that the washing I put on this morning is still in the machine. My own fault, but bloody annoying.

So my to-do list is...
Re-wash washing
Wash other washing.
Dust dining room
Dust living room
Hoover living room
Finalise online delivery.
Collapse on the couch.

See you all later - on the bar for those in need!

Ta da
sorted 3 bags of clothes shoes. Sorted into
*clothing bank (sorted and labelled and by the door ready to go in car
*too big for ds but good (bagged, labelled to go in loft with instructions to check in 6 months time)
*good for now (in washing basket)
*old stuff that is too small for ds but good (labelled for baby and ready to go into loft)

Wash out to dry
2nd load of wash on
went through ds's toys downstairs and chucked a few pieces of tat. Sorted rest into boxes.

I have one more bag of stuff from the landing to sort out. It hink it's all toys that ds is too young for.
Would like to rearrange DS's toys - move his playmat and table so he gest used to not playing where the playpen will be when the baby comes and his table is next to our coffee table.

On a roll! sootball - have kept that thread on my watchlist and go back to it every now and again. Good idea to print!

Ta da
pamper mission! Arranged dinner for next week with a friend I haven't seen in a few months
replied to hen do emails

ta da

Boys up, dressed and out of the house by 9am for DS1's medical appt
Washing on
Breakfasts
Checked emails and MN
DS2 tidied his Lego in the sitting room
DS2 hoovered the sitting room
DS2 cleaned the stains on the sitting-room carpet with carpet shampoo
DS2 hoovered the hall
DS2 mopped the hallway

DS2 has decided he loves cleaning ! Long may this last. He does a pretty good job too. The only drawback is that I have to pay him, but he's only asked for 50p so far.

I don't have anymore appointments today, so I'm intending to catch up on housework and OU. Am hoping the DC will amuse themselves.

Also have to pay parking fine we received for parking outside our own house . Our car had unexpectedly been kept in by the garage and DH was using a courtesy car. I was going to appeal, but have left it too late now, thanks to my inefficiency time passing too quickly. I could have sworn this incident took place last week, but apparently it was a fortnight ago now.

Hopefully will be back later with a long 'ta da' list.

Just having a momentary break.

ta da

Paid parking fine
Hung washing out
Traipsed up and down stairs countless times returning objects (mainly DS2's toys) to their rightful places
Put DS1's bedding away (he's sleeping on the sofa at night - too hot in his loft bedroom atm)
Pulled sofa away from wall and tidied up/threw away bits of Lego, coins, ice-lolly sticks, etc.
Let DC have microwave popcorn for lunch

About to tackle underneath sofa number 2, but am having a low-blood sugar moment and need a break. Have also had to take an antihistimine to cope with all the dust. Will resume after I've stopped sneezing.

Wow toffee you and DS are busy! 50p for a cleaner? Long may that last (as long as it's not one of those rare collectible Kew Gardens ones!)

Not much flying today as my DS is having mega toddler strops as well as teething. I have managed to box up his too small clothes and sell them on in the space of 30 minutes: result!

Just to prove that occasionally I do get things done. It's not a professional job and just the first attempt. I have to touch up the trim and do the front part of the step another time (or the dcs will track paint everywhere). But hooray!! I'm so pleased. And didn't cost me anything as I already had the paint from another project.

Once the paint is all dry, I'll be putting carpet treads (or whatever the appropriate term is) on it.

coffee - yes, DS2 is charging bargain prices! Long may his enthusiasm last . Sorry you are having a hard day with your toddler. Flying is so difficult with little ones.

Alice - it's amazing that you've managed to do that whilst also looking after your DC. Those stairs look fab and I don't see that a professional could have done a better job.

I have forgotten all my Flylady training and am doing intensive cleaning in my sitting room instead of 15-minute bursts. But it does need it. DC have been flung some scraps of food, but otherwise ignored most of the afternoon so far.

ta da

Hoovered under sofa
Pulled every single book off our wall-mounted bookcase and hoovered the dust off all of them (took ages)
Looked through every book for a lost photo which I'm sure I put in one of them - didn't find it, but found several others
Hoovered on top of the bookcase and down the sides - very dusty and cobwebby
Unloaded and reloaded d/w
Wiped down kitchen surfaces
Wiped down kitchen doors
Emptied kitchen rubbish bin
Put recycling out
Stopped for late lunch and answered emails

Right, am putting the kettle on, then starting work again: sofa number 2 to look under next. I can see a lot of paperwork under there.

Sitting-room carpet is looking a lot better since DS2's shampooing this morning .

oh piffle de poop. Neighbour's burning something outside, so all my open windows from the paint fumes are now letting in all the smoke. Eurgh!! I made a quick run to the kitchen initially as I thought I'd burned the chicken for a minute there!

Boys are back, peace is shattered! They immediately started squabbling so we went to the park. Forgot to suncream my ankles though, and they're feeling a little tender. Oops.

Had hair done this morning and got my work done too. Now waiting for DH to come back from the garage with the car so can decide what we're having for tea and whether or not to go to Zumba (makes more sense than it sounds!).

Well done on the stairs, Alice, though sorry about smoke.

Sounds like you and DS2 are on a roll, Toffee!

blue very nice to have the swishy hair. I can't get mine done until the boys are in school again in September. Not too long to go really.

alice your stairs look fab! Really need to redo ours (and paint the stairs to the attic that remain unpainted 5 years after they were put it )

Had a total pg lady meltdown this afternoon. Went into town and it was hot and busy, wandered round trying to find a shop which wasn't there, called dh to find out where it was - he called me back as he normally does and could I bloody work out how to answer my bloody new phone?! (The answer is no!). Eventually managed to answer by fluke and he found out that shop isn't in the town centre anymore (he told me it was the day before). I gave up and trudged back to my car, deflated and knackered then managed to turn onto the wrong side of the road and scared myself silly (though the bloke behind me followed me).

Ended up coming home and watching another episode of Sherlock then collapsing on dh when he got home.

Wondering whether to invest in one of the organised mum life diaries with lots of different columns. May help me plan my time better with reference to marking/planning, school commitments, ds, dh and housework/errands. Have been inspired by the organising thread I was browsing on.

engels sorry you've had such an awful day. I will admit to a slight giggle over not knowing how to answer the new mobile as I have done that!

Ta da
2nd load of washing dried
clothes deposited in clothing bank
under stairs area clear and tidy
Washing up
Put ds to bed for 3rd night in row. Yesterdays ils were round and dbil has popped in tonight - they're still gassing and ds fell asleep on sofa watching the gruffalo.

Tomorrow is another day. Going to potter round house. Dh is home as well so we'll take turns with ds. Want to try and organise stuff up into new attic office room a bit and sort baby stuff/ds stuff and have a lay in

I have just laughed about it with dh and dbil alice ! I'm just tired, emotional and this afternoon was the first time I really felt heavy in my belly. Ridiculous - I'm only 4 months pg and bloody huge already!

I know it's hard work being pregnant, Engels, but how lovely to have a new baby growing in there .

Have just finished off my day with You've Got Mail I didn't cry oh no and wish I hadn't eaten all of the chocooate ice cream yesterday. Think I tried to do too much today. Will shop next week in the morning instead. Night night fledglings!

Amazingly, I have actually done all this week's missions already by spending most of today clearing out our sitting room. DH and I really enjoyed sitting in a tidy room for a change this evening.

Am going to tackle the dining room tomorrow.

Thursday's links:

Tomorrow is Babystep Number 31: time to review the babysteps and reflect on the fact that 'as your clutter goes away, you will find that you will have time to do the zone detailed cleaning [and] the weekly home blessing hour... You don’t have to see the top of the staircase to take the first step or the 30th step; you just need to keep FLYing!'

Thursday is errand day: try to get all your errands done today, leaving time for other stuff during the rest of the week.

Thursday's mission is here: detailed vacuum in the sitting room.

The flight plan is here.

Night all.

Alice your staircase are fab!

Engles I can't recommend those family calendars enough. I bought one for this year with five columns, one each for me, DH, DS, House/cats, anniversaries/birthdays. It's a life saver.

Hmm, I think the "as your clutter goes away" bit is what I'm doing wrong, Toffee!

Impending crisis with car seems to have been averted so the holiday is still go. Phew.

Tomorrow is going to be packing and getting ready, but have also promised the boys lunch at a cafe and a cycle into town. Getting excited now>