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!

Yesterday wasn't quite as productive as I was aiming for but I decided to concentrate on downstairs as our guests will see these rooms

Ta Da

• Gathered all scattered toys and put away in study/playroom (binned a bag of rubbish and a whole armful of paper recycling)
• Tidied paperwork corner in the dining room including the filing
• Washing load in and hung to dry
• D/W filled and put on
• Assisted DD make shortbread for competition (I did the putting in the oven bit)
• Helped with her vegetable animal for competition
• Went to Outdoor Fit Camp (can't feel me arms of legs this morning!)
• Made dinner
• Washed huge mountain of pots etc and shined sink

This morning we safely delivered all the competition entries to school - including our 3 foot sunflower - and now I'm off out to get the food for tonight as DH has finally drawn up his menu!

Morning

WhoKnows it's an Urban Croft (not as pretentious as it sounds)
Our local veg shop promotes local grown food (preferably organic) and sources from as close as possible.

It's been setting up veg and fruit beds on the local train stations and this year has arranged leases with a nearby farmer for a 2 1/2 acre field to grow the 'big' stuff like potatoes, carrots etc

2 months ago it took over some disused tennis courts to set up this Croft. DH and I are signed up as nano-growers (there are 6 in total), so we will eventually get 4 25m2 raised beds to grow stuff for the shop. The shop is paying for the stuff (scaffolding boards, soil, seeds, etc) and then we do the work and get paid for what we grow. Eventually there'll be smaller beds for families and a community garden.

There's also 2 pigmy goats on site, and the possibility of chickens and a pig! All in Southside Glasgow!
It's hard work at the moment as the site was completely overgrown and the beds need building, but we're getting there and it's a lot of fun. DD just loves spending time there, especially if she gets wheelbarrow rides.

And now I really must get out of bed and do something

morning all
feet Mums and daughters camping sounds lovely.
Nicknacks enjoy day off
whokknows hoping for sunshine for you!
blitchy hope you're not sore today
toffee thanks for links. hope travelling goes well today
swan and happy children entertaining themselves without screens!
dizzy well done on competition entries. Sunflower sounds most impressive!

OK, morning not gone too badly.
DC despatched to school
me to work - although have had lots of cancellations today so fingers crossed it may be quiet (watch it all go horribly wrong now LOL)
House was still looking quite clean this morning so just quick tidy round seemed to suffice!
Laundry on and one lot hung out

list for after work:
To Do:
Hang out washing
Dry washing away
put another load on
general tidy
clean paint splashes off bathroom floor
relax!
Bath
early night with my kindle

am on call tomorrow(from 9am to 9am Sundday) so will try and chill a bit tonight to prepare myself!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Fridays BBL

Goth that sounds amazing! Wish we had something similar. I grow as much as I can in our garden but on a waiting list for the allotments which we are near to. This year is a tad hectic so have kept to simple things and got soft fruit and fruit trees planted. Eventually I want our garden veg patch to be nursery beds and things which need tlc with the allotment plot being for root veg.and things which need more space like beans!

I will have to admit that moving is an issue this morning. Breaking the no caffine rule again and doing crafty decluttering whilst waiting for pain killers to kick in. the mess and chaos can wait.

goth it does sound fab

Wow, growing veg is like some kind of utopian ideal for me, I can barely manage to keep a pot plant alive so garden type stuff is way beyond my capabilities. I really admire those of you that do it.

Had a busy start to the day as we had a new bed delivered this morning, at 6.30am we were struggling down the stairs with the old mattress! New bed looks great but very high, I might need a step ladder to get into it. I now have to decide what to do with the old duvet as this bed is larger than the old one. Shoving it in the garage for the mice to make a nest in is probably not the flylady option.

Today I'm just going to do lots of small jobs rather than tackle proper big housework.
done
wash load in machine
DS2 bed made
breakfast stuff cleared away
old bed taken out to garage

to do
do a sweep upstairs for dirty clothes etc
hang out washing
phone council to collect old bed
air out new duvet on line
make up new bed
wash bedsheets
do something with old duvet
dry cleaners/charity shop
throw away dead flowers in kitchen
sweep kitchen floor
fold laundry and put away
ironing
nag eldest DS about stuff

Bloody sorting and de cluttering ! I've just been hanging up a shoe storage thing and the metal bracket fell off and cut my nose. Together with my throbbing toe I'm close to giving up.

Thanks 4 the links toffee

I am procrastinating on writing my essay for the postgrad diploma I'm doing - on the plus side this means I may do my flying today

afternoon all
goth love the sound of the croft.I have given up with veggies in the garden this year as the dogs seemed to decide the raised beds were clearly there for their digging enjoyment
peach the garage option is exactly what I would do...needles to say our garage does not currently meet FLYlady standards
bitchy take it easy
fraggle ouch. hope you're ok
still housework can be useful procrastination (although just MAKING LISTS of housework to do is even better !)

right...on a break at work

feeling a bit odd today...sort of very tense and on edge - not sure why - work very quiet. Maybe just stressed about on-call tomorrow as I don't normally do them (doing this one as a locum as they were desperate and will pay me well LOL!)
Not sure if I may still be suffering the effects of giving up sugar (2 weeks now) as feel just very, very tightly wound ....anyway, hopefully it will go.
Think I need to go do my headspace mindfulness app before home time or I fear my patience levels will be very sadly lacking...

BBL

hyper I love your dd's list of your talents. Dd is desperate for me to wear more makeup On call does sound a bit scary, I'm not surprised it is making you feel tense. Sugar is a great natural tranquillizer isn't it Bananas often can be a replacement fix with added potassium which is meant to stabilize something or other, I can't remember.

Toffee enjoy your holiday, the perks of home edding is that you can be at the sea right now (I think your mum is by the sea isn't she?)

Whoknows hope Fair is a lovely social occasion as well as hard work. For once I am looking forward to the fete tomorrow at dcs old primary, because I actually get to go and talk to people without feeling guilty for not manning a stall 24/7.

Rather a strange morning here. We went to talk to ds2's SENCO about his year, and his progress. Trying to find out next year's plans, SENCO is so helpful. However school on a sunny day is terribly depressing isn't it..Hot stuffy and concrete. Poor teachers they must all be shattered.

peach don't be alarmed by the veg plans, often the greatest satisfaction can one seed one pot one plant!

todo
well cleaner was ill, so today I need to do an enormous pile of ironing which I optimistically assembled yesterday.

oh yes Book Club was good last night..we were reading Anne Enright.

Feet so glad transition day went well and camping sounds great too.

Yes! Yes! You see, that is the trick, one needs something else (important) to procrastinate about, in order to stop procrastinating over Flying (well I do anyway).

Having said that, have forced myself to stick to the boring choring for most of today. Have done so by not looking at my phone, the computer, or any screens at all; not speaking on the phone, staying in indoor floppy tracksuit bottoms so I can't go out, and turning on the timer and (in a very un-Fly-lady manner) not doing anything else at ll. It is sweltering hot and deathly tedious tbh but I'm starting to see a bit of the boudoir floor

(Trying to be cheery) waves to everyone!!

sorry - that post was meant to be in response to Stillwearing's post - but I didn't exactly make that clear

Also failed to mention the "motivating" Neopolitan ice cream I ate after lunch .

Swan good example of how the threatened presence of a cleaner stimulates Flying activities, even when absent (ifyswim)

[proffers ice packs for Fraggle's nose and toe]

Goth your community croft sounds fantabulous in the extreme!

Yep have taken it easy. Culled recorded tv stuff off the box and nearly finished culling a craft project that was boring me.

Ds is away this weekend which mean another long drive but there was a request for a change of location. A pita cos it means a longer drive but a bonus as it means meeting at an ikea which means I don't have to do a separate trip for the errands I need to do. Which could be classed as winning. Or not as I am very disorganised today. Just realised i need to find a birthday card and write a letter, plus pack ds' stuff and eat/feed ds before we are due to leave at 4:30pm (ie all in 1 hour) plus move some boxes and do some other bits and bobs. guess i will need to get a wriggle on when I get back from the school run with ds

Yes, we know we're really lucky with the croft, I'm afraid I'm probably going to bore you all with it. There's a massive waiting list for the nearby allotments so we were over the moon to get a nano-plot. It's only a 10 minute walk away which is perfect, our last allotment was a 10 minute bus ride plus 30 minute walk away.

Not much flying done today, but I've taken advantage of the rainy day and almost completed the new banner for our Woodcraft Folk group such a MN stereotype I just need to stitch on the glued litters and get some yellow fabric to make a border and ties.

Done
Morning routines
1 load laundry ready to hang out tomorrow
Opticians -have chosen glasses
Submitted tax credit renewal
Banner

To do
Clean up after sewing
Dinner
Washing up & SS
Put another load laundry on

Evening all!

Well, my line manager came through and even though it's been a tiring week, I did manage to enjoy myself and come out in one piece.

Scorching hot here.

toffe that must have been so hard to say goodbye to those boys.

Okay So Ta Da...

Ordered contacts
onlIne banking
One load of washing done and dried
oNe load washing away
washing up
maDe dinner
fooD shop
Coffe and lunch with vriend

now going to relax and enjoy the evening.

see you tomorrow to tackle the garden first thing then sort lounge once it gets too hot outside.

o

Wish me luck. I'm going fishing under the bed in the boudoir.

[takes deep gulp of breath and dives ...]

Good luck sc !

Sorry for all the typos in my last post - not sure what happened there!

Your banner looks amazing Goth

Glad you survived the week Engels and that your boss is being a bit more sympathetic!

Scorching here too. Knackered. But next door getting ready for fourth of July party (the flags are out already). Think it is going to be a late night.

[Re-settles snorkle on head and aims for bedroom]

Posting from my mum's house by the seaside. We've spent much of this afternoon down on the beach .

Saturday is Day 5 of the babysteps: banish self-criticism.

It is also Family Fun Day.

There are no missions at the weekend. The flight plan is here.

Not one of DS' better days today, thankfully we're still on holiday.

Up early tomorrow to trek to Leeds to watch the start of the Tour de France; DH predicting a 7am leaving house Then will be packing in the afternoon to go home on Sunday

Out of curiosity, are there any Fledglings in South Yorkshire, DH and I are again contemplating moving to be nearer family, but I hate the idea of being totally friendless...

Wine needed!

Today's tada's....
Went and bought pumpkin plants.
Collected duvet from dry cleaners
Rang county school bus people to tell them they've sent my son the wrong one.
Culled my shoe collection and dropped 5 bags of stuff (only 1 was shoes!) to the charity shop.
Cleaned the children's disgusting toilet.
Made Lemon drizzle, fairy cakes, flapjacks and profiteroles ready for hoardes of kids this weekend.
More paperwork done.
2 dishwasher loads done.
Cleared crap of dining table
1 load of washing done
Collected ds and huge bag of dirty washing from school trip
Went to bank to pay in cheque - yippee!

Not so great - took phone all to say I don't have an interview for a job.
Boo - but never mind it's the weekend. for us all!

so sorry. gibbering wreck here tonight as I have to deal with ex in person tomorrow at first contact visit in months. Expecting loads of harassment and stress. sigh.

but on the positive side, I went and helped a friend work on redecorating her living room (same friend that came and helped me whitewash my fireplace ). We tend to spur each other on to some extent to get things done.

Alice - hands over . Sorry you've got to go through that with your ex tomorrow, the Fledglings will be sending you good vibes.

Goth - that sounds amazing. There is a similar scheme here, I haven't got involved in it personally as I was running the school gardning club till last year, then took on an allotment, but it is a great idea. I agree about the closeness, mine is less than 10 mins walk or 5 mins by bike and right next to the DCs school so I pop in and out all the time, it is very easy.

Fraggle - sorry about the interview.

Carpe - I can think of one that I know of in that general vicinity but not posting much lately

Well, after a hot afternoon setting up the fair, it all went well until 8pm and then the rain started, so we wrapped up early. It was lovely until then though, and I was off duty for the first hour so able to wander round and browse, which doesn't always happen. Tired and damp and with two bickering DCs to get to bed with no DH, better go and find some gin.

Evening all!

Did get the laundry sorted this morning, and had a fit of enthusiasm and cleaned windows and assorted glass and shiny things this morning. Then fizzled out and just watched tennis all afternoon...

First contact from new academy head this afternoon - couple of paragraphs of propaganda in the newsletter and nothing actually addressing concerns, answering questions or telling us how we can contact her. They're in the process of wrecking another local school and all we can do is watch and pray they don't do it to us.

Glad you're getting some support from line manager Engels

((hugs)) Alice - hope tomorrow goes OK.

Big waves to everyone else.