August fledglings fly over here - chatting and Flying will help us persevere!

[ToffeeWhirl]

Here we go again - another month for us to tackle our clutter and get on top of our housework!

If you’re struggling with C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome) and S.T.U.F.F. (something that undermines family fun), 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).

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!

I've had cake.

What I need is a fucking tumble dryer. 4 beds full of bedding to wash and dry today and it's sodding raining. Plus all the towels in the world as I just realised that rather than putting a dirty towel in the wash, DH just gets another one out. and all this without breathing their fucking eggs in or spreading them round the house. FUCKERS!

Well I've done everything on the to do list, but I still feel crap. Because I haven't walked the dog yet. He needs taking out for 1.5-2 hours a day, which means at this point he'll have to wait until after DD's lunch, but that probably also means waiting until after her nap as well. And it might rain, if the forecast is right. I really should have gotten them out by now.God I wish I had some cake right about now, or chocolate of anything description really.

Okay, I must be insanely daft, as I'm clueless on the infestation unless it's nit-related. But regardless, Trazzle I hope it all goes away very very quickly!

Oops sorry. I will shut up now.

Alice you're fine, don't worry about it! I have no problem PMing. I have a thread in chat about it because I didn't know how to deal with it when I discovered the issue at 2am. My only issue is, because of DS' health, I'm easily identifiable if someone were to "look" for me so I just don't want the exact details recoded in a thread that will last beyond 30 days!

Completely understand sorry.

Dear god ds is hard work today! He has had a lot of brain down time. Guess homeschool is up and running as of later/tomo

To do
ikea
more work on bedroom door hotspot
homeschool prep
do not kill ds
some research on the internet
get ds to bed early in spare room
have a proper plan of what is happening tomo
get hair dye and apply ready for id pictures tomo

Blimey, this thread is moving fast (as usual!)!

It is pouring with rain here. (It's gone from suffocatingly humid to wet and chilly in under 12 hrs!) Very dark and depressing! It was at this point in the year when my late ma would always declare "I can feel the approach of autumn in my bones" like a pronouncement from the oracle or some'at!

Hope you got a decent night's sleep for once Toffee

A warm welcome to Plod

Bitchy sorry to hear ds is being v. demanding when you are tired. Hope you can get out for some exercise.

Trazzles easier said than done but try not to worry, it's horrible and a pita (we've had the blighters twice when dd was in maternelle) but they do go eventually even when it seems they never will! Just remember to wash sheets/towels/underwear above 60°. [Proffers more restorative ] Hope you can sort that tumble dryer too.

I'm feeling much restored after a bit of down time yesterday and think young male guest is going to leave soon (not knowing is getting me down frankly). At least he appears to be happy with the odd bacon sandwich and a bowl of home-made soup/piece of cheese and content to be doing his own thing.

The friends who left the other day have sent an e-mail suggesting they stay here again on their way home and I am trying to find a way to say "please don't" without sounding too selfish and horrible . The thing that gets me a bit is that they are all very vague about their dates, while quite forcefully trying to pin me down on mine. I love them dearly and feel guilty because friend is going through very testing time, but honestly think I will have had enough by the time my dsis 1 and entourage has left. And dh, dd and I are hoping to snatch a few days together locally (in the countryside) before the end of the holidays. Is that really horrible of me? Probably is.

Good luck with your pre-visitor prep Whoknows

Enjoy the fruit-picking Nicknacks and glad abscess pain has eased enough for you to be going!

Big waves to Saturn Dizzy ¨Alice soot and everyone else!

Getting back to my proper routines today and still trying to tame washing mountain!

SC - that was funny bumping into you on the other thread . I do feel sorry for that poor woman - have had too many experiences of having to look after little children whilst poorly myself. I even had to look after other people's children when I was poorly (childminded for a couple of years). Hell on earth. I really appreciate the fact that, nowadays, even if DH isn't here, if I'm ill I can just tell the children to let me sleep and know that they will be ok.

Also, SC, there is no way you should accept those guests coming back. You have been a wonderful host and you sound exhausted. Make your excuses (you and DH are going away together, for example) and don't feel guilty. You've done more than enough.

DS2 and I have been helping DH today, as he's come down with a chest infection. I booked him in at the doctors this morning (why can't he make a doctor's appointment himself? ) and he's been given antibiotics. We went into work to help him do the orders and he's now back in bed and feeling very poorly.

I spent ages tidying and cleaning the house yesterday, yet it looks as if nothing has been done . So discouraging.

Comfort yourself with the fact that it would look a lot worse if you hadn't done anything at all Toffee . So sorry to hear your dh is ill again - he really suffers with his chest - poor him (and you).

Yes and feel very sorry for that poor woman too. Can clearly remember times when dd was ill or I was ill, and dd was miles away on a foreign trip and I just longed for someone to take over, just for 5 mins ... . It's such a miserable position to be in.

Thanks for your input about the guests. I haven't said 'no' yet but am still pondering (and will consult with dh later).

Afternoon everyone, I've missed a lot if the thread last few days, sounds like there's a lot going on for everyone.

Today is a home day for me so got a few bits done:

Made bed
Stripped and remade DSs bed
Emptied dishwasher
Hand washed a mountain of filthy, greasy pans that DH promised to do and didn't... There will be words later
Dishwasher maintenance done: refilled salt, rinse aid and put a cleaner through it
Put a bleach wash through the washing machine
Put a white wash on
Went to town to pay library fine and go to bank
Sold a load of DSs old baby things and made £20

Off to fold a load of dry washing
Then getting the duster out, lots of cobwebs in every ceiling corner

Must stop Mumnsetting and get off my lardy rear and do something flylady-like! DD is happily ensconced with her stamp collection recently rediscovered baby dolls and is and being an absolute angel today! [Counting my blessings]

That's true, SC (about house looking worse if I hadn't done anything at all). At least that's something.

Yes, DH does have a bad chest. He almost died of asthma when he was a boy and spent a lot of time in hospital. I have learned to take it seriously ever since the time I thought he was being a complete hypochondriac because I was exhausted with looking after small children whether I was well or ill, but then the doctor came out and gave him steriods and loads of inhalers and spacers and said he was really ill. Took him b/fast in bed this morning and have just taken him a pain au raisin from Caffe Nero and a cup of tea.

In return, he has just downloaded my new housekeeping app. It turned out I couldn't use Home Routines on this phone, so I actually have the Flylady app. Am feeling renewed enthusiasm at the thought of housework . It even has a 15-minute timer!

Okay. My brain is shorting out. I couldn't find any mention of the housekeeping apps. So is Home Routines one? And a Flylady app?? I'm scared. Must look this evening.

Horder ds is being made to de clutter. He has been told to get rid or i will. Needles to say he is not happy. But he has to learn and it is going to be a tough lesson...

In the meantime ikea was expensive (only went for one thing but have ending up with stuff for changing little boy room into almost a teenager room) and time consuming. I am zapped or energy and will to deal with fractious ds. ah well best go help point him in the right direction...

I've never been to Ikea. I suspect it would be one of those places I would need to just hand over my bank card upon entering and saying "just take it all now..."

Ds2 is always asking ds1 to borrow this book or that toy, ds1 just says yeah sure, keep it. I keep telling him No don't just give away all your things, he can BORROW it and give it back when he's done.

I'm afraid if ds1 does that all the time, he'll be handing out all his money and property in school to everyone. Except certain treasured items, of course.

"one of those places I would need to just hand over my bank card upon entering and saying "just take it all now..."" Yep pretty much alice

ds has culled his books (very very precious) and his plastic tat box (traumatic but insisted upon being done once a year so less of a shock to the system.

have sorted out and made up the bed in the spare downstairs room for poor ds who has been in tears cos he is that tired. he is just finishing up the end of his cartoon and will be chucked uncharacteristically early into bed.

I have a whole heap of stuff that needs to be done and I don't want to do it, but really really need to. So going to have to suck it up and just get on with it. Right now though I am allowing myself a bit of time to do fuck all.

I'm the one that is the hoarder here. I brought 3 boxes of "stuff" downstairs today from my room. It is all on the dining room table and tomorrow's job is to sort it, get rid of it, whatever. And then I'm going to bring another few boxes down of paperwork - I've got paperwork going back 10 years. Pretty sure I don't need that much! Probably have instruction books on things I no longer own!!

Heard today that my application was unsuccessful. Which tbh was not surprising it was not a great application and I wish I had had the application pack sooner than 1hr before deadline. However, I have had some feed back and hopefully it should help with the next batch of applications. Sometimes you need feedback from failures in order to move on.

We've been out almost all day, but house still isn't clear from holiday and chaos is turning into CHAOS as friends coming round in the morning. Hoped we could avoid meeting here, but no so will have to deal with it.

Sorry to hear of other ongoing battles, health issues etc.

Ah Bitchy commiserations. But you're right. It's a stepping stone to greater things. I think I applied for over 200 training contracts before I got taken on. At the time I thought I must be an unwanted freak of nature but it's all worked out for the best.

Alice - I've tried Home Routines on Iphone, but to be honest, anything that encourages me to pick up my phone when I should be cleaning is A BAD THING as it only leads to more time on MN. It is a good app though and can be easily customised to Flylady routines. And yes, you are spot on about Ikea. I can go in and buy just one thing now (indeed I've only been about 3 times in the last 10 years) but there were many years of coming home with a car boot full of tat on a regular basis when I was in my first house and lived half an hour away from the one in Wembley.

Sorry the application was unsuccessful Bitchy. Hope DS manages a bit more sleep in the spare room.

Toffee - sorry DH is unwell again, it's lucky you can help out with the business, but must be hard when you have the DSs at home as well.

SC - maybe your friends are just trying to make sure they come on a date that suits you? . I'd still try and get out of seeing them again if you possibly can though.

We've had a calendar cock-up here again, thanks to DH (it amazes me that he manages to run a business). BIL pm'd me about a week ago to see if he and his DD can visit this week, I checked the calendar and agreed Thurs night to Sat morning with them and told DH. DH sheepishly admitted to me tonight that he has had to cancel us going out for a swanky meal with a load of business associates who I really like and only see once a year (this is their Christmas do, don't ask why) because it was this Friday and he hadn't mentioned it to me or found a babysitter or put it on the calendar and didn't want to let down BIL and Dniece. Grrr.

Anyway, the DCs are at my parents for a couple of days as we were both working, DH and I have been out for a meal but he's disappeared down to the astronomy club to watch meteors with his stargazing chums, so I'm home alone. Going to straighten a few things out and put my feet up. Or I might get a blanket and lie on the trampoline and look out for a few meteors too. I could have gone to the stargazing club but suspect I would have felt a bit of an odd one out.

That doesn't sound selfish at all cabbage, family time is precious and I'd assume a good friend would understand that.

Me and DH are possibly going to Ikea on the weekend - there's a few more bits we need. I've only been once before and found it very confusing and a bit stressful. DD will love it I'm sure though, she loves Homebase with all the beds upstairs so I'm sure she'll love room upon endless room in Ikea.

Small victory tonight in that me and DH got the washing up, cleaning of dining table, and putting away of washing done before I left for work this evening, so less pressure tonight to get bits done.

To do
Wipe down kitchen sides
Quick picking up of rubbish/clutter in living room
Find list of jobs to do before baby arrives
Maybe sort out some clutter

Alice - Home Routines is an app based on the Flylady routines, but it's designed for iPhones and IPads, whereas DH's old phone is an Android. Anyway, I'm happier with the Flylady app because it's free to download. I'm just sorry I don't get any gold stars.

Bitchy - sorry your application wasn't successful. However, you should be proud of yourself for managing to get an application in with only an hours' notice. That's impressive!

Trazzle - your post made me laugh - a 'freak of nature' indeed! But you certainly have stamina to keep on trying in spite of all those rejections. I'm glad you got the right job in the end.

Anyway, the Flylady app spurred me into action this afternoon. I was longing to have an afternoon nap (after another late night/early morning bedtime), but instead I glanced at the Tuesday focus, knocked back some coffee and ploughed through the jobs. Then took DS2 out for a bit, then came back and started cooking. Have done all my evening jobs apart from laying out my clothes. STILL have an ever-growing pile of ironing though.

Am going to attempt a round up, as it's been a while since I did one.

[Smile] at the thought of you lying on the trampoline looking up at the stars whoknows ! How frustrating about calendar cock up.

Hope the abs kick-in very soon and that your dh recovers quickly Toffee

Bitchy sorry about the job! Their loss and on to greater and better things!

Sorry to hear your ds is in tears bless him. Hope he manages to get a good night's sleep tonight (and you too).

DD is in tears atm too. She has a pain in her groin. NO temp. No nausea/vomiting. She hasn't done anything "muscular". Reckon it might be lack of sleep, too much excitement as she has been travelling and returned to visitors and loads of activities, really without let up. And as a result she is going down with a virus or something - think her lymph nodes might be swollen. Anyway, I am now in hovering-over-child-vigilant-alert-too antsy-to-sleep mode!

Top marks re: the evening routine Dizzy. Thx, yes, hopefully friend will understand if I am honest. But feel horrible because she is going through a marriage crisis; looking after a fed-on-demand clingy, 6mth old, an older girl with sn, and a very energetic 9 yr old boy. So her thoughts are, very understandably, on her own issues atm. And I feel I should support where I can possibly can.

Good luck with morning crisis clean Blue

Alice bet I can match you on the paperwork box hoarding front

Waves to Coffeeandcream and everyone else!

G'night all!