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 have had a reply from the professional organiser. I'm not telling DH anything about my plans to be ruthless while he is gone!

This evening I've spent three hours sorting, clearing and cleaning the playroom. I've made DH a list of jobs to do tomorrow before he leaves for work and this is my urgent list to do tomorrow
Lie in.
Shower.
white wash on
Dark wash away
Organise food for week
Empty all bins.

Less urgent
Photograph items for sale and add to online album
empty car of toys, bags, boots, coats
Wash car
Order storage to create a Montessori Playroom (one of dd1s play therapists suggested this as a way to improve her attention span)
Move fireguard to front room
Move boxes to loft
Sort out airing cupboard
sort out winter wardrobes (!)
Dry clean suits
Write CV
Bundle up clothes for friends

Linkies for Saturday:

Babystep Number 30: buy cards and gifts on errand day.

Saturday is Family Fun Day. More info here.

No missions at the weekend.

Saturday's flight plan is here.

Glad you are feeling better Toffeeand try not to worry about OU essay - I've always been impressed how you manage to get them done - despite everything else life throws at you!! So good to hear young furries doing well too (you must have been worried after your last experience of kitten ownership) so brilliant that they have a clean bill of health!

OOooh Soot that's so exciting about your professional declutterer [awed emoticon] !! [Could really do with some firm leadership on the decluttering front right now!] Let us know how it goes!! (Although it sounds as if you have made a great start without professional help!! Congrats on clearing playroom.

I am feeling bad because all my good intentions about Flying, French study, decluttering and dieting have all come to naught this summer as usual and school/work starts back on Monday. I have the self discipline of a slug in a cabbage patch. Oh well ... .

G'night all!

Soot how scary! I wouldn't want to think about a professional declutterer coming in here. But interested to see what feedback you get from them.

Toffee I think spider season is upon us. I've literally found one a day over the last week. New tip - I have an old pair of marigolds that is set aside for cleaning areas that have cobwebs and can be donned in case of spider killing, so I don't have to worry about TOUCHING it. Huge morale boost.

SC My good intentions have fallen by the side too. I am trying to continue decluttering, but in all honesty, I am mostly just trying to maintain until the dcs are in school and I can start focusing on the big changes in the house.

Spider season already? Noooo!

Alice - we need a plan!

I have a plan. Big can of hair spray and a fly swatter.

Professional cleaner would (hopefully!) have seen it all before Alice (and much worse)! I'd love one but the concept doesn't seem to exist over here!

We're not having a very energetic day it has to be said. Dh (having got up late) has just gone back to bed again for a snooze (although, to be fair, he is very stressed about his father), dd is in her pjs destroying the play room sorting out her soft toys , I've been pottering about in old t-shirt and ragged tracksuit bottoms and am just about to attempt to spruce myself up (although the prospect of a bath and hair wash seems exhausting for some reason as does the thought of cooking lamb for tonight). What on earth is wrong with us all?

Sounds like you all need a rest, SC. Don't fret about it. We have days like that too and usually feel much better the next day.

Alice - I like your plan .

I spent three hours this morning cleaning and tidying the house because DM was coming to stay. Then she rang up and told me all the trains had been cancelled so she wasn't coming after all. Not only is it a shame not to see her, it also means that, yet again, DH and I have had our plans to go out together scuppered by circumstances beyond our control. We had been planning to go out for dinner this evening and have a whole day out together tomorrow. Ah well .

ta da

Cuddles and chat with DS2

Fed kittens and replaced their water
B/fasts
Dressed to flipflops
Ignored hair (which needs washing)
Hoovered throughout the house, including all corners where spiders lurk
Hoovered up EIGHT spiders - mostly small garden-type ones, but one biggie that was hiding on a throw hanging over the bannisters
Emptied bins and changed bin bags
Cleared out kitten litters
Put recycling out
Mopped kitchen floor
Put washing on
Discovered that dishwasher had a light on under 'check water' and that it was full of dirty water. ARGH! What do we do? Don't have money for repairs.
Did all the washing up by hand
Dried and put away washing up, otherwise kittens would walk all over it
Room rescues - sitting room, hall, dining room, kitchen
Waved stick around in garden to get rid of all the webs
Hung wet washing up outside
Played with kittens
Bought paper from corner shop
Lunch
DH agreed to watch film with DS2 so I could work on my essay again

Not sure that's everything - there seemed to be an endless succession of things to do. Am very frustrated by the dishwasher. DH has opened it and looked at the dirty water and I was hoping he'd magically know what was wrong, but he has shut the door and left it. I know it's probably blocked, but what do I do about that? I had a jiggle around in the drainage bit, to no avail.

Anyway, I'm meant to be doing my OU work, not frittering away my time here , so will go now. (SC - I can't help worrying about it, but actually that's a good thing because it makes me get on with it ).

Oh no Toffee I'd wither and die without my dishwasher!! Have a look at [https://www.youtube.comwatch?v=OTfBAEmCVDo this!]] or Google 'what do you do if your dishwasher won't empty/drain' - lots of suggestions pop up - not sure if any good though! Sounds as though cleaning filter would be a good start though. If it's not that, have a look at the pump [SC tries to sound as though she knows what she is talking about when she doesn't have a clue ]

So sorry to hear your plans have been scuppered and that your lovely ma is no longer coming! (Good that you did the cleaning nonetheless - congrats on completion of very long list!!) Sounds as if you need to start searching for a local baby-sitter. I know it's a tortuous process but it might be worth it in the long run. I'm ashamed to say that the state of my house stopped me doing this for a long time (public rooms ok but ashamed of the rest of the place if baby-sitter goes upstairs for example). But thanks to this thread, upper floors reasonable again (apart from boudoir/home office of course) and after a six month search, we have found a really lovely responsible girl to look after dd from time to time! Ironically, dh has been so busy we have only used her twice, but looking forward to more occasions!! (DD still won't go to sleep until we are back, but now she is older, that isn't too much of an obstacle.)

Posting about my laziness earlier obviously help in a sub-conscious sort of way because I now have reasonable ta da list:

cleaned out rabbits
filled and put on dw
filled and put on wm
sorted muddy/damp riding gear from yesterday and carried downstairs
sorted dining room table hot spot (which was horrendous)
carried things upstairs from downstairs and vice versa
wiped down kitchen surfaces
encouraged dd to tidy up play room without shouting
engineered family discussion regarding rules/bedtimes/eating habits/hwk/mininum chores expected of everyone (including myself) at start of new term ... we'll see
emptied cardboard/paper recycling bins and cleaned
emptied plastic/foil recycling bin and cleaned
got dd to try on school shoes and winter coats
polished said school shoes
polished jodhpur boots

To do (tomorrow if not this eve):
clean out ruddy hamster
make sure school fish ship shape for Monday!
name tapes
bubble baths
encourage dd to write two thank you letters
write three thank you letters myself
two on-line shopping returns
buy large calendar
buy print cartridges and print out school schedule for Sept

Have a good evening everyone! It'll be a Dr Who fest here again tonight for dh and dd so I'm planning to leave them to it and have a bubble bath and a lovely read instead!

Sorry, can't help with any dishwasher info. My dishwasher is me.. and the sink. I had a dishwasher years ago, barely used it. Irritates me greatly. It takes all of ten minutes to wash up, so I can't be arsed to spend ten minutes loading it, wait for it to run, then another ten minutes putting everything away.

Oh, I forgot about Dr Who tonight. I have it on record, so would've realised it was on eventually.

Takes me hours to wash up Alice. I end up covered in water and bubbles too. It must be my technique at fault! Dh cooks a lot and uses endless pots and pans so I find the dishwasher saves time and money and sterilises the plates too (if you use it on a setting over 60°c). I put everything in it. I couldn't live without one. Faced with the choice, it would be the first thing I would save in a fire after dh, dd, and the furries! If I had the space and money, I'd have two!

Thanks for that link, SC - I will look properly later. And yes, I have been thinking that we need to find a good babysitter (friend has a recommendation I should try) as we won't be able to rely on MIL anymore. She has certainly helped us out a lot whilst she could, though.

Am cooking dinner late thanks to hours spent on my essay. It's painfully slow and I've written too much and it will need some severe pruning. Am going to put it away now, cook for my starving family and drink lots of wine.

We don't have a dishwasher. We can't have one as our kitchen is too small and oh boy do I miss it!

I've done so much today I've ended up making myself ill and now having to sit lie down for a hour or two. Just done 7 straight days at work and exhausted.

So.
Two loads washing on done
Dark wash away done
Organise food for week done
Empty all bins. done
Wash up done
Put away all dry things so all surfaces clear done
Empty fridge and freezer of any out of date food done
Photograph items for sale and add to online album done
empty car of toys, bags, boots, coats done
Wash car
Order storage to create a Montessori Playroom (one of dd1s play therapists suggested this as a way to improve her attention span)
Move fireguard to front room
Move boxes to loft
Sort out airing cupboard done
sort out winter wardrobes (!)
Dry clean suits
Write CV
Bundle up clothes for friends
Absolutely loads of things listed on freegle and gumtree done

Tomorrow
DH to pack
Clothes away
Bleach bathrooms
Hoover downstairs
Dust
Mop hall
Return John lewis clothes (got wrong sizes!)
Do roast dinner

Maybe spend an hour in the garden

quick post before Dr Who starts

DD says she wants a bigger sofa to hide behind , it didn't help that I tapped her last week when she was really into it

Final links before I hand over to Engels

Babystep Number 31: here. Seems to be a reminder of daily routines and some waffle about Flylady emails (ignore).

Sunday focus is here: renew your spirit.

No missions. Flight plan is here.

Over and out.

Thank you so much toffee!
Engels, look forward to the new thread, I thank you too!

Thanks, Kia. See you on Sept thread.

Hope you are ok Sootball that's a phenomenal list

Toffee hope OU essay is more easily pruned after a night's sleep
and thank you so much for doing a double shift of thread running in July and August - really, really good of you with everything else you have on!

Meant to add [virtual case of ] for you to enjoy Sept eves free of thread running duties!

Thanks very much, SC. It was my pleasure. I honestly think my own Flying improved thanks to having the babysteps and routines drilled into me.

Managed to prune a whole 10 words of OU essay this morning. Only a couple of hundred left .

Back from our weekend away. My sis cooked dinner on Friday night and then on Saturday we spent the day in Bath - including a boat trip up the river - and then a curry for tea. DD and I enjoyed the run but we must of walked two thirds of it which I am quite annoyed with myself about - but we got round and had fun so I suppose that's the main thing! All our "coloured" clothes have been rinsed/washed and we have showered ourselves clean.

I am just waiting for the bread machine to finish and then I am heading to bed. DD2 has been out of sorts today and I wonder if her and I have a virus.

DH to pack done
Clothes away done
Bleach bathrooms done
Hoover downstairs done
Dust
Mop hall done
Return John lewis clothes (got wrong sizes!)
Do roast dinner done
Washed up done
SOLD ANCIENT MAN ARMCHAIR DONE