September Fledglings gather here, let's banish clutter at the start of a new school year!

[CallingAllEngels]

Here we go again- a new month to whip our houses into shape!

If you're suffering from CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome) and STUFF (something that undermines family fun) then you need Flylady.

Don't sign up for emails on the Flylady website as you'll be inundated. Everything you need to know will be posted in the thread on a daily basis.

Depending on the stage you're at with FL you'll be:

1. Starting or repeating FL's babysteps.

1. Repeating babysteps + decluttering for 15 minutes per day in current zone.

1. Reinforce babysteps + daily missions if you'vefinished decluttering.

4.Number 3 and detailed cleaning anyone here yet??!

Bear in mind:

1. You're never behind!

1. No perfectionism allowed.

1. Your house did not get into a mess overnight, it won't get tidy overnight.

Some of the fledglings have been chatting and flying on MN for 10 years. I still think of myself as a newbie sometimes (even though I've been here for 2+ years!). Everyone's welcome! Old timers, newbies and lurkers alike, come and share your ta das, to dos and a whole lot more

Sorry for lack of OP links - am posting on the laptop that time forgot and am just keeping my fx that the OP posts!

Will be back on August 31st (pretty late probably!) with links for the 1st September.

Just had a lovely walk along the beach to make up for spending the whole day doing jobs.

Ta Das:

Build bookcase
Buy cat litter and kitten food epic fail yesterday!!
Sort DS cake
Mow lawn
Plan new family organisation station
Re-organise DD's entire room to fit the bookcase in
Remove half the books in DSs room to go on new bookcase in DDs room
Tidy DSs room because I spotted half the junk under the bed
Relocate old bookcase in our room
Tescos shop
Organise kids for school
Cleaned utility
Dried washing and put most of it away

To Dos:

Wrap presents
Drink Baileys to compensate for missing a day at the beach doing stupid jobs

Glad tomorrow is cleaning under the sink - mine has been bugging me all week! But also quite pleased that I have spent the summer organising the kitchen so that it won't be too big a deal to do this week.

Have a good week everyone!

hi all, been very busy, not sure what the details are anymore
I did do a massive clearout of ds1's room while he was hiking, and we did an experiment on yeast on Friday...also employed a 18 year old daughter of friend to tutor ds2 in French for four weeks before she goes to uni, also also...
have packed with ds1 his D of E knapsack full of light food and sleeping bags etc - that alone has nearly killed me..struggles with dyspraxic child to make sleeping bag fit back in its outer tube
took ds2 to park, met accidentally with old friend and her family, and ended up playing badminton (ds2)
also tried to enrol him in Rugby, dismal fail, but then found there is a Karate class on Mondays instead (yay!) and all this neighbourhood traversing ended up with a lot of gossip

whoknows yes the attitude. Although I have to say dd is much much worse, when you add in the flouncing, mini skirts, belly tops and the eye rolling

Ellie hope tomorrow is better and colleagues cheer you up when those closer to us are useless

It's fibromyalgia Soot and the reality that even if i rest and get to a point where I can almost function like a normal person, i will never get to go back to how things were or function like a normal person because it destroys me and then I end up totally not functioning and on complete bedrest feeling bloody awful. I have to completely rethink life and how I do things and what even can be considered normal. It is fecking hard and a nasty shock to the system to grasps that this is the reality of it. It should get better when I have mentally adapted and have worked out what my limits are. But it is requiring a lot of scarifice and change. Which lets be honest no one likes when it is dumped on them.

Early night, early night. gonna get and early night

yeah I am kinda losing the plot atm deal with it

Sorry to hear that Bitchy that must be really, really tough

Bitchy I imagine you are having to re-evaluate your limits on a daily basis, as so many thinks can affect it. It must be so frustrating for you, as it sounds like you were very active previously. We're all a bit "plot-less" occasionally. No worries - just do what you need to do to be okay.

so many things... again with the typos... yawn... I'm tired myself...going to have an early night as well.

Morning. The last week has been crazy but I'm hoping to settle in to a better routine and catch up with the thread this week.

Ta da
Lunches made for ds and I
Wm on
Laundry sorted

To do
Wash and dry up
Hang washing out
Put away laundry
Put sausages on so dm can make dc sausage sandwiches for breakfast before taking them to school
Make beds

Ta Da
Post-showers bathroom routine nearly finished.
Load of laundry on.

To Do
Laundry hung out.
Second load of laundry on.
Hoover downstairs, pay particular attention to settee.
Clean out cupboard under sink (actually our recycling cupboard, so this gets cleaned fairly regularly anyway).

That'll get me to lunch time.

Morning!

Lots if busy people already.

Up very late here...ds slept till 8.30.

ta da
wash on
rang doctors

to do
doctor's appt for ds
supermarket
make soup for dinner
blessing - for me this is beds and hoover
town
potter downstairs...dining table still needs some work

Morning all

We braved camping without DH over the weekend as he was being an arse feeling too tired to come. Had a lovely time anyway, although 6 children between 2 and 7 is a lot even when there are three of you to watch them. So very very tired now though as only managed about 4.5 hrs of broken sleep on Saturday night.

Sorry you're feeling rubbish bitchy . Hope you are managing to get some rest.

To do
Write and implement work to do list
Book flights to Inverness
Survive work!
Buy smart work dress and possibly accompanying shoes etc
Take dry cleaning in
Go to boots
Buy food for tea
Fold laundry
Washing on
Pluck eyebrows and general grooming so I look like a grown up professional for important meeting tomorrow
Meal plan
Online shopping
Go to bed at a reasonable time and get lots of sleep!

Ta da
GP appt DS
Post office
Stocked up on some stationery bits for school organisation
Supermarket -lots of fruit and veg. DH's health drive and calorie counting is paying off. He's lost 3kg in the last 2 months and it's stopping mefrom buying salty treats and snacks but no one comes before me and my cake
Home bleurgh is half way - done beds, emptied inside bins and changed outside bin. Bin bags waiting by back door to be put out tomorrow.
Wash #1 hanging up
Wash #2 on
Wash#3 waiting in the wings

to do
sort yesterday's wash
hoover
plants inside
hen do photos
mirrors and internal glass doors
perhaps a good opportunity to clean upstairs windows...they're filthy!
take flowers to mil to say thank you for caravan and babysitting
sort out last bag of bits from week away.
sort school bag with fab new folder.

Ta da
Wash#3 on
Hoovered
Yesterday's wash away
Watered plants
Mirrors and internal glass doors and inside of bedroom windows
Amazon order - shredding scissors, pinking shears for Christmas crafting, some organisers for make-up and jewellery and a diet recipe book for DH for C as well.

Now having a hot chocolate and a sit down while DS watches some TV before I make dinner.

You are on fire today!

Bitchy - really sorry to hear you've had that diagnosis. I hope you're getting the support you need from your GP (is it worth joining a support group - I know that they are available through charities). Horrible thing and really the last thing you need. You have enough on your plate already.

CAMHS appointment this morning. It seemed to be... productive! The psychiatrist has upped DS1's meds and told us he's nearly top of the list for CBT treatment but, more importantly, she has referred him for day-patient hospital care because he has now been house-bound for nine months. The specialist centre (for adolescents) will presumably come to us at first to support him in learning to go out again and overcoming his anxieties. Once he can attend the centre, they also provide teaching facilities.

Am feeling very relieved that some action is being taken to help him, at last.

On a more mundane level, I had an email from my cleaner: she is giving up her job . She's popping in for tea later this week, so I'll find out more about it then. Hope we stay in touch as she's such a lovely person.

So, I will now have to focus on Flylady even more. I want to get my DC roped in to help more too, especially since DS2 refused to help me with the washing up the other day and when I asked him what he'd do when he grew up and had his own house he replied, "My wife will do the washing up." Time to get him cleaning, I think! (Any tips anyone - especially WhoKnows as you're brilliant at getting your DC involved with chores).

Sincere apologies to Bitchy for ignoring her post, just a sign of the speed of this thread rather than a deliberate ignoring!

Hope you're feeling ok this morning and able to gather your thoughts a bit.

What a difficult diagnosis to get bitchy especially since you're such an active person.

toffee good news that something seems to be happening at last.

at ds2! Think FL has some getting kids involved tips and daily challenges, even a cj here and here and here.

DS was "helping" me with cleaning the glass in our lounge door earlier, with the result it looks worse than when I started!

Ta da
wash#3 in td
soup bubbling on hob

Thanks for those links, Engels. I particularly like the control journal - I think a home-ed lesson on Flying might be in order .

DS2 is terribly traditional at the moment. The trouble is that I'm trapped in a traditional role at home because of DS1's needs (and having DS2 at home whilst we wait for his school place), so he sees me doing most of the housework and no matter what I say about it, it's what you do that makes an impact, not what you say .

Blimey, DS2 has just asked if he can help out by doing some hoovering.

.

at toffee's ds2. I am afraid that my ds would have got a very sarcastic "and what if you have a husband?"

It is a hard diagnosis especially as it can flare up really badly periodically which is basically what has happened. Not really surprising as it flares up with lack of sleep, doing to much, stress etc etc (basically i had been playing flare up trigger bingo for a month or two) I was hoping if i could get on top of the systems/monitoring it that i could return to 1-2hr training /wk as it is a fabulous destressor. But sadly it appears not to be the case. A disappointing shock on top of all the recent stress. Hopefully going back to the strict monitoring of activities/sleep/food and energy expenditure means i can have some sort of quality of life.

Today i have been to the office. That is about it. An early night is planned and before then the plan is to sort out my calendars. Fly is definitely the best plan forwards for this but I am stubborn and old habbits die hard bitchy's notorious lists really do need to be a thing of the past though. we'll see

Thank you for all the kind words.

Sure I saw a Flying with home-edders as well when googling....

Toffee at last someone is doing something practical to help you/ds1. Ridiculous though that they can only help when things get really bad, rather than intervene earlier with the CBT. My theory about helpful children is that they get less helpful as they get older not more, as they are less and less inclined to please. I watched my SIL's nearly two year old help her tidy up or rather ds2 watched with astonishment.
Bitchy I'm very sorry about the Fibromyalgia (sp) I'm glad you have so many wonderful outlets for your energy as well as exercise. It is awful when you cannot do what your heart tells you need to do to be cheerful and happy, to get out and be active. I hope you can find a balance.

Push admiration for camping with little ones. I don't think I could even get up from a mattress on the ground any more let alone bend down to enter a tent without falling over.

Ds2 and I went for a 5 mile walk today (or maybe it was 5k?) from Putney Bridge to Hammersmith, with numerous backtrackings (when will we learn to take a map with us, even on the most obvious routes, we still get lost) At one point the river seemed to reverse on us and I found myself walking to Barnes instead of North hopeless.. Back home five hours later, I then laid ds2 in ds1's lovely tidy room (this is like a hotel room said Ds2) and put on classic fm and handed him some Tintin..only to find 20 mins later he had found the mouse I had hidden before we left and had sneaked onto computer again..
A beautiful Sept day though, very hot and lots of river views to enthral.

Lots of books on the Tudors have arrived for ds2's home edding; I'm pinning my hopes on the nice clear text book and a few detours into craft activity. Nothing may come of it, but at least I will see what approach works best with him. He has a habit of appearing not to listen then he comes out with all this information 3 weeks later...

Ds1 is on a camping bivouac with D of E, we finally reduced his knapsack down to a manageable size and now I'm worrying I didn't make him pack some water as it is so hot. Hopefully there will be a stream? Last time he went off I worried I didn't pack his raincoat (okay he didn't pack it not me) Mothers are always worried aren't they, there is no rest...

oh yes and ds2 has flatly refused Karate too. He said he would prefer to do Go Karting That's not on offer!!!! Although it is a relief not to have to go anywhere this evening as a result.

Engels - yes, here it is: Flying with Homeschoolers. I must actually read it sometime!

Swan - it sounds as if you and DS2 are having a really lovely time together . How exciting about the books on Tudors. I think I get more excited about books arriving for home ed than DS2 does.

Thanks for your kind words about us finally getting some real, practical help offered to us for DS1. I feel hope! (In spite of our experiences so far).

Bitchy - at your retort if your DS had said such a thing. My DS2 has now informed me that hoovering is fine, it's just washing up that he objects to.

Hello all. Social whirl today. Yes, yes, I know, I was supposed to do my wallpaper today. Again. And a lovely friend distracted me with coffee. Although to be fair, I then ran a few errands, which included taking some things over to another friend who then distracted me with coffee.

Tomorrow I'm going shopping with the friend I first had coffee with today, as she wants to check out a couple new shops, so I agreed to go along. (yes, I know that means no wallpaper tomorrow either).

Wednesday and Thursday I already have plans for part of the days and various meetings and appointments. That means Friday for the wallpaper.

Yep. Call me lazy. procrastinator. I prefer to think of it as "enjoying my social life for a change" now that the dcs are back in school. Supporting local coffee shops? Investing in the community by spending local?

But that does mean that I will have to get some housework done in the evenings or my house will be a tip - and I've worked too hard this summer getting it all organised and redone in parts of it to allow that!!

So... tonight to do
washing up
laundry
sweep kitchen and dining room
sweep living room (no vacuum yet )
fill out school paperwork
read a bit of my book

More to life than housework Alice

Ta da
washing up
made lunch for tomorrow
restocked change/nursery bags