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.

Bitchy Envious. I need a new mattress (and a new bed tbh).

I have moved a huge cabinet this morning. Now I'm sitting with coffee recuperating.

But now tonight I can be organising my bedroom while the dcs are asleep. Yay!

May i just say if anyone says the words "can you manage " just run. Very fast. In the opposite direction!!! Just spent an hour to try to fix a stupid online admin issue. It is not fixed yet. It is a nightmare!!!

Blimey: everyone very busy on here.

Eek at the almost casual mentions of Nicknack's '9 mindees' to look after and Kia's 'only 11 hr day at work' and everyone else's endeavours. Pat yourselves on the back Fledglings - you are doing brilliantly! I'm truly in awe of everything you cope with and all the plates you keep spinning!

A big hello to Syork Antimatter and Standingonlego and feathery waves to all other lurkers/newcomers!

And to Lauren and others worried about not posting personals - don't be! We all have different schedules/workloads! Just use this thread to help you get done what needs doing! It's great to have you!

Ellie I'm with you on the dieting. I lost nearly two kilos at the beginning of the holiday and now I've put three back on. I look like a walrus

Engels and Ellie hope your first days back at school go well!

Welcome back Newlark and ditto over holiday cottage experience! When I was in the UK, I spent one week in a holiday cottage and one week with my sister and I cleaned each house in 3 hrs and 4 hrs flat respectively! Totally! I felt so happy. No such luck here ... it's never-ending.

Mercury glad your first day went well!

Pushme 33 things for evening routine does seem quite a lot, but I'm unclear when Flylady expects you to do stuff if you have a demanding job involving travel like you do. I think the afternoon
/evening routine is meant to comprise of stuff that you do every day ifyswim such as hwk supervision, cookign supper, clearing up kitchen, laying out clothes for next day etc. Flylady isn't very specific about when you fit all the other stuff in eg sewing on name tapes, ironing, dc hair cuts etc etc. Good to hear that your little 'un is now on the mend and hope you are having a lovely day together today!

Hyperhops hope your dc feel better soon!

Big waves to everyone else!

I only got half my list completed yesterday as I gave in to a sudden bid for freedom! Lovely though it was, after being virtually one-on-one for 9 wks with dd during the holidays, I suddenly realised I had 6 hrs to call my own and could go out wherever I wanted - so I did - (and caught up with friend) and generally had a relaxing time.

Glad I did actually because dd's new teacher is very much on the ball. All timetables/homework agendas/schedules/files/notebooks completed and filled out when dd came home (this normally takes at least a week to get sorted) and she had 4 maths hwk exercises to complete. I had masses of forms to fill in and text books to cover. Really impressive; her teacher must have spent weeks preparing.

Then had rather stressful conversation about parascolaire activities. Worried dd taking on too much in this very important last year of primary (which culminates in mahoosively important state exams which all dc have to take here in order to progress on to secondary). But she is insistent she wants to do 3 things which add up to about 8 hrs a week. Yargh!

Have a good day everyone! Had better get on - sewing name tapes on new hideous sports kit.

Yay Bitchy you are back! Sorry to hear you have been ill though. Take care of yourself! Good luck with room clearances!

Mwah ha ha. New name. Figured it was needed as not currently battling the UFOs they are being left to breed again.

Helloooo SC

I am currently chatting to myself on a different thread. I hate it when things change. Can't manage to manipulate mn into doing what I want it to atm

Wow this thread is moving fast!

Not much achieved today as been at work since 7am but my main to do is to write my list if household projects that need to get done before my mat leave.
Have already made a start on one and ordered more shelved for the wardrobe in the spare room so can turn it into a cupboard for babies things.
Have also started Xmas present ordering. Basically if I can't get it on amazon then I'm not getting it at all!

Sorry to hear you have been ill Bitchy hope you are on the mend now

Evening all! Just a quick list drop but will BBL with links and round up.

Ta da
Survived work
Cooked dinner with DH
Washing up
Packed lunch for tomorrow
Restocked DS nursery bag
LAid out clothes/shoes/jewelry for tomorrow

To do
DS to bed
mw appt
Shower
Shedload of planning for tomorrow

ta da
spend all afternoon swearing at the laptop and changing passwords

Ta Da
Grumped about the state the house was in when I got home - my DM has been looking after the DC here today and she lets them get away with murder. I hate coming home from work and having to start picking up after them, they do it for themselves when I'm here so why can't they do it when Grandma's here?
Iced DS1's elbow - he fell in football training and now can't move it. Hoping we don't end up having to do an A&E run as he is supposed to be having an early night before starting secondary school tomorrow.
Put my swimming kit on to wash.
Cooked dinner, including for DD's friend who appeared from nowhere.
Burst into tears as my PFB goes to big school tomorrow and I am STRESSED!!!

To Do
Put washing away
Clean school shoes
Get uniforms out
Check DD for nits
Sort out dinner money
Collapse in an exhausted heap.

Evening all,

Lovely relaxed day today, which has made me wish we were all off for another week, but back to school and work tomorrow.

DS's friend came round today, they went off on their bikes together, then reappeared to play on the Wii and in the garden. DD cooked lunch and practised keyboard (she starts lessons tomorrow). Then the DCs spent about 2 hours on the Wii while I sorted 4 loads of clean washing and put it away (they do their own normally but I was feeling soft). Also had a nice sit out in the garden and a quick trip to the allotment before dinner. DH's friend is staying tonight.

Also managed to hoover downstairs, sort PE kits, go through dressing up clothes for getting rid, ditto school uniform. BAck later.

Links for Wednesday:

Babystep number 3 is explore the Flylady site. Easy-peasy. or you could just read all your info on here instead

Today’s mission is to get rid of all the finger prints and smudges on your dining room walls and windows. This is fairly easy for me since I have no dining room All the missions for the week are here.

Wednesday is Anti-Procrastination Day.

Here is Wednesday’s flight plan.

Back soon with round up.

Tuesday’s round-up

newlark has discovered the joys of minimalist living AKA a holiday cottage. I feel exactly the same when we’re away. The problem with my house is that there’s too much stuff everywhere. I’m a total victim of consumerism, as is DH who brought home a melon-baller last month –WHY?! Like our kitchen drawers aren’t jammed with enough junk!

ellie has hopefully been out of her PJs before 8am otherwise her colleagues were in for a shock this morning
Welcome to lego and sjork - look for the links in the evening. I have my MN customized so I see my own posts in purple and the OP’s in green, though this month I am the OP so just the one colour (not a mix of purple and green, though that would be interesting!).

Welcome antimatter - sounds like you’re making great progress in decluttering!

pushme has a massive bedtime routine list! I will get my notebook out in a minute and see if I can beat you I think not

kia had a ridiculously long day yesterday and today looks rather (deservedly) sedate.

nicknacks is looking after NINE children today. NINE?!

Bitchy is BACK (with a name change)! Mega lists and lots of ambitious plans (some thwarted by bastarding Microsoft) but has been ill so needs to take it easy

Alice is putting us all to shame by humping large pieces of furniture around and planning decluttering and tidying for all hours of the day. Have some

sc had some well deserved time to relax yesterday. Glad to hear DD’s new teacher is so on the ball.

ellis has started her Christmas purchases. I am determined to have done all presents for family and friends by early October as that’s the last time we’re over and I refuse to pay extortionate amounts. Postage costs in NL are ridiculous. Sinterklaas presents and the rest of Christmas stuff will be done by the end of the October half term as shops are crazy here in November (for Sinterklaas) and will be the size of a cruise ship by December.

Jemima is packing her youngest off to big school tomorrow. And has come home to a messy house . I hate the way things seem to fall apart when I don’t do the things I normally do – last week DH had to drop off/pick up DS from nursery as I was in UK at funeral. This morning found no nappies in his basket at all. I usually restock every evening when we get home but apparently this was a step too far. DH said, “Well they probably used them at nursery.” Duuuh! And how do you think they get there? The nappy fairy?

Whoknows has had a lovely, relaxing day and wishes they didn’t all have to head back to school and work tomorrow.

Wing flaps to lauren , vivacia , hyper , mercury , toffee , carpe , sootball, coffee , littlemiss , dizzy , goth , fraggle , feet and anyone else I’ve missed.

at "humping large pieces of furniture around" .. makes me sound like a randy dog. Thanks for that. just spit my tea out reading that lol

Ta da
DS in bed
Mw appt - all is well, though I had a little weep and told her how much harder I'm finding it this time and feel like I'm massive. She reassured me that I haven't put on too much weight, that my stomach and baby are measuring fine. Going to get blood checked as iron was a little low.
MN links and round up!
Updated family diary with next appt as soon as I got home DH has also used his column to put in his music lesson.
Did some planning for tomorrow. Teaching news and bias with Year 13 so have been searching for youtube clips of Skynews/BBC etc.

To do
Shower and bed. Am thinking about my bedtime/evening routine now and reckon it's this...

1.Dinner (made by DH). I usually sit and chat with him in kitchen while he does it, or help, or look through post/circulars and perhaps calendar/diary.

1. Washing up and wipe of surfaces/hob if necessary
2. Make packed lunch
3. Restock DS nursery bag if necessary (he's only in 2 days a week)
4. DS bed at 7 (if my turn)
5. Layout clothes for next day including jewelry and shoes if a working day (though guess I should do that for non-working days as well)
6. If needed shower/wash hair (I only ever shower in the evening on work days to save time in morning.
7. Cleanse, tone, moisturise face
8. Moisturise bump, boobs and thighs.

10.Read before lights out. Usually in bed before 10 and lights out by 10.30/11 depending on how exciting the book is I'm reading

I'll admit that evenings here are usually spent online, or reading, or watching TV, unless I need to work but I try to do as much as possible at school. DH and I are making a concerted effort to keep the TV off unless we're actually watching something though as otherwise we just end up with repeats on while we both sit on tablets/laptops. Last night we had the radio on while I was MNing and tonight I've been looking at news clips for work.

Okay, another long day at the chalkface digiboard tomorrow.

Night night fledglings.

Now I have a new image in my head of alice humping a chest of drawers so hard she's able to move it from one room to another. That's what I call the power of "love"

Engels a good example of bias is the difference in how news is reported by sky/bbc and RT (russia today) It has got to the point where I generally watch RT for UK news as there is far less drama and you really do get a completely different perspective on the same story

hi all, had a very busy few days sorting out bedrooms/playroom and getting a bit more organised for home schooling adventures...but I am trying to take things very carefully and allow myself lots of slack.

Today we made a timetable and stuck to it firmly. (although over holidays we have done a little bit of themed education every day, reading aloud handwriting that sort of thing) A long long walk was the most important part of the timetable!!! Monday is Maths, Tuesday is Art, Wednesday is Geography, then History and Then Science on Fridays...He is doing Stage school for three hours on Sat too. So far our academic work is confined to just reading or talking about stuff which is relevant. Today we did about an hour talking about Sargent, and Van Gogh and looking at pictures in books by them. He is very very resistant to any writing so I don't want to scare him off. He also hates art; doing it I mean, so wonderful to see him attempting to do a border for his handwriting exercise. He admitted to me he likes painting because he doesn't feel it matters if it is messy. ooh and he did some piano exercises too.

Dh went to the Matisse exhibition with Ds1 (14) who also finds art a bit of mystery; apparently it was packed and v expensive but they had lots of walking which is always good!!!!

Terrible leak in children's bedrooms, still waiting to hear from roofer. Actually brown mushrooms growing there now At least the alley way is passable now so roofer can get his ladder in if he ever makes contact; I'm afraid I cancelled the last apt foolishly because the alley was impassable and I couldn't face roofer seeing the squalor of the yard.

Dd is being a force of nature still, has spent the holidays in virtual communication with all her friends and is now planning her wardrobe for latest party outing, waltzed off to school without a worry this morning. It is like living with someone from a different planet from the boys, although she is definitely as emotional as them...

Ds2 is enjoying Holes atm; dh is reading it to him. Dd on the other hand has just handed me two sacks of books that she has read and doesn't want in her room, books from the last two years,and probably 100 times as many books as ds2 has read in his entire life by himself..

Hello to everyone, and I suppose I had better do the washing up now

Hello swan!

Swan good grief, mushrooms growing there?? eeek!

Evening all.

Survived first day at work!!!

Ta da:-
Survived work
Dinner
Late night dash to get new school trousers for ds who has grown over the summer (arsehole)
Put washing away
Washload done and hung on airers
Packed dd's bag ready for morning (ds not back until thursday)

swan huge waves, home ed stuff sounds fab.

engels love teaching bias. For mine (obviously younger than yours) always start with x factor clips because even if they are shite their own judge always says they are brilliant. Glad mw appt went well.

Have now got visions of alice humping furniture.

Tomorrow is the start of new routines. I have got one who is crap at going to bed (dd) and one who is crap at getting up (ds) so i end up starting the day shouting and finishing the day shouting...no more mrs nice guy. New routines discussed and agreed upon and consequent punishments decided. Fingers crossed (i give it two weeks).

Off to bed now. Am pooped.

Sorry quick list dump:
Ta da
Morning routine
Classroom almost finished
Bathroom cleaned
Downstairs hoovered and dusted
Last of dcs back to school bits bought.

Sorry for lack of personals. I will catch up with the thread tomorrow. and an early night for me.

Evening all

Went to Gulliver's kingdom in Matlock Bath in the end. It's a bit run down but in a really really charming way. Lovely day had by all

Think I've done most things on my list, but cba to go back and check. House looks pretty much ok and school stuff sorted, so that's good enough for me!

Got to go to bed -so so tired, but just realised sc had forgotten homework supervision on my list off 33 things!

Matlock is lovely, though i think the lights have finished nice. Didn't realise you were so close PMPY

Ok, first post on what achieved today

1. Opened all post I could find and dealt with as needed
2. cleared all hall surfaces
3. Cleared out big wicker drawer under hall table - all junk - now empty and a potential new home for school bags and shoes (need to check if book bags fit in it)
4. dropped off ironing to ironing lady
5. dropped off charity shop bags (been in car over a week)
6. delivered card and present to new neighbour
7. 3 loads of washing done (now just need to be put away)
8. wore new outfit rather than slobbing at home clothes :)

No school until Thursday, tomorrow is school prep day [yawn]