Time for a bonfire of the clutter? Perhaps not but Fledglings are flying high with the fireworks through November...

[BlueEyeshadow]

Huge thanks to SC (and Bitchy!) for leading the thread throughout October (and to SC for such a copy and paste-able OP)

If you are struggling with C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome) and S.T.U.F.F. (something that undermines family fun) then this is the thread where we (loosely) follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system (in our own, unique, relaxed style) with lots of chat, support and wine and cake along the way.

Flylady link here.

This little-and-often system is designed so that you can follow a series of steps and routines each day (which gradually become second nature) in zones of the house which are designated weekly; defining and minimising housework, which in theory should leave you with loads more time to do something more interesting instead!

At the same time it is intended to reduce that panicky "rabbit in headlights" feeling when you are overwhelmed and everything needs doing all at once. No problem if you miss a day or two; just jump right back in and it will all come around next month again!

It's up to you, but we advise not signing up to receive the Flylady e-mails as you will be inundated! All the information you need will be linked here on a daily basis.

From the first of the month, we will be following Flylady's steps and routines using 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 if you are really enthusiastic and have finished decluttering - you can go on to detailed deep cleaning in each zone.]

More info here on getting started and Flying lessons . Here's the launch pad for more experienced fledglings.

Don't be put off by the barf-tastic language of the site - the underlying system is sound!

Three key points to keep in mind:
(1)No perfectionism allowed - this is harder than you would imagine
(2)You are never behind just start where you are and anything you do is progress.
(3) It didn't get into a mess overnight, it won't get tidy over night - accept it will take time to get on top of things and you will be happier.

If you are new; then trying to spend 15mins decluttering daily and doing the babysteps is a good way to start. Some of us (mentioning no names!) can have scary looking lists but don't let that worry you! Do what you can, anything is better then nothing, and don't judge yourself against others.

If all else fails, a + the power of three technique + a bit of support on here can work wonders!

Oh and don’t let it put you off if we appear a bit cliquey – some of us have been on here for years – but all lurkers, intermittent returnees, oldies and newcomers very, very welcome!

Returnee/oldie here. Do I get forgiven for being Awol because i am first to post?

Apologies for being awol. Life has just got in the way of late. Work has been hectic, have had a mother with a slipped disc and bedridden which has meant muchos running around and a stbxh who doesn't know his arse from his elbow which has meant lots of running around for him and dc's as well. My time has not been my own.

Rant over.

I am back. I am not going to do much flying so no change there then.

for sc and bitchy and more for blue.

Luffs you all. It's like returning to my safe place.

Aaah shit...did I come back and promptly kill the thread. Will go away again if you want.

Hey Ellie!

Yes you have killed the thread

Hiya elliepac welcome back!

Just marking my place.

Marking my place too, see you tomorrow.

Hoping to be back properly for November too.

Waves to Ellie - lovely to see you.

Thank the lord, I did not kill the thread. I was worried for a minute. Lovely to see you too blue

Thank fuck my swear buddy is back!!!

Time for a party. Can we use thanks giving as an excuse?

Hello everyone.
I'm on Day 4 of my first attempt at Flylady. I've read up on Flylady before but never actually attempted it, always assuming I can do things my own way. What a joke!
So, I'm mainly dressing to shoes and shining sink at the moment. Although truthfully I don't wear shoes. Do you ladies think it's really a big deal?
Anyway, I hope I actually stick with this because, God only knows, my house needs it! I look forward to chatting and signing in regularly.

The shoes part is open for debate here. I think the consensus is up and ready to go out (eg clothes and make up) rather than shoes. Some people count slippers, some don't wear shoes at all. I have a pair of indoor shoes (ie ballet pumps which sorta function as slippers) But clothes, hair and make up is the key part of this, don't worry about the shoes. most of us don't Some of the babysteps take some interpetation. I personally don't see the point in cluttering up my house with post it notes, my control journal is not something i have managed to get to work for me. But i have designed my own diary so it works for me although it is still in progress

We will all start from babystep 1 on the first and just go around from the start each month. Feel free to join us it will make the links more useful to you but it doesn't matter if you chose to carry on from where you are either.

The shoes part is open for debate here. I think the consensus is up and ready to go out (eg clothes and make up) rather than shoes. Some people count slippers, some don't wear shoes at all. I have a pair of indoor shoes (ie ballet pumps which sorta function as slippers) But clothes, hair and make up is the key part of this, don't worry about the shoes. most of us don't Some of the babysteps take some interpetation. I personally don't see the point in cluttering up my house with post it notes, my control journal is not something i have managed to get to work for me. But i have designed my own diary so it works for me although it is still in progress

We will all start from babystep 1 on the first and just go around from the start each month. Feel free to join us it will make the links more useful to you but it doesn't matter if you chose to carry on from where you are either.

Hello terry. I personally think the shoe thing is bollocks. It is about getting dressed and ready to face the day and giving you a purpose. I personally think that the getting dressed thing is bollocks too (although clearly i do get dressed when i leave the house as a naturist i am not) I am at my most productive in my pyjamas. The consensus of the thread as bitchy says is that this is a very personal one and we all do this babystep differently. You have to find what works for you. Lovely to have you join us.

bitchy tis fucking good to be back

Newbie here, have a one month countdown til mat leave finishes so need to get into some good better habits fast! Live with one husband (partially housetrained), a toddler (surprisingly housetrained) and a baby who is obsessed by crawling (must be a way to utilise this to my cleaning advantage?!)

Am off to read how to shine my sink...

Hello! Thanks for the new thread Blue

Pleased to see this month is about menu planning. I said to DH that when DD is out this afternoon we are going to use the quieter time to REALLY tackle this. We really need to - too often we resort to nipping to the shops for extra stuff, and sometimes micro meals or takeaways which we can't afford! I'm going to read the relevant page this morning to get some tips. We've tried doing a weekly plan sometimes but I really feel we need something bigger so it's not a PITA each time.

Hi, ellie- I was wondering how you are. Sorry life's been tough recently . Good to see you back.

Welcome newbies, ItMustBeALime and Terry .

Thanks for leading the thread last month, SC, and for jumping in to take over, Bitchy. And thank you for setting up our shiny new thread, Blue.

Am very grumpy this morning because DS2 woke us up about 6am, all excited about Halloween, and tried to get me to put decorations up before my morning tea. Big mistake. I lost my temper and he stomped off his bedroom. Managed to restore calm with a cuddle and a chat about why it was not a good idea to wake me up at the crack of dawn and then expect me to share in his excitement.

He's having friends round to help him celebrate this afternoon, so am spending the morning baking and decorating, provided I can stay awake .

am also grumpy this morning.

However, have swept up some dust bunnies in kitchen and dumped a whole load of paper clutter in the playroom, and put the smelly food compost outside.

Ds2 is up, the others are asleep. Cleaning lady is imminent but I feel like crying when I survey the clutter I am expecting her to clean round.

Ds2 is driving me mad talking about civil aviation routes. The latest obsession is First Class to USA No, that is not going to happen.

An Airbus 318 is apparently a very good deal

On a plus side the garden is looking beautiful. I love it when the fig tree goes all yellow. And there is still an alien Phormium which is bright pink amidst the autumnal natives.

Hi Toffee . Thanks Bitchy and ellie I won't worry about the shoes. For me personally though, I must get dressed. I've got big boobs and when they're not locked and loaded in a bra, I feel uncomfortable and I'm incapable of doing anything other than sitting on my fat arse with a cuppa.
Yes, I think I will do an official start tomorrow, actually. I've only been sink shining (which I now love) so far anyway.

Don't be grumpy swan you have a beautiful garden .

Waves to toffee.

So far today have done more running around. Dropped dc's at cm's and then have come home to get ready for a funeral. An old school friend died suddenly. Hadn't seen her for about a year and not often since I left school but she was part of my circle at school and I feel i should go to pay my respects. Ironically, BF from school is coming up from London for the funeral and it will be nice to see her as I haven't seen her in about a year either. I am going to make more of an effort to see her as old friend dying so relatively young and so suddenly just demonstrates that life is so precious and we should cherish what we have and who we have. Going to get ready now. Back later.

Morning all!

Thank you for shiny new thread Blue!!

My parents didn't approve of Halloween either (well, it didn't really enter in to their consciousness tbh) but dd's school strongly disapproves, and they put a strong emphasis on All Souls and All Saints instead. Had to laugh though because I was at the till in a craft shop at what seemed like first light this morning, buying orange craft paper and black pipe cleaners and spidery web stuff for Halloween (dd has friend over this afternoon, as do I, and we are going to do a few spooky crafts) when I spotted behind me one of the, shall we say more 'stalwart' mothers from dd's v. religious school!! I'm sure I will soon be reported in someone's small black book ... .

[Ellie you did know I was joking down thread btw didn't you?? [Gulp] [Worried] ] Really is lovely to have you back!! Sorry to hear about your ma and hope her back is mending well!

A very warm welcome to TerryDolittle and Itmustbealime!!
I do wear shoes because I find it gives me much-needed self discipline and stops me flopping about and "pausing" and reading on sofas during the day but just do what suits!! I am alsov. large of nork btw and appreciate the attendent difficulties

Beautiful colours in the garden here too Swan! Sorry to hear you are feeling so down If it's any consolation, my cleaning lady arrived this mornign and I felt terribly ashamed by the mess (which is particularly bad today even for me!!). And instead of staying and clearing a path for her as I would normally do, I just apologised profusely and said 'please do what you can' and fled the house as fast as possible! and she managed really really well, so hopefully yours will do the same!!

Your ds2 sounds like my dh btw (who is also obsessed with air craft and their various routes).

Castle just wanted to say that I took inspiration from you this morning. Felt so depressed on return from trip when I looked at tatty microwave with broken door and inner plate thing, and dripping kettle with handle falling off, that I just turned tail and went out and bought replacements without consulting dh! And when he protested slightly about 'budgets' and 'the end of the month', I reminded him about the top notch equipment (dishwashers, coffee machines, printers, air conditioning, multitudinous technology) that are constantly being replaced in office at slightest sign of wear and tear!! So, thank you!

Also Engels/Whoknows/Alice have also taken advice from you all and sent dh off this morning to buy proper storage (albeit temporary again - sigh) from Ikea to house board games and things for bathroom. Just so fed up of things on the floor! Have decided solution in this house is to use the height for storage! And we have absolutely NO storage in bathroom, just a mantelpiece cluttered with shampoo bottles which is a nightmare to clean (but doesn't register with dh because he doesn't do it)!! Dh will not be in a good mood because he hates any form of DIY but I have the rage and am determined to knock this house in to shape if it kills me!!

Hope your kitten is feeling better Toffee!

Big waves to Fuzzpig Bitchy Goth and everyone else! Must dash! Friends here this pm. Not nearly ready!

Sorry to hear about your friend Ellie

SC the same thing has happened to me today. One of the new home educating mothers I have met who I suspect does not do Halloween suggested coming over at 3.30 (I had invited her at short notice for this morning and she had only just got the email) and I was much too nervous to mention that possibly dd might not be very sociable because she is dressing herself up as an evil doll/zombie, decorating garden with pumpkins etc. In the end I did mention it. But the words celebrating H are possibly banned. She probably won't come round anyway but still...I suppose this is how people felt in Cromwellian times!!!!

So sorry about your friend Ellie :(

For those who are talking about the dressed to shoes thing - no I won't be wearing shoes! I don't use make up at all either. Getting dressed properly will help but shoes, no. It feels wrong indoors!

I agree it seems to be about making flylady tips work for you. I just read the link introducing baby steps and I see the first one is shining sink. Well, I will do that I think but I'm going to do the bathroom sink instead (I guess that's kind of swish and swipe really but haven't got to that yet) - for two reasons. One, the washing up is completely DH's domain ATM, as I'm too dizzy to stand up long enough. This will change when I'm in a good phase healthwise (it has before). Two, the bathroom sink is more of a problem - it gets cluttered with toothbrushes, bath toys etc, flannels are festering in it... I struggle as it is with washing/teeth (and telling the DCs to) so actually a shining bathroom sink will be far more beneficial.