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!

Evening!

All this talk of fireworks is making me feel homesick!

Sorry you've had such a difficult, fractious sort of day Blue! Hope things more settled tomorrow!

Good point about criticism v honesty Swan (although criticism can, strictly speaking, be positive too.) Mostly one receives the horrid type though! Sympathies wrt feelings of hopelessness etc. Dh and I are just the same! (I also have similar soup malingering in freezer which was too sweet when I over did the squash. )

So sorry your ds1 didn't make it to school Toffee

Bitchy making a home-made lasagne counts as a full day's hard labour imo!! Sorry about phone call x

Alice I have always wondered whether it is actually possible in rl to crack open a Terry's chocolate orange just like they do in the ads?! (Tap it, unwrap it etc...)

Good to hear you treated yourself to some much deserved pampering after that lot Engels

Ellie Huge fan of Emma T here! I loved Saving Mr Banks too! Congrats on Flying high today!

Big waves and thanks to all as this thread has (once again) kept me going today ...

Ta da:
rabbits
tidied kitchen and counter tops
emptied dishwasher
cleaned kitchen bin
cleaned up sticky stuff [?] on kitchen floor
cleaned one recycling bin
carried a load of things downstairs
and a load of things upstairs
put away clean laundry
watched the Morning Line
collected dh's shirts & spare duvets from laundry and put away
quick supermarket shop
sports kit washed and hung up to dry
phone calls x 3
ballet kit ironed
school uniform washed and hung up to dry
helped dh assemble conference materials
helped dh find numerous things and pack
hand washed dd's posh cardi
dd snack
dd ballet bun
dd ballet run
bank
bakery for bread
dd lunch
sorted arrangements with baby-sitter for next wk
cleaned out ruddy hamster
started recycling
watched 20 mins Channel 4 racing
saw to rabbits
hot white wash on
ate snack supper kindly cooked by dd (glorious baked beans on toast!)
watched Strictly & Dr Who
put bleach on ancient lav on half landing
supervised dd bed
wash on delay timer for morning
locked up

To do tomorrow:
usual routines +
bed-making
help dd tidy her room
tidy play room
dd bath/hair/manicure supervision
Mass
hwk supervision
clean ancient lav on half landing
school shirts wash & iron
make soup

G'night fledlings!

Also managed to drink water/avoid coffee/avoidwine and eat fairly modestly/healthily save for one of dd's- English toffees

Morning all!

It has finally stopped raining here and it is a lovely day. Not sure what I am going to do today. Should do some schoolwork but cba.

sc check you out doing a bitchy with your list.

bitchy clearly you have inspired me. I am currently prepping lasagne for tea.

blue the gold star has made my day.

Back later when I have decided what to do.

Morning all

Quick visit to say hello

Stew Impressive list!

DH working today, rain has stopped so going to the park sometime with cloth to dry any wet things.

To do

Carry on with thank you letters
Put washing in T/D or outside?
Get Dd out of the bath.
Put ds in the bath
Make chocolate cake and flapjacks.
Start deciding what wedding photos to put in album and which to print out to show people.
Post nephews first birthday card , might try to do a mass post with brothers b. card and thank you letter - not sure how much postage though
Keep kids amused and prevent arguing. Has been a non arguing morning so far, result!!

Better get Dd out of teh bath!

have a good sunday everyone

Forgot to say Dd has got into the SEN school and statement all sorted out!!
Going for a visit wednesday afternoon - she is soo excited!

That's fantastic news Shannara Congrats to you and dd! Hope she enjoys the visit!

Hope that will give others on here some hope!

Thanks but list was just bare minimum necessary to get house back in to some sort of post-flu shape. Also I cheated by listing every single detail to keep me motivated

Bugger the school work and enjoy your day Ellie!

Disappointed because feeling grotty again today. Wierdly hot and woozy one minute, now freezing hands and feet and shivery. Starvingly hungry one minute and then feeling bleugh the next.

Very slow morning. Not feeling up to going to church. Have finally persuaded dd in to bath. She's learning a poem in French (version of Aesop's Lion and the Mouse and we are half way through that). Then school shirt washing and very slooowwww bed making.

BUt before that, have to gird my loins and clean ancient neglected lavatory on rickety half landing prior to my sister's arrival. [Dons bio-hazard suit and heads off in to the gloom armed with extra-strong bleach and cobweb destruction tools].

Afternoon all.

Tucked away up in the attic leaving DH to it with DS.

ta da
One class practical project marked

To do
mark another class practical project

realistically that's all that is going to get done! Now better get off MN and get on with it!

That's fantastic Shannara, was that without going to appeal?

Evening all.

That's great news Shannara Also glad wedding went well.

Sorry you're still not feeling great sc - how are you this evening?

I've had a lightbulb moment!! All this flying has made me much tidier, more organised, routined etc but I keep losing things (important things- currently passports). After a minor row with dh about his lack of tidying and how he never used to be like this, as I'm doing more he's doing less etc, he made me realise, I keep moving things. No where is our 'safe place' anymore because I have so many. He confessed he has no idea where things belong anymore and if he tries to put things away I tell him it's wrong.

I keep decluttering and it forces me to rearrange but it actually creates more chaos because no one remembers the new homes. I do it too often. Eek!!

Will have to watch this and stop doing it (plus find the passports!).

Waves to whoknows blue bitchy Ellie toffee sc Shannara Engels Alice Swan goth fuzz pig and everyone else

Ta da
2 lots of marking
washing up
swept kitchen floor
last load of yesterday's washing away

3 weeks left till ml and counting!

Thanks SC. Slightly better today, but DS1 still being very difficult. We had a remembrance church parade service this morning (he's in Beavers) at which he behaved beautifully - far better than at our normal church! But I think that took it out of him for the rest of the day!! Listing everything to keep you motivated is what proves it's a Bitchy style list though... Have you re-emerged from rickety lav? Should we send in a search party?

Ellie - hope you enjoyed your day.

Great news re school/statement Shanara

for Engels - the virtual kind is fine in pregnancy! Sounds like you've earnt it.

NickNacks - can you use your lightbulb moment so that you and DH can work out new homes for stuff together?

Big waves to WhoKnows, Toffee, Bitchy, Alice,swan, Goth, fuzzpig and everyone else.

*
Links for tomorrow:

Babystep is the power of 15 minutes - another important one.

We're moving into the bathroom and laundry room (if you have such a thing) this week.

Mission is getting rid of empty bottles, boxes etc.

Monday is home blessing hour or as we like to call it House Bleugh day.

Have a good week everyone.

Oops, fallen a bit behind on the thread! But wanted to say thanks for the advice and warm words :)

Not much time to fly tomorrow as going into work early (for fun stuff not extra work!) so power of 3 I think:

Laundry
Box/bag of crap sort through
Errands/emails

Evening all,

Same here Fuzzpig - early to work for me tomorrow too. Also I am struggling to do my OU work in the evenings, so I have just set the heating timer half an hour earlier to see if I am better in the mornings.

I don't want to make a long post as I still have a pile of ironing to do in front of Downton, just wanted to check in really. Been out a lot this weekend (OU tutorial and Christmas shopping yesterday, hockey tournament with DS and firework display tonight with 5 other families from school, which was lovely). DS hasn't been for the last couple of years to the fireworks because he finds them a bit noisy, but was happy to go as all his friends were going and was fine with ear defenders. He was also very pleased to be playing hockey this morning instead of attending the Remembrance parade with DD (he's a Scout, she's a Brownie). I enjoyed catching up with some other parents at hockey too.

Erm, house looks worse for wear. I started a huge pile of filing sorting on Friday on the liveing room floor and haven't finished it yet. I have 6 loads of laundry on my bed (folded and sorted). Haven't hoovered for a few days.

So my power of 3 for tomorrow is:

Run vac round
Get DCs to put their clean laundry away
Get filing off floor and into files

And my mission is to de-cobweb the ceiling corners and change some lightbulbs. Does anyone else get this? We've had no lightbulbs go all year and about 10 have gone in the last month.

ta da
emails etc
hospital appointment
drive miles to get ds
1 load of washing done
2 set of forms updated ready for printing
home ed file updated and organised
My stuff for tomo sorted
15mins decluttering in my room
2nd load of washing on
Sort out PE kit for tomo
Sort out ds' lunch for tomo

just settling down to some crocheting whilst I wait for the washing machine and dryer to finish so I will have clean dry clothes for tomo. Not quite the flylady laying out of clothes

Yep, we do Whoknows I think we have just replaced about 10 too.

Quite a good day (though I didn't go to church, sadly. At least ds1 did)

Dd stayed in her room all day recovering (unfortunately she was well and truly recovered by Downton and decided to do gymnastics throughout ) which made things relatively peaceful.
Ds2 was taken off by dh on a very long walk somewhere till 4pm
Ds1 went off on two walks by himself
cooked fried potatoes for lunch

and spent most of today pottering around tidying, including my bedroom (another two bags of rubbish from in there That place is just a magic porridge pot, endless reams of rubbish to be found from every crevice)
washed uniform
washed up
cooked carbonara for supper
watched Downton (too long for children and well past their bedtime, luckily dd is off school tomorrow)

SC I sense you are less fond of the hamster than of the rabbits..

Blue thank you for doing this thread, and I'm sorry ds1 was so difficult today.

Nicknacks I find myself tucking things away fatally in new little safe places all the time. Impossible. I just discovered a little stash of ribbon and lace in a brown paper bag with my wool but if you had asked me to find that particular treasure I could have sworn blind I decluttered it with the rest of the haberdashery 6 months ago. I remember my mum had a big inlaid box in the living room in which sat all the passports and certificates. It seemed rather unbusiness like not to have these vital documents in a file somehow (she was a great one for filing cabinets) but I suspect the very unwieldiness and magnificence of this box was what made sure they never got lost. I may try that myself. Have everything in a very obvious place on the kitchen worktop

Tomorrow dh has to go and see the HOY about ds1's behaviour in school. Not looking forward to inevitable non-productiveness. Sometimes I feel all this talking and reacting is just a reaction to waves beating ceaselessly against the sand and there is nothing whatsoever we can do to alter ds1's behaviour and reactions, besides ds1 growing up and turning into a mature sensible confident person and Possibly getting some gsces. Mentioned IEPs to Dh and he said "what's an IEP?" Ds1 is meant to be on SAplus for dyspraxia but I'm not even sure if he is. Our relations with the SEN department last year were dominated by ds2 - it feels like a horribly deja vu to be discussing ds1 at all with them (especially as ds2 departed in rather a murky fashion)

So, onwards and upwards! To sleep in my lovely tidy bedroom!!!

Another night of insomnia. Ironically I decided to spent it research methods for dealing with insomnia.

Time for a long nap and then the day will start with a crash. Gotta love a good monday.

C. B. A.

That is all.

Good morning!

[Hands strong coffee to Ellie]

Thanks Blue yes I am rather embarrassed to report that I emerged from cleaning lav on rickety half landing in under 30 mins! So stupid! You'd think I'd learn by now but I build horrible jobs up in my head and imagine they are going to be awful, and then procrastinate, then when I finally do approach them, it is with a sense of all-pervading dread, when in reality they only take a short time! School is closed tomorrow for Armistice and we'll be going to service then, but I miss going to local one at home. Well done to your ds for behaving so well despite later fall out!

Bitchy sorry but you are making me cackle re: last night's version of laying out clothes and last night's insomnia research!! I can match them with my disorganised and cluttery piles of books on decluttering and household organisation and the shoe organisation project that went from the bed to the floor, the floor to the bed, the bed to the floor ... and ... er.. stayed there ...

Swan Congrats on tidy bedroom! Mine is a pit of doom!
Hope the HOY meeting goes well. Agree, in my limited experience with dd and exam anxiety, yes she saw ed psych, yes it was vaguely helpful, but she had already matured and overcome most of the probs before she got there through the simply act of becoming a few months older!

Good luck with Mount Filemore Whoknows and yes, we used to have that problem with the old-style bulbs but not so much with these new fangled ones. Although don't get me started about buying them. You need a degree in luminescence (or equivalent) to buy the correct light-bulb nowadays: the choice is so huge and complicated. Always come back with the wrong one!

Same here Nicknacks dh and I need to coordinate our "important things/important places" much better than we do currently. At the moment, it is a bit pot luck where you might find passports/birth certificates/health booklets etc, usually in one of two or three different locations! Didn't feel too great yesterday health-wise thanks but better this morning with sadly no excuse not to home bleugh!

Waves to Toffee Fuzzpig Shannara Goth Alice Honu Engels and everyone I've missed!

Quite a bit to do, so just going to get stuck in and post 'ta da' later hopefully!

Have a good start to the week everyone!

Good morning all! Much better day today. I've gotten loads of things done, met with someone from the council who is going to organise getting safer windows (for ds1) in the house, and spoke to the GP who is going to write a letter re ds2's allergy (hurrah! was braced for a battle on it!), and am relaxing with some noodles for lunch. Was supposed to meet a friend today for lunch (it's my birthday), but she had to cancel last minute, so we'll have to do that later this week. I promised the boys I would help them make a cake this afternoon - could get messy! So much goodies in the house! (I won't look at them, I won't look at them!)

I won't type out my list, as I'm too lazy, and my noodles have just finished cooking and look cool enough to eat now, so off I go to eat.

oh sorry ... it's afternoon, I've just noticed. Good afternoon all

Happy Birthday Alice !

Ta da
long chat with best friend down under
emailed a few friends
coffee and cake with MIL and FIL (just back form holiday and it was MIL's birthday last week)
Cleaned downstairs toilet
sorted out bunch of flowers

That's about it!

mw appt this evening and need to do dinner (was thinking veg and potato bake with a few sausages).

Definitely have nursery for DS the next 2 Fridays which will make a big difference to my ML and baby preparations (and I hope my energy levels).

Happy Birthday Alice

Dag to Engels!

Happy Birthday Alice

SC glad my ramblings keep you amused.

ta da
sort out alternative child care arrangements as ds off school sick
go into office for the morning (bloody hectic morning it was)
Sort out food for Ddad and ds
Tackle ds on ongoing problems in school and the psychological reasons for being off school.
Draft a report for typing up later
pick up an A5 file
sort some maths out for ds to practise
deal with ds' temper at my insistance he is well enough for training tonight and school tomo
get ds to clear his bed so i can remove the topper from mine and thus sort mine out.
set up the existing pages of planner into A5 file
help a baffled ds with one of the maths problems using his method for solution.

Happy birthday Alice