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!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear alice, happy birthday to you

Happy Birthday Alice

Quite a productive day here

Done
Dd to school
Beds changed
Laundry on
Windows
Measured windows (am hoping to plastic sheeting up as a double glazing)
Litter tray
Rubbish out
Recycling out
2 loads
15 minutes hot spots
Laundry out
S&S
Vacuumed flat
(DH vacuumed lounge and then polished tv, stand & bureau without being asked)
Post office
Collect DD
Laundry in
Ironing
Collect DD from karate
Dinner

Hi everyone, hope you've had a lively birthday Alice.

I've been following the thread and lurking. Feeling utterly crap at the moment and not up to posting much.

Roll on DS bedtime and then will self medicate -->

Thank you for the birthday wishes. We never did make the cake, but did cave in and go to McD's for supper. A friend stopped by with lovely present of sweets, flowers, and wine for me. So we chatted over coffee a bit while our dcs played video games.

Ds2 is now feeling poorly though. I had him at A&E Sunday morning for his asthma, but he seemed better so sent him to school today. Now he's wheezing again (but not as badly as Sunday) and complaining of a headache, so I've given him his rescue inhaler (which helped a bit) and some calpol for his headache. He's finally sleeping a bit now, so hopefully he'll feel better in morning. I may have to keep him home from school if he's dragging in the morning though.

Ds is in bed. His bed completely remade. I am about to remake my bed and then fall into it. For some reason I appear to be a bit tired. Can't think why though.

Haven't been in mumsnet for over 2 years but SO chuffed to see Babysteps thread still going!!
I know I won't be remembered, but I do recognise a few names ellie, sc has changed name but same initials... A couple if other writing styles look familiar but names not so much :)
Still flying, tho fairly low but at least I am above the trees and might yet soar again!!

Happy Birthday Alice - hope you've had a great day.

Hope meeting with HOY went OK, swan.

Hope today improved Ellie and Bitchy.

Hope you're not doing too much while recovering, SC. Glad lav-cleaning wasn't as bad as all that!

Well done on the productive day, Goth.

Waves to coffee, dreamtea Lucky and everyone else.

Did manage to get a bit of decluttering, dusting and hoovering done today, so sort of a mini house bleugh.

*
Links:
Babystep is adding an inspirational page to your control journal. Personally find that a bit but if it works for you...

mission here.
*

Your name rings a bell Dreamteam, so many people have come and gone from this thread that it's hard to keep track. I used to be Mrs Dinky till 2 or 3 years ago. Welcome back anyway

Right, power of three plus my own mission:

Lightbulbs - 4 changed (3 in one of those multi halogen things, so not too hard).
DCs laundry - done
Hoovering - not really done, although DS did do the stairs. When I was getting started I realised the mat underneath the cat litter trays whiffed a bit, so I had to get that up and washed, hoover up all the bits of litter and generally sort out that area. Their trays are huge and deep, they really have no excuse for missing!
Cobwebs - done some, not all.

Did manage to get up a little early for OU work, but only 15 mins, must try harder. Tomorrow I have to start an essay.

Alice - happy birthday, hope DS feels better tomorrow. I've no experience of asthma but I imagine this very changeable weather doesn't help.

Coffee - sorry you're feeling crap, hope things improve soon.

SC - yy to the degree in luminescence. I think every single light fitting in this house takes a different bulb. We have "eco" spotlights in the kitchen, the bulbs are supposed to last 10,000 hours (which they bloody well ought to at £12 each and only one supplier in the known universe) but they seem to go every 6 months or so . There aren't any alternatives either.

Swan - my DH would have absolutely no idea what IEP stands for either

Yay Dreamteam I remember you well!! Great to have you back!!

Congrats on long list Goth!

Sorry you are feeling low CoffeeandCream x

Alice oh that's such a shame for your ds2 and for you on your birthday but good that you could celebrate with yoru friend! Hope he feels better after a good night's sleep.

Sorry your ds not feeling at his best too Bitchy

Waves to LuckyLopez Ellie Blue and everyone else!

Ta da:
helped dd make packed lunch
morning routine inc rabbits, wm, dw, s&s, dining room table hot spots
cleaned out fridge
sorted rubbish and recycling and cleaned recycling bins
quick supermarket shop
made soup with dsis2
6 loads of washing, some dried, some hung up to dry
small pile of ironing
minimal home bleugh ground floor
letters to school about pick up arrangements
replied to two invitations
school run
ballet bun/ballet run and back
frozen pizzas and salad for supper (can't you tell dh is away?)
rabbits again

Now I've written all of that down it doesn't seem that much but didn't stop between 6.50am until around 4pm (mainly laundry) and thereafter it was usual evening routine. My dsis2 is here though so we've been nattering a lot which which is lovely, and we've all stayed up late to watch Gareth Malone as school closed tomorrow for Armistice.

G'night all!

Ha! Whoknows oh yes to every single light fitting taking a different bulb. I feel your pain!!!!

Feeling much more energetic today thanks Blue! Ditto re the mini home bleugh. Even a half-bleugh makes a difference

Thanks sc, it's good to be here, and yes whoknows I remember you as Mrs Dinky :)
Will tada and todo tomoz lol

You won't remember me Dtg but then again I am absolutely dreadful wrt name changing. However I do remember you and have been here since pretty much the beginning so you might recognise the style.

Insomnia appears to be striking again. This calls for some ice chips. Tickly cough scratchy though. Stupid bastard building dust

Morning all and welcome back dtg. I love it when a fledgling returns...makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Long day today. Full teaching day and then gcse presentation evening. Should be a nice evening though seeing all my old form.

Be careful what you wish for. I was wishing yesterday that I had more time to get stuff done around the house this week (lots of meetings and appointments) and now ds2 is home ill with a fever and asthma problems. So I'm home, doing things around the house, but that's not really what I wanted, obviously.

So paperwork and baking it is. And taking care of ds2.

ta da
ds to school with lunch and letters
Visit local library.
sort out contents of four drawers
clean drawers
cull handbags/bags
sort out and clean 2 bookcases so that all books are on shelves not in drawers.
Sort and clean top of wardrobe
put stuff into office
remove stuff from office
Sort table hotspot
sort chest of drawers hotspot
wash duvet
wash dress with annoying special instructions
sort craft project pile and put away not active ones
find suitable poster from Poems of the Great War 1914-18
Create poem poster complete with poppy background.
sort out toiletries spare box
sort out games for handing on/going into action
remove two broken boxes and replace with two boxes which have been repurposed for this
Ensure the boxes have been properly dusted and cleaned
put jam making pot back into storage
tidy chair hotspot
folding

Right best get on with the paperwork filing. This needs

Feeling frustrated. Am finding both children a bit of a challenge at the moment. We did manage to get DS1 to the hospital for an appointment this morning, so that's an achievement. He refused to do his online Maths lesson later, though, which made me cross.

The school have said we can take him in any time and just walk round the grounds until he feels more used to it and can meet someone. So am working towards that now. It's all painfully slow.

Afternoon everyone

5 minutes until school run:

Done

Kept kitchen and bathroom sparkly clean (except floor)
Written 3/4 of thank you letters.
Ventured into the bedrooms and emptied and sorted the airing cupboard - Do towels breed? Having brought 4 new bath sheets seriously needed to dispose of old ones - why's it soo hard?!! "I might need it for something" kept shouting in my head.
Manged to throw out Dd's old duvet set and bottom sheets, her first ones when she was 2 (she's now 11)
12 smaller size bath towels (including baby ones) and grubby hand towels. Still have 6 'spare' bath sheets and 6 beach towels! Have left old nappies and muslim cloths as do still use them. Next to sort out the mountain of flannels and dusters!

Welcome back fellow old timers

Hope everyone is having a good afternoon
Back later

Tea break... feel v v tired.. battling headache. Lovely having dsis2 here but I am not used to talking all day! And we bother natter on a lot and then some more.

Spoke to poor dh in Singapore (where it's 31°c very humid but without sunshine) who has been having trouble sleeping/adjusting to new time zone so he's shattered.

Public holiday here for Armistice so dsis2, dd and me went to local service, went for walk afterwards, home made soup for lunch, then another walk while dd tried out her new in-line skates, then played Connect 4 followed by humungous game of Monopoly (still ongoing).

Minimal Flying: rabbits, more washing, peeled pots for mash tonight, made jellies containing fruit, hwk supervision. That's it!

Hope eveyrone surviving! I always think this is an energy-sapping time of year for some reason.

It's true Shannara you can put an old towel to so many uses!! We have very few without holes, or frayed edges but I keep the really ancient threadbare ones for pet care.

Sorry it's tough going atm Toffee but it's great that the school have allowed you and ds1 that flexibility! Here's hoping knowing that he is in control of the time will help!

Wow wrt mahoosive list bitchy

That sounds like a day and a half Ellie , here's some for when you get to the end!!

Waves to Dreamteam Engels Alice Swan goth Blue and everyone else I've missed

Ta da
looooong day at work (only one free period between 8.30 and 16.30!)
Washing up
emptied kitchen bin
put paper recycling out
made lunch for tomorrow

a relaxing evening ahead and early to bed for me. Bbl in the week when I have more braincells!

Financial paperwork filing done for now
Going to relax with a craft project this evening once i have cleared my bed and put a duvet cover on my freshly washed duvet

Today
two loads of washing
recycling
read rest of David story to Ds2
read poem called David and Goliath re: 1st World War to Ds2 (was pleased to tie that in
handwriting
phonics and spelling practice
dancing around whilst ds2 did Lego He has a new City garage set which he is still enjoying playing with after building it.
art - forced ds2 to do a collage of the Red Sea parting (the only relevant art project I could think of), reminding him of the Aquarium in Brighton (this encouraged him a bit although he did do a certain amount of ripping up bits of paper in a rage - this added to the texture of the project tho!
observed 2 minute Remembrance silence although dd insisted on talking throughout, that girl has a compulsion to chat
took ds1 violin to repair shop, mended E string
[momentary self pity about ds1 being useless at tuning or operating his violin - rather how dh used to feel when ds1 chewed books I suspect)
did small Airfix model for my own pleasure and painted it (a French warplane) covering myself in glue in process (a form of decluttering as it is much smaller than the box it came in whilst dh and ds2 watched an old David Tennant episode of Dr Who
made banana cake, ate some...

Ds1 is back now and singing beautifully in the room below (I think it is soundtrack to Southpark - Blame Canada, Blame Canada Do I dare ask him to do his homework??? Concert at his school tomorrow - he shows no sign of doing any practice for it either.

Need to try and persuade ds2 to read new Wimpy Kid book though he shows little interest in reading any fiction to himself. I was looking back on some comments he made in Year 3 about the Hiccup Horrendous Dragon books (which he loved listening to) = yet I would say that he finds them too taxing still to read to himself in Year 8. Maybe [ever hopeful] they are just too young for him now.

Not much done as only got in 1 hour ago, but man has just left from cleaning oven (yay!!) and big pot of chicken stew bubbling away on stove

Todo
2 loads of laundry
Put away enormous basket of laundry
Hotspots

Need to check today's missions too

bitchy, you seem very familiar, so nice to see others around xx

I'd love to give you a clue DTG but i have no idea who I was when you were here last time and at last count I was up to or over 50 name changes

Evening all.

Fairly quiet day today. How's everyone else been?

Ellie was facing a busy day but looking forward to seeing her old form this evening. Hope it went well.

Alice was at home with poorly DS2. Hope he's on the mend.

Bitchy had a list.

Toffee was feeling frustrated. At least the school are OK with taking things slowly, though see how tiring it would be. ((hugs))

Shanara was finding it hard to sort the airing cupboard. Gold star for attempting the mission though!

SC was feeling tired - remember to rest post-flu! [stern] Glad you're enjoying time with your sister though.

Engels was planning a relaxing evening. Top marks!

swan has been making Airfix models in the name of decluttering. :)

dreamteam has a clean oven and chicken stew. Sounds good!

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Babystep is to delete the Fat Fairy's emails, although we generally advise against signing up for them in the first place! Some people find them helpful though.

Mission is getting rid of old cosmetics. Highly offended by aspersions cast at blue eyeshadow though!!

It's anti-Procrastination day again folks!
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update

dh cooked supper
dh watched Masterchef in a sort of weird trance
ds1 practised his violin
dd prepared her bag for tomorrow
and ds2 conked out when asked to