Bitchy takes on the January Fledgling Thread. Buckle in and enjoy the ride...

[BitchyTakesOnManagement]

Ok. Welcome to the January Fledglings thread. Before we get started we have Some important notices

1. The fledglings are a long running thread, We are might seem clicky but that is what happens when some of us have been on the same thread for up to 5 years
2. We are rather partial to new blood Pull up a seat in the naughty corner
3. Don't assume you can march in and impose your way. We follow the fly lady way and we adapt it to suit our lives and needs. You are welcome to come join us for support and chat, don't assume you know best.
4. There is more to us than cleaning. If you want to be obsessive about cleaning you will find us and and our interpretation of fly lady frustrating. You might be happier else where.

Right, as harsh as it might seem, it is important to get that out of the way as we expect this January thread to be busier with newbies and there has been problems in the past.

So the fly lady system there are rules and we have adaptations.

1. NO perfectionism!!!
2. Something is better than nothing and sometimes good enough really is good enough.

3.This is not about the housework, it is about having more time to do fun stuff. Don't ever feel guilty about doing stuff with the kids over doing the housework. The kids are more important.

And the practical adaptations. We have discussed the Marie Kondo book and the approaches within on previous threads. We are all agree two things: the author does not have kids and that the principles are very good for decluttering and that they can be used to in conjunction with the fly lady system (Marie Kondo to get in control, and fly lady to stay in control). As for the fly lady system there are some of the babysteps and things that are advised that are either "huh, why?" or just don't fit in with the household. We advise a pinch of salt and discretion with a dash of reality thrown in. E.g. if you are a no shoes household then clearly the wearing shoes in the house part of babystep 2 is going to make you go This is where adaptations come in and if past threads are to be gone on this will be discussed and there are various takes on it as and when they arise.

Also for the over enthusiastic newbies to the fly lady site and system everything you need will be posted here in the form of links. There are 3 levels:
Newbie: babysteps - get into these habbit
student: Missions and babysteps once the habits are habit the missions are a piece of cake.
Expert: deep cleaning, missions and babysteps - forget this if you have clutter, seriously.
Oh and for the love of all sanity do not subscribe to the email alerts. Seriously. Just don't.

Jump on board, buckle in and lets kick the butt of January.
Bitchy special brew on the naughty corner bar, natch
do we warn the newbies about the special brew or let them find out for themselves?

Hi everyone

I just typed out a really long post, and then I lost it Here we go again...

Most importantly, hurrah for Engles!!! Congratulations, hope you and baby are doing well. Your DS and I have the same birthday!

Ta da
Fed cats
Dealt with two cat litter trays
Made two beds
Three wash loads done and hung up
Dishwasher unloaded and dirties put in
Sorted post, chucked all junk mail
Rounded up random cardboard boxes for recycling
Unpicked a load of name tapes from outgrown clothes
Located some VIP (very important paperwork)
Laid out DS's clothes for tomorrow and re packed his bag
Painted my nails (can this count as a pamper mission?)

Bitchy thanks for the round up and all the links, hope you get some more sleep soon

SC, I think you're allowed some downtime after all you've had on recently, you too Ellie

Bless, I use local FB selling pages all the time, it's a great way to Declutter and scrape together some money to pay for whatever DS needs next....

C'mon mini-Castle, we're all waiting

Evening all

Congratulations Engels
Been to my parents for the weekend, Dh just survived although has refused to go back and stay.
Tomorrow is back to routine so will do an extensive To Do list in the morning

Have a good evening everyone

FGS...I missed the most exciting ta da in the history of the thread. engels had a bloody baby!!!!!! Much congratulations and love winging it's way across the North Sea.

I am marking. I hate marking. Love my job. Hate marking.

How the hell did you miss that Ellie? It was in the round up 3 times.

Ds is finally in the bath. It has taken 2 days to achieve this. Lazy day here. Ds was under instructions to tidy his lego up so has spent a lovely time building and playing with it I have spent the day curled up crafting and just being lazy

Because, my dear friend, I am a dickhead

I am still marking. I still hate marking.

swap you for end fastening. I have spent the whole fecking day fastening ends. I hate end fastening. I have another 2 fecking days to go. on a plus note the only thing left to be done once the end fasting is done is to wrap project. which is a most definite bonus and a break from crafting is the plan.

psst check your geography, irrc it is the channel that love needs to be sent over.

Exactly how hung over are you...?

Evening all :)

Well, that was a lovely weekend away :)
I have started as I meant to go on and unpacked when we got back, before I sat down, that has never happened before!
Got to get back into the routines in the morning. No 1 priority tomorrow is washing as we had quite a bit when I left and three days off washing, plus a weekend's worth is not helping :(

Ooo, Bitchy, what crafts do you do? I am fairly crafty myself :)

Errr...you can get a ferry from near me to Holland across the North Sea which is next door to where engels lives so I am kind of right...

I am very hungover

Still marking. Still hate marking. But would rather be doing that than all that crafty shite you do.

Crochet, knitting, dressmaking, embroidery (incl counted cross stitch and Hardanger), patchwork... The only problem is that this also means that UFOs can exist in greater numbers. UFOs are still on the hit list for this year too.

ellie

Wow, sounds great :)
I can knit and tried to teach myself to crochet last year (it didn't grab me, I have to admit). I did a lot of cross stitch when I was younger, but haven't done any for years, and I used to do quite a bit of paper craft but decluttered most of that last year :) My main craft love is beading though, mostly with wire, but hoping to branch into needle and thread more this year :) A friend has asked me to make a tiara for her daughter to wear to her wedding (the friend, not the daughter) this year, so that will be this year's big project, eek!

As so we start another week.

Monday is home bleurgh

babystep officially it says delete fly lady emails but if you read closely it is meantioned that this is supposed to be all emails and digital clutter. So your baby step is to do a bit of decluttering of you inbox. Good luck.

Missions

We are in zone 3 - this is the bathroom 15mins decluttering in here, or the additional zone.

Kids challenge

launch pad

On a random note, is there anyone who can post sundays links for me? I am away next weekend and can post sat's before i go, and monday's when I get back but will unable to post sundays.

Hi everyone.

I've been in bed for a week with flu. Woe is me. Ventured outside for the first time today and back at work (and Flying) again tomorrow.

Looks like I've missed loads. Congrats to Engels and Swanhilde I can't stop laughing at your Sweaty Betty incident. This will probably out me but several years ago I forked out almost £50 for what was basically an oversize pencil case (aka a clutch pouch bag thing) because I was too silly to say no at the till. Only to realise after entering my PIN that the shop only accepted returns of faulty items so I was stuck with it

I can do Sunday's links, Bitchy :)

Ugh, you poor thing, Ann, flu is horrible :(

Already doing well this morning, I have got my entire morning routine done, including emptying the washing machine, I have even got another load in! This has never happened before

So, rest of the to do list:
Bathroom decluttering
My other room this week is DS's bedroom. The major plan this week is to move his room round, I might save it for tomorrow though, when I have the whole day.
Afternoon and evening routines

Thanks Whispers

I too have managed to get a load of washing in the machine. Horrible night though and the sky was a really weird colour for most of it. Was overly impressed with what sounded like night flying but appears to have been the wind.

Agh! It transpires that the reason we've had so few responses to DS1's party invites is that most of his little friends still have them in their pocketses... Grr. Have had to enlist his teacher to try and make sure all relevant parents actually know about it!!

Have also done some laundry and bathroom cleaning. Also ought to do house bleugh, but CBA has set in big time.

Off to make a batch of Bitchyesque brew to see if it will motivate me. Anyone else for a cuppa?

Morning all

Typed out a post and then lost it.

Hope everyone is having a good monday morning and a positive start to the week.
House to myself

Ann glad you're getting over the flu, take it steady.
Blue we have the same problem, always ask them personally as well now. Same with the PTA letters!
Bitchy very impressed and jealous of all your artistic endeavours.

Ta da
Clothes washing in T/D
Weight watchers counted breakfast
Kitchen cleaned
Bathrooms scrubbed and shining!
Spoke to headmaster about Dd being bullied physically
Job interview on 20th to be a dinner lady
Phoned doctor to book depo injection appointment - completely forgot about it until yesterday morning
Phoned house insurance to change surname

To do

Lunch
Declutter living room - sorting out cupboard always forget a couple of items
Hoover downstairs

Have been hungry for an hour so will give in and have lunch, maybe watch another episode of Doctor Who from the box set brought for christmas.

Have a great afternoon

Morning all. I'd love some Blue please!! [Offers plate of breakfast pastries in return.]

Still in a harrumph. Half way through ground floor home bleugh.

But so far have:
tended to dd
informed school re her absence
done one load of washing and hung up
put on next
sorted rabbits
cleaned kitchen for 1 hr and 45 mins

It wasn't exactly a joy coming down to the kitchen after dh's day of cooking yesterday but I've tackled the worst. (I should have done it last night but couldn't face it.) Dh will happily cook but still rarely empties the dw (so ends up stacking dirty plates unnecessarily on side - why????), never wipes a surface, never cleans up stove top, or the tiles behind it and the sink, never takes down glass recycling, never puts ingredients away. He also uses dishcloth, tea towels and hand towels indiscriminately, instead of oven gloves, and everything ends up covered in grease or whatever he has been cooking. Beef tea was delicious but was it worth 1 hr 45 mins of solid cleaning when rest of house a tip??? - no!!! - although to be fair, kitchen was due a clean today anyway.

House still a depressing pit, on every floor. DD ill (and miserable). Guests coming Thurs.

Trying to sort out laundry. Almost every item of our clothing appears to be in the laundry room either waiting to be washed or awaiting ironing and we are therefore wearing extremely odd combinations of outfits . I don't understand this because prior to Christmas, I washed and ironed each of us two weeks worth of clean clothes in advance (because I knew it would be difficult to do laundry with guests here and travelling etc). Hwr, it seems this "clever"strategy hasn't worked owing to mounds of sheets and bed linen left by said guests (still working through that pile), mounds of extra table cloths and towels and tea towels, and the fact that we wear more and extra different (slightly posher) clothes when travelling and visiting. Plus I have a load of wool jumpers to hand wash.

It's at this sort of time I wish I had two or three washing machines (or at least a wm that functioned properly)!! Mine has a prob with balance of drum when spinning; so washing something simple involves loading machine and setting off, upstairs again to do something else, waiting hours for it to finish (has loads of eco programmes that take hours and then don't wash things properly), come down again to unload and found it hasn't spun properly, back upstairs to do something else, back down 20 mins later to find it hasn't spun properly again, back upstairs to do something else, then back down again to finally empty and start the whole process over again. I've had the engineer to it three times without success, so reckon it must be fault of that particular model. Yarrrgggghhhh!!

[Have I bored you all to death yet emoticon]

Home office floor virtually impossible to walk across

Basement "hall" ditto!

Only positive: boudoir still pretty tidy and clean!!

Sorry to hear you have the flu Ann but good you are on the mend!

More power to your elbow with the marking Ellie

The beading sounds lovely Whispers

Arf at Sweaty Beatty incident Swan

Big feathery waves to Shannara Greymalkin Bitchy and everyone else! Better get cracking again.

And sincere thanks for allowing me to post whingiest of whinges - yet again!!!

Have a good start to the week everyone!!

oh dear SC you've made me feel better already

the cleaning lady was here again this morning and this has plunged me into my worst anxiety clash ever not to speak of very very annoying dh comment about the fact that I was eating the Cereal that He had Purchased (nothing special, just the fact that he had done grocery shopping not me because I was "disorganised")

So off to the shop I go and buy 4 effing packets of cereal just to show him
and that was in between reading ds2 Moby Dick. Call me Ishmael and I may run away to sea soon.

Ds2 in a good mood though, chatting away to dh at this very moment so I suppose there are some advantages to having him working from home

Now I am going to be told off for having no lunch "in the fridge" whereupon I will rustle up my special dried goods bonanza lunch made from all the things that dh does not recognise as actual food. tinned Sweetcorn and frozen peas and pasta and Philadelphia perhaps?

And all because I woke up too early My own fault for volunteering I think.

Deep breath - and I hope SC your dd feels better soon, sounds a very nasty start to NY.

shannara so sorry to hear about your dd being bullied.
Good luck with dinner lady appt.

Shannara sorry - I missed that about your dd being bullied physically- I hope the school resolve it properly. V. impressed by our calorie counting too!

Swan ohhhh and on your behalf! I would be livid too! I hope you pointed out to your dh the coffee drunk by him, toiletries used by him, food consumed by him just this very morning, last week and all the weeks and months before that (!!!) , that were Purchased By You!!! Not to mention the clothes he is wearing that have been washed by you, the floors he is walking on that have been hoovered by you, the bed he has slept in that has been made by you [deep breath] and so on and so on and so on!!!!

I would also point out that working from home provides him with the perfect excuse to pop out and take a brisk walk every day ... preferably
in the direction of the nearest supermarket!!

Speaking of recalcitrant dh's ... mine has just popped home to mess up the kitchen again for lunch

No flying here. Late night trip to a&e with DS due to high temp and chest pains.

Admitted to the cancer ward at 3.30am "for further investigations" as no one could find a cause for the chest pain.

Thank fuck it's "only" pneumonia. No idea when we may go home though. Don't want to think about the state the kitchen may be in. And no one mention the drains...