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?

Hope you have a lovely day (apart from the dentist)!

And enjoy wearing that dress tonight!!!

Happy birthday, Toffee! (not necessarily in that order ) Hope you have a lovely day and that the dentist's appointment is as painless as possible.

I am still drowning in paperwork... do I really need to keep all my social insurance bills since 2008? (I decided probably not and have scanned all except the latest two, which I'll need for tax returns.) Proof that I've actually paid these bills? My social insurance card from Germany 15 years ago? I get the feeling that life here is slightly more bureacratic than in the UK; DH recently needed proof (for every semester) that he'd been enrolled at university for his pension company, but fortunately - DH being DH - he'd kept all 14 confirmation slips. Anyway, I've more or less done one folder but am losing the will to live. I've just counted and have another 23 to go.

x-posts SC - love the way we used almost exactly the same smileys in the same order!

Happy Birthday Toffee

WhoKnows I feel like that about birthday parties too. Very stressful. Fortunately my girls are getting to the age where they go with a friend or two to the cinema or a nice day out somewhere. And there will be no teenage parties in this house! I hope your car gets sorted out ok.

Bitchy Have a lovely weekend!

Feel very tired and unmotivated this morning. Damn insomnia and damn the beautiful cat who sat on me and purred and licked me at 4.30am till I got up and let her out. Still, the good news is that my car is at the garage today so I hope it will come back with a working heater (think the water pump is knackered). It's been freezing in my car for about 10 days!

Ta-das:
A bit of morning routine but not all
School run
Took car to garage

To do:
Email my brother
Dissertation

Happy Birthday Toffee

I'm another newbie wanting to join in. I spotted this thread on Tues eve and signed up for the emails that night and I've worked quite hard the last two days. I've not been strictly sticking to the rules, I have to confess, but at least it has got me moving properly after Christmas. I've cleaned my sink, completely cleaned the bathroom and worked on and off cleaning the oven for the last two days as well.

I've been feeling nervous about joining for some reason, I'm new to mumsnet as well as this thread and this is my first ever post. Maybe it's the way that I've seen people ripped to shreds on other threads that is making me so nervous. However, I am hoping that flylady and this thread will give me the motivation that I need.

I'm currently doing up my house and the rooms that have been done up have been decluttered (mostly) so I'm hoping to get some maintenance tips for them. I'm still working on other parts of the house so trying to keep parts of the house nice whilst still working on other parts is a hard balance. I'm also 18 weeks pregnant, just to make life easy for myself!

So my vague plan is to finish off the bits of the house that I can't really leave, such as half finished skirting boards in the front room, before I'm too big to continue. Try and de-clutter the worst bits of the house (only one room is a total disaster luckily, major de-cluttering needed). Finally try and get some good habits formed to help me cope when baby comes. I'm totally comfortable with getting a cleaner if I struggle to cope but that will be easier if I've de-cluttered and got the house in a reasonable state.

Fortunately for me I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to the house, although I have noticed that I care much more about the bits that have been done up. Please god don't let me become a perfectionist about the house, there are already too many things that I'm a perfectionist about. If I could just be mostly free of clutter I think I would be happy.

Sorry it's such a long post.

Welcome Dogsbumhair. There's no ripping to shreds on this thread, it has been pootling along very happily for several years and has seen many posters come and go, very occasionally we disagree on something but it's all very amicable and friendly. Also, perfectionism is definitely not on the agenda, we all acknowledge that everyone has other priorities too. If you did start getting perfectionist tendencies we would probably gently tease you out of it!

Hi dogsbumhair just one word of advice, don't forget to build in rest. It is especially important for those with some medical conditions or pregnant. The benefit of the 15min system I am sure that the thread will look after you whilst I am away, they are a pretty damn fabulous bunch of posters totally bias

A warm welcome to Dogsbumhair Don't be nervous - you've come to the right place!! and don't let all of my our constant nattering put you off!! First and foremost, take care of yourself and the bump. Flying comes definite second!

Keep going with the paper decluttering Linzer - more power to your shredder and all of that!! (It does sound extremely tedious though!)

Have a lovely weekend away Bitchy and safe travellling.

Welcome Dogsbreath! No need to be nervous - this is a lovely thread and quite different from AIBU or even Chat. I've recently returned to the fold after a long absence and it's more or less the only thread I post on now. Oh, and Flylady is actually against perfectionism; she sees it as something quite negative as it stops us from getting things done (we tend to think that if we can't do something perfectly, we may as well not bother).

Thanks, SC - have just emptied my shredder as it was full to the brim! Yes, very tedious but also strangely satisfying; I'd forgotten how much I enjoy decluttering once I actually manage to get going.

Hello everyone, I was chatting to a friend about my New Years resolution to not dilly dally and she told me all about Fly Lady. I'm slowly working my way into a more efficient life and I'm glad I found you all to help me!

Thank you for the welcome who knows I'm very happy to be teased, there is usually plenty to tease! In fact I was about to post about my tendency to jump in and get over excited and burn out with new things which my DP teases me about and then bitchy put in a timely warning about building in rest, a psychic moment it would appear about one of my tendencies.

Thank you also for the welcome from Slowcommotion and thanks LinzerTorte for giving me my first chuckle by calling me Dogsbreath, very amusing!

Sorry about that DogsBum (do you have an abbreviation you would prefer?) I have been doing that a lot recently. Scared the shit out of a friend who was trying to sneak off on holiday without telling anyone the other day. Her comment was 'how the fuck did you know I was going to do that? '

Anyhow just thought I would let you know Blanketgate no#2 is OVER I repeat Blanketgate no#2 is Over!!!!

Hello Out welcome to the thread.

No problem Bitchy it just surprised me having my mind read like that! Not a sensation that I'm used to! I quite enjoyed being told to factor in rest actually, I instantly gave myself permission to watch a bit of crap tv this afternoon with a drink of hot chocolate and a hot water bottle.

I didn't think about how long Dogsbumhair would take to type when putting the name down, Dogsbum seems like a good short form, Dogsbreath made me laugh out loud!

I am now off to do grocery shopping for weekend and pick up a few cleaning supplies and I will check in later.

Oh no, I'm so sorry Dogsbum - I don't know how that happened; my fingers just run away with me sometimes.

done
recycling
persuaded ds2 to take sheets off his bed
stripped ds1's bed
tidied up papers and books in kitchen
food recycling
put veg box veg away, folded up box
put wash in
put laundry neatly in laundry basket
folded up some clean sheets
made decision about sofa - new sofa for parlour and old sofa can go in the playroom
home ed football
chatted with people
fresh air
met up with SIL despite my doubts - all fine
did not take car to service
ds2 exercise
lunch for ds2 in café
ds2 now doing some independent "study" until 3pm - I've given him the option of atlas, spelling workbook or crystals!! He has I think chosen atlas.

downstairs cleaned by cleaning lady and two beds made up by her She has also done some ironing.

still feeling knackered though - think it is the aftereffects of a terrible start to the week and school meeting etc.

friday's to do list
2 rows of edging
fasten ends
sew detail
make wings
attach details and wings to blanket 2
laundry
folding
ironing
packing
clear out car (essential as will have visitors in it)
head off for a weekend of loveliness and no internet.

Plumber has been today to unblock drain. He's failed to do so. In the process he stuck his bare hands in the drain then touched all my door handles and taps. Then took my mop bucket, put it in drain water then came in and rested it on my sink draining rack. Not to mention the shoe prints everywhere.

I want to cry.

oh Trazzles - have you tried the boiling water and strong soda trick or those rods that you put down or the manhole cover (starting from there rather than the kitchen sink itself) I have this very long springy bendy metal thing that cost very little from hardware store that you feed down the drain and wriggle around that has worked for some obstructions in the past. Dishwasher fat has often something to do with the blockage especially in very cold weather if you have a dw? I too get very upset when people use my mop for the wrong sort of mopping.

The other thing I have experienced is that along the length of the drain itself there is a break or crack which means it quickly gets silted with earth? Could that be a reason?

PigletJohn on Property/DIY often has good solutions. I think she is some kind of builder (or he is)

Toffee all best wishes for the most lovely mellow party tonight, curlers and dancing shoes

Oh, Trazzles! ((hugs))

Congrats on blanketgate being finished, Bitchy

Waves to new people.

Funeral was ok as these things go. Am taking refuge with the boys for a while, but there's an evening pub meal to get through yet...

Hope the party goes well Toffee :)

The plumber had a rod and it was a real effort to force it down there and even then it wouldn't drain so we think the blockage is further along. It's a funny one because it seems to be a small rainwater drain rather than one for a load of kitchen appliances. But our kitchen is in an extension so it was all purpose-built so I don't understand why they would put a teeny drain in. Although on the other side of the house we have a downpipe that just ends on concrete.

Proper drain company coming next Friday . At least our leaky water tank is fixed. Turns out we had 3(!) leaky water tanks so they are all done and with any luck our water bills will go down.

I've bleached and anti-bac'd everything.

All the pipe work to the drain is new due to new kitchen so the fault is definitely underground.

Hi fledglings,

Just wanted to flap in a wave to Dogsbum and Outinthegarden, welcome to the thread

Ellie, really hope everything is ok.
Whoknows, are you feeling less shakey now?

Toffee, have a fab party!

Bitchy, yippee for blanketgate! Enjoy your weekend

Waves to SC, Swan, Blue, Bless, Saymwa, Linzer and all other fledglings

I'm off out to archery this evening, cant wait.

BBL