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?

So thus endth the 2nd day of January 2015. So far the thread has seen a number of returnees and newbies. And the habit of chatting seems to be strong and alive

Whoknows popped in briefly, hopefully she has been enjoying her holidays.

PMPY has been trying to reboot the laundry but made the prediction that it would take the majority of the day.

PA is prepping for putting her house on the market, but first comes some important exams.

Fuzzpig jumped back on board.

Ellie Stuck her head in to say hello to some old returning friends

florentina has been getting into the swing of things. Discovering we are fairly laid back, whilst beginning to understand the mystery that is 'Bitchy'

Goth has been planning ahead and working towards reseting body clocks of herself and dd ready for Monday's return to school

FleeBee is determined to be back

Trainersandaches is committing to the fly system this time

Saturn is hoping to kick the house into touch this weekend whilst her DD is visiting her dad.

Nicknacks has the very brave New Year's resolution to never leave a mess when she goes out.

MakingChanges Wants to kick her house back into check ready for the return to school.

Shannaratiger has returned from her state of honeymoon happiness to the reality that is housework.

Greymalkin made the admission that many of us will find true this January thread. It can be hard to remember exactly who is who and did what when the thread is so busy. Bare with us if we get it wrong, it is not meant to be mean.

Toffee has been socialising and was surprised by dh who tidied the house first thing in the New Year. Fingers crossed the helpfulness continues.

Honu Popped by and noted as much as a lot of others that there is a real problem of quantity of stuff that is useful vs storage space. One we can all relate to.

Knackered wrote the phrase "my standards are much higher than my housework ethic" I think a lot of us can relate to this too!

Engels is hoping for the arrival of her baby soon and has declared that housework can wait until February. Hopefully she will still stop by and have a in the naughty corner occasionally!

BlessThisMess is trying to juggle an MSc dissertation and a house.

Saymwa Wrestled the problem many face. How to get dh to help around the house without nagging. Reassured that Flylady system insists on taking time for fun stuff she jumped on board.

Bin85 asked to be counted in. Hopefully she won't be intimidated by such a large no of people and postings.

It was lovely to see the return of Feetheart Always a pleasure.

threeislovely started the new year by tackling the kids rooms, getting rid of some recycling and enjoying a spot on the sofa

AnnField shined her sink and did laundry, plus has been enjoying her last proper day off.

Castle is another fledgling who is waiting the arrival of her baby. Nesting seems to have kicked in properly as her list included 'pre-wash mountain of baby things'

MrsMook wisely raised the mental aspect of this. Having also grown up in a house that was a contender for a spot of hoarders from hell, with similar slogans around the house, and being mess blind so it has to be pretty bad before i notice it. I can reassure you that it is possible, but it will probably take longer than those who have no come from this back ground. Please do speak up if you are struggling. We do support in more than the practical ways (like lists and links) so we will help in anyway we can with this. You will get there, but it might take you longer than a year notes all the fledglings who have been on the thread for best part of 5yrs and who are still struggling to make it all habit because life has got in the way

Trazzles was back with the good news that Ds was progressing well. News we were all pleased to hear.

Linzer stuck her head in and hopes to be back when she returns from holiday. Good to have you back.

blue is preparing for the return to work on monday with 9 kids in her house

Whispers completed her morning routine in style and introduced the concept of morning, and evening routines. This is something the fat fairy will return to 'newbies' a you will find that you will develop your own according to your own needs as you go.

Rufus popped in as she wants help to maintain tidy and clean so is planning on soaking up hints and tips.

CrickeyBlimey returned with news that the work load has been split with her being project manager, and her DH being the main skivvy in the hope to kick the housework in touch. Several were impressed by her getting the unpacking and cases away immediately, this is actually what flylady recommends. But i think she earns the first flying medal for actually achieving this.

Mercury rejoined us. How is the world of teaching and were you affected badly by the snow last week?

Bugrit has had the epiphany that 'tidying more means tidying less' which is what I think is the point that the fat fairy is trying to point out.

ScotsWhaHae has been flying via the emails but having been overwhelmed by them is jumping aboard in the home it might be a better fit.

Sally has found some things have stuck as habit since her last visit and is hoping to get more in control of the rest of it.

Bitchy is rather worried about all the people who think this is going to be an amusing/fun ride. That is rather high expectations for a girl to live up to

36 fledglings

Bloody hell.

I think I need before I tackle the links for tomo!

Evening all,
Not much Flying to report as we are on holiday this week, it will be all systems go when we get back on Sun as we are all back at work/school on Mon. Good to see so many returners and new Flyers on the thread, I think I'm going to need all the motivation I can get through Jan, it is looking like being a very hectic month.

Wow Bitchy - ace round up!

Wow, brilliant roundup, thank you Bitchy

Good lord bitchy

You have been busy

Are you going to do that every day?

Realistically nope although I will as and when life permits it. ds does a lot of evening activities which mean I don't get much of an evening, plus it think that took me rather a while to write which i don't think will fit in with the evening.

Today I had the shocking realisation that I have a major report to write before Wednesday and an entire room to empty and tidy before Tuesday. Plus prepping everything for the return to school and the small matter of actually finishing the blanketgate no# 2 blankets plus the minor issue of finishing another blanket which is a present for a cousin. Clearly looking at this I have far more stuff to do than hours in the day so i need to figure out how to resolve the issue of the room without actually tidying it. as it is the only thing that is going to be really movable other than the blanketgate blankets that can wait until Thursday. despite the fact that I would rather be doing the blankets than the report writing etc

Good round up Bitchy!

As if by Marie Kondo/Flylady magic, one of those charity binbags has popped through the door today so I can get rid of some excess clothing.

Other than that... Bleached my loo and washed up but not much else!

Aw shucks, I got me a medal

Excellent roundup Bitchy!

Right Linkie poos....

You will be relieved to hear that there are no missions at the weekend.

Saturday is family fun day. That means do something fun and try not to end up fighting

Babystep number 3 is no longer post it notes. This babystep is to explore the website. the launch pad makes things much easier to find than the old format from the beginning days of the fledglings. But beware the site can be a bit twee and fluffy in places. Also if the big tent still exists, stay out of the big tent and remember to avoid the emails.

May you all have fabulous weekends.

Today's tadas:
Cleaned and shone 2 sinks
Got dressed :-)
Vacuumed living room
Went to funeral
Took DD1 to stables
Took down Christmas cards and updated list for next year's cards
Progressed financial record-keeping a little

Still to do:
Menu plan
Dissertation proposal
Take down decorations

Fab round up bitchy!!!

I am tonight going to bed with my sink shined, but my first day of getting dressed to shoes as soon as I get up didn't quite go to plan - but then I always struggle with this at first but once I get into a routine with it I miraculously start arriving places on time I will persevere and have my clothes laid out for tomorrow morning already (even though this step doesn't come until later, although really it should tie in with this one ) hopefully this will make it easier.

Going to bed now, night everyone!

crikeyblimey have a look at Wunderlist

Fab roundup thanks bitchy

Ta da
3x washing
Entrance decluttered
All DC clean washing folded and put away (took an hour!)
Cleaned ensuite
15 mins tidying in living room (it's still a disaster - you really can't tell )

So still lots to do before work starts on Monday!

Wow Bitchy fab round up. I haven't had time to catch up with everybodys posts but now know roughly what I have missed. My first term teaching was fun, emotional and tiring. I am looking forward to getting back and seeing my children.

When are you due Engels?

Very glad to hear ds is well Trazzles

Bloody hell Bitchy am now afraid to post after seeing that roundup

Got my to do list done apart from the science experiments, which are planned for tomorrow.

tomorrow's list
More laundry
Trip to library
Playing with gunge

Errands
Grocery shop
Make soup for freezer.
Figure out how to use steriliser
Figure out new camera and apply for cashback offer.
Figure out breast pump , just in case.
Clean out handbag
Nap.
Phone calls.
Dinner and general tidy

Did a mammoth grocery shop today. Freezer, fridge and pantry are bursting at the seams. That should see us through the babymoon....

Getting a bit nervous now...

Bitchy thanks so much for links and round up. Please don't feel any of us expect a roundup like that every night!!!

Thanks for that amazing round up, Bitchy. I really can't keep up with the thread at the moment, so it really helped. But I second all those who say we don't expect regular round ups!

ta da

Hair cut and coloured
Lunch with friend
Shopping
Post Office with parcels for work
Cooked boys' dinners whilst friend cooked for us
Washing up and kitchen reboot
Emptied and cleaned out litter trays
Day 2 of Dry January - drank elderflower juice whilst friend and DH drank Prosecco
Chat
More washing up
Bedtime drinks and snacks for boys

Just waiting for d/w to finish, then I'm off to bed at what is - for me - a decent hour.

Well so much for my intentions for December - but as we were hosting Christmas this year, I proceeded the celebrations by (at least on the surface) making the house presentable for guests! We have just got back today from spending Hogmanay with my Mum but I have already:

• Unpacked the bags
• Put away unworn clothes/coats/shoes etc
• Sorted (first) laundry load, put it in to wash and hung to dry
• Taken DD to swim training
• Listened to DD read at bedtime
• Put away dishes left on the side to dry before we went away (naughty)

DH has put on the D/W so that's one less job to do!

It's lovely to be back in the fledglings fold and add flying to my list of "things to get a grip on in 2015"!

I have been awake for an hour and cannot get back to sleep

Today dd has a party and dp, ds and I are planning to have a toy declutter in her absence.

To do
Morning routine
Buy wrapping paper and a card
Declutter shoe cupboard as this did not get done yesterday
Ironing
Do some maths planning ready for next week

My dd also has a party mercury , sadly I still have to attend with her so cuts right In to the middle of my day.

trazzles that's fab news about your son, a year already is amazing. Sorry to hear about crappy side affects and will think of you on Monday.

There's so many of us on here I don't know if I can manage personals, but big waves to everyone old and new alike.

bitchy , much appreciate you running the thread. We all know how crazy it gets in January and it's no mean feat to keep on top of it all.

To do
Wrap present and write card
Choose dd's party outfit
Wash door mat
Morning routine
Tidy before we leave house
Start to take down decorations
Go to carpet shop
Go to party

Morning all
To do:
Morning routine (this takes longer on the weekends as DH and I alternate lie ins, so on Saturdays I laze on the sofa with the DC until DH gets up at 9 and on Sundays I laze around in bed and occasionally sleep )
Sort out hallway and Hoover stairs and landing
Clear out car
Afternoon and evening routines

Morning all

To do
More laundry
3 hotspots (coat rack, craft drawers and table)
Cinema (hopefully if DD doesn't make an almighty fuss and refuse to go)
15 mins of toy tidying

Hello there,
Loved the round up Bitchy. Thanks for taking the time. And yes, I am definitely finding it more fun ,to be feeling part of a flying club than hovering around alone. So, on that score alone, with or without a round up, you've already succeeded for me.

No missions at the weekend is great news .

I didn't manage to get through everything I hoped to yesterday. Sorting and tidying the computer stuff with H took much longer than I expected so didn't do car, bag , shifting bits in kitchen, ironing or MNing :(.

But pleased that I got to H vacuum too. Also, all washing up is done, fireplaces cleaned out, washing and drying done.

Going to sort out my todo list.