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?

Well, the suitcases have all been emptied but I can't say that everything has found a place yet; I seem to be failing miserably in my mission of bringing fewer things into the house. The DDs slept until well after 10 am (we had to wake DS at 8 am as he's gone Epiphany singing this morning - dressed as one of the Three Wise Men and collecting money for the church, or rather for charity), so that allowed me to get on with things.

Toffee Ha, Marmite is one of the few things I don't miss! I did come back with a suitcase entirely filled with Fruit & Nut and chocolate hobnobs once, though. Thankfully I've managed to wean myself off both now, considerably helped by the fact that I've gone off Cadbury's since they changed the taste. My main downfall is books now, thanks to them being so much cheaper in the UK (bought quite a few in the Works for 25p - it costs me almost as much to borrow one from the library here).

I can also be heard constantly complaining to DH that I feel like I spend 90% of the day tidying up - one of the reasons I'm trying to declutter/have a more minimalist lifestyle (doomed to failure with DH and three DC, I think).

Hello PA, lovely to see another familiar face on here. Glad you're enjoying grandparenthood!

Right. Boys are now awake so time to drag myself away from Tangled and create a to do list.

To do:-
Prep dinner
Put washing away
Ds homework
Me schoolwork
Take ds friend home
Nip to dsis's
Pack bags

Morning!

Love the sleepover comment Ellie - this is why the younger DCs have still not been allowed a sleepover. I am still too scarred from the older boys sleepovers with a very young baby!!

Slightly dreading going back to work tomorrow so I need a list to distract myself!

To Dos

Find boxes for craft area
Clean lounge after decs came down
Organise photo album unit
Take rubbish to tip
Finish putting clothes away
Book holiday
Find music for DCs
Pay school dinner money online
Load Launchpad
Make dinner
Clean bathrooms

Feeling slightly despondent as it's a grey day and the weatherman promised a sunny day full of fun!! :(

Saymwa the evening routine various for everyone. Some people just clear up the dishes. Some people are morning people but I am not and realistically will never be a morning person so my evening routine is fuller than most. For me I have to make sure that the only thing that I need to do in the morning is to grab breakfast, shower and clothes. Which means the evening routine has to allow that to happen so it contains things like making up lunch box and school bag etc.

Well I went to bed nice and early last night about 6pm, slept until 10:30pm and was then awake until 7am. Did manage to grab another 4hrs of sleep. Feeling slightly out of sorts. As a result

ta da
Make up ds' kit
check emails to ensure comp running.
contact ex to arrange converging on the same place at same time
stand on scales, sigh, kick scales in disgust
put load of washing in the dryer
make note to crawl into office and check what is against the radiator

To do
shower and up
de-ice car
pack car
check ds' bag
make up ds' lunch
Sort out clothes for me for monday
find all bits for doing the errands needed to be done monday

Hello! I have big news.

My dirty washing baskets are empty. They are EMPTY.

my washing machine and tumble were on most of yesterday but I have emerged victorious in my battle with mount washmore.

I don't often use my tumble but it worked hard to clear a backlog and now I can go back to a load a day.

I didn't do much else other than routines yesterday. Want to get the car done today. Been putting that off since Friday.

Hello!

Is it too late to join? It's taken until now to catch up on the thread.

I returned to work full time end of last year and everything feels like it fell apart.

1st/2nd/3rd

Ta das
Decorations down and in loft
Furniture back in the right place
House Hoovered top to bottom.
Bathrooms cleaned
Bedroom sorted
Four loads of washing
90% of presents homed
Created a weekly planner for chores
Meals planned and food shopping complete
Monthly budgets adjusted
Playroom reorganised/tidied
Christmas leftovers (non perishables) dates checked and anything that has a long enough date squirrelled away for DS bday party in a couple of months
Cleared out two food cupboards
Cleared out bag
Cleaned sink

To dos for today
Wash blankets
Clean hob
Hoover (DS seems to create mess wherever he goes!)
Dinner in slow cooker
New shoes for DS
New bedside tables (both broke within a week of each other)
Empty bins
Clean animal house
Tackle ironing mountain
Empty D/W
Get clothes/bags packed for tomorrow

Ps eating the Christmas chocolate counts as tidying right?

Ta da:-
Ds friend taken home
Popped to dsis
Prepped roast dinner
Cooked roast dinner
Washing
Tidied ds room
Ds did his homework without any asking/hassle
Packed bags for tomorrow
Eaten big roast dinner

To do:-
Collapse in a big fat heap for an hour
Clear kitchen
Have some thoughts about what I might actually teach tomorrow.

Not much done on the housework front today as I was up at 6.15am to take DD1 and pony to a dressage competition. One of those days when you wonder what on earth you are torturing yourself like this for, esp with freezing fog and a non-functioning heater in the car. But then DD astonished herself and me by doing amazingly well in a class of about 30 riders, some of them professionals, in her very first time at the next level up and she came 1st!! So it was all worthwhile ??

However (get me) I did clean my kitchen sink at 6.30am ??

That'll be all today. DDs are not back to school till Tues.

Tada :
4.5 mile run (me time)
Decorations down and put in loft along with baby clothes
Bag emptied from Boxing Day
Progress on the kitchen worktops
Running music downloaded and transferred to phone
Cooker stripped for cleaning
Chicken in slow cooker

We're home, but there's mess, suitcases and as yet unhomed presents everywhere. One load of washing is in the machine, but we came back to a suspicious smell.

Traced back to the downstairs loo which is empty of water. Lots of frantic googling, spraying of air freshener and moving "call plumber" to the top of the to-do list...

Wow, been busy on here. Failed at early nights/early starts but

Ta-dah -with help from DD
Tree and all other decorations down and away
Rubbish out
Recycling out
Beds changed
Flat vacuumed
Washing up
Assisted DD with her glow in the dark chemistry set.
Laundry
Ironing
Dry laundry away

To do
Dinner
Washing up & SS
Get DD everything ready for school in the morning

Got a step-great aunt coming tomorrow, she's over from Oz for a month and rang around 3 to ask if she could just stay overnight between other relatives. So a panic tomorrow to make sure we've enough fresh bedding ready. I feel bad she's on an air bed but she says she's had worse. Just hope I find her ok at the bus station, not seen her for 24 years!

At least the flat is tidy, thank god I do most of my weekly bleugh on a Sunday.

Evening everyone,

Congrats to Bless's DD on the dressage triumph. Goinggoing - that is my idea of a nightmare - I hate unplanned guests - I need at least a week to get my life in order for guests!! One of the downsides of no spare room I think. Secret - it sounds like you have done loads. My life seemed to fall apart when I went back full time - it seemed like I lost so much time and DH didn't realise quite how much house stuff I had done in my 2 days off!

We have had a really nice pottering day. DH and DCs helped and as a result the house is nearly spotless! We have spent days re-allocating furniture and making the house work better so I am hoping that we get in less of a mess when we go back to normal life!

Not finished the list - but did drink cider at the beach... It's a hard life!

Ta Das

Clean lounge after decs came down
Take rubbish to tip
Finish putting clothes away
Book holiday
Find music for DCs
Pay school dinner money online
Load Launchpad
Make dinner
Half the ironing!

To Dos

Clean bathrooms
Organise photo album unit
Find boxes for craft area
Iron 7 shirts

Still need boxes for the craft room - mulling a trip to IKEA!

Hello all. I joined the thread last year but didn't get very far but yesterday was a watershed in that DH had tried to wash the entire content of the washing basket but had left it all on our bed. It was late by this time so I just wanted to move the washing off the bed to put away today but we had absolutely no floor space in the whole house for me to put the washing baskets on!!! Not good, most of the floor space is taken up with unpacked boxes (we have had to temporarily downsize our accommodation), Christmas presents, and general clutter. Managed to create a bit of space but this isn't good for us and our four DCs. I have read the Marie Kondo book today and have nearly finished kondoing my clothes which is great. So I'm doing a mixture of kondo-ing and Flylady.

Saymwa - missed your post about the evening routine. It is very personal to you, I think, although I will post mine if it helps. You really need to put stuff on it that you know you can achieve, when I started mine, I had way too much on it and then just got demoralised. Maybe even start with just a couple of things that will make your life easier the next morning and work from there? You can add more as you feel you can manage it. I have an afternoon routine as well, to try and break up the jobs a bit, but I am able to as I am a SAHM, so have time to do that, when I am back in work, this will be combined with the evening routine. Ok, my routine is: tidy toys, launch pad and check calendar (which basically means to have bags etc ready for the next day so I am not running round panicking in the morning when I can't find things and check the calendar so I don't miss anything the next day), dishwasher, wipe kitchen sides and table, sweep kitchen floor (this is the one that is most often neglected ) set washing machine timer for morning, feed cats. Hope that's helpful!

Scots - wow, I'm not sure my washing baskets have ever been truly empty

Secret - welcome to the thread :) Eating Christmas chocolate definitely counts as tidying, I have got quite a lot of decluttering to do from the treats shelf in the kitchen too

Bless - well done to your DD, that's brilliant :)

Blue - hope your plumbing gets sorted ASAP!

Goth - well done for being 'company ready' (in the words of the FF herself) so quickly, I am in awe :) I would also find it incredibly stressful to have such short notice of an overnight stay.

So, my ta das:
Morning routine
hoovered stairs and landing
Washed front door
Cleaned windows in hall and on landing
Cleaned out car (DH couldn't believe his eyes He understood when I muttered flylady to him though
Decluttered airing cupboard there is now one bin bag full of duvet covers and sheets for DH to use as rags in the garage, and one bin bag full of towels and blankets/throws waiting for a friend to pick up and take to an animal shelter near to where she lives :)
Afternoon and evening routines

Feeling very accomplished this weekend Which is good as it makes up for next weekend when we will be away the whole weekend, so I won't be able to do anything in the house

Hope everyone is having a nice evening :)

Ooo, cross post, welcome back donnie :)
I am also attempting a bit of Kondo-ing, I am working my way through the book and picking out the bits that I like and feel right for my house/family/lifestyle :)

Just settling down for one last evening of darts.

Ta-da!
Come home
Unpack - about 90% done
Christmas decs - about 90% down
Get rid of general Christmas clutter - some donw
Gather a bag of unwanted presents for charity shop - no point in being sentimental and keeping things we don't want
Sainsburys shop done and put away
PE kits sorted
School dinner money paid
Childcare vouchers sorted online
Just a few quick emails and dates to put in calendar.

Feeling depressed at cluttery state of house compared to the immaculate holiday cottage we've just been staying in. Oh well, motivation for decluttering.

Hey saymwa ds1 was16 yesterday. 16!!!!!!

Right today

Am
Wiped down kitchen surfaces
Straightened living room
Sunday wash in
Coordinated mine and DH's diaries

Pm
Sorted through my menu box and planned next weeks menu
Another wash in
Ordered shopping on the computer

Eve
Ironing, doesn't take long because I only iron work shirts and school uniform

Might have another look at the fly lady website ready for tomorrow

Monday I usually clean the kitchen (sometimes Tuesday if I'm out for coffee )

Sorry quick question re detailed clean

It's not every week is it? Once a month? Once a year?

Rufus - no detailed cleaning until you have decluttered and got the basics/routines under control. I do mine in zones then, so the last 4 days have been hallway, stairs/landing, car and misc for me. Then starting tomorrow, I move onto kitchen/dining area for a week. 15 minutes a day in each zone, I don't worry if I don't get the whole list finished, there's always next month :)

Evening all!

Just a quick one whilst the darts is on- I confess a reluctant watcher but I've got quite in to it.

I went shopping this morning for a new sitting room carpet- it's chosen, ordered and I'm waiting for fitting date conformation now- can't wait! I've spent all last year, decluttering (starting with the skip if anyone remembers?!), painting, new furniture and accessories, new fireplace and doors, it looks lovely and the manky carpet being replaced by lovely new one will complete it. It will be my incentive to keeping the room looking clear, clean and decluttered!

This afternoon all the Christmas decs came down, my mum popped over for a cuppa and dh and I have had a last takeaway before the diet starts tomorrow!!

Tomorrow I'm supposed to be having 8 children (!- 1 is off, maybe 2) think of me won't you and understand if I don't get any flying done.

Any baby news from the pregnant fledglings? Also am I missing sc or name changing?

I am at the moment tearing through piles of paperwork trying to find the letter that needs to be returned tomo with a cheque. Can I find the fecking permission slip. Can i hell

Exciting news about the new carpet Nicknack

I also noticed SC was absent. Is she away on holiday?

Dp and I have spent the evening watching Modern Family I'm now off for an early night in preparation for a return to normality. Big wing flaps to all of you lovely fledglings.

Hope you manage to find it bitchy

Just quickly checking in. Sink is shined, dressed to shoes and Flylady e-mails read (I know, contentious one on here and not sure I'll be able to keep up with them when I'm back in work). Haven't bothered with the post it notes though...surely it looks a mess having post it notes dotted around the house?

Also completely cleared the hallway (was still full of stuff from when I unpacked the car when we got back from family last Saturday including suitcase ) and tidied and decluttered the living room. Dd got rid of some of her toys too, quite proud of her really . Also put all my DVDs into alphabetical order, but that probably isn't something I should admit to is it? . Oh and took the car to get valeted and bought some new car mats and an air freshener and took some CDs out, so the car is lovely and clean, tidy and decluttered as well.

Shame I have to go back to work tomorrow

Quick list dump before bed, will catch up properly tomorrow.

Ta da
Beds made
Dishwasher x2
Dinner in slow cooker
Hob cleaned
One of the cats caught, wormed and flea treated
DS nursery bag packed and in car
My work bag packed
Mine and DSs clothes laid out for tomorrow
Lunch made for tomorrow
And other trivial things I can't be bothered to type out... too ... tired ...

Night all