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?

Ooo, I know what I was going to ask, what should I do with a poinsettia??
Surely it is a Christmas decoration, so shouldn't be kept after 12th night? But what should I do with it? I don't think they like the cold (why are they Christmas plants then?! ), so putting it outside would kill it, but it seems a bit wrong to throw it away

Can you get a copy of letter from school website Bitchy?

Darts was amazing!

Whispers - uou can keep them indoors, the red bracts will go and leave an attractive houseplant but it won't go red again next year unless you subject it to several months of tightly conttolled light/dark conditions IIRC.

Evening all. I have failed at flying today, 1 load of washing done and pots washed. Rest of time needed for lesson planning and locating missing uniform and pe kit. I haven't even had time to sort myself out tomorrow. I will do better tomorrow (hopefully) also failed on plan for an early night. Doh

I had a poinsetta (?) given to me last year. It didn't even last to the end of December. I suspected that was more to do with me that it. Whoops

Thanks for the reassurance Three and Whisper I've been very good and 'tidied' the treat shelf some more tonight!

Ta das
Hob cleaned
DS has new shoes
Hoovered
Fluffy thang has clean house
2 hrs of ironing done, one more to go tomorrow
Bins emptied
Bags packed for tomorrow and outfit ready
Throws cleaned, tumbled and back on sofa
Fridge cleaned out
D/W emptied and reloaded
DH is on board

Long day at work tomorrow but will hopefully conquer the ironing and put it all away.

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
shower and up
de-ice car
pack car
check ds' school bag
make up ds' lunch
Write notes for ds' teacher and find form to be returned
Sort out clothes for me for monday
find all bits for doing the errands needed to be done monday
find blow up matress in the issue of defeat on clearing out the spare room. -realistically there is not enough time and thus easier for blow up matress in study.
Deal with stressed ds who has only just gone to bed

My DS is still wide awake too, thanks to the darts and somewhat slack parenting.

Don't want to go to work tomorrow. DS cried, I reassured, patted, soothed then went downstairs and cried a bit myself. I assume it's because I work full time and don't see them much (!) but I never feel ready to end the holiday and go back and I almost never feel like I've had enough during the holidays (often during working life though )

House looks pretty reasonable though

Poinsettas can manage outside ok if protected from frost, they are not keen on overly warm room though iirc which is why my mother always kills hers and has gone for the fake variety. Quick dip in water, dry off and into the plastic tub. I blooming hate fake plants but those are ok

Whoknows the school don't tend to put letters on the website. But as it has been found it is all good for now.

Monday needs a list:
ds to school
work
prescriptions to chemist
sort out my training kit
Bank x2
pick up a new file for financial records
empty car - yep this really really needs to be done now and can't wait until friday
find portable hard drive which contains file backups and retrieve last years report of doom for updating
finish present blanket that needs to go in the post tuesday, write accompanying card and wrap parcel

Right as apparently ds had a very bad night last night, I am not expecting great things tonight (or the next two nights either until the event that is triggering the stress is over with). Hopefully there will be one going to sleep but if a round up appears at stupid o'clock do me a favour and ask no questions.

Next stop linkies

Nicknacks and Mercury - SC is away with her DH, visiting very poorly FIL. Didn't sound good.

ta da

4 loads of washing -
Washing dried and put away
Packed up and put away Xmas decorations
Swished and swiped in bathroom
Two lots of washing up and putting away
Persuaded DS1 to let me wash his hair (always a major achievement)
Finished sorting work for tomorrow
Room rescue in sitting room
Walked into town to visit local pub: had a couple of slurps of wine to see if it was ok for my party later this month, but otherwise stuck to ginger beer (doing Dry January)
Fell asleep for two hours at 7
Bedtime routines - laid clothes out for tomorrow, etc.

Both boys are ready for home ed stuff starting again tomorrow. DS1 only has one online lesson, so a gradual start for him, but I have lots to do with DS2. Am starting the day by reading aloud to him (Roman myths), which will give both of us time to wake up slowly .

Good luck to everyone going back to work and the school run tomorrow.

Right it is Monday which means the Zones and decluttering are fully go. DOn't panic just 15mins. Set the timer and go. Well once i have told you which zone we are in

wait for it
We are in Zone 2 the kitchen so those of you who tackled the kitchen this weekend are ahead. Give yourself a pat on the back

The mission is counter tops

Monday is the house Bleurgh erm there is a story why it came to be called this, bit like why the flylady became the fat fairy. But just roll with it ok? would love to explain it to the newbies but tired grumpy and cba although i think it was a rebellion against twee language

Quick note on the daily focuses, they are great but a lot of us have found it works better if we tweak the order they come in so that they fit in better. FOr example on Monday I am in a town where I need to do a lot of errands that I can't do locally, it makes no sense to make a separate trip to do errands on a thursday so I have made errand day monday, and tuesday My house bleurgh day when I am in the house for more than 5 mins at a time when it is still a decent enough hour to hoover and not annoy the neighbours. If that makes sense. As you get into the swing of it you soon discover what is practical and what isn't. Tuesday is planning day but a number of people find it easier to plan on either a saturday or a sunday when everyone who needs to be involved is about. Keep it in mind but do try to do all of the daily focuses as it really does help keep things ticking over. Promise.

flykids challenge please let me know if these are pointless, or if you want me to post them.

And lastly the babystep Over the years the fat fairy has been very keen to make a point of pointing out that if we do not take care of ourselves and treat ourselves with respect it makes doing practical things much harder. Whether or not you agree with the babystep try to stop being so mean about yourself. Something is good enough, you really don't have to be perfect. And if life gets in your way, so what? Just do it another time. With the flylady system it all comes around again. So whether you get it this time or next is not the point. Just do the best you can!

this was linked from a recent thread and has been the perfect cure for the grumps. Giggling away in a manner that is most unsuitable for the time of night.

The day has been quite productive but as always new tasks crop up!

Ta Da

• Went ice skating - even DH participated albeit only for about 20 mins
• Quick trip round farm shop - got a cake each (woops!)
• Laundry load in and hung to dry
• Xmas decorations taken down (DH put away outside lights) and about half boxed up (need to get a new box out of the garage for the rest)
• DD to swim training
• Spent over an hour detangling the tree lights that DH kindly tangled

Tomorrow is our last free day before school is back so it will be full on getting everything organised

Morning all. Back to work today....booooo. And no training say so straight back in with Year 11 all morning.

To do:-
Get out of the house without killing small children
Survive work without killing big children
Cook dinner
Evening routine
Mark 6 million books.
Put washing away.

Have a lovely day everyone.

Morning to All
All the best to everyone ( like me ) returning to work today .
Morning routine done .
Thanks for all the suggestions about evening routines. Taking them all on board and in the process of trying to find one for myself.
Hope you found the paper Bitchy. If not , why not write a letter and give your authorisation ?
Got to go now .

Good luck with your first day back Ellie

I have just woken up to my alarm for the first time in 2 weeks

Best get on with the morning routines.

Oh good grief. It's early. It's dark. It's cold. I want to be in bed for at least another 3 hours. I am sure I was born to be a lady of leisure and not to have to work. Brain wont function beyond essentials and getting my butt to work today.

Paper was found in the end. Sleep was not. Not even 1 hour's worth. Alarm goes off in half an hour. I am cutting my losses and brewing up. Extra strong extra large VAT of Bitchy Brew coming up. Help yourself if you have need!!!

Thanks for the brew, Bitchy. I'm trying to force myself to get up slightly earlier every day so that it doesn't come as too much of a shock to the system when the DC go back to school on Wednesday (and the time difference doesn't help - I think I'm still on UK time), but am failing miserably so far.

Off to ILs today so there won't be much flying going on here, but at least it means that no more mess will be created with everyone out.

Thanks bitchy

Bleurgh, horrible work! Can't be bothered with all of this today!

Not much flying for me today just basic routines including trying to leave work on time.

To do
Clean out work bag (not done on Friday as I can do this at work)
Clean boots
Get back into routines including putting putting clothes out for the morning the night before

Having not looked at the thread all w/e I doubt I will ever catch up with the chat so someone please fill me in if I missed anything important.

Neither school is back until tomorrow so DC are still sleeping. However DH is up and out and I will be working for a bit as soon as I have posted a list:

• WORK - contract invoices and bank rec if I get peace and quiet
• Washing on
• Ring osteopath and get appointment - I need to be straightened out :)
• Pay for music lessons and dance class for DD
• Run with DS - test out parkrun route for local parkrun that we are setting up
• Ice cakes
• Christmas decorations down and away
• Living room hoovered
• Eat cakes
• Menu plan and shopping list
• Early dinner
• Uniforms ready
• Early night for all

That should do it.
Hopefully I'll be back to update and catch up later but I hope the return to normality goes well for everyone.

NickNacks - at the thought of 8 children to entertain
Making - you can't 'fail' at flying! You did some things on your list, it is fine, today is another day :)
Thanks all for the tips about the poinsettia, I might stick them in the greenhouse then and see how they do if I remember to water them :)
Thank you for the links, Bitchy, I do try and do the fly kids one too, so it is useful for me :)

DC not back to school until tomorrow, I am dreading it :( I'm a teensy bit jealous of those of you who are home ed-ing, even though I know it wouldn't work for our family :( Lazy PJ day for the DC, I am trying not to be so lazy. I've already done my morning routine, so not too bad.
To do:
Mission
Home bleurgh (although I do this as one small thing every day, today is empty all bins in the house and put the bin out for tomorrow morning)
15 mins in zone doing detailed cleaning
Double check that all school uniform/pe kit is clean, homework done and book diary in bag etc
Put dinner in slow cooker at 1pm
Afternoon and evening routines

Hope everyone has a good day, happy flying :)

Bitchy - I remember that thread .

Well, DS2 was still awake at 1.15am this morning . I have no idea why. In the end, I had to get into bed with him and then we fell asleep together. I was planning an earlyish start this morning so we could start home ed at a decent time, but there's no point dragging him out of bed now because he'll be too tired to do any work.

Am making the most of the extra time by browsing on MN getting on with household chores .