March of the Fledglings 2015

[Slingclutter]

Heartfelt thanks to Whoknows for running the February thread during such a stressful time for her (and to Toffee for helping out.)

If you are strugging with C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome) and S.T.U.F.F. (something that undermines family fun) then this is the thread where we (loosely) follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system (in our own, unique, relaxed style) with lots of chat, support and and along the way.

Flylady link link here.

This little-and-often system is designed so that you can follow a series of steps and routines each day (which gradually become second nature) in zones of the house which are designated weekly; defining and minimising housework, which in theory should leave you with loads more time to do something more interesting instead!

At the same time it is intended to reduce that panicky "rabbit in headlights" feeling when you are overwhelmed and everything needs doing all at once. No problem if you miss a day or two; just jump right back in and it will all come around next month again!

It's up to you, but we advise not signing up to receive the Flylady e-mails as you will be inundated! All the information you need will be linked here on a daily basis.

From the first of the month, we will be following Flylady's steps and routines using a three-pronged approach (dependent on the stage everyone is at):

1. start or repeat baby steps

1. repeat baby steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone

1. reinforce babysteps and do daily missions if you have finished decluttering.

[And if you are really enthusiastic and have finished decluttering - you can go on to detailed deep cleaning in each zone.]

More info here on getting started and on Flying lessons. Here's the launch pad for more experienced fledglings.

Don't be put off by the purple prose and barf-tastic language of the site - the underlying system is sound!

Three key points to keep in mind:
(1)No perfectionism allowed (this is harder than you might imagine!)
(2)You are never behind; just start where you are and anything you do is progress.
(3) It didn't get into a mess overnight - it won't get tidy over night - accept it will take time to get on top of things and you will be happier.

If you are new; then trying to spend 15 mins decluttering daily and doing the babysteps is a good way to start. Some of us (mentioning no names!) can have scary looking lists but don't let that worry you! Do what you can, anything is better then nothing, and don't judge yourself against others.

If all else fails, a brew + the power of three technique + a bit of support on here can work wonders!

Oh and don’t let it put you off if we appear a bit cliquey – some of us have been on here for years – but all lurkers, intermittent returnees, regulars, oldies and newcomers very, very welcome!

Should be tidying up, but am watching one cat eating the remains of Nutella on toast and listening to the other knocking over empty bottles in the kitchen .

I have, however, managed to get dressed, go to the corner shop, give breakfast to both boys and remind DS1 to cut his nails and DS2 to wash his Nutella-stained face, with some success.

Going shopping soon, then DS2 wants to go for a walk, as it's a beautiful day. Maybe this will give us more energy, not less .

Peg - the planners are under 'Parents' in 'Home Education'.

Have decided to get off sofa and go to kitchen and make the welsh cakes recipe on mumsnet, no welsh connection apart from the fact that DP went to uni in Wales. Surely that counts as work and I will have to wash up first, I've only ever had Spar welsh cakes so looking forward to trying the fresh version.

I guess I need to make the most of the fact that I wont be able to have mornings like this in a few months time based on the early starts that people with small people in their house have been mentioning. Better enjoy it while I can...

I'm aiming at getting on top of regular jobs and do one or two one off tasks each week. cat litter and recycling bins done. I've repotted some plants and got the laundry on.

Next is eating lunch and doing work planning .

Ds and I are having a rather loud discussion as to whose responsibility it is to tidy his room I am pleased to see I am doing my role of mum right and his vocabulary for describe me and my point of view is very descriptive . Thing is if he complained less and got on with it he could have his technology back. I just want to wash his bedding and be able to put his clothes away

Ha ha witchy. Sounds like my lot. And if they just blimming did it, they'd have it done before half the whining was done.

Today I've done the dishes several times! And cleaned a good amount of the kitchen. Including window. Hoovered kitchen and hall. Floors needs mopping but that can wait until tomorrow.

Hello, on phone so pls forgive brief message. Sorry not to get bk on here as planned last night. Huge thank you to Toffee for taking over x Bk Wed am, big waves

It's bitchy Minisok. The witchy bit was new as of last month and will soon enough go again I am in the mood for a name change atm anyway. be warned. There might be a new one every month or so atm. will have to see

Grey and Peg you both has very early starts to the day. Thanks for croissants Grey .

Ta Da:
My beautiful Belfast sink is clean!
Laundry rebooted.
Kitchen tidied and rescued for visitors.
Endless cuddles and feeding of baby.

To Do:
Laundry x2 washes
Sort ironing pile and choose most difficult items to send to launderette to be ironed.

I actually ordered chocolate croissants from tesco but they didn't have any! Hmmph :o

Productive day in the bitchy house.

Ta da
Deal with the fall out of confiscated technology
ds stripped his bed
ds removed non clothes items from his clothes drawers
ds put the rubbish in the bin and took all items of washing up downstairs into the kitchen
DW filled and run, emptied and currently being refilled
ds helped make jelly and tea
2 pints of jelly made but we all know i will need to make more by tomo evening
Seseme seed bread made for ds' lunches next week
cheese bread in bread machine [yum]
Ds' clothes way
Some folding done
cleared a kitchen cupboard out
printed a load of stuff out
took the skin off a blister on my arm by accident
3 loads and counting of washing done
kitchen benches wiped down
remove some too small clothes from ds' wardrobe
generally be silly and scare people with party poppers and randomly putting pants on ds' head
Clear ds' notice board down and give him March's activity schedule

Still here ladies! DS2 doing great - 7 weeks old now - and we have some sense of normal and routine again.

Keeping on top of my morning/evening routines and washing but all the big ideas of decluttering on ML are floating away, especially since I only have 2 more months till I'm back at work!

Still, enjoying my lovely boys whihch is far more important. Will try to be on a bit more this month.

ta da
2x washing
washing up
booked UK hotels for spring/summer visits
visitors - droppers-in who stayed for 2 hours...who does that to people with a newborn baby???!!!
list of things to remember for tomorrow/packing for England
skyped parents
shower

I have been busy Flying (see the before and after). And I've disobeyed Flylady's dictums because I've spent about three hours clearing one room. But it's done now. And DS2 has been told, STERNLY, that he needs to keep it this way .

And another before and after.

Links for Monday:

Babystep Number 2: dressed to shoes.

It's the house bleugh (our alternative to Flylady's nauseating 'home blessing').

I'm sure there's more. Will have to think. Be back in a mo, after pouring more wine (reward for so much Flying).

Ah yes, the flight plan and the mission: sweep your front porch.

We were not that successful with ds' room. well done to you. but hahahahaha to it staying that way

Front porch sounds like a good plan. We don't have one as such, but the equivalent zone seems to have mutated into a playroom annex in recent days.

Counting my hour's run as renewing the spirit. I enjoy it as me time, especially as I can get some country views on the way. Also both DCs fell asleep on the way home from a trip out, which gave us all a chance at a family nap à quatre!

I think 3 hours of building a Lego Fire Engine under the relentless supervision of a 4 year old could be counted as family fun. He perceived that it was anyway. His attention span is obviously considerably longer than mine!

Cleaned the most minging parts of the kitchen today, so hopefully, I can make progress on that tomorrow.

Welsh cakes were great, very quick and easy too if anyone fancies having a go. Me and DP hoovered them up.

Very impressed at your huge list of things done Bitchy and love your before and after photos Toffee, that has to be very satisfying to look at. I took a couple during my de-clutter month, but nothing as dramatic as that. I always think it's good to take photos of these things though as I always forget things that I've achieved in the house if I don't take photos. Normally I do before and after DIY photo shots, not tidying ones, but it's the same idea.

I've mostly had a very lazy day but I got a sudden burst of energy after making a roast dinner this evening and did the following:

Washing up
Load of washing
Wiped out both fridges
Really thorough clean of kitchen and dining room floor
Cleaned and tidied shoe rack
Emptied kitchen bin
Hoovered welcome mat
Wiped inside of kitchen door

So I think I've done tomorrow's mission already, so I feel ahead which is a nice way to start the week, especially as I always struggle with Monday Bleurgh, so maybe having got the mission out of the way I'll have more time for it tomorrow.

Now back on the sofa for some guilt free tv watching. Goodnight

ta da
Put all dry clothes away so DH can hang out wet stuff (actually I hung it out as DH had started ironing)
Wash work stuff so DH can iron it
Book train tickets
Update last month's finances

Starting small has definitely worked today!

Tomorrow we are having a lazy morning but want to do something nice with the DCs, although we are still in the deschooling phase of course so mustn't be too hung up on it.

I need to do laundry/drying (that's a big thing that's changed since I was last on these threads - my parents, bless them, bought us a tumble dryer! It's a heat pump condenser and I bloody love it!) and then we are meeting a childminder after lunch before I go to work.

Oooh, jealous of your tumble dryer, Peg. We have one, but it's stopped working properly and just spins the washing round and round, but doesn't dry it, so I've given up using it.

dogsbum - what a good list - an excellent start to the week!

MrsMook - you deserve a medal for spending so long building a Lego fire engine . I'm sure DS loved spending the time with you.

Bitchy - you have a point. But I can only hope.

Watched 'Better Call Saul', episode 2, after dinner. Preparing home-ed stuff for tomorrow now.

It's Spring! This morning was beautiful, bright and sunny - this afternoon was driving rain and howling wind. All the weather in one day.

Think I need to start planning tomorrow tonight, have so much to do and really need to stay on track to get it done. Feel so overwhelmed with the amount of things to do. Sticking to a list would really ease that, I think, so need to do a bit more planning the night before and sticking to the plan where possible the following day! Otherwise I feel I go round in circles and it is frustrating.

DD now seems to be going down with the same cold I had last week, hope she's not as bad as I was poor thing.

Front porch - we have an open front porch which acts as a funnel to blow leaves and dirt into the hall Americans have porches big enough to sit on, it's not like that but it always needs dusting/wiping so I'll be doing that this week!

We can all hope toffee without hope there is only dispair. And I think we need to skip that

For a horrible horrible moment I thought I had burnt the cheese bread. Nope. I forgot to put it in the oven. oops

So i now am waiting up to cook that after proving ds right when he said it was a bad idea for him to leave his technoloy in my room as I would only spend half the night playing on a game on it double opps.

Tomo is going to hurt I have a to do list but meh what will be will be.

And i have melted chocolate in my dressing gown pocket. Oh ffs. Seriously? one step forwards, and two backwards. That will seriously need washing tomo then!

Mmmmm, cheese bread recipe please Bitchy. You gave me an oat bread one ages ago and it is a firm favourite here - made 3 in 4 days last week

Quick list before I rouse the troops:

• Emails re school disco and lack of DJ - done
• Email for help with Mother's Day crafts - done
• Order said crafts (have to go the easy, not-very-creative, Baker Ross way due to limited time and lack of enthusiasm for tidying up after sessions - learnt the hard way!) - done
• All up and out
• Washing on, washing up done, S&S
• Sort out keys, parking permit, etc for electrician
• Travel 20 miles to deliver above and sort out more stuff re rental flat
• Dinner
• Parent's evening
• Running club (sort out membership renewal and awards night ticket moneys before going!)

Going to be a busy one so doubt I'll be reporting back.
Have a good Monday everyone.

I haven't caught up with the thread yet so I'm just going to post a little list.

to do
Put all DVDs away
2x washing
1x tumble dry
Put dry clothes away (that won't be til I get home from work this evening though)

Again, a small list so I can actually achieve it. Got to start right now or I won't have time to get the second wash on (we leave earlier than normal today as we are meeting the childminder at 1)

OK... GO!!!