Let April Spring Cleaning with the Fledglings commence (hopefully Dogsbum wont turn it into too much of a shower....)

[Dogsbumhair]

The fledglings is a long running thread based on the Flylady cleaning/tidying principles. Personally I’m a newbie with only a couple of months flying under my belt but some members of the group have been on the thread for a number of years, so the thread is a mixed group of more and less experienced fledglings. I have found myself to be very warmly received as a newbie so please don’t be scared to join the gang.

Flylady link link here.

The system initially seems quite confusing so my advice as a fellow newbie would be to just go with it and accept that you will probably feel a bit confused for the first couple of weeks and then it will start to come together and make more sense.

The basic principles are (very) loosely as follows:

1. No perfectionism allowed (it is your enemy and it is stopping you getting anything done)
2. Little and often is the way to go (your house didn’t get in a mess in a day, it wont get sorted in one)
3. You are never behind, just jump in where you are (We are in a different zone of the house each week and all the house zones come round once a month, so all the tasks will come round again soon)
4. The point of this system is that by doing little and often your life isn’t dominated by housework and you have more time to do the fun things that you’d much prefer to be doing

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.

Later on today I will be posting up the links and information for tomorrow’s tasks

The advice from the wise and experienced members of the group is not to subscribe to the emails, but I have to confess that as a foolish newbie I do receive them I have learnt to ruthlessly bin anything beyond the actual flying tasks though.

Hopefully I haven’t missed anything too important off this introduction, but I’m sure someone more experienced will pop up to supplement this information if I have.

Good luck and happy flying through April!……………..

and for you Captain

Oh dear, so many poorly fledglings .

I dropped DS2 off at his friend's house this morning, which gave me some time to tackle our bedroom.

Took two bagfuls of stuff to the charity shop

Tried on lots of clothes in White Stuff, but resisted all except for a new pair of flat shoes for summer. A very nice pair of medium-high wedges caught my eye as I left the shop, but I resisted (so far).

Looked bloody awful in the shop mirror. When I mentioned it to DH, he said, dryly, "It will only get worse".

DH has been decluttering the garden again. Another trip to the dump. He's doing very well.

Nearly time to collect DS2 again. That was a quick four hours .

Ha Toffee! That's just the sort of thing my dh would say!! Men, eh? Well done wrt decluttering!!

Sorry you are feeling so low CaptainSubtext and you never need worry about venting on here! Hope your dh's back recovers soon.

Oh dear Greymalkin sorry to hear you are under the weather too! There is a lot of it about atm. Bet you will be fab at the interviews but sorry you are worrying about them. Is there anything practical that you can do to prepare? at your Wolf Hall fest!!

Ta da:
morning routine inc dw, wm, rabbits, dining room table hot spots
(Bathroom still needs a thorough clean though, s & s won't cut it!)
plumber for leaky bath valve thing
hung out white wash (dd school shirts and vests) and a few woolies washed last night to dry on terrace
washed more woolies by hand and lay them out flat on drying rack in sun
fed dog
walked dog to chemist and back and handed in prescription
coffee and muffin for plumber
paired thousands (seeminly) of dh's socks
hoovered downstairs and cleaned down kitchen after dd's raspberry muffin making marathon yesterday
served lunch; re-heated veggie pasta (sort of arrabiata) from last night
finally packed on-line parcel rtns (yay!) which weren't half as time-consuming as I thought they would be!
dog out on walk and on post office and errand run

To do:
fish pie tonight (which if dd gets her way, will prob end up being just mash, cod and peas and optional parsley sauce)
work my way through a few more letters and parcels
study the form for Grand National tomorrow
clean and ironed clothes away (trying to do a few each day in ironing lady's absence)
finish cleaning out rest of rabbit room (job only half done)
TIDY BOUDOIR which is a total disgrace!!
water newly planted troughs and pots on terrace
wash dh's new trousers

It is so sunny and warm here that I have itchy feet - desperate to get out of the city - dh not up to travelling atm though and don't want to uproot dog again so soon!

Suddenly out of the blue we seem to have an internet connection again so I’m going to quickly post tomorrow’s links before we lose it again

I haven’t read thread yesterday or today so I hope everyone is ok, I will read thread after I’ve posted if I don’t lose the connection again.

So here goes……

Baby-step no. 11 for Sat 11th April is here

We are in Zone 2 The Kitchen this week: here

If you want to, you can declutter for 15 mins a day in Zone 2!

The detailed cleaning list (if you are at that stage) for Zone 2 is here

There are no missions at the weekend

The daily focus for Saturday is: Family Fun Day

The monthly habit for April is making your bed

For a summary of the above, see the flight plan: here

Happy flying…..

Have quickly read thread for yesterday and today and will quickly post, still living in fear of losing landline/internet connection again. Telephone engineers were dealing with DP and he hasn't filled me in as to what the problem was and what has happened, so I still don't know what the problem was/is.

Linzer DP is off to India for almost two weeks, from 25th April to 7th May.

Thanks Whoknows for doing the links for me last night, much appreciated.

Swan glad to hear your DH is getting better, sounds very scary.

Still reeling from 35 lipsticks, I am also in the 0 lipstick club, glad to hear that I'm not the only one.

Thanks Toffee re phone - phone not working wasn't really an issue but the fact that it stopped the internet working is a much bigger issue as DP needs it for work and I was worried that it might really ruin our weekend if it didn't get sorted as he'd probably have to spend a lot of the weekend in work if he can't work online from home. So I'm hoping we've dodged that one now. I'm also not a fan of the landline working in terms of phone calls as we are dogged by cold callers here.

SC thanks for offering to do the links for me if the landline hadn't started working again.

Hopefully when DP finally gets home from work he can tell me what the landline problem was and if it's fully resolved.

Will post this now for fear of losing it....

SC cleaning lady did come today (Friday is her day) but her own little boy had been terribly ill all week and she had no sleep so I just felt guilty to see her working and ended up shouting at all the children to help.
She folded up the sheets in the airing cupboard
swept kitchen floor
wiped down worktops
hoovered hall
hoovered living room

but as a result
ds1 hoovered the landing and some stairs
and mopped the bathroom (quite goodnaturedly I may add - ski-ing seems to have stopped him being quite so snarly about mechanical tasks )
ds2 swept the path of magnolia petals (that sounds terribly romantic but I'm afraid it isn't - our front garden is a bit of a rubbish dump atm full of milkbottles and cardboard boxes and wheelie bins)
ds2 also unloaded a small portion of the dw

today was such a rightoff that I ended up in desperation taking ds2 for a drive (the sort of thing you do with a crying baby) in order to get him out of the house. We went up and down various hills in search of a café which served apple pie and ended up in a pub serving apple crumble from whence he walked home! So finally some exercise.

Ds1 and dd both went off on shopping expeditions to spend their pocket money. Ds1 also took all our loose change to Morrisons literally a sack of coppers and got a voucher for £36..... from the change machine.

I decluttered and tidied my bedroom yet again changed sheets and scrubbed ensuite loo and basin
made exotic meatballs for supper with rice

washed up

Toffee I find that with ds2. It always boils down to him saying I didn't explain things properly to him before we did something. I think it is possibly a throwback to times where it feels like a battle to discuss things in advance and be refused. But ds1 and 2 have now said to me they much prefer to discuss it in advance and they might come round than have things sprung on them.
Apropros chemistry - I said to ds1 (who claimed he had been doing the properties of elements revision) what group carbon was in and he said oh metals I said NOOOO. Alkenes then he said. Then unfortunately I wasn't sure but his giggles at this point suggested he really had no idea. I need to look it up.

I hasten to add that I didn't give ds1 the voucher from Morrisons (he gave it back to me to buy groceries at some later date

He really does have no idea! Alkenes .

A better day today, DCs a bit niggly with each other but managed to keep a lid on it, just. Spent the afternoon in the park with DD's friend and dad, then out to the pub to eat when DH got home. Did the usual trawl online of the menus of every pub in a 5 mile radius to check there would be something DS would eat and ended up in one of only two that fitted the bill.

Flying wise - laundry, a bit of tidying, not much else.

Whoknows Nope it is definitely not an alkene

I have only just walk in through the door. Plan of action is tea, hot water bottle, pain killers and bed

Yesterday was fun, DCs got lots of time outside and my oldest friends visited in the afternoon - we went out for dinner and played loads of board games. Got absolutely bugger all done but hey. Really need to put the tumble dryer on, it's been loaded for a couple of days

I am now sitting on the "ill fledgling" bench though. Sandpaper throat etc. About time really as I haven't actually had a bug for months which is quite odd for me. Attempting work at 10am but not entirely sure if I will last the shift!

And thanks folks for the kind words and support DH does seem to be a lot better so it seems it was just a caught nerve rather than a trapped one! I think we will be back to normal if we (DH!) can catch up with everything tomorrow. It's been a kick up the proverbial though as it's reminded me how vulnerable we are if something goes wrong, and that it could happen any time. So even more important to get the house properly sorted so we only have to worry about maintaining it rather than coping with huge mess.

I'm back. Emerging slowly from the depths of Easter break!

Alas all the hard work dh and I did a few weeks ago now seems to have been undone. Quite pissed off though that instead of helping, dh is moaning about it. And then leaving his stuff scattered everywhere too instead of putting it away... I know he's having issues at work which doesn't help his mood, and he knows so is trying not to be picky. But sometimes I just wish he'd get on and pitch in instead of trotting out "what have you done all day" err,prevented the children from killing each other and wearing them out by playing outside an awful lot.

Tomorrow is finally car boot sale day. So today's mission is loading up car and taking it to school so I can get as much stuff as possible there. Borrowing paste tables from the parents and picking up tuck supplies as we've been badly let down :(

Have decided if this week doesn't shift some stuff I shall visit another nearby boot sale next week as I want to get some money back rather than keep giving everything away first. It will go towards booking a short holiday which we desperately need. Change of scene should help dh feel less grumpy :)

Stupid amounts of stuff to do today. Don't want to do any of it coffee and a fry up is the way forwards.

We're off to a wedding, so it's been a quick bit if flying, hair is done and no i need to go and do make-up and get dressed. Despite the 35 lipsticks I am no glamour puss, I do like make-up but I hate dressing up, never feel comfy in smart clothes and especially not smart shoes, I'd be far happier going in jeans and boots. At least the sun has come out now, after a wet start.

Hope you have a good time, WhoKnows. After suffering in my high heels recently, my top tip is to take a pair of flat shoes in your handbag.

Am still in search of The Dress to wear to our two parties next weekend. First dress was lovely, but didn't suit me; second dress was awful; third dress is a lovely cheerful red/orange colour, but I'm not sure about the shape (high waist and a bit too short for an oldie like me). DH, who is my harshest critic, says it's fine, but I suspect it's a bit of a youngish shape and will probably return it. There seem to be more and more bits of my body that I need to hide these days .

Have just ordered two more dresses from House of Fraser. Will probably end up sending them all back and going in jeans!

DH has just loaded the car with more garden stuff to go to the dump. I'm about to tackle DS2's bedroom.

I'm feeling weirdly out of things despite only two days off the internet and hence the thread. Reading thread this morning to catch up but still feel a bit spaced out and disconnected.

So I thought posting might help me to reconnect even though I don't seem to have done that much in the last couple of days, I feel like I've been busy but not a huge list to post, if you know what I mean.

I’ve been doing some DIY and as ever one small job seems to lead to another bigger job. I was thinking about painting around the new mini alcove shelves and it made me think that there is no point painting using the current colour which is a really bright yellow as the room is going to be for Meerkitten and so it needs to be a calmer colour.

So now I’ve ended up doing colour samples and have chosen a new, paler yellow, so now I’m in a position of going from creating shelves to re-decorating the whole room! Luckily though there is a picture rail and the ceiling and wall above the rail is white so I’ve only got to paint up to the picture rail.

So it feels like that is what the last few days has been like with a number of DIY jobs, but on the plus side I do feel like I’m not only making progress but really enjoying doing little and often on a range of DIY jobs by breaking them down into bite size chunks.

On the negative side I think I’m having some kind of hormonal surge though as I’ve been feeling a bit emotional the last couple of days and I can feel that it’s not connected to anything that is actually happening.

I just feel a bit less emotionally robust than normal and unfortunately DP came home late and grumpy last night which would normally slide over me like water off a ducks back but instead I found myself feeling all upset and emotional. It was very weird, like turning into a different woman, quite disturbing. I just took myself off to watch tv and he came and apologised later but it was just weird to feel so vulnerable, which I don’t normally feel. The joys of pregnancy I guess!

Anyway, I feel ok today but it’s made me wonder how I’ll be if I start feeling all vulnerable when DP is away in India, am I going to turn into a basket case?!

Have a good time at the wedding Whoknows! [Was only kidding you about 'glamour puss' btw !) Bet you look lovely!! And I'm with you on the comfy clothes front. I wear a 'uniform 'of 'lounge' trousers with expandable waists most of the time now and far too much of my wardrobe is Lands End-esque! [middle aged frump emoticon]
Btw - that 'trawling for child friendly pub menu within 5 mile radius' sounds like a useful app in development!

Good luck with the tasks ahead DEM!

Great to have you back Minisok! Good luck with boot sale and hope your dh grumps less and pitches in more!!

CaptainSubtext Sorry you are feeling ill! [proffers hot honey and lemon drink] but glad that you were able to have some family fun before succumbing to the lurgy. Ouch at your dh's caught nerve though! (Sounds extremely painful even if not trapped!) Glad he is improving overall though!

Swan bless your ds's for helping out (even if you did have to shout)! Hope your dh's health improving too.

Good you have your land line back Dogsbum!

Big waves to everyone I've missed!

Was thoroughly fed up with dh and dd last night. Went to faddle of fish pie [first world problem!] and dh criticised it and dd rejected it [sigh]. I found myself alone at the table making (very childish) and over-elaborate "hmmming' noises as I ate my portion because I was so annoyed!!

To be fair to dd and dh, despite new furry friend, everyone a bit out of sorts because we should have been away and they are both coughing for England and feeling rotten. This is the 10th day that dd has had this virus and although improving, she is still tired and snot-ridden. Intended to build her up over Easter with good food and lots of enjoyable outdoor activities ... and she is eating like a sparrow and "too tired" to go out for anything other than short dog walks. Oh well, at least she is sleeping lots!

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

x posts

Toffee

"There seem to be more and more bits of my body that I need to hide these days" yy to that (strictly with regard to myself I mean!) you are lovely and slim!!

Dogsbum sorry that pregnancy hormones are doing their worst but don't worry, you can always vent on here while your dh is away!

Thanks Steady for flowers and permission to vent if I need it when DP is away, I may well be taking you up on that I feel ok at the moment but it's easy to feel ok whilst sitting on the sofa in front of the tv I'm not exactly challenging my emotional resources!

Toffee your dress dilemma is where the anonymous aspect of this thread is so difficult as I'm aware of wanting to help as I love these kind of dilemmas about what dress shape/colour suits us and I think as women we're often so self critical that we can't see past our perceived faults to when we have found a nice dress.

I very rarely wear dresses so the last time I had to buy one for a wedding I was lost as it had been about ten years since I'd bought a fancy dress and so not only had my body changed but I also realised that my head only contained dress styles from ten years ago so I was in a world of scupper!

In the end I went into a department store and tried on about six plus totally different styles of dress, ignoring colour and whether I liked them or not, just tried different styles so that I could get a sense of what shape would suit me.

I was really shocked to discover that the style that suited me best was one that I wouldn't have chosen in a million years from looking at it on the hanger, because in my head I was convinced it wouldn't suit me (and it was a style that hadn't been around ten years earlier when I'd last bought a dress ).

Then armed with a style that suited me I tried on a few similar dresses in a range of colours and managed to find a dress that suited me but was unlike any dress that I ever would have expected to choose.

I don't know if that's of any help, but your dilemma set me off on a whole long stream of thought, that I couldn't resist sharing! Apologies if I'm boring your arse off!

oh dear I'll join everyone in the unreasonably grumpy corner then...

(apart from wedding - that sounds more like it ) and yellow paint is my favourite from Chinese yellow to custard to sienna yellow Dogsbum We have jasmine white (dulux) in our kitchen which a very nice yellowed "white" without the peach effect of magnolia
There's another yellow from Dulux which comes ready mixed but I found that a bit too green

Ds2 was rambling so much about the Grand National this morning and what fraction to put into the betting kitty that I had to take him away again..so a long spring like walk round a local park - very nice I'm glad I was forced to take him out.

Dh in very bad mood (low and grumpy) and lying on the sofa. Teenagers still in bed when I left have emerged. Dd's room is finally tidy - that has taken about a week of nagging.

Plumber has fixed the utility tap - that took all morning

decluttered old tap to the pavement for the metal scrap merchants who come riding past

ds2 listened to me talking about knitting (I was trying to show him how boring talking about your pet subject was if the person who was listening wasn't interested) Then he told me he found knitting very interesting and wouldn't mind giving it a try..so that failed dismally to make the point to him that monologues are dull..This was in the park so possibly any conversation made walking through the trees is magical

Now back home feeling truly knackered again, waiting for the next person to get cross

Still Grand National should be fun and plenty of leftover food for supper

Am a little late to the party but can I join in.
Have scanned through the thread and seems exactly what I need.
So having scanned in have taken note of a few things and been inspired by your hard work.
So today have managed to get two loads of washing on, hung one load up to dry will do other when kids in bed.
Have also done two loads in dishwasher.
Am going to try and get an old bookcase out of the garage and stick it in the porch to keep shoes on. Am taking notes of the no need for perfection. So instead of waiting till our porch is decorated and until we have money for nice cupboard, this solution will work for now and will get shoes out from the rest of the house.
Also going to mop the bathroom even though I don't have time to clean it properly.
Then tomorrow will start following the daily and weekly tasks and be sure to make my bed!

Sounds like you've got the hang of how it works already mamapants, welcome to the party!

Swan glad to hear of someone else sharing my love of yellow. Our entire ground floor is yellow, which isn't as crazy as it sounds as it's a tall narrow house, so it's only front room and kitchen/dining area. That yellow has to be a shade that both me and DP can live with so it's a warm but not too bright yellow, my study on the other hand only had to please me so it was very bright! That is the room that will now be toned down for Meerkitten.

Very amusing hearing you trying to bore DS2 and failing, that did make me chuckle

I've bought a crochet hook this afternoon and I've decided that I'm going to teach myself to crochet, so I might start boring people about that. I've decided to teach myself by looking for instruction online to start with so if anyone has done the same and can suggest any websites that would be great

Dogs - thank you for writing about your own dress dilemma. You sum it up very nicely. I wish I could get to a department store to try on lots of dresses, but it's too difficult to get time away from the family to get to my nearest big town. At least I can order online and return the dresses that are no good.

I know slim-fitting shift dresses and wrap dresses suit me, but the difficulty has been finding them in a colour that suits (had my colours done last year - I'm an Autumn leaf - and am sticking to them as they do seem to work) and at a price I can afford. Two more dresses are on their way to me and I'm hoping that one of them will be The One.

Swan - hilarious that you tried to bore your DS2 and failed dismally. I think it might well be that you are just very good at making any topic interesting. We love yellow too and used to have a very sunny yellow bedroom in our old flat, which always cheered me up.

mamapants - welcome to the thread. It sounds as if you have made a great start to Flying.

Managed to tackle DS2's bedroom today. I had tidied it up a few weeks ago, but it needed more decluttering, so I have boxed up some more toys to store in a cupboard. Moved the toy storage shelves and found dead woodlice and spiders behind - ugh. Have hoovered and mopped it all now.

DS1 absolutely refused to come outside for a walk with me - again. It was gorgeous weather too. However, he did join us downstairs for a while, so at least he was sociable.

Ds2 and I walked to the local fish and chip shop to buy dinner tonight. Am now so full I can hardly move.

Dh has been out to buy Prosecco.

ta da
Impose order and structure on a situation not inclined to be anything other than disorganised chaos.

The result is that I am absolutely exhausted and now ready for bed. Except ds is in the shower, needs tea and hasn't yet had his sleep med

Sounds like you are well on your way to finding the dress then Toffee if you know the style and colour palette that suits you, that's definitely most of the battle, just a case of dropping on the right dress I guess. Fingers crossed you don't have to order too many dresses before you get the one.

Clothes are so difficult when you have to choose online because just a tiny difference in how they are cut or the colour in real life compared to on a screen can make a huge difference as to whether or not they suit. I hope you get it sorted soon. Prosecco sounds like just what you need to get you through until it's sorted I'm feeling very envious as I'd love a glass of prosecco....