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!……………..

SC - thank you for running the thread so splendidly throughout March, in spite of all the demands in your daily life .

And thanks again for setting up the new thread, Dogsbum.

DH pointed out that I hadn't hoovered under the sofa cushions when I hoovered the sitting room floor today. I hope he was just winding me up. I can't say I responded in a very light-hearted manner.

Just about to settle down to watch 'The Good Wife' (only on Series 2, so no spoilers please) with a glass of... grape juice . Have just half an hour left before I have to start fasting. AIBU to eat as much as possible before 9pm?

Jumping back in!

Ah that is better one name change is now complete. Can I just say it is good to be back

Hi Dark. You don't fool me.....

Hi y'all, loving the shiny new thread! Well done Dogsbum, you are very brave! Please may I be excused from leading a thread until after I've finished my stinking dissertation?!

Welcome back to returnees and welcome to newbies!

What can I say Who there are certain monikers that i miss sometimes. Still love the last one, but this will suit for the moment. No promises not to change again this month though, will have to see how it sits and the mood goes.

Hi Dogs thanks for new thread!

My flying in March amounted to approximately zero. Just fighting a losing battle here really! It only takes one day of not keeping on top of it and BOOM back to horrendous mess. Mind you the living room isn't as terrible anymore (possibly because much of it has been transferred upstairs).

In other news... Looks like I have some piano pupils lined up. So excited! Haven't taught for years so offering some cheap lessons to get back in the swing of it. I'm hoping to use the money from this to pay for at least one more activity each for the DCs.

Yes, thanks Dogs for starting new thread & thanks SC & others for making me feel so welcome at end of previous one.
Hope you're ok Toffee. Haven't read through previous thread so perhaps you mentioned fasting already... Do I recognise you from HE board?

Wow, page 2 already!

to SC for March and to Dogsbum for the new one. :)

Today has been rather good, with a trip to the castle, the park, the library and various cafés. We also managed to miss the horizontal hail and thunderstorms, and be out mostly in sunshine, if with a howling gale! No flying, but did also get some work done.

Oh, Captain where art thou? I'd love to find a source of cheap piano lessons for the boys...

We're off on Easter travels tomorrow so may not be around for a few days.

I did spot a subtle reference to a previous persona Dark.

Anyway, since I last posted I have sorted through some more clutter. I have a stack of those big flexible plastic tubs, use them for sorting and moving stuff and normally have one stationed at the top and bottom of the stairs for stuff that needs to go up and down. Two hours ago I had three of them full of random crap, now I only have one left, the rest has been binned, put away or bagged up for the charity shop. The random crap in the other all needs to go in the DCs bedrooms, so it will have to wait till tomorrow.

CaptainSubtext - I agree totally, I am feeling really on top of things this week, but I know how easily it can all slip back. I have just been writing about order and disorder in society for my OU course and was thinking very much along the lines of how it operates in my house. Well done on the piano pupils, I am toying with finding a teacher for DD, but she does so much else at the moment I don't see how we'd fit it in.

Glad to see that everyone seems to have found their way on to new thread....phew. It feels a bit like a party actually with everyone turning up and saying hi and good to see everyone. Thanks for all the thanks on new thread.

I'm tired so heading off to bed now. Wing flaps and see you tomorrow (wishing there was a snoozy head icon with a little hat and zzzz coming out of it's mouth as that's how I'm feeling......zzzzzz)

This do you dogsbum?

Hello can I join. I have tried flylady on my own and got quite confused then gave up. It would be great to have some support and motivation. When I tried flylady before I created a brand new email address to have all the emails sent to and that account now has 407 unread mails

I have a 10mo DD who can turn my living room from perfect to complete chaos before lunchtime and a lazy DH (well he does what he's told but doesn't seem to have any initiative).

Morning all,

Welcome Strawberry01, sounds as though you are similar to a lot of us with regards to DH. Ask away if you have any questions, this is a very relaxed thread.

Well, DCs off to school for the last day of term. DS was a bit upset because he overslept and didn't get to play his planned April Fool trick on DD. I am getting annoyed with this keyboard, the right hand shift key has suddenly stopped working and it's completely thrown me, excuse any strange lack of capitals in my posts.

Right, just need to get my packed lunch and head off to work.

Good morning fledglings - does anyone else finally have sunshine today rather than gale force winds?

Welcome to strawberry lol at all those emails! The general feeling on the thread is not to subscribe as the thread leader will give you the information you need without all the barf-tastic tripe and twee nonsense spouted by the fat fairy Sympathies re the destructive DD, I have a whirlwind DS who can wreck ever room in my house just by toddling through it.

Admiring your name changes Dark and Captain

Morning all. I had a horrible nights sleep but luckily Dd slept until 7 instead of her usual 5.20.
So here goes I need a to do list to give me something to aim for:

Washing up
Ironing
Putting laundry away (I despise this job)
Declutter and tidy understairs cupboard (we are doing an open house in 2 weeks and I know when we are not there people will want to look in the cupboards - I hid all the clutter in there when the estate agent came round so it is bad!)
Look after friends Dd.
Take dc to fly a kite - might as well make the most of the windy weather.

Yes grey, although there's still a cold breeze.

It is still miserably cold. Lazy wind which blows through you has meant I have not even noticed the colour of the sky.

Is it the 1st? ah that will explain ds' reluctance to go to school. he does not like tricks/pranks being played on him.

Whoknows turn keyboard upside down and give a bit of a tap (you can be firmer with a standalone keyboard than you can with a laptop keyboard). sounds like you have some grub in the keyboard.

Thanks Dark, I'll try that when I get home, however it is an Apple one with very flush fitting keys so not much gets in. DH knocked a glass of water over it a few weeks ago, it went completely loopy but recovered after a few days upside down on a radiator, perhaps some permanent damage was done.

Ouch, yep water is never the friend of electrical equipment. :(
The crud that comes out of a normal pc keyboard is quite horrid sometimes.

CaptainSubtext I can't remember who you were previously, sorry!

Welcome to the newbies and welcome back to the oldies!

Was supposed to be meeting an old friend today for the first time in about 2 years but she had to cancel, sadly. So will try and sneak in a bit of uni work but will mostly be catching up on odd tasks and doing some baking with DD2.

Ta-Das - None

To Do
Pay a few bills
Draft response to Local Authority's home ed enquiries
Half-heartedly tidy up a bit
Maybe take the pile of stuff in the living room to the charity shop
Plan Literature Review chapter

I'm having a lazy slatternly morning, really must do something... Perhaps a a list will help:

Get dressed
Make beds
Sort out some washing
Put away yesterdays washing
Take DS out to play in the garden, and try to dig over the other flower bed.

Feeling completely 'meh' with no motivation whatsoever

I was just saying on another thread that I have no motivation grey i think it is the time change and the weather to fault. Will be glad for school holidays to start. Only 1 more day to go.

Dark - I get days where nothing's holds me back and I can race round like a whippet and get loads done, and other days like today, where I sink into the sofa and nothing can get me going.

But now I am going to do something, feel free to apply a boot to by behind...

I am sat in bed with a hot water and knitting. I am not in any position to be applying any boots Good luck