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!……………..

Nice flowers SC! :) happy Easter to you too.

I'm rather sleepy and just posted the below on the wrong thread:

I'm still in my jammies too, don't intend on getting dressed at all actually :o

Have done all my leftover jobs from yesterday though so feeling quite smug. DH is taking the DCs out for a scoot/play in the park (well if they stop whinging about it ) so I need to get my arse in gear and get stuff done while they're out, and they can help a bit in the afternoon.

This is the point where I struggle to figure out WHAT to do though. I've done all the regular housework stuff and now I'm looking round wondering where the heck to start on the horrendous clutter!

I think this is where some of the fledglings found Kondo useful. I haven't investigated it personally but we are not against the combination of approaches on this threads. Fly lady is fabulous for establishing routines, but we do recognise that it needs to be personalised a bit to suit individuals and the demands that are placed on each unique life

Ah yes I did enjoy the Kondo book! :) I couldn't keep up with the thread though, it went too fast for me but that's mainly due to my health - annoyingly I can't really do the whole 'all at once' method as, although I see why it works better, overdoing it generally leads to relapse. I am safe doing more today as I know DH is here tomorrow! :)

I do try and remember the principles though and I must say my attitude to accumulating Stuff has really changed since I read a bit about minimalism etc (in particular I recommend a book called Simplicity Parenting). And I really love how Flying is so flexible and I can genuinely celebrate any achievement instead of feeling crap because of my limitations.

Anyway I am now taking a much needed rest as I worked pretty much solidly for a couple of hours while DH took the DCs out. I just grabbed a few of the bags/boxes full of random crap (we have soooo many! ) and sifted through them, putting things in their places if they had one, and I got rid of about 2 binbags and some recycling.

DH is going to supervise the DCs tidying their room for a bit but frankly I'm knackered now so will be glued to the sofa. :)

I understand the problem. I spent a good chunk of the day in a non ideal environment, so today I have literally done bare minimum. Packed some clothes for ds, driven a couple of hours. I curled up back in bed with some knitting a while ago. Considering moving just long enough to grab some tea and a hot water bottle.

I have plans to do stuff tomo, but i suspect that it probably won't happen as things currently stand, but another rest day will do me no harm. Frustrate and annoy me but no harm.

It's hard finding the balance isn't it! I suspect we have had this conversation before under different names :o the boom and bust cycle is somewhat like Groundhog Day. The aches are setting in now and heart rate hasn't settled yet (the sooner I get medication for the POTS the better!). Will definitely need the electric blanket on tonight! I should've remembered that CFS symptoms are always worse when I'm on my period .

Ah well, hopefully I can manage something else tomorrow, we aren't going anywhere so any energy I do have can go on more decluttering. But I'm not doing anything else today, it's movie night soon and DH is making his fabulous salmon risotto later.

Happy Easter everyone!

Now that you have said that you are probably right about the conversation under different names. I will confess brain fog can be a real issue. I have been sleep charting for the last 4 months, trying to find ways to sort the cfs out a bit. It has been an utterly frightening experience and I am pretty certain that if I can sort out the insomnia the cfs symptoms will settle down.

I got extra wool than i need for a project so i have been looking for patterns. ravelry is more of a time black hole than mn.

Oh Dark I hope you didn't think I was having a dig! :( Was actually poking fun at myself TBH, as I didn't realise at first (due to name changes) that you also suffer from CFS. Brain fog fecking sucks, doesn't it. Sleep chart seems like a good plan, a lot of the therapy focused on that. I take amitriptyline which has the dual benefit of pain killing (I was prescribed it for headaches) and sedation - when I tried going without for a few months, the difficulty sleeping came back along with the headaches.

Phew DCs are off to bed now (having vaguely tidied their room before movie night) and I feel a bit more rested, still achy though so might have a hot bath with a load of Epsom salts, lavender oil and a book.

I didn't take it as a dig, it is just what it is. I often forget who said what. Know faces but not if they are not in the right context. Unfortunately it has meant to people's feelings getting hurt when i forget stuff. I have gotten used to the pre-emptive apology Sleep charts are great except that in the last four-five months I have collected a sleep debt of nearly 200hrs (November/December were bad months) and no one who is that sleep deprived can function. Amyptriptyline worked great on my migraines until it gave me hallucinations. I couldn't see what the issue was, the gp gave me a different med that I had horrific side affects to. I refused to even try the replacement to that med. Doc might have issued the prescription but I never got it filled. I prefer migraines to the side effects and i don't trust gps to are less than truthful about why they are issuing a med

It is blooming car alarm/house alarm city atm around here. At least one of the damn things has been going off for the last 2hrs. And just for fun my ribs are cracking every time I move. I am beginning to annoy myself

Right, here we go again…….

Baby-step no. 6 for Mon 6th April is here

This babystep introduces the concept of hot spots and using the timer.

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

Monday’s mission is here

The daily focus for Monday is: Monday Bleurgh This is a weekly clean that takes about an hour, see link above for details.

The monthly habit for April is making your bed

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

Happy flying…..

Right, I've just re-read yesterday's thread and read today's so I'm all caught up, sounds like everyone is busy.

I enjoyed the post it notes comments, especially the passive aggressive one Grey very amusing!

Captain glad to hear that you are happy with your new name and great news about the speech therapy, you must be absolutely thrilled. I'm also very impressed at how much de-cluttering you achieved today, no wonder you are tired now.

SC lovely flowers, very cheerful. Sorry to hear about DD being so ill and the knock on effects on your Easter plans. I'm glad to hear that the blood tests are normal, but I guess that doesn't really help you to know exactly what to do to help her. I hope you aren't all too down about the Easter plans being disrupted.

Strawberry sorry to hear that you are struggling with motivation and it's been very interesting to read everyone's ideas. If I'm really struggling I find that setting the timer for 15mins and doing anything for that amount of time helps me, even if I really struggle to make myself start it does help me to get something done.

Wow Toffee if I'd ever found £100 cash whilst tidying that would certainly motivate me to be keener to tidy!

I agree with Toffee and SC about getting much less done when DP is around. Sometimes it's because him being here makes my brain somehow think it's the weekend and that I'm off and so I can't motivate myself, weird I know. Sometimes it's because he's working from home and my plans involved something really noisy like drilling.

Somehow I always get a lot less done and it's not that he does anything to cause that because he doesn't.

Annoyingly last night when we sat down to watch the DVD we discovered that the security tag was still inserted that makes the case impossible to open I went to three Tesco stores this morning to try and get it opened but only tiny stores were open and they didn't have the required gizmo to open case. So I'll have to get that sorted tomorrow.

Yesterday and today I've made more progress on my mini alcove shelves, so I'm pleased about that.

Also this evening I got a burst of energy and after cooking a roast for tea and washing up I carried on tidying up kitchen and even got as far as doing two of this weeks tasks. So I've wiped down the outside of the fridge and I've done a fling boogie in the cutlery drawer. I didn't have 27 items to throw but I did find more than I expected. So that's a good start to the week Hopefully I don't sound too smug at this point

The kitchen is always an easy one for me though as we only have a tiny kitchen and it's a new kitchen, fitted coming up to 3 years ago. So when we had it fitted I did a massive de-clutter and I was pretty ruthless about clearing items out and because it's a small space I'm really quite disciplined about not buying new items to clutter the place up unless I really need them. So it's probably the easiest place in the house to have as the weekly focus, apart from the endless washing up that is as we don't have a dish washer.

Anyway, I think I've droned on long enough now, but I've enjoyed reading the thread and catching up.

Until tomorrow......

We don't have a dishwasher either Dogs :(. Now that we have a tumble dryer (which has genuinely changed my life :o) it's the one thing I am desperate for! But there's nowhere to plumb it in. If we move house it will be a very high priority. I have a tiny kitchen too!

I am not really following the flying routines ATM, as I'm trying to just declutter really, but I think I will focus partly on the kitchen anyway. The tops of the fridge etc are a right mess.

Anyway I have a lovely quiet house as DH just took the DCs out to the local nature park, they should be out for at least 3hrs. I'm not actually feeling too bad (salt bath helped I think) just a bit achy so trying to think of easy but effective little things I can do while watching DVDs :) I will take lots of rests though. I promised DH I wouldn't overdo it! At least we have no plans tomorrow - DH is back to work but I'm off so we will probably just doss about.

Dark yikes that sounds like a terrifying side effect! :( I live in fear of them, I am anxious anyway (OCD) and actually freak out about the whole idea of long term medication, which is ridiculous really, but I'm very nervous of starting the new meds my specialist wants me on (I'll be on 4 in total then I think). Sorry you had a rubbish night, I really hope today is better for you.

Haven't read the last couple of days but just wanted to say a belated Happy Easter and here's a cuppa for anyone that wants one.

Thanks for the cuppa, WhoKnows. Sweet pic .

We went without a dishwasher for about a year, Captain. I worked out I was wasting spending at least an hour a day washing up . It's a pain that you can't fit one in anywhere. (Not even a small table-top one?).

Our tumble dryer has died and I miss it. Hanging stuff outside or on the radiators is fiddly and results in crinkly clothing that needs ironing as well. And I don't need anymore housework, thank you.

Have just finished an online order. Am determined to start cooking more meals from scratch again to save money, but it still cost a small fortune.

DS2 has a friend coming round to play this afternoon and I have promised to take them out for a bit (lovely weather here at last), but might get a bit done in the house when they get back here afterwards.

DH has gone to work.

Right, time to get dressed to shoes or slippers. Still in dressing gown .

Tbf Captain it is not just meds that i am super sensitive to. I can no longer eat wheat or gluten or any of the nightshade family of veg. I am pretty much allergic to life Besides the more meds/tablets you take the more fun you can have with them.

Helpfully up at 9am as some lovely neighbour decided 9am on a bank holiday monday was a perfectly reasonable time to hoover their car out. Very unimpressed. But as I have a headache (dehydration) and a long list of stuff i want to do I am off for a cup of Bitchy's special brew and a fry up for breakfast. To go with the pint of water already drunk. I have no ds here atm so if motivation or coffee over load occurs there could be a scary list posted later. First job is to strip my bed and wash it as ds helpfully dropped chocolate on it

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one without a dishwasher Captain, it's not a problem at the moment with only two of us but I do wonder if I will feel differently when Meerkitten arrives. I also don't have central locking in my car, so people generally view me as being in the stone age I think.

If you are de-cluttering then you are doing flying in the correct order according to Flylady Captain I seem to remember that she says you can't tidy clutter so you've got to de-clutter first.

I would have to agree with her in the sense that I can only keep the de-cluttered places in my house clean and tidy, the places with clutter constantly slip back to chaos very quickly even if I do try and keep them clean. Must finish the de-cluttering of my study if I'm ever to be able to keep it clean and tidy.

Loving your mug Whoknows, it's gloriously sunny here and that mug has a lovely bright and sunny look, very cheerful.

Toffee I think you are probably right about washing up taking about an hour a day, it's definitely not a quick house cleaning item.

That sounds really tough Dark being allergic to so many things. One of DPs friends is allergic to everything and he compares himself to a Panda because he needs such specialist conditions that he's in danger of becoming extinct! He is making a joke of it but finds it frustrating at the same time.

I'm making the most of the weather here to do washing and hang it outside as I don't have a tumble dryer either. Towels are already out on the line and the sheets are in the washing machine.

DP spent yesterday in the garden, which was really good for him. Today we went to garden centre early and bought some plants so he'll be planting them out today, so hopefully two days in the garden should help him recover the rough few weeks he has had at work.

Anyway, I'm in my DIY togs, off to do some more priming of mini alcove shelf unit, so must get off my backside. While primer is drying I plan to make the most of the sunshine and pop out for a gentle stroll.

Happy Easter, catch up later

Have retired to bed. Thoroughly fed up with grumpy children. DH has been lovely and brought me a glass of wine and the computer .

Everyone's been fed and exercised, so I think I can allow myself some time off now.

Tomorrow’s links……

Baby-step no. 7 for Tues 7th April is here

This babystep involves laying out your clothes the night before. I don’t do this one myself, currently operating off a very small maternity wardrobe so it isn’t really a big decision what to wear in the morning! Do the more experienced fledglings have a view on this, either for or against, or is it quite an individual one?

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

Tuesday’s mission is here

The daily focus for Tuesday is: Planning Day

The monthly habit for April is making your bed

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

Happy flying…..

Dark that's a lot of things to avoid :( DH is coeliac and that's tiresome enough for him. Did you do a food diary? I have been getting getting IBS type symptoms for quite a while and should probably try to figure out a pattern. I am very sensitive to caffeine which is annoying as im the specialist said it can be helpful for me (raising blood pressure I think) - but it gives me palpitations so there's no way I'm having more.

DH has hurt his back today :( I am feeling The Fear, I always panic because of his history.

I managed a reasonable amount when they were out though - another bin bag filled and lots of bits and pieces in their proper homes.

Also my washing machine is a bit whiffy - do I just run it on empty or something?

[waves] holiday has been disastrous - we had to come back early and rebook tickets home due to illness in the family but ill person is on the mend or at very least stable and out of hospital so that is good

and anyway it's nice to be home isn't it? so glad I do not have to fly anywhere this Wednesday (the original return date)

so today I took ds1 and ds2 out to a local stately home to meet a friend and it didn't go very well...as ds2 complained bitterly (whilst we went round a Robert Adam house) that he had thought we were going to play football with friend's sons..
Dd has spent much of today lying in bed strumming her guitar and doing charcoal sketches (an amazing new development which seems to stem from having an Ipad)
and ds1 has RETURNED SAFELY FROM SKI TRIP (he managed an easy blue run on last day he said - not a natural ski-er but again resilience triumphed and I think some very good ski instructors who luckily spoke English as it was Colorado
Ds1 still suffering from random jet lag however found him fast asleep at 7pm today with all his clothes on. I woke him and gave him supper. He then fell asleep again after eating just the fried chicken on his plate..aah

Parks group again tomorrow - ds2 is looking forward to it who would have thought the holidays could be so boring compared to home edding? I think he wants me to resume formal lessons tomorrow as it makes him feel much safer (certainly compared to mad travel arrangements which keep changing)

It rained and rained in Ireland so England feels delightfully springlike.

SC sorry that dd is still not well - I'm sure the sunshine will help a lot (when it comes)
Toffee was talking with friend about maddening children too [sigh] Dd has an infuriating habit of tidying her room at 9.30pm ds2 keeps saying in a most repetitive fashion Consider This (usually about Eurotunnel) and ds1 is being sweet but I know that in just under 16 hours I am going to be having a major argument with him about doing some holiday homework. Dw still broken and ds2 dared to ask me if I would pay him for carrying it through to the utility. NOOOO! You should be paying me for cooking your meals you ungrateful child...

Ha ha! I love your DS2 asking you to pay him to help you out, Swan . The cheek of him! So sorry your holiday was cut short by family illness, but relieved to hear ill person is out of hospital and stable now. And very, very pleased that DS1 has returned safely from his trip.

Captain - sympathies on IBS-type symptoms. I suffered from this for years and it's dreadful. It really dominated my life for a long time. I hope your DH's back settles down again. And well done on achieving so much today. Not sure what you do about whiffy washing machines. I think Dark knows what to do.

Dogs - thanks for the links again. I love this babystep. For me, it's one of the most helpful steps and I nearly always do it. I am awful in the morning, so I need things to be as simple for me as possible. I even used to lay out the children's uniforms for them when they were going to school, right down to placing their socks in their shoes. (I know, I know - I should have delegated this to them).

I had about ten minutes on my own earlier before DS2 joined me in bed, saying he felt lonely . We had a discussion about balancing our respective needs and have agreed that we will spend some special time together baking cupcakes tomorrow, then he will read in his room whilst I get some time to myself unless DS1 takes this as an opportunity to talk with me.

Am still hunting for party clothes. What kind of thing would you wear to a birthday party held in the function room of a pub, with a DJ? Dress? Skirt and top? Jeans? I enjoy getting dressed up and wearing smart dresses, but don't want to seem overdressed if everyone else is in jeans. Feel hopelessly out of touch.

Ooo Swan, do you thinks ds2 will write me some stuff I can use to help prep ds for going on the Eurotunnel later this year? I have never been on it so am a bit as to where to start and tbh lack the motivation to start.

Captain Soda crystals are your friend, and white vinegar. Stick a load of soda crystals in the drum and the powder drawer, run on a 60+C long wash (do not add washing power it will make the machine vomit bubbles in a most effective manner yes i have done this on more than one occassion ) If machine slightly iffy still stick white vinegar in draw and run again. Also clean out the drain, all sorts of stuff can get stuck there fucking lego and although it is a really annoying job it does make the machine run better.

Surprised about the caffeine as it is a known trigger for increased pain in those who are likely to get it. If i stay off the caffeine the pain levels drop. Mostly i did a lot of research into the foods that have known associations with pain, I was recommended a low carb diet when first diagnosed with fibro. At some point I wandered over to BIWI's bootcamp. When I stick to the rules I have so much more energy, lower pain levels and a higher no of good days and more lea-way when i pace badly. I had an allergic reaction to wheat the other month (closing up of the throat and lovely allergy rash) Had potatoes on saturday and the pain levels shot up within 24hrs. I can eat some of the stuff but life is better if I stay off it.

ta da
wash 2 duvets - killing the dust mites oh yes.
spent a hour trying to declutter my room
cut some pattern pieces out
went training
caught up with some friends.

About to eat some tea, move the stuff off the bed back onto the floor and head to bed. Done way way too much at training so i am predicting a pretty bad day tomo

Ah best clarify a load - : powder drawer = about half normal amount of powder, drum : a very very liberal amount.

Als you might need to bicarb paste the seal (paste made with water or lemon juice not bleach) but will depend on if you have a top loader or a front loader. Apply the paste with an old tooth brush. useful to do before a 60C run through rather than after so you clear the gunk out in one go and the machine is ready for the next load of proper washing straight away

Good morning fledglings, I am full of a cold this morning and my face feels like it's been punched my sinuses are so sore.

I could have easily murdered my DH yesterday when he decided 2 year old DS didn't need a nap at all. Cue total meltdown, sobbing child by 5pm who wouldn't eat any dinner and fell asleep standing up. Then, not surprisingly, he woke up at 3am this morning as he'd fallen asleep so early yesterday.

We then had a bit of a fight about how I don't have as much patience with DS and shout too much. I know I shout sometimes but it's hardly surprising when it's me that gave up my career and professional training for a child that he wanted and I didn't, that I'm the one who does virtually all of the early mornings, nightwakings and all the everyday stuff round the house and garden. Before I gave up work last week, all of my time at home was spent cleaning and tidying up after DS and DH. Is it really surprising that I lose it sometimes? I feel overwhelmingly resentful sometimes.

I'm feeling totally crap today.

That was very "me me me". Sorry.