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!……………..

Thanks for the tips, Dark - I knew you'd know what to do. Sorry to hear about the food allergies and pain.

Sorry you're ill. Awful to be looking after a baby when you're unwell . And I'm not surprised you are annoyed. I hope DH will listen to you in future. I vividly remember very similar issues with my own DH and ILs, who looked after baby DS1 when I worked one day a week. And then I was the one who dealt with the overtired baby who fell asleep early and woke up at 3am, not them.

Any chance of a break later?

Have promised to make lemon cupcakes with DS2 this morning. No other plans, so will try to get some Flying done later.

Thanks for the WM tips. I'll get those things next time I do a shop. Thankfully it doesn't seem to be affecting the clothes so can wait.

I only have persil liquid, cider vinegar and vanish powder so I could do a normal empty wash but I guess that'd be pointless!

Evening all! Haven't caught up with the thread but happy to see you are back Swan (although sorry to hear your holiday was disastrous). Hope everyone else OK!

We've been a bit busy owing to a recent arrival with a wet nose and floppy ears! Yes, as ever, dh got his way and we've adopted him from a couple with a new baby who will shortly be out of the house for 7 hrs+ per day when the mother's maternity leave ends. He is very demanding of attention and let's just say a little "over-enthusiastic" but given that he doesn't know us from adam, he travelled a long way in the car without puking, he slept downstairs all night in his own bed three floors from us and only whined slightly for three minutes when we left him, he hasn't made a mess indoors, nor has he chewed anything, nor has he shown anything but loving kindness and friendliness and a constantly wagging tail! So counting ourselves very lucky so far!

(Haven't introduced him to the rabbits yet though so watch this space! Although he did apparently live with one quite happily for a while.)

Hope you feel better very soon Greymalkin (although not easy to recover easily when you are sleep deprived I know). I'm sorry you are feeling so low and never feel you have to apologise for venting on here! We've all done it and that (alongside usual routine speak) is mostly what this thread is for!! I hope your dh steps up and follows your routines and helps out a bit more rather than criticising!

CapSubtext I've also had what I think were stress-induced IBS symptoms in the past (which thankfully seem to have subsided a bit now) and it was miserable, so I really, really sympathise. (Pls do let us know how you got rid of yours Toffee.) I have also had to cut right down on caffeine.

I hope your dh's back recovers soon.

And as for wm, agree with whoever suggested white (industrial) vinegar. I bung a load in where you normally put powder and run the whole thing empty at 90°c or hottest setting. Works a treat! Also, always keep wm door open when empty and alternate hot and wool washes; as it is usually after a lot of 30°c washes or cool washes in succession that problem occurs.

Speaking of allergies/intolerances (DEM don't envy you your long list which must be really tough to handle - think I would die if I couldn't eat potatoes!!!) I had a combination of fresh orange juice (for breakfast), 1.5 glasses of red wine (with lunch) and three small pieces of chocolate (after lunch) on Easter Sunday, with one post-lunch cup of black coffee. It then occurred to me (duh!) that just one of these can be triggers for a horrid sinus-type migraine headache, never mind four at once, and sure enough on Monday morning I felt like absolute death. Slowly recovering today!! So stupid to eat them all together like that, especially when I hadn't eaten choc or drunk wine throughout the whole of Lent.

Hope your predictions for tomorrow do not come true DEM!

Toffee Hope you finally got some time to yourself today and lemon cupcakes sound delicious!

I am afraid I am woefully ill-equipped to offer fashion advice being completely out of touch myself. Could you ring the host or other friends who are going and ask for some tips/an idea about what to wear?

Swan happy to hear that your relative is stable and out of hospital! Also brilliant to know that your ds1 is safely back from his ski trip and had enjoyed it!! Yay for resilience!! And at him falling asleep in his clothes! Sorry that your stately home visit was not as enjoyable as planned however.

Dogsbum hope the alcove shelf unit went well and congrats on getting through all that laundry!

Cheers back to Whoknows! [Clinks mugs]

Waves to Blue and anyone else I've missed!

Forgot to say, "thank you all" for your kind words re: dd's illness. She is still coughing and a bit white and her appetite has diminished now a bit too. Can't believe she is still ill! However, having a furry companion is hopefully cheering her up a bit!

G'night all!

PS He is very intelligent too!!

Tomorrow’s links……

Baby-step no. 8 for Tues 8th April is here

I’ve never read this one before but it involves getting a ring binder to set up a control journal. I’d be interested to know if anyone has a control journal or office in a bag and if they are useful.

I’m quite fond of lists so I can’t help but feel that there might be something useful in this for me, but I’m not that into her morning and evening routines, which is what she seems to focus on here. Has anyone got any tips of how they have maybe used or adapted her ideas that are helpful?

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

Wednesday’s mission is here

The daily focus for Wednesday is: Anti-Procrastination Day

The monthly habit for April is making your bed

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

Happy flying…..

You sound like you are please to have him SC

Yep my predictions for today were right. Moving is over rated anyway. Not even been able to craft wasted a lot of time on the computer this afternoon. But am tired so hopefully tomo will be a better day. It had better be I have stuff to do.

Dogsbum oft posted on previous threads so apologies in advance for boring the pants off the people who have already read this many times before... but ...yes I have a cj ( I look at it a lot less often than I did before, now that all the major routines are finally lodged in my woolly brain).

It has turned out to be a combination of a cj/a how to look after our home and pets in our absence guide/and a compendium of useful names and addresses.

In summary, it contains the daily routines plus all the tasks in the house that need to be done daily, twice weekly, weekly, fortnightly, twice fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, every six months, annually etc etc. It took a long time to get all that down (and to be accurate and realistic and not overly-perfectionist about it) but it has helped a lot in managing this house which is large, old and downright awkward. That's not to say that everything is done on time, oh no, but I now have a far more accurate idea of what needs doing when and where I am going wrong!!

It also contains a guide (in three languages) as to how to manage the house in our absence ie where the stop cocks and fuse boxes are located, the days when the rubbish are collected, which plants to water, how to look after and care for our pets, what to do in an emergency and who to call!

Finally, at the back, it has an up-to-date compendium of addresses and contact numbers of anyone and anything (such as appliances) vaguely related to the house ie plumber, vet, handyman, electrician, serial numbers, service engineers etc etc etc.

It is a great help when we travel at short notice as I can just leave the whole thing out on the kitchen counter and let our house/pet-sitter/family member get on with it!

HTH!!

I am DEM and only hope that feeling continues!! (I don't normally go for dogs with short legs but he has a lot of dignity in his character that over-rides the stumpiness ifyswim.)

Sorry you had such a bad day today Wishing you good quality shut eye tonight!

G'night all!

Captain I would second soda crystals and vinegar tips from Dark I use this website which has lots of cleaning tips using soda crystals, white vinegar, etc.

www.dri-pak.co.uk/

Swan sorry to hear you've had such a rough time. I'm glad to hear that your DS1 is safely home though, even if very tired!

Toffee interesting what you say about clothes, it's made me think a lot more about that babystep and it even made me assess my maternity wardrobe today and think about whether I should start doing this even with my current meagre wardrobe.

I realised how out of touch I am as well reading your pub social dress code dilemma

Dark thanks for the bicarb paste tip for the door seal, that was the one part of WM that the soda crystals didn’t manage to clean, I will definitely try that tip.

Grey sorry to hear that you are having such a stressful time with DH and DS, I hope blowing off a bit of steam helped a bit.

Steady loving the dog, he’s gorgeous and the bandana photo is great. If we can’t know his real name can you make one up for us or can we all make one up for him? I think he looks quite posh so I’m thinking Raph.

I think I’ve been possessed by flylady today, I planned to do DIY and instead have been cleaning like a mad woman all day, never really planning to do any of the jobs but somehow finding myself doing them.

Washing up, tidying kitchen and front room, laundry folding, cleaning the oven, hoovering everywhere, scrubbing kitchen and dining floor for over an hour until twenty to ten this evening, I can’t even remember it all but it’s been pretty full on and demented. Not sure what has got in to me. DP fears I will be a burnt out good for nothing wreck tomorrow. We’ll see….

Ooh Steady I'm loving the sound of your very comprehensive control journal, that sounds right up my street. I think I may well be stealing your ideas there to form the basis of a house journal for myself. I have some of those things such as maintenance contacts, etc. but in separate places, what a good idea to put it all together.

Right I think I will copy and paste what you've written and slowly work towards producing my own. Thank you for that and I'm glad that I asked the question. Much appreciated

My pleasure Dogsbum and thanks for the links btw!!

Raph is a stroke of genius! Might adopt it in reality but he appears to be answering to his old name for the moment anyway!! We also thought of Mycroft!

Sorry but couldn't help cackling a bit at you doing lots of Flying when you were intending to do DIY. I wish I could think of a clever word for it (perhaps there is a word already?) but totally identify with that "brain over-rides all planned intentions and sends body in way it subconsciously wants to go without you realising it" phenomenon!! All I know is that when I plan to do paper-work, I end up baking instead, and when I have to clean the oven, I suddenly become incredibly productive on the laundry front! Perhaps, in my case, it is simply "extreme avoidance syndrome" !!

In your case I think it is extreme avoidance syndrome in reverse ie you have done the hard core cleaning instead of the enjoyable (but demanding) stuff instead!

Between you and me, I think the Flylady system capitalises on it quite a bit too ie better doing anything than nowt!

Well done on your incredibly productive day!!

Steady A DOOOG!!!! Yay!!!! I'm so excited for you all...is he a dachshund or a miniature dachshund or some such mixture? What beautiful melting Spaniel like ears too...I can predict he will sleeping on beds before long Poor dog though it must be quite a change for him to have a completely new home - although I am imagining dd will be a thousand time better company than a squally baby he'll probably want to stay close to you in the day whilst he gets used to everything.

done
dh is the ill person so everything very much out of synch at the moment but I am getting there with rather a lot of dvds thrown into the mix

took ds2 to a home ed meetup in park - so sunny and I was wearing very warm wintery clothes
took dd to buy ink for an art project
managed to lose my debit card so had to scrape together coins for supper provisions (having wasted money on stationery earlier
did many many loads of washing
struggled to deal with ds1's jet lag - he was up all night last night and I had to mainline him coca cola to keep him going until 8.30 this evening (as it was ds2 made a most unkind comment about him falling asleep in the soup)
cooked most disorganised supper
sat with dh and watched Interstellar (Hans Zimmer organ music 10/10 but plotline confusing slightly selfindulgent)
then watched Mockinjay 2 with dd
screamed at kids for not helping do any housework or answering doorbell (poor dh tottering to door by default)(they then helped but ds2 rather reproachfully reminded me he wanted to be treated with politeness)

swished and swiped loo
swept downstairs and shook out carpet
talked to tree surgeon about tree

oh yes and managed to make ds2 do some literacy exercises but otherwise it was a bit of a struggle getting him off computer (although I suppose he did go to the park for at least three hours today)

ds1 also went for a walk

greymalkin it's awful when one feels so frustrated by people who are unhelpful. Hope tomorrow is better and (as I keep reminding myself through gritted teeth) ENJOY your little ones..

Or is he a Cocker Spaniel sorry I am woefully muddled about dog breeds - now I remember they have shortish legs too..and certainly Spaniel ears

Mycroft is a great name too, yes he looks like he might be a thinker in that bandana shot!

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one who finds themselves doing something totally different to the intended tasks, in a weirdly possessed fashion!

I totally agree that the flylady system capitalises on it, as even though I frequently don't do the assigned mission for the day I do usually find that I have done a job that I wouldn't have done if I wasn't doing flylady, even if it's in a different zone and a totally different type of job!

DP's theory is that I'm so rebellious that I even rebel against myself and hence I can't bear to do the job that I planned to do. I'm continuing to rebel against that theory though

Crikey Swan you must be totally exhausted after accomplishing all of that! Well done on getting such a lot done, as usual!! And so sorry to hear that your dh is unwell. I hope he recovers speedily.

Arf at your ds2 asking to be treated with politeness

Re furry friend: thank you! Definitely not a cocker! He is known as a 'teckel' but to my shame I am not quite sure if that is the generic name for daschounds over here or if the term 'teckel' covers the more pointy-nosed variety of daschound. (This one definitely has an impressively sized pointy schnoz!!)

And how the 'eck do you spell daschound !!

Must finally get to bed!!

G'night all (for third or fourth time )

YY Dogsbum to rebelling against oneself and "the system"! Up the workers and all of that!!

And yy to this Dogsbum

"even though I frequently don't do the assigned mission for the day I do usually find that I have done a job that I wouldn't have done if I wasn't doing flylady"

Totally!!

The problem with decluttering the wool stash is that you have nothing in the house when you suddenly decide at 2am you NEED to start a new project with that fabulous looking pattern you have found that suddenly seems like a good idea.

Just remembered I found this not so long ago wool junkie

It about sums it up

Dachshund, SC - tis German for badger hound and English muddles up the chs, same as in fuchsia. Although, confusingly, the German for dachshund is Dackel!

He's very cute, anyway!

at Dark

Flying isn't happening much. Just trying to get straight again after being away.

Had a productive day yesterday :
Tidied up the grocery cupboard
Did a "tabata tidy" of the upstairs (4 mins per room which makey a big difference)
Vacuumed upstairs
Tidied lounge, vacuumed
Took the DCs swimming - in the pool nearly two hours!

Unfortunately the house stinks of burnt toast after a Fireman Sam type incident of getting distracted and realising the toast is burning amid plumes of smoke. At least I realised shortly before the smoke alarm. Smoke was billowing out for ages!

Oh dear to burnt toast MrsMook; well done on your productive day otherwise, though.

Blue I was quite nonplussed to discover that dachshunds aren't dachshunds (or should I say Dachshunde?) in German - and DH finds their English name very amusing.

DEM (that takes me back!) Hope you got some sleep in the end.

SC Love the pictures of your new dog. He definitely has an intelligent look about him!

Hope everyone had a good Easter; we had a lovely time in the UK. The weather could have been better, but it was even worse here apparently (snow, hail, etc.). The DC are now back at school and I've been pottering around while waiting for some work to arrive - why do I have the feeling it will get here about five minutes before I have to leave to collect DS?

Am a bit worried about DD1, who seems to be constantly thirsty at the moment and is drinking far more than she usually does. She also told me yesterday that she has to get up to go to the toilet two to three times a night and has also been wet in the mornings five or six times. Luckily the doctor's surgery is open this afternoon (doctors' opening hours here are quite limited - usually four mornings and one afternoon a week - as group practices are few and far between) so I'll phone up to make an appointment when they open at midday.