February Fledglings Fluttering and Flying! It's the awesomely alliterative Flylady Fred.

[fuzzpig]

2016 is truly underway and maybe the New Year Resolutions have been forgotten please say it's not just me - never mind, it's a new month and a new start beckons.

Perhaps you have too much S.T.U.F.F. (Something That Undermines Family Fun) getting in the way. Or maybe you want to rid your house of C.H.A.O.S. (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome)? Have no fear, the Fledglings are here! We are all learning to get into a routine for maintaining the household, so we have more time to enjoy life!

This is where, from the first of the month, we follow – loosely – the rules of FlyLady. We ignore the somewhat barftastic language, and also thoroughly recommend NOT signing up to the emails… unless you want your inbox full to bursting.

Here’s some basic info on getting started – but don’t worry, all will be revealed on a daily basis (assuming I get the links right…) so just jump in.

There are 3 basic stages:

• Baby Steps – if you’re new, start here. Or if you’re coming back to us after a break (trust me, we’ve been there!) then these are good way to get back into it.

• Repeat Baby Steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current room or 'zone' - yep, just 15 mins, it makes a difference!

and/or

• Reinforce Baby Steps + do Daily Missions which introduce specific things to work on.

There are also detailed cleaning guides if you’re really crazy enthusiastic.

NB
This is a very long-running thread so we may appear cliquey but we really aren't! All newcomers, long-termers, lurkers and intermittent returnees not only welcome to join in but positively encouraged to do so!

Another NB
Start where you are. There is no need to worry about being perfect – perfectionism = paralysis! There is no such thing as ‘falling behind’ with FlyLady, if you miss anything, just move on and continue as normal the next day.

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Good luck!

Waves to Shannara and Knitting, and hi to Saire. Scatty - glad to hear you finally moved, and good luck with the boxes!

Fuzz -eww!

Moderately concerned about DS1 who is complaining of a pain in his neck/jaw. Think it's probably muscular, but his description is confusing, and he says the ache is whirling round in circles! Don't know whether to do any more than get him to tell me if it's worse in the morning, or stopping him sleeping...

Just about keeping on top of the laundry, but not much else flying-wise at the mo.

Hi folks, sorry for late links! Had a computer free morning in the (successful) hope of getting some work done with the DCs. So far we've done reading, learned a new times table and did a word cluster on each of the 5 emotions from Inside Out :o all of which required me to stay snuggled on the sofa in my jammies :o

DH is on his way home - managed to get a GP appt and they've said they'll do tests in a few days if not better. Might be gastritis or an ulcer or something, yuck :(

Links for Wednesday 3rd February!

This month’s habit is decluttering

We are in Zone 1

Today’s Baby Step: No. 2, investigate the website. Or not.

Today’s Mission: Walls ‘n’ Windows!

Wednesday’s Daily Focus is antiprocrastination day

Good evening all.

I'm going to sit and lurk.

I started the babysteps on the 1st of Feb. I've done them before and got as far as about 18 days I think. Hoping to find some motivation for life. I suffer severe anxiety and depression and really struggle to get motivated to get out of bed some days. So please be gentle with me. I am hoping that FLYLADY and the neighbour I am doing this with will give me some motivation.

DP is moving in in just over a month so I NEED to be tidier and start to declutter. M going to be doing a Kondo style declutter of my bedroom on Friday.

In the meantime my sink is clear. My draining board is clear. So far so good :)

Sounds like a productive day Fuzzpig!!
JustAName - every little bit helps. Try to be gentle with yourself and don't expect a huge turnaround in a short time but try and recognise the small achievements and in a few months I promise you'll see the difference.

I'm now loaded with the cold so left work early and did my marking in my jammies. Haven't managed much today but I did tidy the ensuite a bit and found a box for my feminine products so they're out of sight but still easily accessible.
Hubby also cleared the cupboard for the dishwasher going in tomorrow and I'm getting my lovely new sink tomorrow that I shall enjoy keeping shiny

Must try and bake bday cake tomorrow at some point and begin crisis cleaning for the weekend. Argh.

Links for Thursday 4th February!

Today’s Baby Step: No. 4, thinking about a Control Journal

We are in Zone 1

Today’s Mission: clearing shoes, coats etc

Thursday’s Daily Focus is errand day

This month’s habit is decluttering

Good morning everyone, sorry I've been AWOL for a week or so. That illness I got on my holiday got increasingly worse and I ended up with full blown fever, could barely walk, shaking and sweating. Eugh.

Much better now thankfully.

Unfortunately the house is a pit because DH cannot tidy up after himself, and has never heard of a dishwasher or washing machine. However, he kept DS and me fed and alive so I shouldn't moan too much.

Thanks for January Who and you Fuzz for this month.

Very warm welcome to Saire and JustaName

Glad to hear you're feeling better, Grey - sounds very nasty.

Hi to Just - welcome aboard!

I have been grocery shopping this morning, and got the stuff put away. Need to kick myself off MN now and get some work done.

I should really be doing some work but DH has taken the DCs to their sports clubs, and I've been enjoying my child free time by watching Revenge! :o I've got less than 10 episodes left, eek.

Just a huge welcome to you. I really empathise with the anxiety and depression, I describe myself as a veteran of them they make the everyday things so bloody hard don't they? I've had to go very slowly with the Flylady stuff, as I have a chronic illness (well 3 now but who's counting :o), but it really is brilliant, as I'm learning to celebrate my achievements no matter how small, and I'm no longer beating myself up for missing a day or not keeping up fully. Well done for doing it with a neighbour too, what a fab idea.

Grey take it easy there ok? Sounds like a nasty bug you had and that kind of thing can take a long time to fully leave your system.

Right, well I should get dressed now and tidy up a bit, and get things ready to make tea. A family is visiting later, I'm helping them with piano and they're teaching me ukulele and crochet! :o Not that I have a clue where my uke is

Period pain from hell so I'm not happy (and trying to ignore the fact that I'm gutted because it was a couple of days late and I found myself thinking, maybe... and then got disappointed when it arrived this morning, which is really rather ridiculous).

Anyway. Must crack on.

May I join too?

Big hello to Just. I've had problems with anxiety too. I'm trying mindfulness to help me cope.

'Passportmess' refers to my husband's passport problems - my passport is nice and tidy!

My house isn't though....

Started with cleaning the sink...

Thankyou for the warm welcome.

I'm just gonna sit in the corner and try and pick up some of the thread gossip. But I am still here.

Thread gossip:
House tidied to party in house standard - check
House decorated for afore mentioned party -check
Collected a gaggle of lizards to try to herd home safely -check
Ensure nothing and no one got injured or broken -check
Survive party - check
Sanity - questionable.
Card - forgot

Right now to wrap up ds' present so that I can give it to him.
And then I am going to hide in bed until it is his bed time

Early night is most definitely the plan!

Welcome to Passportmess and Justme, this thread is a good place for people with anxiety and other issues that mean keeping on top of the chores is harder than usual. We take a very non-competitive approach and many of us just find it keeps us ticking over with the Flylady system. I have good spells and bad spells with it, doing quite well at the moment.

Well, a big pat on the back for Einstein for party hosting even if she did forget the card

Glad you're feeling a bit better Grey

of your new sink Scatty

Thanks for the coffee Blue.

I've had a bit of worried couple of weeks thinking about DD and her newly diagnosed dyslexia, but have been taking lots of positive steps and after a meeting with the SENCO of our preferred secondary school today I feel a lot better. I also went to a talk about dyslexia at DS's school today (school for specific learning difficulties, which DS has, but he isn't actually dyslexic) which was quite comforting, unfortunately she can't go there because it's single-sex. In between dyslexia related stuff I have been working at home and doing a little bit of Flying.

Tada!

Swept kitchen floor
Two loads of washing done, dried, put away
Landing tidied (been a right state since Christmas )
Kitchen table hotspotted excavated

Morning all

DH back at work so have the computer back and FLYing will commence today.

Ta Da 6:30

Breakfast eaten - me and Dd
W/M on
Pack lunches made
School bags all sorted

To Do

Ds breakfast
Ds's homework and reading
2nd (towel) wash
Hoover living room - inc. under the chairs!
Find mop and clean kitchen and bathroom floor. Have been just wiping obvious mess with spray and sponge for weeks.

fuzz child free time has to be enjoyed as is a valuable and rare commodity.
Whoknows glad you got Dd's dyslexia diagnosis makes it easier to ensure she gets the help she needs at her new school.
passport and justanamewelcome to FLYing, and lots of crashing (me)
Yes einstein glad the party was successful, hope you got the early night you needed.
fuzzpig how's the ukulele and crocheting going, love the idea of exchanging skills. Hope the pain has lessened today.
Grey bug sounds horrible, glad your feeling better but don't over do it!!

Hi to everyone else that i've missed.

Right have been sitting on MN for 20 minutes so had better get on.
Have a good day everyone

Morning everyone

I'm a little bit behind at the moment. DD hasn't been napping at all well at the moment and is being very clingy so only the bare basics going on here. I do still have a shiny sink though, so that's something!

I'm hoping that I can get a few bits done today:

Clean windows in the porch
Put recycling outside
Take unused coats upstairs I swear they are having babies!
Try to rearrange the chubby under the stairs to fit the Hoover back in there
Make a big batch of tomato sauce
Tidy bookshelves
Hang up wet washing
Put dry laundry away

I'm hoping this isn't too ambitious!

Links for Friday 5th February!

Today’s Baby Step: No. 5, Banish those negative voices!

We are in Zone 1

Today’s Mission: dusting windowsills etc

Friday’s Daily Focus is cleaning out your handbag, car etc

This month’s habit is decluttering

Sorry about the late links... again! Had to get up early for the doctors. DD was NOT happy - but it only served to prove how little sleep she's getting (the reason for her appt) so that's good.

Didn't get to start the uke as I can't find it but started some crochet and that was fun! But really difficult.

Anyway we've only just got back, as we had things to do in town, and now DD is very stroppy and tired. Sigh. So much for a productive afternoon :(

Well....although more Kondo than FLYLADY I have had a MEGA sort out in my bedroom assisted by my wonderful neighbour.

I have emptied all the wardrobes. Every shelf. Every cupboard. Every box. Every drawer and declutter ed.

In the process I have gotten rid of 11 - yes eleven bin bags of stuff. Some destined for car boot. Some for charity shop. Some for the tip.

Am pooped now. Going to tackle the airing cupboard tho while I am on a role. Then we are going to count the pennies we found under beds and in drawers etc. And hopefully there will be enough to treat us both to a takeaway.

Afternoon

Just 11 bin bags - impressed!!!

Ta Da

Living room, hallway and kitchen hoovered
Kitchen and bathroom floor mopped - found it under a huge pile of reusable plastic bags!
Protector cut for kitchen table, brought in November

Fuzzpig remember the not sleeping well. So glad when she got teh melatonin. With new beds now as well she is bouncing out of bed smiling.

Oh god now time for school run - hope Ds had a good day so I get a smile not a rant of how rubbish his life is and that he wants to change schools!

Better go, friday is shop day so should keep them happy.

Hi,

I am Einstein. I have a confession to make. I have been to a craft fair. I have bought stuff. I have totally ignored my finish old projects minimal stash rule. I am currently surrounded by 30 balls of wool.

So the plan is to finish one project tomo and cast on to use 12 balls for 1 project over the next few days. And make sure I have the needles for ds to knit a square (got him super chunky wool so it will grow quick)

Ooh Naughty Einstein! :o

Welcome Passport :)

We actually managed to have a reasonably decent afternoon, I stuck a few episodes of Spongebob on for them and that was actually enough to help DD reset herself IYSWIM. DS is in a hyper and irritating mood but we managed reading, a bit of maths and some research for the new geography club we are going to. AND I managed to rebook an appt that I'd missed, which I've been procrastinating over due to epic anxiety about it for some reason.

Shannara the GP did mention melatonin. Also the possibility of prescribing an antihistamine for a week to see if that will break the cycle first. But for now we've just been given fairly obvious ideas which we've already tried and we have to go back in a month or so. She did listen to my thoughts about DD maybe being on the spectrum as well, but TBH I'm really not sure it's worth chasing a dx at the moment as she is 'functioning' very well for the most part, particularly since coming out of school. I had a good chat about this with my own specialist (for those new to the thread, I was diagnosed with AS last year) and she said that it's my call, and that it may actually not be a problem for DD because, in her words, she has me as a mother! So I'm really not sure it would 'show' enough to anyone else anyway. DS on the other hand, I'm considering getting a referral for soon (but to whom? Local CAMHS are famously shit especially for ASD) as he is really 'showing' so much more these days. It was almost comical, sitting there discussing DD's issues with the GP while DS was quite happily banging his head on me (not in a bad way, just for fun it seems!) and spinning and trying to interrupt the conversation to talk about Transformers for the gazillionth time :o I dunno. I'm going round in circles really.

And no I haven't done any housework :o I put a wash on last night so I should really put a towel wash on so they can be tumble dried together. Oh and I've washed last night's pot ready for dinner which I should probably get on with that too...

Melatonin is the work of the gods

I must say i love melatonin its brilliant for ds but if it kept him asleep it would be even better. Either way im guaranteed 3 hours of peace until ds 2 arrives in april anyway! So ive done alot of flying today. It seems i might be nesting. Which is probably a good thing as id started to slip behind again. Ds now has his statement in place and will be attending a special school in sept. Still cant process that my baby is going to school! Just working on laundry hoping to get more baby stuff clean. Having a takeaway tonight so no dishes. Think ive gone way off on a rant. Hope everyone is ok.

Well. I haven't shined my sink today.

But I will let myself off.

Absolutely everything in my bedroom has been gutted. Kondo'd. Decluttered. Cleaned. Tidied. Vacuumed. Oh my to the 80's/90's handbags, leather jackets, cardigans that have been liberated.

My airing cupboard has been stripped. Folded. Duvets put inside matching pillowcases. Aligned and replaced.

My bathroom cabinet has been stripped bare. Sorted. Replaced. I won't need to buy any hair elastics for about 3 years with the amount we have found.

I am shattered. We'll and truly pooped. I normally sleep for at least 90mins each day. But for most of the day my bed has been under piles of stuff.

Tomorrow I have 15 bags of stuff to take to the tip, charity shop or store for a car boot.
My neighbour seems to think we can tackle my conservatory too which really is worse than my bedroom. It is the dumping ground.....don't think she has grasped the 'babysteps' concept. Having said that we have achieved so much today. And now it is time to sleep.

Night all.

Links for Saturday 6th February!

Today’s Baby Step: No. 6, Hot Spots!

We are in Zone 1

No mission as it’s Saturday

Friday’s Daily Focus is Family Fun Day

This month’s habit is decluttering