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!

Morning folks :)

Babystep 16

Tuesday's mission - we are still in zone 3: bathroom and one other room.

As it's Tuesday, the daily focus is Planning. :)

Good afternoon all, < watches tumbleweed blowing through the thread > @@@@

Thanks for the links Fuzz - are you on half term too?

Hopefully your half term week is busy in a good way Fizrim

So, I told myself today was the day I was going to finish and submit my Masters course application. And in true procrastinating style I have done the following instead :

Fed cats and DS
Took DS to nursery
Had breakfast whilst watching an episode of The Last Kingdom
Loaded dishwasher, put on
Emptied, washed and refilled the two cat litter trays
Swept the entrance hall floor
Hoovered the living room
Put on a load of washing, then tumble dried, then folded and put away
Folded and put away three other loads of dry washing
Emptied dishwasher
Took out all the rubbish
Had lunch and watched another episode of The Last Kingdom

And now I'm on here wasting more time. Right, got to get on with the application.

Procrastination when you have an important, education-based task is vital IMO. I used to get an irresistable urge to defrost the freezer when revising for exams (I'd taken holidays from work to do this).

DD has invited a friend round tomorrow, so bring on the panic cleaning. Last weekend DD had a dance exam (extra classes and the exam itself) and next weekend we are away with family. In the meantime, she has a five hour music rehearsal/performance on Thurs and Fri. That has pretty much filled the week up, although today has been more leisurely. But I have procrastinated on the cleaning, have done a lot of laundry which I am struggling to find space to hang up to dry, bwahahah!

It has gone quiet on here, I've killed the thread again .

Get on with that application. Or defrosting the freezer. Take your pick ...

Sorry - I've been MIA. Work has been quite busy and my 1 year old has been poorly again so haven't had much time to fly as she's been hanging off my leg constantly argh. (Whilst wiping snot on it yuck).

I have noticed some interesting things this week.

We've been in our new house 8 weeks. In that time we have decorated two bedrooms and have had a new sink (shiny yay) and dishwasher installed in the kitchen.
I've gotten rid of loads of stuff and have started the kondo process.

Last weekend it was dd2's bday and we gave the place a good once over for that and put everything that still needs sorted or a home found for in the spare room.

Since then I've had a tidy house!!! I've found a routine and it's not immaculate but it's clean and it's tidy. My floors are clean, my rooms aren't cluttered and my washing has all been done and put away! And I don't even know when I did it really.

I have changed so much since I started flying. I used to leave dishes to pile up, work tops would be filthy and cluttered, clothes would live in a pile on the floor etc.

Now I have no clothes lying around and the kitchen is always clean before bed. I can have people over without shame!!!

I still have a lot of work to do sorting some things from the move in the spare room but I can tackle that a box a weekend and it's contained in one room that I can close the door on until I'm done.

It's a really lovely feeling to have a home that's peaceful and clutter free. I'm no where near perfect but I'm so proud of how far we have come as a family.

Scattymum that's lovely! I find it inspiring to read that kind of post.

Thanks fizrim.
It's still a work in progress but now I'm on top of it it's running itself fairly efficiently with 10 minutes here and there and just making sure I follow routines.

One thing I'm not on top of is paperwork though. I need to have a good shredder session at the weekend!!!

Well done, Scatty !

We're about to abandon the boys with the ILs for a child-free jaunt across the Channel. Just for one night, but will be lovely. :)

Well done Scatty :)

Ooh have a lovely time Blue!

Defrosted that freezer yet Fizrim?

I've just got back from mum's. Pretty much sorted everything with the author, a few more bits to finish up over the next week or so and it's all done. Then I'll get started on the next one I guess!

No news from any of the interviews yet :(

Links for Wednesday

Mission here

Baby step 17

It's antiprocrastination day :o

Blue enjoy!

Freezer? If the peas still fit in, it's fine. It hardly ever gets done now as the course finished years ago and our newest one is a frost-free job!

Good luck with the interviews. It's a pretty stressful time for you both.

I need to force DD into a bit more music practice and undo the panic tidying this morning that will get in DH's way/on his nerves. Got a fair bit of washing up to do that doesn't go through the dishwasher too. Just having a bowl of soup and will crack on! Have a good day, everyone.

Ohhh I see I misunderstood Fizrim I thought you were procrastinating now

Ah, panic tidying. I know it too well! Not for me today though as no teaching tonight. This place is a tip! Like even worse than usual

No energy to do anything about it though. Picked up my new medication today (codeine) so might give that a go.

Right. Tomorrow will be productive. I've had a day doing sweet fuck all. Tomorrow DH is off, and we only have one thing going on instead of the usual ridiculous Thursday schedule.

So. Plan. Probably have enough for another 2 loads washing (= 1 load drying), and we need to really really attack the living room, and DCs' room so we can get the bed from my friend (DS' broke and I'm buying a second hand one, which is bigger and has storage, means we need to rearrange everything...).

I think I need to have one of my planning sessions, where I take myself out of the house for a coffee somewhere with a pen and a lot of paper to write on!

Codeine. I can cope with that quite well, but I know it makes others drowsy and occasionally nauseous so go easy when you first take it. I would line up another easy day tbh. And your post has reminded me to take the stuff out of the tumble dryer ...

Good luck with the re-arranging. Things always seem to get a lot worse before the project is complete, which can be a pain. We have ordered a load of built-in type bedroom furniture and I have no idea where it will go when it arrives. We'll have to spread it out over a few rooms as it will take a while to build! It's not due for weeks yet, so no immediate panic.

"I think I need to have one of my planning sessions, where I take myself out of the house for a coffee somewhere with a pen and a lot of paper to write on!" sounds lovely fizrim

I need to pop out today so I'm not taking the codeine til tomorrow when I'll have time to see if I'm going to have any side effects. :) I have Naproxen though which is fine as long as I take it after food.

Need to update my diary - found out that some of the DCs' classes have changed, it's a good thing but need to be organised about it!

Thursday 18th February

Mission in the bathroom - nice easy one today

Babystep

It's Thursday so that's errand day. :)

Right, not sure when I last posted, i always seem to rebound a bit when I've run the thread. Anyway, I'm back, will try and catch up with what you've all been doing later. Had a busy start to the week but have had a couple of nice easy days now, supposedly sorting the house out but mainly procrastinating. Am feeling a bit stressed because next door have whacked in a planning permission application for an extension which will not only shade us quite a bit but subject us to probably 6 months worth of disruption while it happens, this coming after six months of last year was also subject to building disruption from them without so much as a by your leave, despite us normally being friendly . Putting the house on the market is starting to look seriously attractive, but it's all going to put people off I fear.

Oh, and Flying. Well, the steam cleaner came into it's own tonight. DS is a big fan of frozen berries, I buy the big value packs from the supermarkets, but invariably they have lots of tiny bits of raspberry in them. He managed to drop a whole bowlful onto a light brown carpet tonight. I reckon there were about a thousand bits scattered about. 20 mins picking up and 10 minutes with the steam cleaner and the carpet looks as good as new (well, as good as it did this morning). While I was at it I also steam cleaned the entire dining area of the kitchen, so at least part of the house is clean tonight. Also managed to declutter DD's room enough to hoover. That's enough for one day I reckon.

Wow, well done with the berries. I have a stain on my sink which I think is down to a rogue berry!

I should be ironing, will do that now. DD has an event tomorrow which I wish I hadn't put her forward for, I'm stressed and we are going away for a couple of days so there will be mad packing tomorrow morning after I have dropped her off. Making a list of things to do for tomorrow. Oh, and it's wine day or something so will have a glass - rude to refuse and all that.

www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-19/

www.flylady.net/c/sp.php#missions

Waves to WhoKnows.

Got back later yesterday after an otherwise good journey was delayed by an hour trying to get onto the M25 . Grr.

Lots of sorting out to do today, but we're also meeting up with two sets of friends, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Not sure this is wise.

Good morning all,

Thank heavens for steam cleaners WhoKnows - I'd be lost without mine!

Ta for the croissants Blue

I've had a good morning and feeling quite uplifted after a few days of little productivity:
DS taken to nursery
Cats fed
Pots and pans washed up
Dishwasher unloaded and reloaded
MA application submitted and acknowledged - YIPPEE - (now nervously waiting for outcome)
Sold more stuff on facebook
Trip into town:
*paid in cheques
*bag of stuff taken to charity shop
*appointment made with financial advisor
*post office for letters and supplies
*suit taken to dry cleaner
*glass recycling and broken coffee machine taken to the tip

Plus the cleaner has been so house feels lovely.

Hoping to stay on a roll and finally send the second draft of my Will back to the solicitor this afternoon.

It has been a long hard week of crafting. Today is a finishing and discover the house kinda day. 4 seams to go. Although I will have to admit there has been much exciting lanuage and the throwing of projects in the last 24hrs

ta da
Dishwasher loaded and run
bedding set 1 through washer and dryer
towels through washer and dryer
Clothes wash 1 in washer
downstairs floor that is available hoovered
recycling washed
post processed and just awaiting been calendar entried/filed
Txts sent in various directions to establish weekend activites
PE kit found and dumped on kitchen floor
Ds' room raided for washing up and laundry

to do
empty dishwasher, refill and run if full
another 2 clothes washes
another 2 bedding washes (although might leave 1 to tomo)
4 seams and put project away in temp storage
finish the section of doom
finish the stuff for ds
see the sunlight in person and actually leave the house
Fridge needs washing out completely before rebeing stocked.

to do is rather longer than I had hoped. I guess I should stop procrastinating and get my arse into gear. If I am super productive my car might even get a birthday. But that would be a bit optomistic.

Oooops sorry totally forgot about links! DS was sick yesterday and DD today. Not badly thankfully, so not masses of extra laundry! But been a crazy few days. My tooth broke as well, booo :( had a fab evening though with DSCs - monthly game night. Much hilarity.

www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-20/

No mission as it's Saturday, but we're in zone 3 (bathroom and one other room) and the daily focus is Family Fun (or in our case, watching DVDs on loop while in reach of a sick bowl)

Have a great weekend all! :)

Hello, just checking back in after being awol for a while!

Haven't caught up with thread but waves to all and hope everyone OK.

Spent a fairly challenging time in S. France clearing out a relative's flat. DD spent half term riding in UK under care of one of her doting aunts. Dh was working in London and coming back for parts of clearance and not for other bits. I was able to totally clear kitchen but found other areas very difficult without input from others as to what should be saved (ie sentimental value) and what should be chucked, which was unnecessarily time consuming, and spent a lot of time consulting on the phone.

Made fairly good progress and then woke up one morning and literally couldn't move! (Back probs.) Then had some gynae issues and because of stress of it all IBS kicked in!! Believe me, IBS when you are alone and can barely stand up shuffle to lav is no fun at all! (Sorry for TMI!)

In the end called emerg doc who told me to bear my arse and attacked me with a huge needle worthy of a horse vet !

Thankfully recovered to some degree now, although shuffling about with stick towards the end of a day, like a 97 year old!

What is daunting is that now I am home, I have to start doing the same thing all over again here!! Funny how it is much easier to declutter other people's stuff than one's own isn't it?!

Heigh ho! At least dd had a good holiday and has now gone away with school for the weekend so dh and I have a rare opportunity to spend some time alone this evening and tomorrow morning.

Another positive: as a result of all of the above, not only managed to maintain diet but had unexpectedly good start to Lenten weigh loss regime, so that's a bit of a silver lining!

Back later to catch up with personals once I have sorted laundry piles (currently using grabber stick for people with limited mobility). V. useful indeed!

Another benefit of this whole experience has been to make me extremely thankful that (a) I don't live alone and (b) I do not live with a physical disability. There is nothing like finally being able to bend down and pick something up off the floor after 4 days of virtual paralysis to make one really really count one's blessings!

Big waves to one and all!

Hope your dc are recovering now Fuzzpig! x

Oh dear, that should have read 'bare' and not 'bear' shouldn't it

on both counts