May-be this time - Fledglings flutter through May 2016 (Flylady thread)

[CotswoldStrife]

Welcome all - and thanks to SpareCrust for leading us through April.

If you are struggling with C.H.A.O.S. (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) and S.T.U.F.F. (Something That Undermines Family Fun) then this is the thread where we (loosely) follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system (in our own unique, relaxed style) with lots of support and chat along the way.

Link to the Flylady website

Don't let the somewhat sickly and barftastic language of the site put you off: the underlying system is sound!

This little-and-often system is designed so that you can follow a series of steps and routines each day (which gradually become second nature) in zones of the house which are designated weekly; defining and minimising housework; which in theory should leave you with loads more time to do something more interesting instead!

At the same time it is intended to reduce that panicky "rabbit in headlights" feeling when you are overwhelmed and everything needs doing all at once. No problem if you miss a day or two; just jump right back in and it will all come around next month again!

It's up to you, but we advise not signing up to receive the Flylady e-mails as you will be swamped with masses of bumph. All the information you need will be linked here on a daily basis.

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):

• start or repeat baby steps
• repeat baby steps + do 15 minutes a day decluttering in the current zone
• 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.

There are three key points to keep in mind throughout:

• No perfectionism allowed - this is harder than you would imagine and many of us on this thread struggle with this one.
• You are never behind - just start where you are and anything you do is progress.
• It didn't get into a mess overnight - it won't get tidy over night - accept it will take time to get on top of things.

If you are new; then trying to spend 15mins decluttering daily and doing the babysteps is a good way to start. Some of us (mentioning no names!) can have scary looking ‘ta-da’ lists but don't let that worry you. Do what you can, anything is better than nothing, and don't judge yourself against others.

If all else fails, a brew + the power of three technique + a bit of support on here can work wonders!

Here's the launch pad for more experienced fledglings

Oh and don’t let it put you off if we appear a bit cliquey, we really aren’t! . Some of us have been on here for years and some of us natter rather a lot – but all lurkers, intermittent returnees, oldies and newcomers are very, very welcome!

Oh no, more bad days for more Fledglings :( shall we all just say 'fuck it' for the rest of the week day?

Nothing a good night sleep won't cure. In fact I might just say fuck it and take a nap... Ds has disappeared into his room with his milk, sugar, the packet of weetabix, thermos, drinking chocolate, cup and bowl. apparently he is camping in his room and wanted to be suitably fed and watered. He will be chilling out with his tablet and hopefully. just hopefully will be feeling better tomo wrong side of bed this morning that one

oh no Grey - you must be gutted

sorry Grey about house, but as you say, it might come back to you if their chain breaks...stranger things have been known to happen

Ds2 helped me cook supper, unfortunately it didn't end up being very nice curse that Waitrose recipe

Ds1 is being really difficult; I'm not sure whether it is because I am challenging him to revise or whether he would be truculent anyway, certainly he has found all the lunchbox items and is eating them rebelliously, AND pointedly watching the football, AND picking fights with ds2. Ds2 is definitely refusing to go to school tomorrow, hope I can write a suitably authoratitive email to the Senco explaining my master plan of slow integration. He was meant to go on Thursday this week, and have Friday off, but he has put his foot down. Don't want to rock the boat.

Had a good carb free supper, lots of green veg, and some protein.

Oh no, everyone is shouting now. One badtempered person (ds1) certainly sets everyone else off.

The boys' playroom is the tidiest it's been in months. And I managed to persuade DS2 to part with a few things (mostly bits of tatty paper but hey). Sad about a few of the books he doesn't want any more (esp. given some of the rubbish he does want to keep!)...

And I've finally persuaded DH to look through the box of random cables that's been cluttering up my office for months. Now got to get the ones we don't want somewhere other than the landing floor, but babysteps!

Between all that and yesterday's pilates class that turned out to be yoga (a mix up occurred somewhere but not sure where), I'm feeling quite stiff now! Did also do some work today, and other errands, so all in all not bad.

Sorry about the house, Grey, and all other stresses and strains. Sending to those in need.

Agree with you about not rocking the boat with your DS2, knitting. He's been doing very well so far, but it must be a difficult adjustment for him. Sorry to hear about your back. Sounds like you need an appointment with your local osteopath.

Einstein - Yes, DS can resit next year, but that will mean he'll be taking six science exams in one go (as he'll be taking additional science too), rather than just three. It is an option though. Sorry you're feeling so rough, by the way.

Grey - sorry to hear about the new house. Fingers crossed it comes right in the end.

SC - how awful to have the priest just dropping in, unannounced . Maybe that's how he gets his dinner every night? Hope work calms down soon.

WhoKnows - sounds like you have a lot going on at the moment. Glad your friend cheered you up this morning.

Cag - so nice to read about your home ed days . I found some of my DC's old home-ed books today and really enjoyed looking through them. I found a photo of DS1's 'edible cell cake', which he still remembers. I'm not sure it really taught him much about cells, but we had a lot of fun making it.

Blue - good luck for your DS2 at the doctor's tomorrow: I hope he/she can work out what's going on. DH and I are also looking into IKEA stuff to sort out DS2's incredibly disorganised and messy bedroom. Let me know if you find anything miraculous.

Am typing this whilst DS1 fills in a Chemistry past paper, then we're going to go through the answers together. His exam is at 9am tomorrow. He is astonishingly calm about it.

My DM is arriving tomorrow, so I came home from work today and immediately started tidying up DS2's bedroom (which will become DM's bedroom). It took me three hours to tidy up all the Lego and other miscellaneous object, sort out the clothes, pile up the books (we've run out of bookcases for him), hoover and wipe down the floorboards. DS2 has too much stuff for his tiny room.

Work has calmed down a little now we have new staff. Phew. It's been insane for the past few weeks.

DH and I are going away to see friends this weekend - without children ! (This is why DM is coming down). I can't remember the last time we did this.

Right - time to mark the Chemistry paper now.

Sorry, I was having trouble with MN yesterday (I was getting lots of biscuits instead of pages) and completely forgot to post the links last night! Here are the links, back later ...

The daily summary for Thursday (also available on the Flylady website at flight plan which should update automatically each day.

**

Baby-step no 19 - slow down and set your timer to keep you focused

We are in Zone 3 this week: the bathroom and one extra room

Spend 15 mins decluttering in Zone 3.

When you have finished decluttering, the detailed cleaning list (if you are at that stage) for Zone 3 is here

Mission for Thursday shine the bath or shower, straighten up the laundry area for the extra room

The daily focus for Thursday is: errand day

The monthly habit for May is moving in May!

Have a fabulous time away Toffee, it sounds like they are in very good hands with your DM.

Diet has started here, scrambled eggs and broadbeans for breakfast, and blueberries for mid morning snack. Grilled tuna for lunch and more veg.

Done
driving to dd school and back
swept floor
worktops
talked to ds2, who is already grumpy about his school, I don't really want to hear about it on his day off
did some Maths with ds2 (triangles)
did some Spelling with ds2 (geographical terms)
planted up Alpine trough (wide shallow terracotta pot) which involved collecting a lot of old stones from flowerbed
talked to friend about her diet since Jan, she said low carbing had been the answer for her and no wine, just gin with low calorie mixers, or sparkling water with cranberry, plus fair amount of pottering and swimming, no hardline exercise at all
organised friend to come round for ds2
lunch wasn't tuna (as that had gone off) but a large miso soup and blueberries to follow

back giving out again, so lying down for a bit/sitting down propped up

Take it easy on the back knitting A lot of ta-da's there!

I seem to have done a lot of cooking this week so the kitchen has been a constant work in progress. Most of our usual Friday feast can be removed from the freezer for defrosting though, so I'm coming up to a couple of easy days cooking-wise. I have created a lot of washing-up for myself this week though (not everything goes through the dishwasher!).

Also did tip run today. Not as impressive as knitting's list!

The daily summary for Friday (also available on the Flylady website at flight plan which should update automatically each day.

**

Baby-step no 20 - one load of laundry a day from start to finish (put away)

We are in Zone 3 this week: the bathroom and one extra room

Spend 15 mins decluttering in Zone 3.

When you have finished decluttering, the detailed cleaning list (if you are at that stage) for Zone 3 is here

Mission for Friday check the supplies in the bathroom such as soap and shampoo, for the rest of the house wipe down the light switches, door handles and phones

The daily focus for Friday is: declutter your bag and your car, and date night

The monthly habit for May is moving in May!

Morning all, thanks for your sympathies re the house. It really is a first world problem, but I feel so sad about it, really despondant actually. It really was our dream home that we could have lived in forever :(

Anyway.

DH now has the D&V that DS has now got over. However, still can't send DS to nursery as he is not quite out of the 48 hour symptom free period. DH is whining about how he just wants to be ill in peace and quiet and DS won't leave him alone. Welcome to my world DH....

The laundry situation after all this illness is horrendous.....

I did manage some flying yesterday though:
DS helped me with the shredding, which he loved doing
Decluttered a load of books using the Ziffit app
Posted Ziffit parcel
Emptied out 80% of the chest of drawers in the spare room, bagged up contents and took to charity shop
Met with nursery manager to discuss changing DS's pattern of attendance to help him with all the recent nursery overload

I have also been offered several months of temp shifts at my local hospital, which will help enormously with saving up for my tuition fees for October.

Sending positive vibes to all of you with exam stress going on - Knitting, Toffee, WhoKnows

Toffee have fun at IKEA - we can't go there without spending a fortune on things we never knew we needed!

Blue I agree with you re DCs toys - mine also has lovely books and toys he just isn't interested in and would rather play with some broken plastic tat from those toy-vending machine things. As Kondo says, it what sparks Joy for them, not us

Anyway, I'm working all day today (looking forward to the rest actually) and leaving DH and DS to their own devices at home.

Catch up with you all later

Quiet on here today!

I've done no Flying. Obviously. A little art, poetry and Spanish with the DCs but they have mostly been playing outside and Mario and jumping around/doing gymnastics on the living room cushions :o oh and we played a little board game too. So not too bad in terms of stuff with the DCs I suppose (one of those days where I've done more than I thought).

But I did have an hour sans internet oh the unmitigated horror so I used that time productively - I knew I wasn't up to anything physical so I stayed resolutely on the sofa and went through some files on the laptop. Earlier this year I uploaded everything from an old hard drive backup of a previous computer (which it turned out also had some backed up files from the computer before that!) so I cleared a fair few empty folders, irrelevant documents etc. Trying to tidy it up a bit, as I want to get all that sorted before I then attempt the daunting task of getting files off the most recent computer, which stopped working. Keep putting it off because I'm worried it won't be possible TBH.

Dieting wstill continues, and is going well..felt incredibly hungry in afternoon, but suddenly was summoned by emergency phone call from dd's friend to say dd was feeling very sick after a fun fair ride, so picking her up stopped me feeling hungry, dd is fine now, I think it was severe motion sickness reaction (she threw up in the park before I arrived)

Anyway that is enough to put one off meals!

Dd is asleep now, and we had Italian stuffed crespelle for supper. Ds1 had his Spanish exam today, Monday is RE and English Lit. Tues Geography

And tomorrow it is the Flying Scotsman which we are going to watch as it passes through our local station, we hope who cares about GSCEs

Today housework wise I did
some decluttering with ds2 to bend down for me and put things in bags
wash on
cleaning lady cleaned the kitchen and mopped hall floor and tidied playroom

Exercise wise, I went for long walk with a friend
Ds2 spent about two hours playing football and walking to and from football - time well spent, he is completely brown, whereas ds1 is white and pasty from school, a sad comparison.

Grey I admire you for doing not only the shift work but the prep for house move AND sick ds, all at once. The only wooden (quality toy) that ds1 has ever shown an interest in is the shark he carved himself in D & T aged 12 Ds2 loved Brio, and possibly a wooden garage (but he preferred the plastic one we got later from ELC) Ds1 once spent an entire day playing with a small white plastic dog (I think it was Snowy from Tintin), when whole worlds of playmobil and lego went untouched...[sigh]

My DCs are the opposite with toys, can't possibly get rid of a single bloody thing as they'll be devastated

Funny you mention Spanish, I'm considering taking a GCSE in it with another home ed mum. I only started learning it a little bit with the DCs as part of their home ed, but I've been surprised by how much I'm loving it. It's been great to keep my brain busy as well, especially given all the stress with losing my job etc.

Evening! Not done any impressive amounts of flying myself today. Am now eating crisps and drinking wine so I don't think this week's weight loss will be as impressive as Mrs Willpower's (otherwise known as knitting).

Cleared a kitchen cupboard yesterday and as a result, vowed to be more selective when liberating hotel rooms of their tea and coffee sachets. Most sadly passed their expiry date in the lonely confines of the cupboard without ever seeing a mug. Even more distressing is that I kept the undated ones

The daily summary for Saturday (also available on the Flylady website at flight plan which should update automatically each day).

Baby-step no 21 - check the ‘ask Flylady’ Q&A on the website

We are in Zone 3 this week: the bathroom and one other room

Spend 15 mins decluttering in Zone 3.

When you have finished decluttering, the detailed cleaning list (if you are at that stage) for Zone 3 is here

No missions at the weekend, they run Monday-Friday – yay! Could do the weekly pamper mission if you wish

The daily focus for Saturday is: family fun day

The monthly habit for May is moving in May!

Hello everyone. Is it too late in the month to join in? I have been trying to fly on my own for about a year now. I've made some good progress in that time, but due to illness things have deteriorated rather drastically in recent weeks. Need to motivate myself to keep going!

Never too late to join LazyCake.

lots of driving this morning, to and from various things
Ds2 cleverly managed to see Flying Scotsman as it went past, although they changed the time at the last minute to make it earlier, apparently to deter people climbing onto the tracks to film. He videoed it from a nice quiet platform with only 9 other trainspotters, whereas Paddington would have been a frenzy.

My mum is driving through on her way to Basingstoke, she was meant to come to supper last night but we cancelled due to Dd throwing up. Feel suddenly unable to summon the strength rushing round throwing things in cupboards, she will have to take us as she finds us. Luckily there are some flowers in the garden, and some crocosmia, which she approves of!

Dh has gone to shops to buy supper and lunch, this Saturday Sunday cooking arrangement is beginning to pall...very quickly he is realising how boring it is trying to think of meals when your children won't eat half the ingredients.

Cotswold I once ran out of coffee (the horror of it) and was reduced to a life saving hotel coffee sachet...I now regard them with respect and still keep a stash hidden away for emergencies behind the Lemsip.

todo if I have the strength
put clothes away especially socks and pants
sweep patio
bin, put out
go to dump again, as there is lots in the car
try and force ds2 to go to Drama, although I think he is now going to refuse after excitement of the train.
Look at what homework ds2 needs to do...this is difficult one as he is going to get into a state at the mere mention of school.
encourage ds1 to do some more revision when he comes back from his revision session at school. I know he is going to resist too. On the other hand I don't want him to be too jaded and worn out by next week.

Today I am going through my stuff in storage. O.M.G.

I have almost an entire house's worth of stuff in storage. No wonder this house is feeling cramped. Although when I do move all i will need is a bed for me and a wardrobe which is a bonus but still. I never knew I had so much in storage

Oh and bookshelves, we will need bookshelves. But everyone needs more bookshelves right?!

Hello everyone, and welcome to LazyCake, do join in with all the chat and occasional flying.

Einstein - is you stuff in storage in your house? Or is it in a storage locker/unit?

Good luck with the ongoing revision struggles Knitting.

Cotswold thanks for all the links. My DH is also a grabber of all hotel room freebies. I have forbidden him to bring home more mini shampoo and shower gels, never mind the rancid coffee sachets!

In storage in the house. It is a magic expanding house. Well it seems like it must be tbh.

I have just bought a filing cabinet in an attempt to tame some paperwork. It is already making a difference and I have only just started working on some of the paperwork. I have been ignoring the paperwork for way way way too long. But it is good because my patterns are now in one drawer and all filed so I can easily find what I am looking for.