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 yeah. The link.

www.houselogic.com/organize-maintain/cleaning-decluttering/clutter-depression/

Thanks SC and Caglio she is pretty cute isn't she!

Luckily because those eyes are all DP and they are what everyone comments on I can enjoy complements on her looks without appearing vain as she doesn't look much like me

SC I might have to let her out of the chair again but last time I did she insisted on spending my whole shower clinging onto the side of the bath (the shower is in the bath) banging her toys on the side of the bath and getting wet until she fell over and banged her head and burst into inconsolable tears so I had to get out of the shower to comfort her half way through washing my hair

Hopefully now that her standing skills have improved next time wont be so disastrous!

Mmm that does sound difficult Dogs. Would bathing together work? I am sure others on here will have better suggestions though.

Cag just managed to open that link! [SC remains worryingly silent wrt amount of bumph stuck to fridge door]

Must get off Internet now. Absolutely hate this lying down thing. I loathe not being active during the day. But I am going to drive everyone on here mad and go bozz-eyed if I Mnset any longer!

Enjoy your Sunday evenings everyone!

Good idea SC I'd been thinking I should try Meerkitten in the shower at some point, maybe this is the time.

Do you have a breakfast bar? Ours is the perfect height for using the laptop standing up but then again I am a short arse!

Meerkitten is gorgeous (I love that one of her climbing up you looking straight at the camera)!

I can do next month, especially if there are exams on the horizon! Or does someone want to split the month, I'll do the first two weeks and someone can finish strongly as I seem to think that posting the items means I don't have to do them myself driving us into the summer ?

I now have an image of SC reclining with someone feeding her grapes (she can dream) on a chaise. Get someone else to do your typing for you!

Will post the links shortly.

The daily summary for Monday - also available at flight plan which should update automatically each day.

**

Baby-step no 30 - planning ahead for upcoming birthdays

We are in Zone 5 this week: the living room or family room

Spend 15 mins decluttering in Zone 5.

When you have finished decluttering, the detailed cleaning list (if you are at that stage) for Zone 5 is here

Mission for Monday put out any hotspots

The daily focus for Monday is: weekly home blessing hour

The monthly habit for May is moving in May!

I have once again done sod all

SC your iPod may have voice recognition? If you're in Safari, on the keyboard there may be a little microphone symbol - if you touch it, it will type what you say. :)

Cotswold it's a good one that photo isn't it. Meerkitten appears to be fascinated by the camera (probably because I won't let her play with break it) so often charges the camera which can lead to some good photos.

Caglio you've just blown my mind about what computers can do, must see if our new laptop has safari. I know our old one had it but I never used it as I had no idea what it was

I'm not sure what you lot have done to me, but bloody hell the house is looking less cluttered everyday now.

I'm following fly lady but working in different zones according to need. I purchased lovely lovely new bedding for our room yesterday. When walking old now spare bedding I realised we have three sets of duvet covers etc, however I usually wash it and put back on. I do not need that many!! In Dd's bedroom her big drawer has two toddler duvet sets in, which means clothes are crushed into other drawers. Madness. I'm out for the bank holiday but todays task will be bagging up spare duvets/sheets/pillow cases and getting them ready for a charity shop drop tomorrow and taking blankets from Dd's drawers into proper bedroom storage.
15 mins a day is making a massive difference here!!

I use the voice recognition thingon my phone quite a bit but it can't cope with names and places very well. I use the Siri thing to set myself reminders, so for example press button, say to it "remind me to pick up DD from school at 4:30 on Thursday" then it pings me that message at that time, very useful. I have lots of weekly repeat reminders too, for PE kits to school on certain days etc.

I looove Siri! (not in the same way that Raj does in BBT though :o)

Safari is just on iOS I think.

I miss having Apple devices :( (if that isn't a first world problem I don't know what is) - I've got some unexpected money from PPI though so I'm reeeeally tempted to use some of it on an iPad mini TBH. Most of our home ed is screen free but there are a lot of really good apps that we had on our old one (and that was a hand me down first gen so couldn't even have most of the new stuff). And the decent camera on it would be good too. I've had a home ed blog set up for ages but haven't published anything on it yet

Thank you for the tech tip Cag and everyone! I do have Safari! And dd introduced me to Siri a while back by asking "it/her" some extremely silly questions!!

Won't help with office work (every doc has to got out with v specialised formatting) but will help with lots of quick things! (Although lang thing may be a bit of an issue.)

Whoknows you sound spectacularly well organised! Dh has tried to convert me to his hugely complicated tech office appt reminder system but I am sadly still of the "rummage in an over-stuffed handbag" school to find creased cardboard appt reminder

Congrats Ratbagcatbag wrt all the fab decluttering ! Great to read positive posts like yours!

Cotswold arf at the vision of me reclining being fed grapes [I wish]!! Actually, although dh is a star, and the poor man is rushed from pillar to post, I still have to ask every single time for him to do things which are standard tasks which are done and have been done week in week out for months/years ad infinitum. I am obviously try to keep them to an absolute minimum eg asked him at crack of dawn to carry full laundry basket down to the basement (forty odd stairs or so) so I could start the week's laundry and found the wretched thing in the hall (only half way down) once he'd left! He'd been distracted by something en route! This is probably a terribly sexist thing to say, but I think women are perhaps better anticipaters and can look at someone else's tasks and can plan ahead a bit better and do what they can see will become necessary, rather than having to be reminded every single time. Yarrggh!

Anyway, now I haven't done the washing! And dd and dh are still leaving shoes all around the place, dropping stuff on the floor, generally being sloppy. I know it is a complete pita me being incapacitated like this but it does make you wonder what would happen if one became seriously ill.

I really shouldn't complain though! Dh is rushed off his feet and is doing his absolute best. It is dd who isn't as erm, 'cooperative' as one would have hoped. She will pick up hair pins and bun do-nuts and ballet shoes and underwear off the floor if asked, but it comes with a lot of wearisome eye-rolling and mumbled protests. Again, I am just a bit taken a back that she doesn't have more insight at 12.75 yrs but maybe I am expecting too much

I am just in a grump as ever today. Think it must be the weather (constant rain through the night and all day so far)! Off to physio again now which will hopefully improve my outlook!

Keep going fledglings and keep dry eveyrone! Big wing flaps to all!

argh - every doc has to go out

Meant to say [drum roll] dd is walking back home from school all by herself for first time today! (I know this is a very pfb post and loads of dc are already walking back alone from secondary and during last years of primary!) DD would have were it not have been for terrorist situation with closed tunnels and metro/tram system which delayed it all a bit. Here's hoping it goes ok! Slightly more worried than I should be because saw on some emergency doctor prog that age categories of dc 'most likely to get run over' are 2/3/4 year old infants who run out in to the road and 12/ 13 year olds who are out alone crossing roads without their parents for first time!! Arrgh! And the car is absolute king here. The behind-the-wheel mentality of the 'natives' is in complete contrast to their usual stalwart, pragmatic, patients selves! It is anarchy on the roads, honestly! They would run you down on a zebra crossing without blinking an eye! [Chews knuckles]

We had a barbecue here today, just en famille, but what a faff that was. Dh swearing because the wind was in the east (or west, just wrong anyway) Dd screaming because ds2 opened her window to look at barbecuing from above, thus filling her room with smoke which she discovered 15 mins later me giving up attempts to suggest cooking things in oven FIRST rather than everyone getting enraged at low temp of barbecue coals..

I don't know, it just doesn;t seem worth it, as ds1 sagely said, a barbecue is just a few hamburgers in buns isn;t it why are you are all getting in stuch a state...I went for a long walk to get away from everyone, which is good. Diet continues..

Yesterday I managed to get dh out on a little detour to see some garden for NGS but foolishly added in meetup with friend who was of course late, so that wasn't very satisfactory (think impatient prancing ponies corralled in small Chiswick gardens) River beautiful though..

Still raining in buckets here! DD made it home fine but was soaked to the skin. Poor her to have to walk on what has probably been one of the wettest days of the year. I asked her why she didn't grab the tram or the metro but she said she didn't want to deviate from the plan! (Think I overdid the "do not go off anywhere else without letting me know" instructions )

Flying today = nil

But have been to fabulous physio who not only helped my back mahoosively, but after thorough examinations and tweaking diagnosed (or rather) connected up several other health issues I have been having (dodgy uterus and upper colon). He has basically said that I need to get these other issues sorted first because I am holding myself in a funny way because of them and everything is contracting and pulling on sacrum. I can now see a clear path to seeking treatment and recovery after being sent around in circles by various specialists who are all v good in themselves, but never seem to look at the bigger picture. Who knew they were all connected??!! I was sceptical at first but I swear he tweaked one area of my spine and I got a corresponding "jump" in the sigmoid. Then proceeded to do the same with other individual organs. Amazing! Sorry, that was, as usual probably all tmi as usual!

Oh dear about the barbecue and impatient prancing ponies Knitting!

Hope the garden was lovely though. Tis such a good time to go visiting. There is a similar scheme here but not half as good as uk. They are experts at espalier-ing (if that's a word) fruit trees here though (in fact they developed many of the orig techniques which were then exported around Europe apparently).

Have been increasingly frustrated by this year's Chelsea tv coverage. Love Monty. But if only there would be more plants and planting and less of the themes and minor celebrities! Why on earth does every garden have to have a theme? Can't a well chosen collection of plants and shrubs stand on their own merits any more? I know it is all about the PR though and how they are presented.

Another bugbear is this peculiar category of "thing" called "garden sculpture". Surely there are sculptures, some of which look v good in gardens and some which don't. Or there are plants and shrubs which can take various forms. Says- she with naff rabbit topiary bought from local garden centre during a sale.

There was a spectacular piece on the plants of Jordan though, which was (outside of the connurbations) beyond beautiful: it somehow was verdant and arid at the same time! And I love learning about the tiny eccentric nurseries - owned by happy nutters enthusiasts with a couple of acres and the odd polytunnel - who have developed a new hybrid, or maintain an obscure national collection.

Btw, dh noted down a good barbecue recipe which is all cooked before in the oven and then just "shown" the actual barbecue at the last minute. He hasn't tried it yet, but when he does, and if it's any good, I'll pass it on.

Must go and seek out supper for poor dh when he gets back!

Think your rain has blown this way, SC, it's absolutely hideous today for the first full day my parents are here, wanting to go out and do things. Yuk!

We had a productive bank holiday weekend though. DH and FIL built and filled some raised beds, which I have planted with peas, beans and courgettes, and raspberry bushes on the way. They also demolished an almost indestructible dog pen left in a hideous state by the last people. Various other little odd jobs around the garden got done too. Then yesterday we got DS2's bedroom back into shape with rearranged furniture and new bookcases, pictures back up and the playroom reorganised. Quick change of the spare bed before my parents arrived, phew!

Yes, BBQs always seem a better idea in theory than in practice, don't they, Knitting?

SC sounds encouraging that someone's seeing the whole picture. It's amazing how things interrelate. BTW, I saw that IKEA have little standing desks that are basically laptop stands on long legs. Worth a look?

Leaves on the bar and waves to everyone else!

Thank you also for offering to help with next month Cotswold, and for Whoknows for offering too. I am going to try and stay away from screens for a bit to help my back recover, but happy to help out intermittently with anything that doesn't involve links!

Cannot believe this is the last day of May . This year is going far too fast. DD's class are clearing out their desks on 9/10 June in prep for end of year exams; then she'll only be at school a couple of hrs a day to do exams and revision, so we are effectively starting to wind down for the summer holiday at the end of next week

Once back is improved, determined to whip this house in to shape before we start travelling. Starting with magazine sorting/chucking today from reclining position!

x posts Blue thanks for Ikea standing desk tip (think that is the way to go tbh) and wow and at your raised beds. Sounds as though you and your dh have made fab progress in the house! Congrats both! Hope you have a lovely time with your parents!

SC, ah yes, the same for me, my lower back problems (none at the moment) are partly caused by the way I seek to protect my gynae bits having suffered prolapses, they are all linked, also there is a link with hypermobility, which I'm pretty sure I don't have. Glad you have found some answers.

Cotswold, I'm happy to do June as you have done May, I will be away parts of July and Aug so can't do those.

Whoknows yes, I should have twigged earlier really! Particularly given your experience. It is really encouraging to know that you are not suffering with your back atm (despite managing an allotment!)

Awful awful rain here too! Rubbish timing as I'm dropping the DCs at the adventure playground today. It's council run childcare but you can also just 'drop and run' for free, and DSD is working there, so she suggested it for today as I have my work leaving lunch thing. Looking forward to it mostly, bit nervous as well. But it's about time I had some closure for the whole situation really. :)

Not even vaguely ready for the trip away! Let alone the maths class which starts in a couple of weeks at my house. EEEEEEK.

Place is a complete tip. Mum even tripped over the shoe pile :( what a farce this place is.

Right, must crack on getting ready. Need to make a packed lunch for the DCs.

Oh lawd Cag hate to say it, and hopefully different forecast with you, but if the rain is anything we had here yesterday, I think all outdoor events will be off. It was torrential!

Good luck at your work lunch "do" today

[Btw, it's me, SC, have name-changed for month ahead]

thank you SC

luckily there's an indoor bit at the playground with crafty stuff, toys, pool table etc