Fledglings Flying into June - In or Out we'll find out soon.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es]

Welcome all - and thanks to CotswoldStrife for leading us through May. It's going to be a momentous month on the political front, but this is where we can concentrate on the domestic front instead.

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 Flylady

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 Launch Pad

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!

Thank you Slingcrump good luck with all the tidying before your guests arrive!

I am in the East of England and we are having crappy weather, I put out washing last night in the hope that it might dry a bit over today. I have another load just finished , but nowhere to hang. Better weather arriving tomorrow, but with ⛈⚡️forecast.
13yr olds not making as much mess as ds10, who is leaving a trail of Pringles wherever he goes.
Ta da so far
Sorted ds13 tops and jeans, so he actually has things that fit in his drawers.
Sorted winter accessories and discovered DH has 6 hats, 4 of them exactly the same.
Threw away my manky flip flops from last year and put shoes I no longer wear in a bag for charity.
Found and sorted summer hats, some aged 3-6 years.
Now only have one bag for life of Winter stuff.
Two and a bit black bin bags for charity.

To do:
Get washing off the line and hang new load up.
Clear up after lunch.
Run Hoover over area where ds10 has been.
Glance at overflowing washing basket still but not do anymore until tomorrow night as going to be sunny on Sunday, and can put lots out.

Can't face sorting ds10 clothes today. He has loads of hand me downs to sort through, miles more clothes than he would ever wear. I also need him on board to tell me which ones he likes/ dislikes, and that isn't going to happen today.

Sorry for mammoth post

Got the dc's off the computer, although they're now fighting in and out of Minecraft!!!

Whoknows glad exam went well even with lack of sleep.
kruckshany impressed with the washing, good luck with the packing.
Grey fingers crossed with the house buying.
Blue enjoy meal out together - wine and uninterupted conversation!
SC enjoy the break away.
Einstein Well done on the massive declutter. Enjoy your trip and relax!!!
Cotswold hope your holiday is going well.
Cagliastro hope ds's trip to the fracture clinic went ok and you're now having a happy trip.
Madsprocker my ds 9 leaves trail of crumbs as well! Clothes definately a never ending struggle ds is now into 12/13 or 13/14 T-shirts (he'll grow into them!) Dd is luckily now into adult size 10 so hopefully they will last. Got a black bin liner full of hand me down clothes for her - 20 pairs of jeans am hoping that she decides she can handle the feel of them and doing up the jeans buttons or else more clothes for the summer fete!
SC must be soo frustrating not being able to move when loads to do. Well done on borrowing the office cleaners. Enjoy saturday socialising; on dh having to go when your backs still bad.
Ratbag agree on keeping of boxes, 'just in case' still had boxes from things long since thrown away - instruction manuals are even worse!
Mercury sounds like you have your hands full. Hope dp's back is better soon.
Bellatrix welcome, hope FLYings going well.
AllMyBestFriendsAreMetalheads love the name Metal rules in this house as well Alice Cooper always makes me clean twice as fast!
Agree about trying to always keep toilets and sink clean but the rest keeps falling behind.
whatsthatnow welcome 7 people in a 3 bed sounds very squashed!

Hope I haven't forgotten anyone.

Ta Da
Washing put away, not ironed
Lunch eaten, not healthy but it's a holiday so who cares!!
15 minute rubbish pick up

To do
School stuff :(
Clean both toilets.

The dc's are now playing happily so i'm not disturbing them with homework.

15 minutes on FB then will get off the computer.

Have a good afternoon everyone

Hello people!

Loving this thread. Really want to get back to enjoying my lovely home instead of putting blinkers on to get out the front door. I decided to completely ignore the advice of not signing up with Fly Lady due to the volume of stuff sent to you, and now my inbox is broken

I have a couple of questions - as I've just started, should I go back to the beginning and either try and get everything done or stay a few days behind everyone else? Or do I just start from today's tasks?

Well DP is back tomorrow and as everyone predicted it was easier than I expected and actually mostly quite relaxing, a little like being on holiday (I'd better not tell DP that when he gets back)

I think I realised that not knowing what time he'll be home from work and trying to make sure that he gets a decent tea whilst also looking after Meerkitten is more stressful than I realised. So with DP away I haven't felt like I need to produce a proper tea, I even had just sandwiches the first day to really make life easy for myself.

Also when DP gets home if I'm trying to get Meerkitten to wind down for bed his presence revs her right back up and that means it takes longer to get her to sleep, so him being away has mostly made things less stressful apart from in one area.......

....showering has been interesting this week.... I decided to try letting Meerkitten out of the bouncy chair again and despite it being a disaster everyday I've carried on hoping that it will get better, it hasn't

I've learnt a few things though, her distress that I thought was due to being trapped in the bouncy chair just seems to actually be distress that she can't get to me when I'm in the shower.

So we've had hanging on the side of the bath banging toys on the side, we've had 'fishing' in the toilet with a long trail of those links things for attaching toys to prams, etc. We've had pulling and shaking the shower curtain (rather like trying to shower with a shrieking hobbit flapping a wet tarpaulin in your face relaxing!)

I also tried bringing her into the shower with me on the second day, initially I just lifted her in fully clothed, then stripped her down to her nappy. This still wasn't good enough she had to be picked up. Then this seemed to be ok but once we got out of the shower she cried for about half an hour, so clearly that wasn't a good plan.

Then today she learnt how to pull the shower curtain out of the bath so that she was getting showered on and water was pouring down the shower curtain on the floor. I think I may have to admit defeat and go back to using the bouncy chair

It has been entertaining though I have to admit

If anyone else has had this difficulty and has any ideas then I am all ears

I remember whilst pregnant with Meerkitten reading a comment on a thread (can't remember what the thread was about) where someone said that living with a toddler was like living with a small drunk and I remember thinking that I must remember that as it would help me laugh when things got trying, I think I may be entering the small drunk era....

Ta da list
Empty nappy bin
Hoovering dining room (with hobbit wailing and grabbing on to hoover)
Washing up
Made bed
Washing load on (unfortunately washing machine broken just before DP went away again and it appears to have developed the same fault again so I can't get washing machine cycle to finish and release clothes)
Mini clear out of fridge items past their best

I think that is all I can think of....scrapes barrel...

BeBop just start from today. Fly lady's mantra is you are never behind. Plus the steps build up so if you look at the daily focus the steps you will have missed will be incorporated in there anyway so it is fine.

Lazy morning. Too lazy. Only just getting started really. But have started packing. Put away the sorted box of stationery. Check where it is I am going (you know minor technical detail and all). Changed all the passwords that I can think of just because it has been sat on the to do list for like the last 3 months so it is long long over due. About to head out to run a few errands and there there are 3 boxes of sorted stuff to go away, a floor full of junk and a bed full of paperwork to clear AND laundry. Organised? me?

By the way I didn't post any pictures of Meerkitten on her birthday so here goes. The dress was a Christmas present that she has finally grown into, bless her!

Quick question for those of you with older kids, when did you find that your kids were old enough to enjoy things like aquariums and wildlife parks? There are a couple that are half to an hours drive away with reasonable annual membership, I'm just wondering if it is too early to sign up to something like that? She definitely likes animals already but I'm wondering if I should wait until she is walking to sign up for a year to get the most for my money. Any thoughts?

Really I know that I want to visit them for me too so can't decide whether I'm just getting excited for myself and need to rein myself in for a bit longer

Thank you einsteinsmum

Mine never took hugely to either of those types of place, but I would say that a bit older is probably better. What they have loved is the fun farms, the ones that have trampolines, play equipment, feed the sheep, handle rabbits etc, in fact we've just been to our local one this morning, even at 10 and 12 they still like it. If you've got a garden centre locally with a little play area, cafe and aquarium those are great for whiling away an afternoon with preschool age DCs and no entrance fee. Also I think quite a lot of places let you pay on the day and then if you enjoy it convert to an annual pass but with the cost of that first visit deducted, so you can try before you commit.

It is always worth googling for voucher codes to these sorts of place as well, there are loads out there.

Dogs We took DS to an Aquarium for him birthday and he absolutely loved it. I'd second what WhoKnows* said about a garden centre, won't cost you anything and you get a good variety. Might get pestered for a pet though

Or Pets at Home!

Dogs We took DS1 to the Sealife Centre as a toddler and he spent the whole time melting down because he'd wanted to stay outside looking at the fibreglass shark, and not inside with the real fish!!

BeBop - FlyLady says jump in where you are, but the first two Babysteps are shining your sink and getting dressed to shoes (which loads of us ignore anyway) so easy to catch up if you want!

You guys have all had such impressive ta das!
Here goes with my dayta das
3 loads washing done,dry,fold and put away
An hour clearing corner front room including a box that still had nappies on it.how did I not clear that away when little zoo is 8
Shined sink-then cat sat in it to check the shine
Went sofa hunting-and end up get a wardrobe for girls room to and am now panicking I gave to get front room sorted before the delivery tuesdaythanks DP for jumping in that was great before I had a chance to remind him of the challenges that would bring
Tries to stop hyperventilating at task ahead.hope everyone has a good evening
By the way where is zone 1?

See this is where ds is different he utterly loved these places from a very young places and we were taking him to museums and stuff from around 18months and he loved it. He was very alert and had a huge thirst for input though. I know families that have the annual pass and make great use of it from when the child is about 18months. But i do think you have to adjust your expectations about what constitutes a good trip. I remember 1 trip where i was bored out of my brain as ds spent 2hrs going around and around the shark tunnel. For him it was the best day ever.

Good evening everyone, I've had a long day at work and DS is a bit under the weather, so not expecting to get any flying done today....

I just wanted to keep up with the thread really, especially lots of new fledglings!

Stillliving Zone 1 is the Entrance, front porch and dining room Lol at your version of sofa shopping!

BeBop we have a thread leader each month who posts links each day to help with your flying, so just jump right in with us.

MadSprocker I'm also in the East of England; it has been utterly grotty weather wise. Well done on your decluttering. You mentioned you tried Kondo - I second what SC said - I find Kondo really useful for decluttering and Flylady for cleaning, routines and home management.

AllMyBestFriends - welcome back to Flylady!

Bellatrix - welcome, we a friendly very chatty bunch

Whatsthatnow - wow, thats a lot of you in that space! I guess having a regular routine is the best way to keep on top of everything.

Grumpy we always say to new fledglings never to subscribe to the FatFairy's emails - I think the tweeness can really put people off, but the system of regular routines doing little and often in different zones really does work well. Welcome to the thread.

Kruckshany - hope you have a lovely break, 'see' you when you are back

Dogs MK is looking lovely and sounds like she is keeping you really busy! I found that when my DS was really small I still had to take him outside to places to keep my own sanity. All the new stimulation tired him out.

Blue Have a lovely grown up night out

Cotswold enjoy your break, hope its somewhere nice

WhoKnows - you must be relieved the exam is done, reward yourself after all your hard work

Evening all,

Well, we had a nice relaxing trip out to the play farm that is to say I sat at a picnic bench with a book and a coffee while the DCs let off steam on trampolines etc. Then home and a bit of Flying, things have slipped MASSIVELY in the last week or so, so a deep clean for the bathroom, which was starting to smell a bit musty due to damp bath mats and shower curtain, some washing and a big laundry sort out. Need to get back into routine for next week now. Links coming up.

Saturday 4th June

No mission because it's the weekend, but it is Family fun day

Babystep is Write reminders on post-it notes, and make your house look even more untidy than it already is

Next week we will be moving into Zone 2 - the kitchen

I have finally made it back to post the last couple of days have been chaotic. Dp has been signed off work for another two weeks as his job is quite physical and the dr was unhappy about him climbing ladders and rightly so. SC I'm sorry to hear you are also still suffering.

Today a friend turned up unexpectedly and we ended up going shopping and for lunch which was lovely but meant only very minimal flying was achieved. However, I have managed to kit the dc out for summer if and when it finally appears.

Madsprocker I am also in the east of England and am hoping to get lots of washing done and dried on Sunday. The dc have been asking for the heating on over the last couple of days as it has been so damp and chilly.

Dogsbum MK is gorgeous. It sounds like she is keeping you entertained but on your toes. I am looking forward to and dreading dc3 reaching toddlerhood in equal measure, although we have a long way to go yet.

Whoknows your day out sounds perfect especially as you also got to relax.

Big wing flaps to all of you lovely fledglings. I had better get some sleep or dc3 will be awake for his next feed before I even get back to sleep!

Another one signing in to the east if england.its foggy here todayand I had hope to throw kids at trampoline and attack my jungle,I mean gardenfingers crossed it brighten up later!
dogsMK is adorable.I have serious misty rose hinted eyes when my rabble were toddlers.I must admit we laughed a lot more-preteens rend to be stroppy sullen breedat least in my house
So little zoo never got the concept of lay ins and I body clock set to wake with her between 5-5.30 so I gave a ta da already
Bath and sink cleaned,floor wash,harpic toilet
Fed and watered everyone(including cats)
1load wash dry,fold out away,2nd load in machine still

I am now head into DS room-aka the bearpit.I hope my life insurance has a clause for this.........

Rose hinted?tinted
My predictive text has tourettes!!

Stilllivinginazoo You're ta-da list at this time of the morning is seriously impressive. DS is at DM's so I'm not even out of bed yet

So day four, and my sink has stopped shining because ds13 unloaded it late and I was hoping DH would load it before bed.
I am on a silver clay course today, and really looking forward to it. DH grandma died last week and he is going to her house with the children to help his mum collect furniture we don't need . He has also bought trellis to attach a clematis to, that is slowly creeping across the lawn. So that's something off the list.
And the forecast is sunny 😀😀😀