September Fledglings: the new term has begun!

[Greymalkin]

Hello all, the new term has begun! So I'm taking the register; everyone please sign in...

I will set out the opening post curriculum once my home internet collection is restored

Ooh look --> teacher's pet!!

Hi all, yes am still trying with the before bed routine. Am finding mornings much better because of having bags packed the night before etc (although they still involve far more stress than I'd like!). It's still taking me ages though. It seems to take me a good hour to sort out bags for DDs and I, look at calendar etc, and I'm really not sure what I'm doing wrong as writing it down it should only take 10 mins or so. Will persevere! Is lovely to hear how everyone is getting on.

Ta da:
Decluttered and cleaned a freezer drawer
Took girls out to ballet while DH cleaned house
Bought new ballet shoes for DD1
Took DD2 shoe shopping and recycled a load of old shoes at the same time

To do
Bath and bedtime etc for DDs
Organise ballet bags as was first day back at class today so found out what they had grown out of etc
Put names on new shoes and spray with protector
Look up directions to a children's party tomorrow

Ooh also to do:
Start looking at birthday and Xmas presents and cards - have loads of birthdays coming up and I love Christmas!

Hi,
I'd like to join the thread please! I tried a Fly Lady type approach a few years ago and found it was working until I started working from home. Working from home basically means I'm always working - I find it hard to switch off from the work tasks that need doing and I become blind to house stuff until it has reached a point where it all becomes overwhelming.
On a daily basis I just keep up with the essentials of washing up, laundry etc. The kids help out every evening with this very short list of basic chores - but I rarely get as far as decluttering - and I need to declutter!
Hoping I will last on here and the thread will help me avoid being fully sucked into the work vortex!
Had a bit of a lull with work in the past few days so decluttered here and there - kids sock drawer, top of the wardrobe. My hotspots are not the same as Fly Lady's and with a family of 7, small kitchen and no dishwasher the clear sink is not on my list of priorities!! (It will never happen). My dining room table is my substitute for the kitchen sink.
Looking forward to keeping up with you all.

A warm welcome to fromwesttoeast! Sounds as if you have your work cut out with work and a family of seven! Good luck with the decluttering!

Wow Greymalkin mahoosively fab round-up!!! [flowers

Argh, that was meant to say to Greymalkin

and think you will need a or three after that too!!

Big waves to Toostressy Celeste and everyone else!

Couldn't motivate myself at all today, suffering from CBA but did do a 2 hour round trip to with dd to buy a second hand maths text book needed for next week. Life on the edge here as ever

Think you win the prize Greymalkin for the longest round-up in thread history

Have a good evening everyone!

2-hour round trip for a maths textbook, SC ?! That's some kind of dedication!!

Ugh! Today was DS2's birthday party... Spent the morning tidying, blowing up balloons, preparing food, wrapping pass the parcel etc. Then spent the afternoon frantically trying to stop overwrought 6 and 7 year-olds (and 9 YO DS1) killing each other/melting down/complaining of boredom... Was raining so plans for bouncy castle in back garden shelved at last minute, and hasty rearranging, planning indoor games required. Everyone survived just, but we're definitely never doing a party at home again!

Lol SC - you did warn me that September was only second to January for being a busy thread! Sorry to hear about your DD giving up ballet, its always sounded like such a big thing for her.

Blue I have some very fond memories of at home parties from when my DBro and I were little, but the effort that goes into them!! You're braver than I am < nabs left over birthday from the bar >

Welcome to fromwesttoeast - you are in good company, there are several newbies on the thread this month who have also dabbled in FlyLady in the past, so come on in. A house of 7 you say?! Do you get much input from everyone in terms of organisation and chores? I hope so!

TooStressy - would you like to say exactly what your before bed routine includes to see if we can make any suggestions? Bare in mind that you can start this routine much earlier in the day, for example, you can select your clothes and accessories in the afternoon or even the day before.
Make a list of things to be ticked off so you are not forgetting anything, don't rely on memory.
Could lunches be made at the same time as doing dinner prep?
Where is your calendar? Can you put it in a place where you are always walking past it, so you 'check' it several times a day with a quick glance?

I've managed some ta-das at last:
Emptied dishwasher
Dishwasher maintenance: topped up salt and rinse aid
Hand washing up - why oh WHY can DH not wash up the frying pan after he cooks his breakfast? Every. Bloody. Time!!!!!!!
Changed sheets on spare bed
Made other two beds
Online banking
Played play dough with DS and afterwards decluttered all the grotty ones
Washed all towels and replaced with fresh
Fed cats
Tidied up all DS's toys after he emptied practically every one over the living room floor

Back in a mo with linkies

Grey Don't go getting attached to Jeremy Germ or Steve-Coli 1 week down! Fair play for doing Uni. I know all too well how much time a degree soaks up. What are you studying?

TooStressy I went into town today and saw the 1st of the xmas decorations, etc, for sale in the shops

Waves to Fromwest and Salutary

Blue I bet you are knackerd after the kids birthday party. Shame about the bouncy castle and the rubbish weather. I take a glass of thank you very much

Welcome fromwesttoeast yes, I have done Flylady on and off for years but never fully embraced it. This thread seems nice as it's a way to loosely follow it .

Grey thanks, I think maybe the first problem is I don't have a clear list of my before bed routine! I sort of use Flylady's list but I don't lay out clothes. It just doesn't work for us, I get dressed in two seconds flat anyway, DD1 chooses her own clothes and is usually pretty sensible in her choice. DD2 is a real challenge in the morning as she will want to try lots of different outfits at times and is happiest in party dresses so it would be wasted time as she would have changed her mind by the morning.

I think also the problem is that stuff that isn't technically in a before bed routine gets lumped together as on a weekday DH and I can end up eating late so stuff like putting dishwasher on and sorting laundry get added in.

I suppose I do this:-
Sort out bags for tomorrow (me, DD1 and 2)
Empty bags from today if not done earlier (different work and childcare settings mean different bags!)
Check calendar for tomorrow's events and get any paperwork, forms for school etc together
2 minute hotspot drill

If not done any decluttering (often the case on work days):
5 mins house or room rescue
5 mins decluttering

It doesn't sound that much so maybe I am just tired by that point which makes me slow.

Calendar is by kitchen sink and I check it regularly actually so maybe I should move that out of the bedtime routine as I am probably repeating work I've already done.

Celeste,Christmas planning starts in September . Actually I live the Flylady holiday control journal; not sure if anyone else uses it. Must print one out!

Links for Sunday 11th September: Here is the launch pad for all the quick reference links. for the flight plan

Baby step number eleventh: something about writing inspirational quotes in your control journal Meh.

We have technically finished in Zone two now, but if you are carrying on with zone work, continue in Zone 2, The Kitchen Spend 15 minutes decluttering here. If you have finished decluttering here is the detailed cleaning list

There are no missions as it is the weekend.

Our habit of the month is establishing a Before Bed Routine This is actually a really good habit to develop, as many of us can vouch for.

The focus for Sundays is to Renew your spirit Do something that is just for you.

And a little bonus feature for this month: FlyLady's back to school tips

Xmas doesn't get mentioned here until at least after fireworks night

Eek ok will keep my Xmas obsession in check will visit the Christmas bit of MN

Girls in bed so just started before bed routine and I think the problem is I am trying to do everything, tidying each room, grabbing clothes for laundry, put away some clutter in bedroom. There is always emergency washing to do. Also I am constantly distracted by MN and Facebook. So I am effectively trying to do lots of 5 minute room rescues. Might try focusing on making sure laundry and kitchen are tidy and then sticking more to a set list which I can tick off of a true bedtime routine. Anything else I get done is an extra bonus then.

Prioritise TooStressy I always like to make sure the living room is tidy and the kitchen sink is clear before i settle down for the evening.

I have been neglecting my house this weekend, I'll do a quick straightening when I get back from work this afternoon. It's been tiring with DD going back to school etc, but we'll get back on track!

Tackled the dining room and hall yesterday:

Pulled all the shoes off the shoe rack, chucked old ones into charity bag and polished current ones before returning to rack
Hoovered and mopped floor (found cat fur ball - euch)
Turned table round - looks better this way
Removed all clutter
Wiped down table cloth
Tidied cat toys and put away
Found DS1's PE kit

Also did lots and lots of washing.

DS1 is being very tricky - maybe because he's coping with being back at school. It's really exhausting being with him and he keeps play fighting with DS2, but it always goes too far and they both get hurt . He also came home with marker pen all over his school shirt: it's been washed, but that's made no difference. I was so cross with his friend for doing it I told DS1 I would contact the school, but then he admitted he'd done it to his friend's shirt first - argh! The shirt (new) is unwearable, so will have to be thrown away, but DS1 thinks I'm making a fuss about nothing when I complain about the waste of money.

DS2 begged us not to make him go swimming today, so we've cancelled today (will have to pay though) and have decided to give notice and stop asap. During his eight months of half-hour weekly lessons, he's gone from being a non-swimmer to being able to go underwater happily, do front crawl (imperfectly - still working on the breathing), tread water, float and jump in. Still can't dive, refuses to do back stroke and can't seem to do breast stroke. It's costing us a fortune though and I'd rather use that on revision help for DS1 (GCSEs looming), so we've agreed to give it up. Feels like a great relief all round. I will continue to take him swimming when I can and, hopefully, he will gradually learn to enjoy it.

DS1's science tutor is here at midday, so am going to do some ironing before she gets here.

DH is at work, then he's popping in on his mum who has gout (she is teetotal!).

Enjoy your Sundays everyone.

Salve!

Hope all newcomers are Flying happily!

Bene, gratias tibi ago! And thanks for links Grey! (I'm only doing this quick, free re-introduction to Latin to blow the forty-years of cobwebs out of my brain that have accumulated since I last studied it! Thought I was relatively OK with it but obviously not as dd's marks have been less than good (and I've been tutoring her! She knows all the verbs/nouns/declensions we are just having trouble putting it all togethr! Have also ordered some Galore Park Latin text books from UK. (Hopefully I can then help dd a bit better, although she is learning it in French of course.) Hope you are enjoying your initial reading!

Sympathies re: dh's who won't wash up after themselves btw! Dh made a beef tea type soup the other day which was beyond delicious to be fair - but the state of the kitchen afterwards was horrendous - the more cluttered a surface is, the more he seems to like it grrrrrr.

Proffers a large bowl of strong coffee to Blue and a foot-spa for post party recuperation! Well done for surviving! (Shame about the weather though as I know from bitter experience it makes everything so much harder.) Hope the boys had a good time though when all said and done!

Yes drove to an optician's (where the vendor was working) on the wrong side of a post-industrial town yesterday for a second hand maths book. (Between us we had already visited 3 second hand book shops, 1 school book sale (but they were sold out) and investigated a multitude of on-line ads but none were to be found anywhere. DD's maths teacher is insisting on using the second edition of this particular text and the third edition is the only one being sold new. (By the way, it is not unusual in state schools here for parents to have to supply various text books. Some are supplied by the school and some are not.) Anyway, every year, it is a huge pain in the because thousands of parents are scrabbling for the same texts. Only one religion book to go (ordered from second hand store) and we shall be all set for this year. Sorry that was far more info about that than anyone would ever wish to know about text books

Well done on fabulous Flying yesterday Toffee! Sorry to hear your ds1 is being tricky dd is very stroppy atm but great to hear he is coping with school! And well done to your ds2 with his swimming! He has done enough to be safe and that is what is important! I should have followed your good example and taken advantage of the lovely weather yesterday and done all the washing then but um, I didn't, so need to do it now.

DD going to party in an hour and, very unusually, I will be hanging around there for a bit seeing a friend this afternoon and I have lots to do thereafter.

Small steps Stressy! And don't hesitate to adapt the routines to suit your own indiv household. It doesn't really matter what you do when, as long as small bits are done here and there in a reasonably consistent manner (must listen to my own advice sometime )

Thank heavens for that Celeste! Although dare I mention that I ordered some Christmas cards the other day but my excuse is that I get them from the same charity every year so get them early

More power to your elbow Fencing - Sept is a very demanding time - I always underestimate how long it takes to get back properly in to the swing - so go easy on yourself.

Thanks for ballet sympathies Grey and Pontification! DD is upset and teacher is very kindly holding a place open for dd once we have worked out everything with school (which should be tomorrow night). School is so very demanding here though that I don't know if it is possible to fit everything in. I certainly hope so though!

Big waves to everyone else!

Sorry, on re-reading that post, that was all terribly 'me' 'me' 'me' and my pfb - didn't mean it to come across like that sorry!!

I will post about Flying later I promise

Signing back in. Will read the rules etc mater but for the moment just marking my place. X

SC - am so impressed with you helping your DD with Latin. It was one of my worst subjects at school and I dropped it as soon as I could. Thank you for your encouraging words about DS2 stopping swimming. As you say, he's done enough to survive in water and he's put up with the weekly lessons for eight months. I warned him that he may not be up to his peer group's standard when he goes to secondary, but he says he doesn't care.

We have an open evening for him at the local secondary school next week. It's the same one DS1 couldn't cope in, but it's a good school and DS2 is determined to go with his friends. It will be weird for DH and I to start over again there, though.

DS1 is having his weekly GCSE science lesson with his new tutor at the moment. There is something especially lovely about sitting here, drinking tea and browsing on MN knowing he's doing revision next door and I won't have to cajole him myself.

Have put a load of washing on. Am staring at a big pile of ironing, but I can't go in the kitchen to set up the ironing board because I'll disturb the lesson have conveniently overlooked the fact that I could have set it up in the sitting room if I'd thought this through.

Hi to Ememem [waves]

Thanks Toffee, enjoy your coffee break while you can and yay to competent tutors! (Currently looking for one!) Also, good luck with secondary school meeting. Oh and if dd's swimming classes at secondary are to go by, then your ds2's classes may well be grouped in terms of ability within roughly same age group, so I wouldn't worry.

I've done sod all today (this seems to be something of a theme). Sorry I've not been contributing to the thread properly!

Just going to put a wash on. We've got a heck of a lot of clearing up to do as lots of my pupils start back this week.