October Fledgling thread 2016: where we fluff up our feathers and fall back in to autumnal Flying routines

[Strikingclock]

Welcome to the October 2016 Fledgling Flying thread!

Come and park your broomsticks mops and buckets here!

This is where, from the 1st of the month, we attempt to declutter and follow the 30-step wisdom of Flylady (minus cutesy language and a surfeit of e-mails) with lots of chat and support and mutual motivation (and of course) along the way.

More info available here , here, here and here.

As usual we will be following a three-pronged approach - and don't worry - we are all at different stages. (Some of us are still stuck at the decluttering stage after quite a few years ):

• repeat or start baby steps (again!)

• repeat baby steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone

or

• reinforce babysteps and do daily missions if you have finished decluttering.

And those of you who have decluttered and are really enthusiastic can throw some detailed cleaning in to the mix as well!

The idea is that we focus on short, ring-fenced, daily bursts of activity (steps and routines) that will help our homes run (more or less!) on "automatic pilot" allowing us to do far more interesting things instead!

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!

Helpful pointers: No perfectionism allowed! If it took a while to create the current C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome) in your home, then it will probably take a while to reverse the situation (you can't clean clutter!). Small steps are the key! And you are never behind: just jump in where you are at!

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Good luck!

Thank you all, I've calmed down a bit now, had a surprise message from mother out of the blue (we have very limited contact, she also suffers from depression, but can be quite narcissistic as well so I cant tolerate her much, but I don't suppose she can tolerate me for more than an hour every couple of months either lol) however she suggested complaining to the general medical council, on the grounds that her incompetancy could have had serious implications for my mental health.

I might just complain to the manager so they can sort out their issues in house.

Your call Babble I think complaining in house is a good first step anyway - you could always take it further if you don't think they've dealt with it well enough. However your mental health is the priority so only do what you feel up to.

Had to look for a toy to return to a friend we are visiting today, which happily resulted in us going through lots of BRCs (for those who haven't seen this before I want it to catch on and become a Thing it means Bag of Random Crap - usually formed when you panic tidy and sweep all manner of clutter into a bag to hide it!) - I'm still sitting in bed while we sift through it. Filled a bin bag already!

hahahahaaha we have those lol, BRC's usually after cleaning out the car, we have one for rubbish and mcdonalds fries, and a BRC, which gets stored in the hallway until something from the car is needed, school uniform, homework, coat, book, game. then gets strewn across hallway floor until i pick it up and stuff it all back in the bag with an extra dog toy, slipper and a shoe or two

I dread to think how many BRCs I have in my car right now! House isn't too bad after a huge declutter recently but my car has been totally neglected...I think fly lady does a day for car doesn't she?!

Ta das
Dishwasher on

To do
Laundry
Kitchen sides / bit of washing up
Room rescue living room bedrooms
Swish and swipe bathroom
Some fly lady stuff!

I'm having to stay indoors until a parcel gets delivered and Im going a bit crazy trying to entertain my dd and calm grumpy baby - I like to get out of the house every morning for this very reason!!

Ok flying to do
Dust living room furniture
Anti procrastination - do last couple of thank you cards!

Just popping in to say I have boxes of random crap which is even worse in a way because whereas a bag definitely comes under the heading of "temporary", "and to be sorted eventually" a cardboard box just sneaks in there under false pretences, all solid and legitimate looking, when inside I know it is just as full of random CRAP as the one beside it (and breathe)

Why are all my posts appearing in puke green?

ds3 is finally having a friend stay over, but he has no idea hes staying over, his face will be a picture, so
tada
took meds
got dressed
fed dogs
feel sick
had breakfast

todo
tidy lounge
put washing away
sweep and mop floor do same through out downstairs
fly in later

SC we had boxes like that and have only just sorted them and got rid of them because we were having the new carpets fitted. The boxes were never unpacked when we moved in three years ago . Actually when I did sort them most of the stuff got thrown away and it took about 15 minutes! Oh and my posts went puke green last week and now they are back to normal!

I'm not doing too well today due to a non sleeping 7 week old! Dd has gone to bed but I can hear her talking still. Ds is just nodding off while feeding back he seems to keep waking up the minute I put him down today.

Ta das
Room rescue living room
Hung up laundry

To do
Everything else!!

I think I was feeling too ambitious today because I knew we'd be indoors so thought I'd get stuff done. Obviously forgot about the two small children issue!

Evenin'

[snaffles a bit of Fromwestoeast's apple crumble

Posts have gone back to depressed raspberrycolour now

Foxes we have boxes like that from over a decade a go! Evenin'

Good to know that it's not too hideous a job when I eventually get around to it though!! Sorry to hear about yet more sleep deprivation which must be v tough indeed.

Babblehag hope your ds3 has a lovely time Hope the nausea passes soon x

Cag sorry, posted too soon there, meant to say top marks for getting rid of old clothes and associations!

Bit of a pig of a day. DD still ill (had second scan which showed enlarged spleen =some sort of viral illness apparently). Had school ringing up in rapid fire French this am, not even basic niceities (sp?), saying that if dd was missing test today (in subject in which she came top of class a couple of weeks back incidentally) then she will have to study during half term (next wk) and stay behind following Monday night and take test then. No enquiries as to her health etc. I realise this is secondary sch, and everyone's busy etc, but tone was really off and we don't quite understand why and I've been stressing about it all day. Don't know why they are stressing about exams again when she sat them all two weeks ago and we had the first half term report last week? (She passed them all except one.) All the teaching seems to be organised around the mahoosive admin involved in constant (and I mean constant) assessments and testings. Sigh. That's another half term hol ruined then.

Also busy helping dh with materials for 2 hr Webinar in office held this afternoon - had 216 people checking in which is good - not charging (sadly) as purely marketing exercise.

Done NO Flying or even basic tidying/cooking, house beginning to deteriorate again - really depressing. Heigh ho.

Sorry for whinge! Hope everyone else ok! [Places on naughty corner bar for all to serve themselves.]

**

Tomorrow's baby-step no 27 for Thurs 27th Oct is: here. Prepping supper in advance/meal planning - a good 'un!

Newcomers - here is the launch pad from which you can navigate the site:
www.flylady.net/c/lp.php .

Unusually, we are in Zone 5 for the entire week this month: the sitting room/family room/den, 23-29 Oct inclusive here.

Declutter for 15 mins in the current zone!
Once decluttered, you can go on to 15 mins of detailed cleaning.

Thursday's mission can be found here: cleaning around bottom of walls and skirting boards.

The daily focus for Thursday is: errand day.

The habit for October is getting rid of paper clutter,
here: www.flylady.net/d/habits-of-the-month/october/.
(Scroll down for detailed explanation.)

The daily flight plan here: www.flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=-120 will update itself (hopefully) and will provide a quick summary of the above.

Enjoy the last episode of GBBO on the Beeb with Muury [sniff] everyone!

***

Oh believe me I have plenty of BoxRCs as well. I agree they are worse in the sense that they can just stay stacked up. Especially when they're naice boxes with lids we also had some that were left years from when we moved here.

No more flying today as we went to a friend's - her DH was teaching a workshop, then we stayed on for dinner and the kids played upstairs while us two couples played board games :) fab time :)

The kids are still awake, all four of them, ds1 as usual is showing off, ds2 is scaring ds3 and friend with scary stories. I'm hoping they're all up bright and early for think tank tomorrow!!

Friends dog is in the kitchen, hes not happy about it but im not happy about him peeing on my other sofa.

Other wise house is fairly straight, ad's are making me feel a bit sicky, and i just want to hide in a hole, or throttle that dog who keeps barking every 20 seconds.

Hope your DD feels better in the morning SC. You are most welcome to crumble but got there a bit late this time. With 7 of us in the house these things don't last long. I could offer you some sables from this evening however.
I don't think we have any BRC at the moment. Ours is all out on display.
Ta das today
Ironing
Laundry out on line
Garden waste bin filled
15 mins decluttering sideboard (at this rate if I work on this during appropriate zone time it will take months just to do the sideboard - let alone the rest of the room)
Set the washing machine up to run early morning. Want to make this an evening habit so laundry can either go outside early or onto airers with the dehumidifier on for the day. I often forget to set it up.

Sorry about the crap day SC hope tomorrow is better

I'm just up with ds AGAIN and feeling pretty fed up so thought I'd come post on here to vent a little! Had such a good week of sleep last week so going back to terrible sleep is hitting me hard. I've also had the whole just got baby settled then he literally wakes up two minutes later GRR. Plus dh just woke up and asked if I was okay to which I replied "not really" and mentioned I don't think ds likes his new bed (he has just moved into a big cot) . Dh promptly fell back to sleep with no reply! Not his fault i know but GRR again.

Rant over! Sorry.

babblehagfor handling a sleepover and an incontinent mutt (not technically true,but i feel poetic)whilst deal AD side effect.I'd have crawled into that hole and refused get out!!

cag BRC is def in abundance as both bags,boxes and naice boxes.I convinced they multiply unsupervised too...
sc glad our schools not like that.it may be hormones,but I have a lot unvented rage recently.I may have exploded I was spoken to like that...

Tadas for wed
Fed cats
Fed zoolets
Car in for m.o.t-walk into town from garage with dh n zoolets
Staggered home(but enthusiastic try walk that far,but good for zoolets let off bit steam)
Made lunch
Pack dd2off sleepover
Fell asleep read paper with dh
Drop fab spooky story entry off at library for D's(judge sat)
Played board games together which lovely
Fed lil zoo and D's
Wash up
Fed dh n me
didn't wash up
Dh didn't want watch bake off so will he watch today on catch up with dd2layer(no spoilers please!!)

Ooh and 3loads wash done,dry,fold n put away!!

Morning all

My random crap is in piles. It's not even contained. Sometimes they fall over.....PRC!

I have hopefully last mw visit tomorrow, still waiting to hear from Hv though. Hope she doesn't just bloody turn up. I hate people just turning up! I need to prepare!

Going to try and have a good flying day today

Ta Da

DC all fed
Dryer on
Washer on
Sink filled

To Do

Wash pots
Empty bins
Clean pets

Morning, bloody hell, I'm whinging again, but back has seized up in the night and I'm in agony again, so bloomin frustrating. Virtually crawling along here with sweat on brow, pain makes me feel like puking. Great way to start the day!

On a more positive front - DD feeling considerably better this morning which is great. Thanks for kind words everyone!

I'm still stressing about the school (I shd say that I am normally a parent who gets behind school, supports teachers etc, never voices criticisms in front of dd etc, and having attended an utterly crapola school myself, am grateful for bit of academic rigour etc) but this system seems way too assessment oriented. A child can't sneeze without being examined about it! They are trying to raise standards but are doing it by upping all the testing and asessments, not by focusing on teaching, in fact teaching itself is crammed in to ridiculously short, focused, periods of time, in order to allow for examinations etc! It's a vicious circle! Rant over!

No Flying so far! First job of the day is to get mobile!

Bbl to catch up with personals, have a good day everyone!

Posts puke green again, what's going on?

Babble is that the think tank museum in Birmingham? The Caglets went there with DH earlier this year (we all went up for the Games Expo at NEC) and loved it.

SC so sorry you are in such pain :(

Feeling distinctly unmotivated today! On day 2 of period which is always the day it always kicks off my ME/Fibromyalgia symptoms

Ta das
Pop shops
Pay a bill
Stagger home
Rest
Make D's and lil zoo lunch
Put shop away
sit on mumsnet/net

I am sooo tired and unmotivated.a large---->still prob wouldn't shift me into action!!

One my furry boys disgrace himself-hes been sneaking up to the beds recently for a crafty nap...he couldn't get up there earlier so in a meowing frenzy he got in only bloodybag shop I hadn't pit away n scratch out the contents scattering flour and sugar all over the floor. I screech like banshee n he made strategic exit

I need them for baking I promised to do for a church sale sat.grrrrr

Thanks Cag sorry you are suffering too Bad enough you being in constant pain, but anticipating when it is going to be at its worst must be really hard to deal with too (not to mention going through that each month).

I'm a bit more mobile now and that really vicious pain has reduced thanks to a stonking hot bath and a few judicious exercises but haven't really achieved much except excessive Msnetting. I sat down too much yesterday with dd at home + office work. Trying not to make the same mistake today. Question of gritting one's teeth and moving - it does work - but it is horrible at the beginning ifyswim.

Moral of this story: to those young and sprightly fledglings who are a couple of decades younger than me - prioritise exercise if you possibly can - or lack of it will catch up with you eventually!

Not good at getting much Flying stuff done while dd is here either (I've no idea why because she is fairly self sufficient). And no time to tidy up before half term officially starts (which is in half an hour!). Excuses, excuses ... .

Rest of time spent texting people and cancelling our Halloween bash sadly (don't want to pass on dd's virus to friends, esp at beginning of half term).

Afreshstart that would be FPRC then! (Falling piles of random crap!)

Which would make yours Stillivinginazoo BPRC (Breeding piles of random crap) . Thanks for school sympathy. I felt like losing my temper with them tbh but the majority of my French disappears when I am angry/stressed; just when I arsing well need it the most usually [gah!] Glad to hear you managed a rest. And how exciting about your ds's story entry! Good luck to him!

Thanks for the sables Fromwestoeast [wipes crumbs from around mouth] Agree that timers on wms are life-saving! Would never buy one without a delayed start function now. Bloody well done for persisting with the sideboard paper decluttering!!! I know it seems like it will take an age but you will get there [said in encouraging wings flapping excitedly kind of way]

Babblehag congratulations on orderly house which is an amazing feat considering you have everything going on! Hope the ick feeling dissipates soon... . Oh and the dc weren't too scared to sleep ! DD is a terrible one for that; she has a hugely over-active imagination!

Cheery wing flaps to eveyrone else!

Oh that sounds really wretched Foxes - truly tortuous to go back to interrupted nights having had a few good ones