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!

[Strikingclock]

Good morning my lovelies!

A particularly grey and miserable-looking one here, just as the valuer is about to come of course ... .

Apologies for not getting back on to the thread last night but my back was really troubling me.

First of all, a very warm welcome Summerday11 Flylady is a good system for those like myself who detest housework! There is no "catching up" in Flylady (that's the theory anyway!). The idea is that you leap in where we (or you!) are at and do what you can on that day whether it's a baby-step and/or 15 mins of decluttering in the current zone (or any zone you chose). So adapt the system to suit yourself. One doesn't really believe it as first, but as little as 15 mins a day does make a difference! And as the baby-steps become second nature and the house has gradually less clutter,

And a very warm welcome too to Grendel'sAunty! The Monday "home blessing" or "home bleugh" as we call it is the longest concentrated amount of time that Flylady suggests in one fell swoop ifyswim. But you can do it on any day you like. Or spread out the 7 tasks along the week, 10 mins at a time. Other than that, you can do 15 mins in the current zone (decluttering if it is cluttered, and cleaning if it isn't). And if you are feeling really enthusiastic you can add a baby-step in to the mix! Newcomers generally find that 15 mins decluttering a day + getting on top of the baby steps are sufficient. Once the clutter diminishes and the baby-steps become second nature, everything becomes much quicker to complete. Hope that makes sense!

Crikey Pont those are some mega-lists you have posted there and more [star

Goodness Castle! I remember when your dd1 was just a babe in arms and you were in the process of moving house! Many congratulations on your new bump! Take it steady because it sounds like you have a lot on your plate! May I say I am very of your menagerie

Fencingwire [arf] at cold cat paws

[Afreshstartplease]

Morning all

It's been a couple of days since I first posted as I haven't really felt up to much but here goes

Thanks for all the lovely welcomes. Good to see some familiar faces on here! We now have 16 days until due date but the closest I've ever been to due date is 39+4, I like to remind myself of this ..... I also had one DC be 12 days early so you know anyway now will do mother nature!

Ta Da's
Washer on
Dryer on
Three DC up fed dressed
Two packed lunches made
Two DC dropped at school
Kitchen bins empty
Pets cleaned out
Fruit bought
Bed stripped

To Do's

Pack the bloody hospital bag
Wash the pots
Wipe worktops and table
Hoover stairs, landing and 3 bedrooms
Bleach 2 toilets
Clean 2 upstairs sinks
Hoover living room and porch

That'll do for now I think

[Strikingclock]

Oh dear ... that posted by itself ...

Pontification was half way through saying that you deserve more for being such a good egg and taking in a stray teen. She is very very lucky to have you there as a stabilising influence by the sound of things. Good luck with your frantic week ahead (dh is travelling a lot atm) and I know the strain it puts on things. Hope your dog is feeling better.

Hope you are ok Zoo [sending collective soothing thoughts of the fledglings to you through the ether]

Good to see you HerdofAntilop not controversial at all as it's best with this system to fix one's own priorities I think. My version of "shining the kitchen sink" is keeping up to date with the laundry as I find that it is extremely limiting not to be able to find one's socks, trousers or smalls in the morning . My kitchen sink is usually clear anyway (have dw) and I just chuck some clear vinegar at it from time to time.

Fencingwire anyone who has the discipline to hoover and mop the floor on a Sunday night has my total respect [doffs hat] Good luck with the paper mountain (I will be with you in October shredding away too!)

Sometimes just being there for friends and relations is far more important than any Flying Cag

Good to see you YippeeTeenager glad to hear you are feeling better now!

for a great list there Kim

and for your list too Stressy and don't knock it , a first draft is a first draft and much better than no draft so give yourself some credit

Foxes Good to hear you had a much needed lie-in! Hope your los are feeling better. What a pain about the wm! Hope you can sort it soon! Great that your dh has got on board with the decluttering! I can't add any more to Mercury's excellent description of a room rescue, as she says, it is just a focused burst of tidying up in one room, with the aid of a timer!

Waves to Blue Mercury Greymalkin Honu Celeste Afreshstart Cotswold Octopus Dogsbum Toffee¨Babblehag and everyone I have inevitably forgotten!

Have a good week everyone!

[Strikingclock]

[Leaves out footstools and for all the expectant mothers on this thread]

[celeste83]

Morning,

Not really got started here this morning yet. For some reason ds was eager to go out this morning. Normally he is so lazy in the mornings. Anyway we went to the park and then walked along the river and fed the birds. Beautiful morning. Very much feeling like Autumn now with all the leafs falling off the trees now. I didn't get much done yesterday other than stripping the beds and doing a bit of laundry because it was my Dad's birthday so we had a get together at his house. He has a new girlfriend so all her family were there too as well as our extended family. Suddenly i have 4 new step sisters They all seem nice though. Anyway the floors here are disgusting. Not managed to run the hoover around since early last week and its showing

To da

washed dishes
made beds

To do

hoover all floors
clean both loo's
empty kitchen bin
general tidy up
tidy ds room
laundry

You sound very busy Fresh Are you nesting?

[leaves out some chocolate for everyone]

[foxessocks]

Ooh I think I was already doing room rescue I just wasn't calling it that thanks for the explanations everyone!

Ta das
Dishwasher unloaded loaded
Room rescue of bedrooms
Washing up
Few more bits for clothes bank bagged up
Dd dropped off at nursery and managed to take ds in the sling this morning - finally got to grips with the damn thing!
Put laundry away

To dos
Thank you cards- ds is a month old I really need to do these or there will be no point!
Clean out fridge ready for food shop delivery later
Entrance declutter
Clean kitchen floor

Right now though I'm going to finish watching Poldark while ds naps. Maybe I'll do some thank you cards at the same time...

[Afreshstartplease]

Hmm I'm not sure about nesting it's not something I've ever done it previous pregnancies, what makes it different to just cleaning?

I always struggling to keep on top of housework, having three DC does not help. But the thought of having midwives etc in my house when it's messy stresses me right out! There are very few people I am happy for to see my mess.

Living room and porch are now shake n vacced and hoovered. Sitting for five as back is achey and then will push on and do the stairs.

[GrendelsAunty]

Thanks for the encouragement! I've yet to get started as I need to do some work, but I'm feeling quite positive about it. Quick question - I can't find a definition on the fly lady website of 'swish & swipe', nor have I yet seen a reference to cleaning the bathroom, so is that what swish & swipe means?

[celeste83]

Nesting for me when i was pregnant was just a higher sense that the house needed to be super clean. I really didn't want to come home from the maternity unit with the floors needing mopping, windows needing cleaning, etc.

To da

washed dishes
made beds
put some more laundry in the washing machine
hoovered kitchen and hallway
emptied kitchen bin
toilet duck'd the downstairs loo

To do

hoover all floors
toilet duck the upstairs loo
general tidy up
tidy ds room
ironing

I did want to hoover the lounge to finish off downstairs but ds is happily playing with his trainset in there so will have to put that off till later.

[MrsK]

Hello,

I know I'm late & term has started, but, can I join you? I've lurked on this thread for awhile & felt strangely inspired to pull my socks up & tighten up "my ship". Although I feel a bit fraudulent for being lazy, as you all appear to have little ones & babies on the way. I have no excuses, I've only got older teeens. Although, I had 6 of them staying over this weekend, which was lovely (they organised a surprise birthday party for my DD). But, somewhat untidy as you can imagine. They we're very good & tidied up after a fashion 😏. I generally have one or two extra most weekends.

My ta da's

3 loads of washing hung out to dry (sun shining here)
DD's room hoovered, dusted & all remnants of teenage girl partying removed
Bathrooms cleaned, bathroom bins emptied & Zoflara'd
Upstairs thoroughly hoovered (no shortcuts today)
Dishwasher emptied

To do
A lot of ironing this evening 😔
Downstairs thorough Hoover, sofa moved etc, then dusting
Floors mopped
Kitchen clean
Hallway de cluttered
Conservatory blitzed ( possibly not today)
Under stairs cupboard in serious need of complete & utter emptying of all the junk that has piled up in there. I'm hoping with your encouragement, Dear Ladies, that is a challenge I might accomplish before 2016 is out.

I'm taking a little time out, my back is aching too, I'm not as young as I was (sigh).

I've enjoyed reading this thread, thank you Strikingclock & everyone else for giving me the push I needed. Best wishes to you all, especially, everyone expecting a new addition to the family

[Babblehag]

Afternoon all, hope everyone is well, its lovely to see so many (rather large lists) helps me to get my bits done. I'm having a fairly overwhelmed day today. so I'm chipping away what I can, with dp's help.

tada's
kids off to school
dressed to laces
did my weekly shop...finally
dropped books off to two reps
gave boss update
had breakfast with dp

todo
deliver orders and books
cook tea
go to slimming world
make poster for friends leaving do.

and squeeze flying stuff in or at least shine the frigging sink

wingflaps

[Strikingclock]

I definitely remember having a very emphatic "nesting" drive when pregnant. For me it manifested itself in putting missing handles on drawers and doing all those finishing details to make sure the baby's room was as complete as possible hasn't manifested itself since.

Well the valuer has been and gone thank heavens - and sod's law - just as soon as she shut the front door behind her, the sun came out

She gave us a valuation that was fine in the end given the physical condition of the house/roof/plaster/holes in the floors etc. Would have been better if it had been slightly more but it was about what we were expecting and no less so OK. And she's coming back with a different figure for when the house is renovated which should be interesting.

And I am enjoying the unusual sensation of walking in to every room and it being tidy! (Don't get me wrong - house contains far too much clutter still - and we've been "camping" in this place in it's unrenovated state for years and years now - so it's never going to look great but better than it's ever been I think!). A good place from which to start another decluttering purge in October anyway!

Love the sound of your early morning autumnal walk Celeste!

GrendelsAunty here is the swish and swipe definition (scroll down). It does indeed refer to a quick daily wipe down of the bathroom.

Look after that back of yours Afreshstart!

Well done re: your productive morning Foxes!

[TooStressyForMyOwnGood]

Welcome MrsK! Only joined last month myself but finding it very helpful here

We were away for the weekend so house is a mess as got back late ish last night. Also going into work for some extra hours tonight for this course I'm doing so not got high hopes for today. Why do I do this to myself?!

Ta das
Lunch
Morning activity with DD2 done
Load of laundry in
5 min house rescue!

To do:-
School pick up
DDs bedtime
Sort laundry
Quick house rescue (too much mess for just one room)
Go to work later

[Strikingclock]

x posts (gosh I can't keep up!! )

A very warm welcome to MrsK be careful of your back too!
Please don't feel fraudulent because I, with only one teen, have absolutely no excuses at all !! Seriously though, we are all in different situations and circumstances on this thread and are ploughing our own furrows as it were! I shall be badgering you for teen parenting advice before this thread is out! And don't worry, we have supported quite a few fledglings to tackle their "under stairs cupboard of doom" over the years and this too shall pass

Babblehag well done on your productive morning and don't be put off by the long lists you sometimes see on here. Many of us like to write down every little thing achieved to keep ourselves motivated and many of us have been on here a long time and are digressing from the system somewhat. Can't stress enough that little and often is best so you are doing exactly the right thing on chipping away at a few priorities!

[Strikingclock]

Take it steady Stressy!

[Babblehag]

I managed to avoid the under stairs cupboard of doom, by putting the tumble dryer in it, its the only room in the house that doesn't get messy and you can see the floor of owing to the fact that you cant open the tumble dryer door if its too cluttered

[TooStressyForMyOwnGood]

I will do, thanks, am only going in for a few hours, just hate the way it hangs over you.

[celeste83]

Ta da

washed dishes
made beds
put some more laundry in the washing machine
hoovered all floors
emptied kitchen bin
toilet duck'd both loo's
tided ds room
hung washing out to dry

To do

make tea
bath ds
general tidy up
ironing

MrsK teenagers are probably as messy as young ones more through laziness. 6 of them over the weekend - fair play to you

StrikingClock I love late September/early October. Its still fairly mild and when its sunny the sky is really bright blue. Beautiful

Everyone looks they are busy on here cracking through the chores today!

[foxessocks]

Ta das
Did most of my thank you cards (think I've forgotten someone but stupidly I chucked out the thank cards last week so can't remember who else needs thanking oops!)
Did 15 minute declutter of porch and finished decluttering in there!

To dos
Cook dinner
Put some washing away

Dh is busy fixing the washing machine again...fourth time lucky?! Or fifth??

I'm really tired this afternoon...need a strong coffee I think. Bad night with ds last night he was up every hour on the hour

[Kim82]

Good evening everyone. I've not done a huge amount today as I've been at work til 7.30pm but what I have done is:

Ta da's:

Made beds
Emptied kitchen bins
Swept kitchen floor
2 loads of washing
Fed cats
Washed dishes and wiped over kitchen

I'm back in work at 8am tomorrow so it'll be the afternoon before I can get any housework done.

[Strikingclock]

Hope you get a better night's sleep tonight Foxes

Celeste I love autumnal weather too!

Good strategy Babblehag!

Hope work wasn't too onerous Stressy



Tomorrow's baby-step no 4 , for Tues 4th Oct is an ignorable one imho about post it note reminders.

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

Fyi, this is the way that the zones will pan out this month.

We will be in Zone 2 tomorrow: the kitchen.

For fledglings at a more advanced stage i.e. without clutter: here is the detailed cleaning list for Zone 2.

Tomorrow's mission is here clear and clean stove top, knobs and oven doors.

[Looks around for Toffee as knob polishing involved here ]

The daily focus for Tuesday is planning menus, appointments, holidays, special events, wardrobes etc.

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

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

Small steps everyone!
*

[Strikingclock]

Well done Kim!

G'night all!

[MrsK]

Thank you for the warm welcome strickingclock & toostressy. I think I might have been a bit overzealous today, I've got an ice pack on my aching lower back.

I appreciate your optimism striking, my under stair cupboard of doom is rather like entering the wardrobe bypassing Narnia & ending up in Mordor. Re teen advice, they are very capricious tonight we've had "words". I am resorting to 🍷.

Celeste, I like the sound of your Autumnal walk, everyone was at work so I had no friends to play with today. Tbh, they were pretty good.

Night all 😴

[Castlelough]

Very late crash landing!

Tried logging in earlier but couldn't manage to, then went to bed with dd before 9. She is impossible to get down for the night these days .
Have enjoyed reading everyone's posts but struggling to remember who said what now, so apologies for lack of personals although Celeste your autumnal morning sounded blissful and I just wanted to agree that the variety of life circumstances (babies/teens/parents/pets/whatever) is what makes the thread so interesting.

Just scraped through the working day today with basic routines, dinner cooked and kitchen cleared and a short stint of ironing done. Will try to do a little more tomorrow as I should get home earlier. Think I will need to get up early in the mornings this week to tackle my undone paperwork for school. Can't manage anything with dd in the evenings, and really, it is more pressing than any of the housework at the minute.
Silver lining on an otherwise grey day was lovely new warm snuggly maternity/babywearing coat arriving via online shopping!

[Castlelough]

Are you going to renovate your house SC or are you moving?
I notice your own menagerie has grown to include a dog? (Dog walking and dog sitter featuring on your list over the weekend!)