Neat and clean in 2017 - it's the January Flylady thread

[CotswoldStrife]

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Welcome to the January Flylady thread, where we try and maintain our nests in good order by following the Flylady method. We'll post links each day to the Flylady website for the babysteps, daily focus and extra missions in the current zone. The habit of the month is shining your sink (or whatever other place in your home motivates you).

If you are just starting, Flylady recommends decluttering the weekly zone before doing the detailed cleaning and not to do too much at once!

All are welcome, so feel free to join us anytime.

A small list of ta da's

Washing done,
Bin cleaned ( washed and frebreezed)
Sink still shiny
Work call done
Kids homework started ( along with major tantrums)
Kids swimming done

Ooooh well done Cag , I try to keep on top of mine but those pesky emails build up so quickly!!

OH decided to clean behind the sofa/units and sweep/wash floor before putting new rug down. Which is great EXCEPT he then put all the crapola tonne of toys back on the floor so it's just a mess again ^^

Ta da's
Kitchen cleaned
Microwave cleaned (smelled of last night's kippers)
Two loads washed & dried & put away
Longest walk yet with child. (She only 18month and very much just found her love of walking outdoors)
Meals organised for work tomorrow
Uniform sorted

To do's
Put work pass in bag
Lay out clothes for the morn.

Abbey I'm looking at it, then just doing something. So rather than follow it to the letter, using it to inspire me to tidy/decluttered something. Hoping it works for me too as the mess is driving me nuts

I use FlyLady as more of a jumping off point really. Clutter is by far the biggest issue and that needs the most of my (extremely limited due to health) energy. I found personally that focusing on increasing the daily chores meant I was too worn out to declutter :( so for now I'm just getting inspiration and hanging out here for the endless chat and support. As the place gets less cluttered though I am gradually adding more of the maintenance stuff.

Decided to resist clearing my other inbox tonight as it means even more time on the laptop. I want to write a blog post while I remember and at least try and do a few other 'real' i.e. non digital stuff bits tonight.

I'm new to this abbey, and I don't thinking I'm following it religious but I'm a hell of a lot more organised and tidy than usual. It's really motivating me to keep on top of things and I'm also picking up tips like the sink shining etc. It feels great.

Think not thinking doh!

Cag, my emails are a disaster zone so I am very impressed! Abbey, when I did it before (pre DC) I followed it quite religiously and loved it.

Post DC I tried to do the same and couldn't make it work - e.g. Would set timer for 15 mins, baby would fill nappy. Although if you look at the testimonials on her website people from all walks of life race about following it religiously.

Now, I'm doing as PPs have said - I use it as a starting point to generally be more organised rather than getting depressed about what I haven't achieved. Seems to work better for me like that. As Cag says, main issue is clutter but I do find things like getting into the habit of checking my calendar do make life better.

Abbey I try to follow it but sometimes it's just not the right way for me. Shining the sink, a load of laundry a day and the zones really help me but the weekly home bleugh gets done throughout the week rather than all in one day. I also never wear my shoes in the house rule breaker.

Ta da:-
Survived swimming party - is actually fun once the torture of being in a swimsuit in front of school gate parents is done and you can hide in the water.
Managed to do about in exercise in pool at swimming party
Had nice tea from chip shop all of us together - I love doing stuff like that as it is proper 'child' stuff rather than toddler stuff (have never really been sentimental about them growing up although ask me that again when they are teenagers!).
DD1 homework
Gave out 1 party invite for DD2
Bath and bedtime done

To do:-
Read 5 mins parenting book - DD2 was terrible today but also angelic at times .
Laundry - loads as swimming
Dishwasher
5 min tidy up
5 min declutter
Before bed routine - must do good one as am not here tomorrow
Look up details for spa day tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Study - started a thread looking for magic answers on essay writing with children around - got some lovely replies but it basically turns out there aren't any .

Xpost with Muppets. No shoes in the house and home bleurgh done whenever DH does it in the week (he is much faster than me at it so I take the DC out of the way while he does it).

I'm joining in to de-clutter my house this year. It might take all year lol but it's happening. I can be ruthless at times but I need help with one box I have.
It's a box of all the birthday, anniversary cards etc dh and I give each other. I never look at it! There are no love letters there, literally just to noisey from dh...
Some of the kids cards have been added. What do you think is it time to chuck it or will I regret it??

Yeah I don't wear shoes in the house either. Ironically I find her emails kind of cluttering! There are several each day

AbbeyRoadCrossing I don't follow FlyLady religiously - I'm using it as a guide at the minute. Something to motivate me if that makes sense. I'm following the zones and doing the daily task and have kept my sink shined!

I went shopping with my mum today and had a lovely afternoon.

Ta das:
Dropped off the drycleaning
Bought new shoes for DH
Cleaned the kitchen
One washload
5 minutes decluttering
Cleaned the ensuite.

Welcome noisy, good to have you with us. I used to save cards too (in fact I currently have a drawer full). When we last moved, I came across a large box of cards - some I did save but a lot of them I had no idea when I'd received them. So writing the year on would have helped!

You don't have to follow the Flylady way completely, like anything you can pick, choose and blend to make a system that works for you. If you can get the house straight, I do find that the system definitely helps to keep it that way. Especially the missions. When I was selling a property the missions really helped to keep it viewer-ready!

Flylady says her emails have a shelf life of 24 hours and should be deleted and not saved. Feel free to declutter her emails! The daily reminders are what she send out gradually during the day along with the sometime twee testimonials and sales stuff so you can just view the page in the links below and save yourself the emails.

I saw a good link to a short 5-day planning PDF, will link to it if I get round to reading it!

Will post the links next.

The daily summary for Sunday (also available on the Flylady website at flight plan which should update automatically each day.

**

Baby-step no 8 - start your control journal by writing down your morning and evening routines

No zone work or missions at the weekends – woo hoo, enjoy!

The daily focus for Sunday is: renew your spirit

The monthly habit for January is shine your sink

daily reminders

Re: cards, I wondered about that the other week, and I got rid! I was looking through them and they made me smile, but I realised, I don't NEED them. If you'll forgive me getting all soppy for a moment - a card isn't what tells me DH loves me, it's the everyday stuff, the shared memories, the little gestures that tell me. I even got a bit morbid and thought to myself, if DH was no longer around - would it be the cards that made me remember our time together? No, not at all.

Woo hoo 400 words cut out of one part of my assignment (I am always over my word limit at first!) and have left myself a note of what I need to look at in that section still so many sections to do. Will be shattered in the morning but just had to stay up once I finally got momentum to do it.

I struggle with cards actually - as a child cards were always viewed as almost more important than presents in my family which is something I loved and have tried to carry on with my family, mixed results! They make me smile to look back on them so I think, for me, it is fair enough to keep a few sentimental ones. DD1 obviously takes after me as she tries to keep every single one of hers .

To do:
15 mins before bed routine as CBA to do it earlier . Came to a standstill and somehow spent 30 mins putting a wash on while faffing on here . Will be worth 15 mins less sleep to be a bit more organised in the morning.
Collapse. So tired!

Woohoo well done Stressy! I know what you mean about the dreaded word count.

Can't sleep here so watching Unforgotten. Wrote my blog post earlier, another to do tomorrow

Aren't you supposed to go to bed at a reasonable hour when you're doing flylady ?

Pacillin ooops never got that memo

Paxillin* although clearly I should got to bed earlier because I can't spell at this time.

Morning all

Thank-you to all who were kind enough to give me sympathy and try to be encouraging when I had the Friday morning from hell

I have shoved it to the back of my mind now but will drag it up when I feel I Cba doing anything I think!

Unfortunately my absence yesterday does not mean my house is gleaming but I did get all beds changed and all DC bathed - normally this all gets left til sunday!

We keep loosing things and cannot find them anywhere.....which really makes me feel this house must be a fucking hovel!

So far today I'm up with two smallest DC, baby is fed and changed, I've had a brew and I'm about to encourage dd to get breakfast!

Oh and someone keeps pissing on my bathroom floor which is very nice when you don't see it til your socks are wet

Morning all!

Fresh - eeeugh for the pee socks! What sort of things do you lose? We have a box each in the hallway for stuff we need on the way out like hats, scarves, shopping bags. If anything is found that belongs to someone and they are likely to look for it (DP's phone charger, DSD's stuff for a particular activity), it goes in their box. They can then re-locate it at their leisure.

I know we're not aupposed to do zone work at the weekend but I am in the zone and have made a huge difference in the hall. Yesterday I cleaned the top half of a big bookcase and today I'm going to do the bottom half. Knowing I have a clean bookcase will renew my spirit, I'm sure. I'm pleased with progress because although there was some stuff management involved (tidying shelves and putting together a bag of books for the charity shop), there was actual cleaning involved too.
Back to work tomorrow and several birthdays this week so not sure how much will get done this week.

At the moment we have missing - one baby bottle lid, one TV remote, one tube of metanium and one handheld games console. These have all been missing for over a week ....

Morning.

Yes double eeuugh from me too re the pee saturated socks. How many male suspects do you have in the house?

Ta da this morning so far

washed breakfast dishes
stripped beds
put bedding in the wash

3 male suspects ....