Fledglings cocoon, we're Flying in June ... .

[SansCollier]

Welcome to the June 2017 fledgling Fly thread!

Feel free to park your mops and buckets here from the 1st of the month!

This is where we attempt to declutter our homes and follow the 30-step wisdom of Flylady (minus cutesy barftastic 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 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 ):

1 - repeat or start baby steps (again!)

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

or

3 - reinforce babysteps and/or do daily missions

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 welcome!

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!

dd2 slept from 830-3 in her own cot last night woohoo!! edging ever closer to a full night........there is hope for sleep after all. I did wake constantly from 1, I think your body clock must get so used to being up every 2 hours, that even when you get chance to sleep, you can't haha. It has meant only a 20 min nap this morning, but she is so happy so she mustn't need a big nap today.

ta da
distracted dd2 with drink and snack so I can drink a peaceful coffee
wash done and out on the line
beds stripped
kids are at school
tea already sorted (made veg soup yesterday)

to do
think of something to make with the mince in fringe
decluttering under bed (dreading this one!!)
15 mins decluttering the bedroom (spent 15 mins doing this yesterday and haven't scratched the surface, my bedroom is the worst room)
home bleurgh
15 mins putting clothes away
15 mins ironing
swimming lesson
visit a friend this avo
enjoy the sunshine at some point!!

Good luck with the list Einstein how did you get on with the slow cooker?

Morning everyone! It's officially too hot for housework! I have done my daily routine stuff as did it very early as up with the baby. I'm supposed to be at the supermarket but ds fell asleep so we didn't bother... I'll have to go at some point though .

Rosa it turned 3 chicken breasts into 3 large meals with the addition of rice for 2 of us. And was love but ds. Only tried one recipe but it was a low liquid recipe. Hoping to make a tomato based sauce with meat balls at some point this week, next week I will be making chicken and noodle soup. But it is interesting how it needs soooo much less liquid for recipes and yet the meat is soo much more tender and moist. I am thoroughly enjoying having it but finding I don't need to use it too often for the 2 of us as it makes so much. Will be interesting how the left overs spread when there are 4 of us eating.

Done fuck all but watch the news in horror this morning. Does anyone know what happened in Portugal that was refer to during the opening speeches regarding brexit negotiations?

and was loved by ds brain is fried by the heat already it would seem sorry about that.

And on that note - go drink some water!!!

Einstein rushing a bit atm but this article should give you the background here.

or were you referring to the British Sephardic Jews applying for Portuguese citizenship?

Oh sorry - ignore me Einstein - got wrong end of stick - I think Michel Barnier must have been referring to some kind of terrorist attack sadly, although I can't see much about it in the press for some reason.

Found it finally, it's forest fires in Portugal Einstein here I think the number of people killed has risen to 60 now

The news is horrid, I actually avoid the news as much as possible now, I find it so upsetting, with regards to the terrorists attacks, I get really frustrated because life would be so boring if we were all the same, believed the same, wore the same clothes, ate the same things etc! It just makes no sense to me why people want to hurt innocent people.

ta da
15 mins decluttering under the bed (only a quarter of the way through and got a bag of rubbish, a couple of things for charity, took a bag of Avon stuff to my neighbour, I used to be a rep and had some leftover stock that I knew she would love, my good deed for the day - one persons sh%t is another persons treasure haha)
tidied, dusted and hoovered downstairs
2nd load out on the line

off to do some more of the upstairs while dd2 is napping!

Yes, rightly or wrongly have started to avoid the news here too .

Thanks for brilliant round up SC.

Ta da:-
Morning routine
DD has done her activity
Went for run

To do:-
Quick tidy up of clean laundry
School run
The hated school gardening evening
Have to send a work email tonight which requires thought
Revision for work course - must do some tonight
Had better get on while DD2 watching telly

Oh dear. Sad news about the forest fires and tbh I am ashamed that it has not received news coverage here

Yes I generally ignore the news also but do turn it on periodically - usually because FB tells me I probably what to find out what on earth is going on this time. I had a very interesting conversation with ds about trustworthiness of news agencys/reporting this morning. Thankfully he is cynical, unfortunately he has to be.

Motivation has disappeared into a paddling pool hidden in the shade of the naughty corner. I have not achieved much other than cook tomo's tea in the slow cooker, do 1 load of washing and to pick up the parcel. tomo is going to be a nightmare with no escape the lounge has to be visitor ready by thursday morning. it is currently still building site

I only knew because of facebook - one of my best friends has family there. Awful :(

No practical stuff done here. I have written a list though - lots of little things that I want us to get done during DH's time off. TBH all of them could be simplified to "declutter and tidy the fuck up!!!" but there's no point saying stuff like that. DH may inwardly roll his eyes at the list because he's more of a just get on with it kind of person! But whenever we try to tidy up all we are doing is moving shit about really - loads of stuff that has no place, or we can't get to said place because of other clutter. So it builds up again super fast. What's the point? So I've been ridiculously, some would say pedantically specific. I'm just hoping that then we can be more successful with it. Whenever we get specific we do make more of a lasting difference - not to say it doesn't go downhill of course, but at least stuff is more than superficially organised IYSWIM.

It's stuff like "decluttering, washing and properly storing spare bedding" - Caglets have one spare duvet set each, but we have several which we don't need, and loads of random mismatched pillowcases. And it's currently scattered all over the house! But if it wasn't on the list I may not get it done. Hopefully I can by making sure we collect and wash it all at the start of the week off.

I'm also hoping that by breaking down the decluttering bit it'll make it less daunting for the Caglets too. Telling them to 'choose stuff to get rid of' doesn't work, so we'll do books, clothes, dressing up etc separately. Even if the stuff is all over the place!

Oh Cag, I can do relate to not being able to put stuff away as there is clutter in the way . I want to sort my clothes out but have no spare drawer or wardrobe space and it will be a big job to empty them all.

Hi all,

Can I join in? I've just subscribed to the emails and shined my sink this morning. I'm so bad at keeping the house tidy. There are toys and clutter everywhere and I just look at it and think "well it's going to be the same by this time tomorrow so why bother."

Also I've downloaded the app but it keeps saying connect to the internet in he daily mission section.

I've not read the full thread as it would surely add to my procrastination! Any tips?

You are very welcome AlfieBear! (great nn btw!) Jump on in!

I am about the worst person in the world to offer anti-procrastination tips but I fwiw:

• Just look at the daily links posted here by the current thread leader for the following day. (Usually posted between about 7pm -midnight.) Or look at Flylady's daily flight plan every morning. No need to get bogged down in the thread if you don't want to.

• Don't waist time on guilt or regrets - just get stuck in when you can - even 5 mins is better than nothing - you are never behind with the Flylady system - the routines will all roll around again next month.

• Use the "power of three" or the "power of 15 mins" techniques to get cracking. Use a timer! You can endure anything for 15 mins! Or if you are dreading a particular task and have built up a huge resistance to it; break it down in to three parts and do a third first. If it is a really huge task, break the thirds down in to threes too and so on!

• Get used to doing the baby steps and daily routines so they just become second nature when you get up, or before you go to bed.

Any other qs - don't hesitate to ask!

Btw - you are very welcome to get bogged down in the thread if you want to - didn't mean to suggest otherwise!

It's hard isn't it! Like it's got to the point where you can't even see how to start. Our wardrobe doors (it's a full length built in thing) don't slide properly, and because there's so much crap on the floor in front of them that it's really difficult to put clothes away! Thankfully we don't have too much left, I've never been a clothesy person anyway. But the rest of the wardrobe is a mess - stuff all over the floor of it, and the long shelf along the top.

But I'm resisting the temptation to put things like 'clear wardrobe floor' on the list - because when we do it like that, there's nowhere to put anything anyway! Even major hotspots like the living room table, it just builds up so fast, or else we just put all the crap somewhere else.

I also have a radical new plan for my our massive board game collection. They are crammed into and on top of a massive unit in the living room, but there's some we haven't even played yet and loads more I don't really know are worth keeping yet. So I'm thinking of packing up the ones we absolutely love and know we are keeping, which will mean we can focus on the other ones, and make the cupboard neater and clear the top of it. I don't know if that's a crazy idea or not!

Welcome Alfie! :)

Einstein/Cag continental European news stories are woefully under-reported by British news channels - 'twas ever thus . We virtually ignore our nearest neighbours.

Agree with you Cag that everything needs its place. And I think it is very worthwhile getting a bit insistent about it. I really sympathise because we have been permanently "camping" in this house for over a decade and I spend my time marshalling swathes of crapola upstairs and downstairs because it doesn't have a proper home and no one else seems to care.

I need to declutter our linen cupboard too. It is in a terrible state atm (although it is all in one place I suppose). Lots of people on Mumsnet recommend storing bed linen in sets ie one duvet, the sheets, the pillow cases all folded together in a bundle. Great when you have unexpected guests as you can just pull out what you want without thinking about it too much! I've never tried it personally though. And it's complicated atm as dd will be changing from a single to a double during the summer and so I won't really need the stuff for singles anymore except for the odd sleepover.

Toostressy I have rationed dh, dd and me to one wardrobe and one chest of drawers each. And if we can't fit our stuff in that, it gets decluttered until we do. I have to admit though we have one rack upstairs for extra winter coats, and one chest of drawers in hall which holds gloves, hats, scarves, extra jumpers and blankets (and tech cables) and the odd item of dd clothing that she has yet to grow in to. Wishing you courage for the dreaded school gardening evening tonight!! And a large glass of [red] for afterwards!!

Well done for under-the-bed-diving Rosa!!

That pillowcase trick does work SC! :) I've done that for a while at least with the Caglets' spares but it's more that we don't have anywhere to put them. Currently they are mostly on our floor in a huge Ikea bag. Also the extra non-matcing pillowcases are a PITA. We do need a few extras as sets only come with one pillow for each of us and we both like several two pillows! I need to sort out the colours we have and get them matched up to the right duvets really.

Extras go in with the duvet set so that there is a complete ready for on the bed collection together in this house.

This heat is really getting to me today and I am feeling very sick

ds and I have fallen out as predicted over lego tidying...
clothes here are easy. I hate clothes shopping so generally don't have enough rather than too many eg atm I own 1 skirt, 2 pairs of not in public shorts and 1 pair of trousers... I have fabric for making 2 skirts but that requires the lounge floor which is under building clutter and I couldn't face in this heat....

And my hayfever/dust allergy is really bad today Please send tissues....

The bedding sets all folded together really works. I have an IKEA storage box for under the bed to keep them in. Except I have too many sets and they don't fit. The lid won't stay on and there is a Christmassy set gathering dust with no home.

Cag/Einstein Oh well you are both streaks ahead of me in the bed linen organisation stakes - I will have to give that technique a go - I am overflowing with linen though. We inherited stacks of generic Eyptian cotton white sheets that don't really go with any particular set ifyswim and are lovely but hideous to iron. Also, the bane of my life are Ikea non-standard size pillow cases [argh] which are just a tad smaller than ordinary sized ones [harrumph]. Plus we occasionally have nine people (plus us) to stay so need to keeps lots of it. If I have the courage tomorrow, I will post a picture of the inner turmoil that is my linen cupboard and give you all a free ooh 'ark at 'er hoikey bosom moment

Just watched the BBC evening news and to be fair to them, the Portuguese forest fires were featured about third or fourth story down. Truly awful news from Finsbury Park too Lord what a world

Hope you feel better from the heat soon Einstein [proffers large box of hankies]

Cag I 'spose it depends on how often you play your favourites ie if it's very regularly then having them stashed out of the way might be a pain. Sounds like a good plan if you are putting a temporary embargo on them while you try out new ones though! Good luck with sorting it out.

Keep drinking water everybody!

x post Alfie

Sympathies! It's the "oh I will need that for Christmas or for the one occasion in the year when all the family come to stay" things that get you down!!

Not turned the news on and generally avoid bbc these days. They have become so bias with their reporting it is silly. I might brave sky news around 10pm but will probably just watch rt and read foreign papers...

Nearly. Nearly finished with the lego.
And it is slowly starting to cool down here thank fuck so can open the windows and air the house.