Fledglings Fly back to school & work, September 2017, decluttering along the way ...

[Sandycarrots]

Hello, it's time to brush the sand off our feet, empty out the suitcases, sharpen our pencils, polish our lace-up shoes, and get stuck in to the September 2017 fledgling Fly thread!

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.

Fly stands for Finally Loving Yourself (cheesy but there is merit to it). The general idea is that short bursts of tidying / organisation are more achievable than marathon efforts. Flylady advises 15 minute bursts of effort but you can tweak this to fit your own circumstances.

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!

More info available here, here and here.

Your choice whether or not you sign up to the Flylady e-mails, but we advise caution as there are lots of them!

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!

Hello all!

Huge (and I mean HUGE!!) thanks to Toostressy for running not only the July thread, but the August one as well; all while travelling, visiting family, working, going on holiday, wrestling children in to bed, and generally being mahoosively busy as ever!

Apologies - haven't had time to catch up with August thread yet save for a quick speed read - back to school tomorrow. But will catch up with everyone, if not this evening, then tomorrow morning!

Big wing flaps to one and all!

Extra and for stressy from me too.

Thank you muchly SC nice to see you back!

And thoroughly agree stressy absolutely brilliant thread leading for the last couple of months, thank you oodles

I will continue with my to do list on the current thread while lurking here until tomorrow! New month, new start, possibly my last full month without a baby in the mix... eeeeek!

Just realised we have missed the uniform shop opening hours before school goes back. Thankfully it is only a new tie that is needed and the old one will last a week of looking sadly.

Back to school check list:
Lunch box - found but needs a wash
Pencil case and contents - need to locate spare pertractor and glue stick but otherwise ready
Uniform - last year's stuff still fits (and will probably do so until Christmas ish watch ds grow 3 inches in a month now )
school shoes - aiming to get later
PE kit - has been found but needs washing
School bag - in perfect working order
Timetable cards - can't construct until 1st day school when ds has his timetable in his planner. These were a godsend last year and worth the arguments about them.

not tooo much to get sorted for school next week thankfully.
However, my to do list is horrific for between now and then and includes all the batch cooking, all the tidying amongst other things.

Thank you toostressy you are indeed a 🌟

I didn't get any of my list done except dinner because dh was unexpectedly delayed and DS was stuck to my side which made things tricky!

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for the , , and kind words.

I love September and autumn and winter in general. September has that lovely fresh start feeling.

As usual I shall be hoping to be more organised in September. In particular after saying yes to a work thing today for a weekend when I was already working extra, I will be focusing on getting some kind of more organised way of sorting my work diary!

Oh no, this is the month when summer begins to die and it gets cold and miserable

I feel like summer began to die in July this year TBH 😂😂

True. The summer started so well, remember that heatwave mid 30's? Then July and August were a write off. I'm hoping for one of our usual Indian summers in September. I don't want winter yet.

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the "welcome backs"! I've just about managed to read through August thread now (well as far back as I think I am able to go tonight).

I'm usually one of those people cheering on the arrival of Autumn, cooler weather, countdown to Christmas etc, but I am a bit sad that summer is ending this year tbh. It's been such a lovely one!

Is your ds starting school tomorrow too Einstein? We always start back on 1st September here, whether it's a Friday or not. DD only has to be in for 11 am though and is only required until lunchtime, so quite an easy transition! I haven't done half the things on my list although new school bag and pencil case have been acquired (previous ones lasted two years and school bag could have gone for another tbh but I was overuled!). DD goes to a state school but still recovering from shock of buying new school uniform which was seriously ££££ (but again will hopefully last two years as the last lot did) plus the price of all the text books. All these expenses are really adding up. Still have to polish shoes and sew on some name tapes. And a thousand other small things. Now dd is 14 yrs, methinks I should be delegating ... .

No Cag ! You can't be that far along yet really can you ? Wow, that went quickly!! And I just read that it's a girl too - congratulations [not that boys aren't lovely too mind you!!] And haven't read it all yet - but congrats on huge list/plan for Sept!

Oh and good luck to you and Oncewaswho for the new academic year ahead - those extra-curric schedules look daunting in the extreme!!

Foxes my dh was very late back home tonight too despite promising to be back early ; plus ça change! Hope eveyrone is feeling recovered in your household now.

Is that you Celeste? Yay! Great to have you back! And great to have Newchick and Wheely and Oncewaswho back too!

Hi to Gingerivy , Gardeningirl Gogogazelle and Mellington

Waves to Toostressy and a warm welcome to all newcomers whom I haven't yet "met" from August thread!

Afreshstart hope you are settling in to the new house ok

I see we have two Zoos among us now too - waves to both!

Fulsome wing flaps to Honu Cotswold Mermaids and everyone else I've inadvertently missed!!

Yikes! I suddenly realised that I have to do links for tomorrow! Duh! Nearly forgot them! Back in a mo!

Celeste dh's birthday is in Sept and there usually is a bit of a mini heatwave around the second weekend, like the last blast of summer [crosses fingers]

OK everyone - here we go again - happy Flying!

*

The summary for Friday 1st September is available on the Flylady website here under "Today" and via the flight plan which should update itself automatically on a daily basis.

Baby-step no. 1 for Friday 1st Sept is here. (Scroll down.) Shining our sinks!

Newcomers: see this information about zones.

NB We are in Zone 1 for only one day this month (ie Friday!) so let's make the most of it : Entrance, Front Porch & Dining Room here.

Spend 15 mins decluttering the current zone.

When you have finished decluttering, the detailed cleaning list for Zone 1 (if you are at that stage) is here.

Newcomers: Flylady says "you can't clean clutter!" Better to focus on decluttering first, and cleaning thereafter!

Friday's mission is here. We are going for a 15 min trash hunt in Zone 1: spend five mins in each area and chuck out newspapers, junk mail, old napkins, redundant papers etc.

Flykids mission is here. (I am assuming this updates automatically too??]

The daily focus for Friday is decluttering purses, handbags and cars. Oh yes and it's date night too!

The monthly habit for September is: the before-bed routine.

Daily reminders (which should also update automatically) are here.

Wishing you all productive Flying throughout September everybody!!

**
G'night all!

My phone is being a bit weird but I'm just popping on to post my list of aims for September on this thread so I don't forget them!

LAUNDRY - fully wash, dry and put away one wash load every day

MORNINGS - getting up and dressed at a decent time and making sure the Caglets do their lists

EVENINGS - getting used to weekday meal plan and decent bedtimes with baths etc

ORGANISATION - using diary/whiteboard

EDUCATION - gradually increase the amount of structured home ed work the Caglets do

Looking good Cag!

I need my bed but loads still to do! DD needed lots of company/reassurance today as she is very nervous about term starting again tomorrow but was trying not to show it ... .

Ta da:
animals
walked furry
emptied dw
cleared up kitchen from night before
took dd to school to collect books
sorted yet more laundry to go on existing piles
measured wierdly shaped bed
ordered sheets for bed
washed sheets and duvet covers for w/e
dried and folded towels and pants
found riding gear bag for dd
wrapped b'day present and wrote card for friend
found lap top
printed recipes
washed and dried towels
found name tapes but took so long to do that I didn't get to the actual sewing part
ordered M&S underwear for dd
polished dd school shoes
fed wms again
food planning for next week
on-line grocery order for next week
found and wrote dh birthday card
paired socks
cooked "use up" veggie supper
cleared up kitchen and filled dw again
fed wms again
carried a load of things upstairs and downstairs
found long lost magnetic white board thing for fridge for meal planning!

To do:
sort & find cake ingreds and assemble on tray along with loaf tins and liners
wrap dh presents
dry and iron duvet covers
wash & dry more towels!
wash and dry dog blankets!
assemble & iron dd riding clothes and put in bag
sew on name tapes

Some of that "to do" list will definitely have to wait for tomorrow!

Also .. find walking boots!

Bit embarrassing how many of these tasks start with "find"
I think that gives you an insight to the level of post holiday disorganisation here!

Oh god no SC ds does not go back til wed but the uniform shop has weird opening hours very limited

School shoes were purchased although this is the last year ds will be able to get school shoes from the school uniform section as he will be adult sizes with the next growth spurt and he is currently the same size as I am

Must be all that yummy home made baking you are feeding him Einstein

Dd has now moved up from child to adult coats. The corresponding hike in price is eye-watering.

Signing in, welcome back and thanks for the new thread SC. Thank you for leading over the summer Stressy, I was lurking even if I was AWOL a lot of the time.

Einstein - we have a set of six school ties one for each day of the week and one unchewed one for school photos. Luckily the suppliers for both our schools have very efficient online services (and both schools have good secondhand setups).

SC - we returned on Sunday and have got a long list of "finds" too. Also a long list of school related stuff, both DCs need full stationery, maths equipment etc, DD needs a complete set of name-labelling doing and I am feeling swamped by emails from both DCs' schools.

That and the fact he seems to be taking after the side of the family that are giants although he is not taller than me yet I was sightly surprised that work shoes for me were cheaper than his school shoes.

Ds' school has been good at not overwhelming with emails. This summer we have had 1 with the new policies/staff contact method/reminder over uniform and 1 with the 1st day info (timings and bus arrangements) I have been impressed that they try not to send more than 1 a week (and rarely that often) and will group stuff so that you might get 1 email which covers several things. I will admit I do appreciate this as I rarely check my email. Should probably get in the habit of doing so more often tbh

Evening! Just checking in for September. I am another one who likes a fresh start, full of promise for the academic year ahead.

I listened to a Crystal Paine webcast tonight (she used to follow Flylady) and she was talking about 'focus and finish' - pick a project and complete it, you'll get more done that way. Really good.

Need to get DD's feet measured as I suspect she'll need new shoes (constant growth), and school shirts.

Got a lot of driving around to do tomorrow so may not get vast amounts done so that pretty much kills Zone 1 for this month already but there is the weekend to catch up if necessary of course it's necessary

I will be focusing on decluttering clothes this month, and a couple of other items too.

Signing in for September

Penultimate work day today and had a mad rush after as had hairdresser turn up plus washing machine of shame was taken to the scrapyard. It left a path of scattered concrete along the way so I had well and truly Mullered it!

I haven't even had tea yet I managed to feed the merlets but haven't had two minutes to sort myself

Day off tomorrow but rushing round again getting errands done

Hi all. Just caught up with thread as I seem to have been rewarded for my productive day with a bout of insomnia. Feel a bit weird so have retreated to the sofa and will put the telly on for company I think. It's getting a bit odd that DD is sleeping so early - suddenly I have time in the evenings and I don't know what to do with it other than doze off on the sofa (which may be why I can't sleep now...).

Yup SC am nearly 30 weeks now due 11/11 but being extra supervised, prodded and scanned in case induction is necessary. Which really makes it all the more terrifying urgent to get stuff done... somehow!

So, family game night tomorrow as DSD back to uni soon. DH is off so hoping we can blitz the living room. Properly though. Not just moving piles of crap around - I have written a list of surfaces that need the most attention and a few other things that will help spruce the place up a bit. Got new pupil next week too (the one I cancelled this week) and mum visiting so hopefully we can keep it nice and improve things.

Pinch, punch, first of the month

[Waves to Sandy and nods in admiration at her list from yesterday]

Have a fun games night Cag