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!

Pointy stick needed please! Such a lazy start to the day. DH taking Caglets to Tesco and I'm supposed to tidy while they're out 😱

----->>>

--------> for Cag with and

Oooooh.and left for me?!
I hold up my hands and admit a cheeky nap has slid in.i dont sleep great and this weeks been very busy and caught up with me....

Ta da:-
Emailed DH and made a list for myself with list of dates we need to cover for childcare
Home bleugh started - need to do kitchen and Hoover downstairs still
Parking options for later investigated

To do:-
Get DD2 from school
Eat lunch
Finish home bleugh
Make packed tea
Prep for swimming

Gaaaaaah, I'm such an idiot. I forgot to take ds to have his jabs this morning! My phone has broken and all my appointments are on the calendar, without it I am LOST . Feeling so annoyed with myself. I clearly need a better system!

Ta das
Some daily routine
Food shopping

To do
Ring doctors surgery and apologise profusely for not turning up and beg for new appointment next week...

foxes ive had similar issues.we now have my diary by landline phone(on me when i go out)white biard by coats holds all coming weeks important "stuff" app.birthdays.days.homework and pe for older two.i spend half thus week add to it and check it but weve kept afloat and on top things
Tada
Wipe sink/drainer
Pull biger sifa out n clean behind.sweep liv room floor
Pop fruend and drop if some bits
Rung orthodontist.dd2 chip. Fell iffblock braces day before yest.went yest n they file it smoith.by lunchtime damn wire pop out n scrape gums.no reply afterchool so left message.never got back to me.her brace therapist now on hols so i have ring oractise manager mon to get ut sorted meanwhile leave brace out.grrr
On subject change app ds needs dietetic app.i try rung ev day 3week chsnge app but no one answer.finally got thru today.ask app wekk beg 23 oct.none avail so school be chasing my butt taking him out on 26th septmgah.i give up....

zoo I think I'm definitely going to ask for a proper calendar for Christmas this year! One that I can put up in the kitchen. Can't believe I forgot his jabs though - I feel terrible, for ds and for the GP surgery.

Really really struggling this afternoon, feeling exhausted again after feeling a little better yesterday. Maybe just an end of week slump.

I found a decent quality diary to be a worthwhile investment each year. Have got naice ones from the Tate or wherever. I never ended up using little handbag size ones, or wall calendars, past the end of January! The diary stays home (although need to find a place for it as it often goes walkabout - might see if it'll fit in our new every day basket that has hairbrush etc) and if I am out I'll write anything I need on phone memo/take a photo/text DH to write in later. I HATE iPhone calendars/reminders etc, no idea why I just can't get on with them really

Trying to now get on with using a weekly whiteboard planner, so each week we transfer the info onto there from the diary plus in theory anything extra like meal plan, bus times, reminders to take something etc. But it's not a habit yet.

ta da
2 washes done and dried (will get out to dry soon)
Taught DS a new maths thing
Played a board game as DS was desperate to try one of our new ones (definitely my son!!! ❤️)
Cleared side of bed with DH's help - I'm definitely getting mentally tired quickly though. All those tiny decisions about what to keep are exhausting.
Random stuff put back in right place (loose toys, pens etc)
Sorted through Caglets'

Oops!
*sorted through Caglets' underwear, socks and pyjamas. Amazingly DD was willing to get rid of loads (unexpected advantage of sensory issues - some of them "feel funny") and even identified one of the hand me down sets that she hasn't even tried on yet!
Found a taker with smaller DD for some still-perfect clothes that I didn't want to chuck (crop tops so charity shop prob wouldn't want them)

Just got some bits to sort through on the bed so need to get that done before DSD arrives should probably get dressed too

Ta das
Rearranged ds jabs for next week
finished daily routine
emptied upstairs bins
swish and swipe bathroom
changed bathroom towels
stripped bed
played with dd - properly and for ages! Made me realise I should make more time for her, she is so funny!

DH sorting dinner thank goodness, I'm going to watch cbeebies with dd!

cag glad enjoyed the game
foxesmaking time to play /interact is one pleasures having kids and as mine are get point want less time i eish id spent more time play less time fret other things...

Meet ds.pe was hideous.even teachers were point n whispering as he stood in queue wait changing rooms and was very sad and self conscious not just kids now .i said they will learn hes a boy.needs give it time....
Alk fed n watered
I fed up ...ds opt bath(faints as soap dodger wanted get into water) and drown bathroom floor in prfloor meaning bits stray litter from tray went all soggy(sigh)
Been a long day.....

Zoo, the teachers were whispering ?

Sorry pressed post by mistake. Hope things improve zoo.

Foxes, we have all forgotten things. You feel rubbish at the time though . I also have a paper calendar and a phone one. It means duplication but I think I'm less likely to miss things as hopefully it is on one calendar if not the other! Usually on both though. What I haven't quite managed to do is sort out my work diary which is separate and I can't figure out how to link it in well without overloading the family calendar.

If you wanted to start with a paper calendar now (I realise you may not want to buy one now of course!) some 2018 calendars start from September 2017.

Academic calendars/diarys are the way to go imo.
Just got in. it has been a long day. I am due to leave the house at 6:30am. Wishing you all good weekends

Ah thanks I was thinking it wouldn't be worth getting one until January so that's good to know! I'll have a look.

Hi all, sorry so late with links!

Congratulations everyone (and mini-fledglings) for surviving that first tricky back-to-school week! And well done on all of your splendid lists!

Much to dh's despair, I don't get on with tech planners so I have an old-fashioned calendar like this except it's monthly and it should be titled disorganised mum calendar for me.

We also have a flat wall chart where you can see the whole year + weekly mini whiteboard on fridge for meal planning.

Zoo oh that is awful re: teachers & pe & your ds. I hope he is ok.

Coincidentally, DD was a bit upset about PE this evening as she failed the (along with 15 others out of a class of 20) start-of-the-year fitness test (measured circuits with heart monitors and timers and everything). She has always passed it previously but now she has given up ballet, her core fitness must have decreased. So (with dh away) we battened down the hatches, made popcorn and watched Beauty & the Beast to cheer her up!

Did complete most of my list but haven't finished boudoir (made ginger cakes instead!). Plus my wm has broken.

Well done re: clothes decluttering Cag!

Foxes we've all forgotten appts, it's so easily done when preoccupied with little 'uns and sleep deprived too!

Hope swimming logistics went ok Toostressy

And how did your appt go Mumofazoo?

Sleep well Einstein and Afreshstart and expansive wing flaps to everyone else!

G'night all!

**

The summary for Saturday 9th 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. 9 for Sat 9th is here. Learn the basic Flylady decluttering techniques!

As you can see below, we are still officially in the Kitchen zone tomorrow here (if you do zone work at weekends that is). We will be moving on to the bathroom next week.

Zone 1 Sept 1-2 Entrance, Front Porch, Dining Room
Zone 2 Sept 3-9 Kitchen
Zone 3 Sept 10-16 Main Bathroom and another Room
Zone 4 Sept 17-23 Master Bedroom, Bath, and Closet
Zone 5 Sept 24-30 Living room

Spend 15 mins decluttering the current zone.

When you have finished decluttering, the detailed cleaning list for Zone 2 (if you are at that stage) is here (again, only if you choose to do zone work at weekends).

No mission on Saturday because it is the weekend!

The daily focus for Saturday is family fun.

The monthly habit for September: here.

Flykid's challenge: here (hopefully continually renewing itself).

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

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

**

Evening all

Sorry I haven't been on for a few days utterly mad back to schoolness and as a few of you who have asd kids know, hangs of routine is wonderful

My sons school have done a wonderful thing and signed up to an app so I can see all the "housepoints" they get awarded in a day and what they get awarded for I can also direct message the teacher and the head. What a wonderful thing that they embrace this tech!

Washing machine finally comes tomorrow morning
Guess what il be doing tomorrow I've lost count of random piles of laundry I've got going on everywhere

mermaids is that the dojo app? Our school have introduced that for years 5 and 6. Ds1 is miffed because he says he has 12 points and only 6 are showing.

Well i have reluctantly started a form of sleep training with baby ds as i was loosing the will. Last night was day 3 and took about an hour for him to settle. Im using the new Ollie Owl from Gro and i do think it helps. It has a cry sensor and when he is waking at 12/1/2 he is going back off without me going in. Its not so far working from 4am onwards so i have been letting him in our bed then. I feel mean because hes struggling so much with his teeth but im on my knees with exhaustion.

Sounds necessary though afresh and he needs the sleep, it'll help him in the long run.

Another early wake up FFS, still just sitting in bed wondering if I can be bothered to get breakfast yet. Nice to wake up in fresh bedding though, we even aired the mattress out all afternoon first. Game night was fun even though I lost both games by miles! :o

Need to pack for staying at mum's this morning. When we did the pyjamas yesterday they each chose an older/mismatched pair to keep at hers, so that'll save effort in future. Want to go through all their other clothes before we pack though, they've got loads of stuff. A small wardrobe between them and 2 drawers each, overflowing!

afresh I've not heard of the Ollie owl sounds interesting...my ds has started sleeping through the night fairly consistently this last week but I think stopping breastfeeding is what did it because he can't be bothered to get up if he isn't getting milk. We have had some success with a comforter as well, he has a toy penguin which he cuddles to sleep. The problem we have now is the early starts , he is getting up anywhere from 5am and we can't get him to go back to sleep but he is grumpy until his morning nap. It's frustrating. Maybe your ds sleep will improve when his teeth have come through, is it his molars?

Mn ate my homework

Nope its the top front two. He currently only has the bottom two. Gummy boy.

I went for ollie over other similiar things as i thought the cry sensor stayed on until you turn it off. I was wrong and it does go off after 3 hours however hes so unsettled its coming on atleast every three hours anyway!

I could do with sorting dcs clothes too. Especially dds. She has - a wardrobe, 4 drawers and 4 drona boxes in a kallax unit all full of clothes. Plus all her school uniform which is downstairs awaiting the iron.

Ta da

2 small dc fed
Kitchen bin empty