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!

Hi all, can I join you? I may have briefly joined you back when DS was tiny (he's now 8 months) but I don't think I stuck around for long I'm needing the motivation to sort the house now though as our tiny home looks like a hazardous bomb site now DS is on the move and DH is about to start a masters on top of working full time so we'll have even less time to clean!

Oooh carpeted bathroom!!! Awful! In my last place (before this one) the bathroom was carpeted, and one of the first things I did was rip the carpeting out. With little boys that tend to miss the toilet, carpet is a bad thing to have!!! ewww

Welcome back rosie and welcome to any other new or returning people!

Ta da

First load dry
Second load in dryer
Third load in washer
All bags cleaned out
Cot stripped
Dds bed stripped
4/5 bedrooms hoovered
Hall swept
2nd living room swept
Bottles washed and sterilised
Food bin empty
Tea pots washed
Table and chairs scrubbed
Hob clean

Ds was up 10 times last night. He is tired, I am tired, we are both grumpy and yet we still need to get his room tidied
Just finished breakfast and the first coffee of the day. Going to get another coffee, find some clothes and attempt to do something.

to do
load dw and run
rescue kitchen - looks like a bomb has gone off
rescue load of washing that was abandoned in washing machine
ds' room
clothes away

That is the bare minimum of what needs to get done today.

Indeed, goodness knows why anyone would think it wise to have a non-waterproof flooring in a room with a bath in it either. And yet they managed fairly decent water resistant paint in the bathroom. Weird. LLs refuse to change anything at all (even the downstairs heating that Does Not Work - going to be a fun winter with a newborn :(). Thankfully no matter what the new house bathroom has when we move in, I will be getting a wet room at some point, so nice easy to clean floor when that's done!

I achieved nothing except putting a wash on today. Tired. Really should go to town to get hair dye (Caglets dip dying purple for not-back-to-school :o) and have a few other storagey things to find. Decided the best option for organising our 'every day stuff' would be a basket on the windowsill.

The one thing I absolutely HAVE to do today is get the washing in - it's been outside for far too long and probably needs washing again!!!

Also want to buy curtains for bedroom, some storage boxes for toys, do the weekly shop and do some ironing. But first coffee.

I need a mug that says 'but first coffee' Gazelle

Ds is sulking under a duvet in front of the tv in the lounge. He is trying to pretend he is ill so he doesn't have to tidy his room If he said he was just too tired he'd have more sympathy last night was rough! Instead I am now extra grumpy and angry cleaning today will be fueled by coffee.

Hi all - have run out of coffee here, need to go shopping!

Tadas -

Big cleanup of kitchen counters
3 loads laundry on
Newspapers culled
5 mins hotspots
15 mins dusting in bedroom

Right, off to supermarket now...

afresh no more little foxes planned no, never say never and all that but think dh would definitely say never

Ta das
Daily routine
Sorted through all the children's clothes and got rid of loads of stuff that's too small. They've both had major growth spurts!
Dh has taken a load of stuff to the tip
Got dd new pants and DS new socks

Still so uncomfortable...but definitely less hormonal, just tired oh so tired. and I can have as much caffeine as I like now I'm not breastfeeding!

cag where i live council houses only have tiled/lino kitchen and bathroom.rest rooms are bareboards(or downstairs sometimes concrete) thats tenant responsibility.you may be entitled some financial help with carpet.ask!!
Tadas
3rd load wash in.2 dry fold n put away
Dd2 just declared no clean socks...clearly she confusing bedroom floor with laundry bag😕(sigh.added another full load (nit just socks)to piles threat tumble down the stairs)
Drop zoolets sunday school
Quick tidy front room
Wash kitchen floor
Scrub dining table(only fir kitten escaping sibling to jump from dining chair onto it and skid full length as was still damp(sigh.i dont know why i bother)
Pick up zoolets
Walk town.got calculators and coloured pencils.walked hom
Lunch
Watching a scooby doo movie with zoolets.dd2 has had popcorn maker out.smells proper cinema in here😊shes ram that.lil zoo n ds have sweeties

afresh must remember name everything.i still not done that yet.is dd excited for" big" school?

Hi all,

Welcome back Rosieposie!

My dsis2 had a hairy dark green carpet in her kitchen of all places when she first moved in to her house. They took great delight in ripping it up when they came to renovate and are now declaring war on the avocado lav

Tea and sympathy to Purple, Foxes, and Cotswold and anyone else who is ailing or sleep deprived. Ten times sounds really tough going Einstein, is your ds worried about returning to school?

Charity walk this morning to raise funds for foundation started in memory of one of dd's classmates who v sadly died in an accident last year . Didn't post about it at the time as it was all too awful somehow. Not much better now tbh . I don't know how the poor parents are able to put one foot in front of the other but admire them hugely for it.

Bbl to post links, once cleaned up, packed up and back in town.

Hello all,

Nice day today but it all deteriorated over dinner when both kids played up so DD2 is asleep now and DD1 is going to sleep.

Need to get on with evening routine now and then MUST do some labelling / school prep tonight.

Xpost SC, charity event sounds like a nice thing to do. I think I've said before, sometimes these things don't get much better for classmates and all people can do is try to do good out of it. Hope that doesn't sound as trite as I think it does! Life is shit sometimes .

I don't think school is the issue tbh, he always sleeps really badly when he is growing (night terrors, cramping muscles, sleep walking etc) so I actually suspect it is mostly due to growing. I'm going to regret not picking up the next size of uniform aren't I

Just got to finish ds' room and then all of my to do list has been done, And most of the way through the ironing but my much beloved iron died (i knew it was on the way out and had already picked up a new one but hadn't wanted to give up on the loved one until I had to) New iron works lovely but is a 1/3rd larger and almost half again heavier. I do not like the new one but the old one was nearly 20yrs old and had stopped heating up at all so it really does own me nothing and needed replacing. New iron hurts my wrists

Motivation severely lacking here today. Have been out this morning and shopping this afternoon. Not feeling too bad on paracetamol! Bit sore but much better than I expected overall.

Doing a few bits of laundry, will probably be out for most of tomorrow as well before DD returns to school on Tuesday. House desperately needs a deep clean to make up for perfunctory performance over the holidays!

Will attempt to stay off MN fat chance

ta da
Everyone fed, no-one dead

That's an achievement today.

Hey all

Just posting links and running as dd has just had a nose bleed before bed poor thing. Not a good start to the first proper week of term! She's OK now but had to lie on the bathroom floor for a bit, so I am going to bed now so that someone is on the same floor as her (can't hear much from downstairs).

Hope those of you who are sleep deprived or feeling below par manage a good night's sleep tonight.

Catch up with you all tomorrow!

*

The summary for Mon 4th 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. 4 for Mon 4th is here. This is a bit of a 'meh' one about writing down the first steps on sticky notes to remind yourself to do them; supposedly the start of the control journal. Most of us ignore it but continue first two steps!

We are now moving on to Zone 2: The Kitchen.

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.

Monday's mission is: here. Spend 15 mins scrubbing stove top without being a perfectionist about it!

The daily focus for Monday is: what we call "the home bleugh" but what Flylady calls the home blessing. Spend 10 mins on each of 7 essential tasks. Newcomers: Flylady's theory is that this takes less time the more one declutters, but many of us on here agree that you can't get it all done in one hour, especially the bed-making!

The monthly habit for September is: the before-bed routine. (Scroll down.) I've found a better explanation of it here.

Flykid's challenge: here.

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

Wishing everyone a productive start to the week!

***

Shall i stock naughty corner with caffeine and pastries in the morning or sharpen my pointy stick(for gentle prodding only)?!
(Aware i may get offered to be impaled on it)
We are all fed
Wash up done.
Tomorrow the aim is to see we can all get up n sorted by 725(gulp)

May need both stick and carrot thanks Zoo

Not looking forward to returning to 6am starts!

[Have smuggled lap-top in to bed]

Thanks Toostressy aye, life just can be shit sometimes and that's that. Although hopefully the foundation will benefit lots of people.
Certainly a lesson in counting our blessings when we can.

Einstein growth spurts can be debilitating - dd definitely gets growing pains - and if the body is growing I guess it makes sense that the mind can be similarly energetic! Hope your ds and you get some sleep tonight.

Well done wrt decluttering too-small clothes Foxes

Did you get the washing in Gogo?

Great list Afresh

Glad you are not too stiff today Cotswold

Good luck at work tomorrow Purple I hope you don't feel too fluey

Waves to Cag Newchick Zoo Rosieposie GingerIvy Mumofazoo Goose MumofaZoo Mermaids Honu Oncewho Gardeningirl and anyone else I have inadvertently missed!

Forgot to say, great list there Zoo too!

I'll just take the pastries please. In current mood, pointy stick will be used in violence.

Today was such a fail. Didn't get to town, as the Caglets were happily playing out. Felt like I should let them as it's the end of the holidays, but now I wonder if maybe I should've actually even got dressed forced myself out of the house with them. Mood went from bad to worse really. Done nothing except get Caglets putting their clothes away (haven't done ours, thankfully as it's only one washload it's minimal). Haven't cleared table and the hotspot is burning up. Got grumpy with the Caglets at bath/bedtime. No motivation for tomorrow at all and it's supposed to be the start of term, which should be exciting given all my plans.

I partly know why. There's a big picnic tomorrow but I don't think we can go. There's a chance nasty bully child and family will be there and I can't take that risk (the way DD is with it all, simply ignoring them would not be enough to protect her mental health). But there's also a chance that they won't go, and then we will feel shit for missing out for no reason. Can't win really and the dilemma has made me stressy and anxious and sad all day.

Coffee and pastries would be amazeballs zoo
My alarm has been set for 7:30am for the last 3 days. I think the snooze button is feeling abused.

Need to get up tomo though as there is too much to do. And I have discovered I have accidentally thrown out a bag with some yarn in it nothing that can be done to recover it as it went with the bins last week. Thankfully it wasn't the posh yarn but still it could have been saved if I could get my craft space under control so I could put things away in it. That said i need to get the lounge under control this week and we need to finish ds' room tomo (we were both too tired tonight)

I misread pastries as pasties but I am cornish so our minds automatically go to pasties