Lost the plot with clutter? Want sparkle(r)s in your sink? Come Fly with flare on the November Fledgling thread!

[Sludgecolours]

If you are strugging with C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome) and S.T.U.F.F. (something that undermines family fun) then this is the thread where we (loosely) follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system (in our own, unique, relaxed style) with lots of chat, support and and along the way.

This is where, from the first of the month (seriously, HOW is it November already?!), we follow – loosely – the rules of FlyLady [see website here ]. (Pls ignore the barftastic language, and we suggest NOT signing up to the emails as there are rather a lot of them. All the info you need will be posted here on a daily basis.)

Helpful info on getting started here!.

We adopt a three-pronged approach:

-start or repeat baby steps

• repeat baby steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone or area (yes, just 15 mins focused work a day makes a difference!)

and/or

• reinforce babysteps and do daily missions if you have finished decluttering.

[And if you are really enthusiastic and have finished decluttering - you can go on to detailed deep cleaning in each zone.]

NB
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 not only welcome to join in but positively encouraged to do so!

Another NB
Start where you are. There is no need to worry about being perfect – perfectionism = paralysis! There is no such thing as ‘falling behind’ with FlyLady, if you miss anything, just move on and continue as normal the next day.

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Good luck!

I can't do the majority of my plans for master bedroom this week as DD still sleeps with us. So when she's awake I'm busy with her and when she's asleep it's too noisy.

Me and DH off together this weekend so he's going to take her out for a couple of hours so I can empty it and clean it at least. He is also going to find time to paint kitchen and bathroom.

So there's not that much I can do except stay on top of daily routines and bring a couple of small jobs forward from next week. So hopefully this week office area is decluttered (a desk in the dining room) and bathroom is tidied.

Hills I hope you are ok.

Hope all is ok hills I have been to a&e more times with my dc this year than i like to count

Hope all is OK with DS Hills.

Can I ask about swish and swipe? Bathrooms are what I struggle with, we have incredibly hard water, and there's a grey ring around the bath that won't come off. They always seem to look a bit tatty.

Would anyone be able to share how they do swish and swipe? What products they use etc?

Oh no hills sympathies as I have a clumsy numpty of a DS too. ASDs have a lot to answer for don't they? Paediatrician reckons he may be dyspraxic too. I hope your DS is ok.

ta da
✅home ed stuff
✅HV visit - DD2 is following her centile (9th) so great weight gain yay!

Hospital later for hearing check. Weather is shit though, we might have to break out the rain cover for the buggy

But in true failed fledgling style HV had to give us an extra red book as we have lost the one she gave us before baby arrived 😳😳😳

Also meant to say I think the new flylady motto should indeed be "half an arse is better than none" - brilliant!

Love that motto idea Cag and glad you got on ok at HV. Hope ED goes ok Hills. CallMe, I am a bit rubbish with the swish and swipe but end up using antibacterial wipes / cleaning wipes if I do it then chuck a bit of bleach down the toilet every so often. Bathroom gets cleaned during home bleugh.

Ta da:-
Dishwasher and washing machine cleaning cycles
Picked up a few bits from shops

To do:-
Wipe over dishwasher and washing machine
Tidy up from breakfast
Somehow make house look less disorganised

I am at the cinema .

Hills hope everything turns out to be OK. I now have a favoured Minor Injuries clinic which is a bit of a drive away, but has the latest-open x-ray facility particularly on a Friday night.

zoo good news about your DD loving school - mine does usually but she is very easily stressed. Days like this make homeschool seem attractive , I will be counting down the days until secondary school now!

Better get on with something, I did well yesterday but I'm still in (have not gone shopping) and get on with something. Progress will be made

Ds is fine. I am not. Them blooming chairs in A&E are not good when you are struggling finding sitting comfortable. Ironically I got more questions if I was ok than ds I am on bed rest for the rest of the day I really must add ring physio to the to do list

Now to get the car and then I can relax in bed.

Oh and ds was most unimpressed to be sent into school after his A&E trip

stressy love that you're at the cinema!
hills glad ds is ok although sorry to hear that you aren't

Ta das
Some daily routine but then all my efforts were undone by dd and her friends.

To do
Daily routine
Kitchen declutter
One shelf mission
Swish and swipe upstairs bathroom
Planning rest of week

Oven cleaning lady has been, and it's amazing. £42 well spent.

Argh so jealous! Looks great

Done all my list and bonus was I found a packet of jelly and a tin of fruit so I made fruit jellies for pudding tonight! Also found a few things for a local charities bric and brac stall , candle holders I've never used and a random cake stand which I've also never used! Good result I feel.

Hope bedrest helped Hills

CAllme that is such a good job on the oven it looks brand new.

How is everyone else doing?

I did manage to do half of master room in the end. The other half I'll do Thursday (working tomorrow). Then deep clean Sat. So 3/6 rooms done ie emptied.

Unfortunately bed rest does not solve the issue that is ds. Fucking teenagers and their bullshit!!!
Washing machine hasn't been delivered twice now and the order will be cancelled which means will need to source a new one. This is especially fuckwittery as the company apparently prides itself on good customer service

Tomorrow's to do list looks like this:
remove ds' bedroom door
remove the fucking sources of argument
refer ds to his father when he kicks off
bedrest.

arsing cunting crapping hellish fuckwittery of the bastarding teen years

Oh btw arguments about bedtime - they just get different. I swear it is teen going on terrible two!

Need to sort laundry tomorrow. We had our longest time out of the house with baby today as we had her hearing check and then tap class. So have done nothing in the house. Also DH got an email from the space society we are members of which has resulted in tomorrow's HE task being 'write a space haiku'. Also DS has been drawing loads of flags today so want to turn that into a pairs game so they can learn the countries.

As for tonight though I plan to chill, I had a bit of a meltdown earlier, super weepy etc. Latest family guy box set has arrived so I plan to curl up with DH to watch some

Had a much less stressful day today.
Ate last of the Sunday Roast. Had a fish cake ( date up) for first course.
Now having allergic reaction. Need to take second tablet now then if no improvement, steroids and if that escalates I might have to go to A&E tonight😕😮 lets hope the next one works. Consultant is phoning me next week thought I would only have minor episodes to report but this is getting worse. On my own too.
I had made plans to catch up tomorrow.

bowerbird don't worry about 'catching up' there is no catching up in the flylady system, it will come around again. Take tomo off if you need to, looking after you is important. Is there anyone who can be with you until the allergic reaction episode settles?

Good evening everyone!

"Melior pars est asinus"

Which is what Google translate comes up with as the Latin for "Half an arse is better than none". Can't help thinking that is not quite right though! Will work on it. Has to be grammatically correct if it is to be our official motto!

Spent entire day out of house (volunteering training + art class) so no Flying for me save for emptying dw, 1 load of washing and quick walking of furry.

Hope you are ok Bowerbird5? Allergic reaction sounds scary. Hope second lot of meds work and you don't have to go to A& E. Let us know how you are x

Hills glad your ds was able to go to school but sorry you are having a rough time of things this evening and aren't able to rest properly.

Sounds really tough going. Hope you can get some sleep tonight x

Take it steady Cag not surprised you feel a bit depleted this eve. I barely left the house for the first six weeks of dd's life - you have been going great guns! Space haikus sound fab btw!

Well done on sorting half the master bedroom FlyJellyfish that is where I am with the boudoir atm! Must do other half quickly or I know it will all go back to chaos again... .

[Dons dark glasses to stop the shine from CallmeCordelia's oven from hitting me straight between the eyes] Looks fab!

CallmeCordelia wrt swish and swipe: we have hard water too. For quick s & s I use Dettol wipes or just a j-cloth with a bit of washing up liq and warm water, and dry off with clean old towel (not much fluff left) kept for purpose - depends how bad it is.

For proper bathroom cleaning though I keep a spray bottle filled half with clear industrial vinegar and half with water, and spray it everywhere (esp taps, shower doors, tiles) then leave for 5 mins while doing something else. Rinse off and everything is shiny. (I don't mind the slight vinegary smell but I know others do object to this.) Cleaning lady favours Viakal (is it called the same in UK?) it's a specialised product that tackles limescale anyway and I must admit, although I prefer a non-chemical approach, it does work very well indeed and is more long-lasting than vinegar.

And for major stains or limescale build up you can use a paste of clear industrial vinegar + bicarb of soda mixed to a paste, left for a bit, and then rinsed off (very good for tiles and grouting).

Good tips =

• soak paper towels in vinegar, lay on taps for 1 hr, rinse off
• put two cups vinegar in lav bowel, leave, scrub away after 2 hrs
• remove shower head, put in bucket of vinegar for an hr or so, then rinse

Loads of short videos on YouTube demonstrating how to tackle particular prob areas that are worth a look! Good luck with it!

Foxes well done re: kitchen decluttering!

Great you escaped to cinema Toostressy

Waves to Cotswold, Afreshstart, Honu and everyone else I have missed!

Well done newcomers! You have flown for a full seven days!

On to the next ...

***

The summary for Wed 8th 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. 8 for Wed 8th is here. Write down your morning and evening routines (if you want to). This is the start of the control journal. Some of us have one. Some of us don't. (See baby-step 22 and here for more info.) Again, it is one of those things that most of us feel have been superceded by on-line apps etc.

We are in Zone 2 this week: Kitchen, Back Porch,Laundry Room,Pantry (November 5-11) : here.

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.

Wednesday's mission is: here! Strangely, as it is baby-step no. 1, the mission is to shine your kitchen sink again!!

The daily focus for Wednesday is anti-procrastination! Do something you have been dreading! Cleaning out the python cage? Booking a colonoscopy? Cleaning out your oh's nostril hair clipper?

The monthly habit for November is menu planning here!

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

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

Holiday missions here!

Keep going everyone! Just 5 mins is better than nothing!

*

Having thought about it "medium asinus quod melior quam nemo" is probably better. Not sure? Anyone?

[Think I should probably go to bed]

Hope you are ok Bowerbird

Taken second tablet and prednisolone as it has spread quickly.

Cag that is great news no wonder up you are tired.

I am still being too lazy. I fractured my ankle about six weeks ago and didn’t rest then (carried on tapping for a start!!) as I didn’t realise it was fractured (it hurt like hell and was black and blue all over but it stopped hurting when I walked so I presumed all would soon be well but it wasn’t!) so I’ve been resting it over the past couple of weeks. You’d think I’d be rarely to go now but no.

Tadas nevertheless:

Towels washed and dried (but not folded)
More washing on (now languishing in the machine)
Electrician came to move the phone plug so I was able to move the router and phone to my new office corner
Sorted out and rearranged the side drawers so have a full bag of paper for recycling
Very little advance on my Dutch presentation ☹️

To do tomorrow

Vacuum
Put out washing
Put more on and out
Dutch!!!!
October books
Maths questions for student
Stop procrastinating!

callme cheap coke is your friend with hard water. Seriously. Tesco own brand kind of thing. Half-full bottle left in a loo for a number of hours will help life with fairly little effort. Can work around taps extra too.

Wrt soap sum on tiles/glass doors etc we have be using a mixture of dish soap, white vinegar and water with a micro fibre cloth. Requires a little elbow grease but the effects last well.