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!

Ooh beast quest might be good actually as he likes monstery things. I'm not sure he really 'gets' the more social/human situation kinda stuff, he's autistic and frankly doesn't care about it :o

also ta da
2 loads of actual clothes washes
Make souffle for tonight's tea - I have another one in the process of being made for a freezer grab and go (these aren't 100% kosha souffles so withstand the freezing ok and reheat fine if you remember to defrost properly first)
stew done in slow cooker for tomo's tea (was supposed to be tonights but I forgot to defrost the meat and would have been too late)
ironing is done until the 2 clothes are through the dryer
kitchen has been rediscovered
ds has been collected and strongly reminded about having a working phone and using it!
hand washing of bras (well not going to risk another machine eating underwire incident because of being lazy)
Found the bits that have meant to sent to dsis for the last 2yrs and put them with the parcel to put in post to her tomo
find some knitting needles and lend them to mum
collect stuff for the tip
collect stuff for the charity shop
collect stuff to send to ex-sil for her boys
find random ex-p's socks in ds' bag and put in car for return when ds is next there
lose a coffee cup off the face of the earth - no idea what I have done with it when i put it down
taken the recycling out
taken the rubbish out
put the bins out

And now I am about to tackle my room just enough to put my clean washing away, before putting ds' away because if i leave it to him i can rewash, fold and iron it and never know if it has actually been worn or just screwed up on the floor and not put away Oh and return ds' blind making sure that fix blind is on to do list as urgent once sewing machine unburried Anyone else got windows that need wiping down in the mornings now?

Urmm you know how I warned you that I had a huge huge list today? Yeah sorry about that

And the oven switched itself off as the timer ran out because I spent so long microwaving it

FML

Can today be over with pleeeeease

Sorry bower only just caught up properly thank you for the advice re comprehension! Will be very useful as we increase the amount of home ed we are doing :)

Wow lots of posts today

cag if you find ds does like beast quest you can often get a set with the book people i think i just got 18 books for £18 instead of about £4 each

Been out most of the day so dont feel i have achieved much but have someone coming round tomorrow tea time so really need to do stuff

Ta da

One load dry
Second load washed and in dryer
Third load in washer
Half pots washed
Picked up shopping

Oh and a BIG welcome to Radley! I saw your thread recently and you did great! We moved in the summer and are still not sorted out properly

Hello everyone.

Some amazing ta das here at the moment and a big welcome to lovely new people.

Ta da:
Mouse caught and released back into wild . I eventually found it (more luck than judgement) but it ran back into a cupboard so I managed to trap it in there before the school run. DH then managed to get it when he got home.

Finally managed to have both girls tired - the secret seems to be lots of weeks of school and mega busy weekends so not holding out hope for lazy days in front of the telly anytime soon.

Both did gymnastics and a bit of (quite complicated for infant school!) homework and are now in bed.

To do:-
DH has gone to bed and I have founda glass of leftover wine and am going to do a long before bed routine. Have a very long day tomorrow so won’t be able to do my usual slapdash efforts in the morning.

Big wing flaps to all. Hope the end of the day comes quickly for you Cag .

It's not exactly cleaning...but I've kicked the shit out of my kitchen and bathroom today! Unpacked all the crap I packed, threw away spices from 2009!!!!!!!!

My kitchen was piled high this morning.

Tonight, DH has managed to take the whole lot over in two trips!

I've put a few things up for sale on facebook. This has been entertaining as well, as I've been howling at the "shabby cheek draws" (shabby cheek draws what? A picture? Blood? The winning lottery numbers?) and a "two tired TV unit" (obviously needs a dose of pro plus!).

Waiting for DH to get home, and starting to pack up the bedroom while watching reruns of Snapped at the same time

Some of the stuff I've gotten rid of should have gone into one of the storage sheds at the new house. I've promised myself that, if I can clear the equivalent of one shed-worth, I'll buy myself a rowing machine to store in there. Well, to use as well, obviously. I can burn 500 calories off on one of those things during one episode of Pretty Little Liars!

Evening all,

I suspect we have at least 27 mugs too, I just can't resist a shiny new one every so often. Radley - I saw your thread too, well done on getting it all done. Welcome to the thread it is a very friendly place to hang out.

SC - sorry to hear about DH, hope he is OK.

Hills - I have a tada list to rival yours just for once.
Cag , hope you feel better tomorrow.

I'm sorry to hear all the difficult birth stories. Mine with DS was pretty grim and I wish I'd said no to forceps .

Tada! - I have been flitting around all the zones today

Work
Cleaned bathroom floor
Cleaned behind chest of drawers in bedroom (very dusty indeed)
Cleaned cobwebs from landing and stairs ceilings
Tested all smoke alarms
Bought a new kettle
Emailed schoolx2 and dance school
Paid a bill
Took labels off jamjars for school craft fair (thought all this stopped at secondary, it seems not), put in car to drop in when I pick DS up tomorrow.
Went to Aldi
Unpacked shopping
Changed DCs beds, washed, dried and put away linen
Changed summer to winter duvets
Brought bins back round
Cooked dinner
Listened to DC learning lines for play twice sick to death of play but looking forward to seeing it
A bit of crochet (not much)
A bit of yarn stash sorting stopped before I got tempted to order some more

Ta da

Two loads washed and dry
Third load waiting to dry
Most of pots washed
Picked up shopping
Dining end if kitchen tidy
All kitchen swept
Highchair and table scrubbed
Hall swept
Living room 2 tidy
Loads of random crap rehomed
Living room 2 swept

Does anyone know where i can get a sylvanian families house at a bargin price. Looking for something bigger than the starter house

Wow some busy people today.

Cags if only you said before I decluttered those bags. I think I have burnt them but there was a set of Dahl comprehensions. I think I put it on the fire. I will check tomorrow ( I'm in bed now) and if not might be a web page as I had to keep some books in case of Ofsted.
I would wait a bit longer for Wimpy Kid yr 5s love them. Have you tried Horrible Histories? Wind in the Willows. When he is a bit older I will give you a couple of titles. I used a book of short stories in Guided Reading for inference. The kids loved them and they had real life dilemmas.

Came third in quiz only about 5 points between first and last teams and five teams. Too tired to post list tonight.

Washing to dry and put away.

Good morning! Argh - sorry again for not posting links last night!

Lovely to see the thread so busy - can't keep up! Will BBL to respond to personals! Have a good day everyone!!

*

The summary for Tues 14th 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. 14 for Tues 14th is here. How to use a calendar! I always used to pour scorn on this step (why would I need reminding to look at the calendar?) but over the years I have had to reluctantly admit that Flylady is right about this!

We are in Zone 3 this week: The Main Bathroom and One Extra Room (November 12-18) here.

Spend 15 mins decluttering the current zone.

When you have finished decluttering, the detailed cleaning list for Zone 3 (if you are at that stage) is here.

Tuesday's mission here!
Shine counter tops and clean bathroom sink!

Tuesday's daily focus is planning! Take some time out to prepare for the weeks/months ahead! Or even for just the week ahead!

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!

Small steps everyone! A a quarter of a box, 5 sheets of paper, 3 pairs of socks - it doesn't matter how little you declutter at a time - as long as you get rid of a few small items every day or even a few days a week. Something is better than nothing!

***

Thanks Sludgecolours.
😀
My sink is already shiny and I don't have counter tops. So TICK!

I will do 15 minutes of tidying in the basket. I have a basket with spare clean hand towels rolled and immediate toiletries. Small inner basket x2 with hand things in eg I can pick up and take downstairs if my hands are awful. I have soak stuff, emery boards and posh hand cream in it. Friend at work bought it for me one year so I kept the basket( of course I did) and keep it topped up. I only do my hands now and then when they look wretched( like now) but it is ready to go I don't have to look for everything. I have a foot one too. I can recommend the idea to busy mums. It feels like a luxury ten minutes.
De-cluttering method. I get given lots of toiletries so my latest plan over this past year is to put everything out of site bar two. So that way I finish it quickly instead of having lots of half finished bottles about. This is really working especially body cream which i don't use as often and have loads of, I am using and finishing it!
First TaDah ( will be completed in next five minutes) get out of this cosy bed! Have a fun flying day!

ta da
move 2 sofas
cover all the things in dust sheets
move the baskets of clothes and towels I didn't manage to put away yesterday
PLay hunt the school books with ds
play answer the same question 20 billion times with the folks
collect all the info as to who is where when (and promptly forget exact dates
seal with bleeding scalp - fuckers changed the shampoo recipe again
find some of the stuff needed for banking errands
head to work for a break!

*deal not seal.

someone send coffee pretty please

Feel a bit more human today. Caglets have gone to the park with friends and DH doesn't leave for work until 12 (by which time my parents should be here) so we've stuck Family Guy on the DVD player and are doing housework (well as much as I can while cuddling a baby :o)

Thank you all for the kind words

What we've left the kitchen?! Pffft..

Oh I have been distracted but i will just pick up the thread again, thanks for links SC.

Best wishes to all especially those with little ones to care for during the day.

Hi everyone have been on nights so haven't posted (still really tired so sorry if I miss out anyone/ don’t make sense). Hope you are all doing well.

Afresh hope LO is feeling better.

Hope no more unsettled nights for your LOs too Toostressy

Ivegotbills it’s stressful having workmen over, hope it’s all sorted soon!

Hills you have done loads, very inspiring!

Sorry about grumpy DS Foxes but it sounds like you have done really well with getting things done.

Hope you feel better Cag everything feels worse when you are dealing with lack of sleep.

Hi Kadarbras and Allroads

I’m sorry about your DH Sludge how is he now?

Honu I collect mugs. It’s awful . Half I never use. Glad there’s another mug lover wh0knows

How are things now Callme?

Well done about pub quiz Bower

I'm keeping on track. Had issues with DD for months where she won't eat most things we make her yet eats everything in nursery. So she gets hungry, wakes up hungry, only wants milk overnight and then isn't hungry because of all the milk. It's been so stressful.

WE were doing 50:50 cows milk to water so now we do 20ml milk for 180ml water so at least she will eat during day and it's worked wonders. Only been a week and she is sleeping better, eating more and me and DH sleep better too. She also settles better in her cot now and goes to bed at 8pm rather than 10pm so life is so much better.

Have stuck to my targets (basically daily chores and one extra) so kids room jobs finished (tidied and DD clothes decluttered)

Accounts done, washing done (one more load but no more room on clothe horse so am leaving).

Going to declutter sideboard surface as currently dumping ground. Can't believe how much easier life is with Flylady technique. I keep telling DH about it and he must be so bored of it but listens and shows enthusiasm

Jeeez i turn my back on you lot less 24hrs and theres pages to plough thru.......

cag more kind words here.you doing great and are allowed to wobble
On book front i second beast quest and book people for good value.has he tried how to train your dragon series by cressida cowell?

Huge wingflaps to all(its a very quick visit before go grab lil Zoo)

Yesterday was spent help dd1 pick shoes for graduation ceremony next week(dabs eyes and sniffs)
Today helping afriend shop

Place bombsite.must have a bit of a go at it later

foxes yesterday was jacket potato.lambmince with mint and cumin,mushrooms amd green beans
Today
Beef n blackeye bean casserole(bean n mushroom for dd2)sautee garlicky spinach and pasta or rice dep on zoolet preference

Must dash
Ttfn

Hi everyone! Sounds yum zoo

Ta das
Daily routine
Decluttered dd books
Dinner in slow cooker (chicken casserole)
Renewed library books

To do
Swish and swipe toilet
Clean bathroom sides and sink
Planning rest of week

Ta da

All pots washed
Three loads washed, two dry and one drying
One load in washer
Hall swept and mopped
Bathroom swept
Bins empty x3
Pets cleaned out and fed
Hoovered - stairs, landings, 5 bedrooms
Kitchen and living room 2 swept
Bed stripped
Dc3+4 bedrooms tidy

And of course all dc fed watered taken to and from school etc

afresh how many loaves do you get thru?just askibg as my greedy lot decimate 1.5-2 a DAY(disclaimer.lil zoo n ds eat 4 slice each with cereal at breakfast and all have pack ups.i gnaw thru 2-6 slices during course of 24hrs and zoolets ask bread n butter uf still hungry after dinner/befire bed snack)
I getting bit scared at how price breads is soaring(75p-89p a simple co op loaf in little over a month and major supermarkets seem be hoik their prices up too) and was wondering if we are a weird exception ir the norm?!