New year, new organisation! Fledglings fly in 2018.

[TooStressyForMyOwnGood]

Hello all and Happy New Year!

A warm welcome to the January Flylady thread. This is a lovely friendly thread where we loosely follow the Flylady system (see the Flylady website) in the hope of having organised homes and lives.

Every day the thread leader (me this month) posts links and missions from the Flylady site and also some friendly (!) personal comments. This is quite a ‘talky’ thread but we try our hardest not to be cliquey and new members are very welcome! Typically there are a lot of new members in January so I will do my best to keep track of everybody .

Old members, as you know there have been a few issues with links at times so if there is some chopping and changing over the month with the links then that is why. Please note that Flylady is (understandably) keen for people to click on her site so please do have a look around the site and the links.

On the website there is information for beginners. You can also sign up to the Flylady emails but we would advise caution as there are hundreds of them.

We post our achievements (ta das) and our to do lists and any other general chatter about life / flying.

Information on getting started: www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/

The launch pad is also a good starting place:www.flylady.net/c/lp.php

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

I’m sure lots of you have New Years Resolutions to be organised and to declutter, as I do every year . Be kind to yourselves and careful not to crash and burn!

I am risking making two:-
Go to bed at 11pm unless decent reason why not.
Spend less time on my phone.

Here are the links for Monday 1st Jan. although I am linking these then if you are treating today as a holiday (as much as is possible in real life anyway!) then feel free to take today off.

*
Here is the daily summary for Monday (also available on the Flylady website at flight plan which should update automatically each day).

I’m afraid I start the year confused . I’ve just looked on the Flylady website and the link to the zone and missions is here which indicates we will be in zone 5 which is the living room. I would have thought the month starts in zone 1 but I know this has happened before, I think SC explained? TBH after Xmas I think most living rooms could use a bit of work so it won’t hurt . Apologies if this is confusing.

Re. zones, do what works for you. I don’t always stick to the zones myself and do what works best at the time, with varying degrees of success!

Spend 15 mins decluttering, or whatever you can manage, in Zone 5.

When you have finished decluttering, the detailed cleaning list (if you are at that stage) for Zone 5 is here.

daily focus

missions for the week

Flykids mission

January’s habit is shining your sink.

beginner babysteps.

Happy flying everyone.
**

Take it steady bower

Ta das
Lunch
More washing done
Dry stuff folded and put away
Baking done-date and almond sugar free cookies (had some ground almonds needed using up)

Oh and I did zoolet room inspections...
Pleased to report they all did really well
DS boy dungeon had couple bits he hadn't put away,all washing was where asked it to be,bed made and floor clear
The girls room of doom was same,incl fact dd2 has sort under her bed weekly.this was also done...it may be week one check,but overall this week's gone pretty well with only few bags from me bout dumping stuff not putting away😁

Nags,not bags...I am becoming more incompetent by the hour!!

ta da
Roasted winter veg with roasted fish for tea here. And for pudding the last of the christmas biscuits.
Use oil stone to sharpen some kitchen knives
warn all the people about now sharp knives and to watch their fingers
sort bag for tomo
rescue some card stock out of the craft room

A pretty lazy day here, I haven't even ventured into the dungeon to finish the desk with ds. I just couldn't. too much arguing about it all yesterday and my motivation evapourate

If there is a tunnel to here Bower there will be a and waiting at this end.

Aaaagh stressful afternoon here with sibling bickering etc. Although swimming was not too bad before this and they did eat roast dinner nicely.

I am also laughing at horrible wraps zoo. Love your autocorrects .

Hopefully desk was worked on slightly Hills.

Big wing flaps to foxes, Bower, Afresh and everyone else.

Going to post links for tomorrow now but might be back on later dependent on how badly bedtime goes. Not the best afternoon behaviour-wise here .

**
Here is the daily summary for Monday (also available on the Flylady website at flight plan which should update automatically each day).

We are in zone 4 this week which is
the master bedroom aka boudoir.

Please have a look through the information on the website at the relevant zones as I know Flylady is keen that we do look at the website.

Spend 15 mins decluttering, or whatever you can manage, in Zone 4.

When you have finished decluttering, the detailed cleaning list (if you are at that stage) for Zone 4 is here.

daily focus

missions for the week

Flykids mission

January’s habit is shining your sink.

beginner babysteps.

old holiday clean up missions

Happy flying everyone.
**

still your phone has it's own agenda. I at horrible wraps but then I think tuna is evil so I completely understand why it said that. Hope your trek to Aldi was not too arduous and yay at zoolet inspection.

bower are you okay to go to work? Has the doctor okayed it?

hill your dinner sounds fab.

Our weekend away was great although it started off really badly with an overcrowded, hot stuffy train and DS was feeling sick for most of the journey and was actually sick as we got close to the destination - very unpleasant for him but he did manage to be sick in a plastic bag which did not have air holes in thank goodness. I didn't know what to do with the bag as there were no bins. I just had to hold it. We thought we can't go through that again so we paid a bit extra to sit in first class - such a different experience. We've never done that before but it was totally worth the money.

Back to the grind tomorrow.

What an awful journey Fooland. Very impressive that your DS managed to aim in the bag. Glad you managed to have a good weekend after that.

Oh fooland that is not a good journey, glad the trip improved. Reminds me of when I was pregnant with ds and dh treated me to a day out for my birthday and I was sick on the teain, luckily there was a toilet but it was hideous trying to lean over a toilet whilst very pregnant and on a moving train! . Trains are always too stuffy imo

So glad master bedroom next week - my wardobe has become a dumping ground (nothing changes!)

Need to write a shopping list tonight for tomorrow. I had done the shop online but the website won't seem to let me use my coupons and I had quite a few to use soI'm going to brave the supermarket with ds tomorrow. I sound like a crazy coupon lady, that's what dh calls me, but im not really (well maybe a bit!)

Enjoy your Sunday evening everyone.

Well, this whole weekend has been a write off 😩

Got nothing at all done today beyond the very basics because DH and I had a dreaded trip to IKEA in an attempt to finish the living room. We mostly had success. Couldn't fit the bookcase we wanted in the car, but have made a good compromise, I think. We live 2 hours from the nearest one, so left at 9 and didn't get back until 4.30. I'm shattered which is a great start to another busy week 🙄

Sorry to read about all the early starts, the sleep has been the hardest thing about parenting for me 😔

Fingers crossed for a much more relaxing week this week!

zoo yes, I have been. All day. I felt odd this afternoon like I was going to faint probably the tablets and I went to sleep.DH joked he was glad I had woken up again. Four people at mass told me I looked awful😳 All I did today was clear table in craft room which took about five minutes because I already started on Friday and I found a pile of magazines so I sat and sorted those. Took craft things out and recipes. DH made lovely Roast Pork and lots of veg. Not going to work tomorrow again. Feel bad about that but I'm not well enough.
Date and almond cookies sound yummy.
Brilliant sorting kids sorting zoo😊
🍰☕️ thank you Hills, looking for the secret key.
Tweets to Toostressy
FandF. He said to see how I feel. He will continue to sign me off if I don't feel well enough. I'm not going. I was a bit taken back by going to Mass today. Very short of breathe,( it was snowing) and couldn't sing, say long prayers and struggled to speak in full sentences at coffee time. Came home and rang to cancel choir. Sat quietly most of afternoon.
Feeling better now but sort of wobbly if that makes sense. GP ringing me on Tuesday if bloods back. Going from there.

Poor DS . Good tip is to put two bags one inside the other and rolled down together at the top just in case you need to go again.
Ew Foxes that sounds an awful experience.

Roasted veg and fish mmm delicious Hills. We had winter veg and a littleporkloin from M&S DH did a really good job cooking it.

Boudoir?Shall I run away now
By time we get here each month it's a dumping ground again

Mine isn't too bad. A bit at the side of the bed for when I wake in the night. Water, magazines, IPad, inhalers. I don't agree with her about under the bed. I have loads of stuff stored under there. Shoes. Christmas crockery ( not put away yet) as it is too heavy to put into loft
Needs a dust bedding ches t is dumped on because it is full. Some fabric stash in there.😊
Need to buy a few Really Useful Boxes to put ORC in. Tidy clothes away. Change bed on Tuesday.

Evening all. Not looking forward to this week as not feeling good all weekend, lots of retreating to bed etc. Not sure I will get back to tutoring after all yet. DH had a nice, if quiet, birthday though. Had family round for games and then the two of us struggled through some puzzles (I got him the GCHQ puzzle book) - we hardly ever get or make time for stuff like that so it was really lovely. Definitely a spirit renewing Sunday thing.

ta da
✅got yesterday’s towel wash dried
✅had a bath
✅washed more towels and dried them
✅all towels put away
✅paid for two new home ed subs

Bower that’s really kind of you, if anything is going spare that would be lovely and much appreciated if it’s not too much trouble 💐 I’m intrigued as to this nice topic 😀

Right well having finally brought Cagletini upstairs at midnight I should get going as she may be ready for bed at last. Epic headache. Hopefully the week will be better.

Oh Cags so sorry to hear you're unwell. You have such a lot on at the moment it is hard. Glad you managed to relax for some of it though. I feel a bit better this early morn. Had a good sleep so far but think that will be it for this morning so I have a book out of my new tidy pile to read. I decluttered a pile of magazines last night. Just a small pile of patterns left some for me and some to take to church next week for the better knitters/ crochet ers ( is that a word?) to have. I'll send a sample list of words by pm and see if they are the right sort of level and look for the topic sheet. No trouble.

Plan for today.
Little table in hall, it is a sewing box full of clutter on top and under oh and dust because it has sat there expectantly for months ( last year) waiting.
Boudoir- damp dust the tops.
- attempt to break into drawer that is stuck because it is stuff with trousers and skirts. Six months ago😳😚
- tidy around me
Make soup with DH
That is it 3 things. Going back to the three things rule and rest, rest , rest!

Yes definitely lots of rest for you!

I still have the headache but Cagletini went nearly 7hrs straight last night. She is in my good books today :o I’m just setting the Caglets’ maths and spellings (spellings are easy to come up with this week as they have written stuff with mistakes so I’m just using those!) then I’ll sleep for a bit more if I can.

I’ve been thinking what a lot we have to organise in the next few weeks and months:
Booking a block of trampolining. This is what I have had to take over as the previous person no longer has time. Bit scary as it involves getting money from people etc. Filling in forms...
World Book Day - I organised a party for this last year and it was a success so would like to do again
Sport Relief - DH runs a home ed sports club for extra income, and so has loads of equipment. I thought it’d be good to arrange a sort of sports day at the park. Won’t have any cost to us and all entry tickets can go to the charity, but will be good for the home ed community and may be good publicity if we get non members involved.
Caglets’ birthday party - we have been terrible with arranging parties over the years and we’ve suggested this year having a joint big party as most of their friends are the same anyway. So in July we will book a hall etc. But they would like a Crystal Maze party so lots of puzzles and challenges to come up with and find equipment for.

Eek. Lots of other stuff to do today like laundry as I did none other than towels over the weekend. And I have forms to fill in etc. And somehow tidy the living room and not let it deteriorate within minutes. My head hurts. Waaaaah

Morning all .

Washing machine leaked again yesterday so hoping it is ok today. DH foxes again but if it happens again we will need to call someone .

Sports relief day sounds a brilliant idea Cag, A’s does just trying to do 3 things Bower.

zoo, and foxes yes boudoir so often ends up a dumping ground.

Whispers, sounds like a productive trip to ikea so definitely not a wasted weekend .

Jesus i have just had a horrific electic bill

Oh no afresh :(

Yup boudoir is a RRC (room of random crap) there’s a reason we haven’t bought a cot yet 😳😳😳

I am knackered and haven’t got up yet so it’s going to be a list as I go sort of day to keep myself vaguely motivated.

ta da
✅paid for Book I ordered from friend
✅spellings and maths
✅set up Caglets for a writing task
✅emailed tap teacher
✅completed sign up for survey company thing
✅started writing down ideas for the three parties
✅got Caglets to gather laundry, tidy room etc, DH put a wash on

🍸🍹🍷passes Afresh a choice of stiff drink( hopes she isn't teatotal or worse still on dryjanuary) and a soft place to fall...my wool tops stash!

Caglitini what a ⭐️
Cags I thought we were encouraging you to take it easy. You're as bad as me maybe worse.
Yuk, hate paperwork. Anti procrastination Wednesday works really well for me. Do it then so I stop stressing about needing to do it but not.

🚒 on stand by for Stressy 's washing machine to suck up the water. Hoping the fireman are like one of the ones that came to school. Just one, the others were nearly my age they must have moved the retirement threshold!

Ta Das
Rang school early
In the Boudoir - dusted with one of those microfibres cloths
Muttering about boxes and DH has offered to go to B&Q and get some when he goes to town for prescription.😳 I think he is impressed with my attempts on decluttering. So the plan is to take everything out of the mismatched ones and swap for Really Useful ones under the bed😁
Yes Flylady...under my bed! Not wasting that space.
Shoes, summer clothes, going to maybe move some fabric( stash) so all the bedding can go in bedding box!

Excellent work Cags ✔️

Yay for sleep cag we had a better night last night too thank god, amazing what a difference sleep can make!

Luckily the gas bill was about what had been predicted so just the electic that was a surprise. Have decided to start using the quick wash cycle on my washer for anything that isnt properly dirty. This takes 28 mins as apposed to usual 1 hour 19 min cycle. So hopefully save on some electric.

Ta da

Two loads washed and now drying
Recycling out
Bed made
Brought down dps collection of glasses from bedroom
Kitchen bin emptied
Half pots washed
Two worktops wiped down
Me and 4 dc up fed dressed and out for 840
3 uniforms ironed
3 packed lunches made
Did dds reading from over weekend
Picked up milk and cereal
Sent couple of emails

Ta da
Picked up some groceries
Dishwasher on

To do
Finish daily routine
Mop
Hoover
Dust
Change dc sheets
Towels,tea towels , cloths big wash
Polish mirrors
Declutter bedroom
Clothes piles bedroom
Swish and swipe bathroom

Hope that's all. Probably forgotten something. Can't do bins because I forgot to get bin liners- luckily I did all the upstairs ones upstairs yesterday.

Be time to make lunch for ds soon and get him down for his nap hopefully! He was really good in the supermarket today, I like the Tesco free fruit thing as a satsuma keeps him very happy!

Uh oh afresh not good on a Monday morning to receive a big bill