Fledglings prepare to fly their lockdown nests and jump into July - join us for the July FlyLady thread

[KTCluck]

Welcome all fledglings, newbies and lurkers to the July 2020 flylady thread, where we try and follow flylady’s system to keep our homes in order and our lives organised. We are a friendly bunch and like a bit of a natter, amongst posting our ‘To Do’ lists for accountability and celebrating our ‘Ta Da’ lists no matter how long or short. No fledgling is left behind, just jump in and join us wherever you are at - whether you are a lazy slattern living in chaos or a fully certified domestic goddess wanting to keep up the motivation. Most of us flit between the two depending on the day. The threads tends to be a supportive corner of MN, and we readily provide listening ears for woes and rants when needed.

Flylady is a system based around morning and evening routines, with babysteps to get you started and a daily focus, such as planning and family fun day. There’s a weekly home blessing (or ‘bleurgh’ as we prefer) which is a basic clean to keep the house ticking over, with short bursts of decluttering or deeper cleaning in weekly zones once you are ready. Flylady also suggests short missions each day. Feel free to adapt the system to make it fit in with your life.

Link to the launchpad is here (I hope) and the baby steps are here. From the launchpad I like the ‘flight plan’ for a reminder of the routines, and ‘sneak peek of the week’ for a list of the week‘a missions. You can sign up for emails, but be warned, you will need to regularly declutter your inbox!

As thread leader for July I have taken possession of the thread pointy stick —> for anyone in need of a sharp prod of motivation, but I’ve also set up a chilled quiet naughty corner, complete with comfortable day beds, a gentle sea breeze, and unlimited fruit platters, ice creams and cocktails to any fledgling who is in need of rest and recuperation or is just on strike. No partners or children allowed.

I’ll also try and keep the ‘keep calm corner’ (KCC) going. Originally introduced by our lovely SC, it’s a little daily dose of respite we’ve been using to help us get through these strange times.

I’ll do my best to keep us all motivated and flying throughout July. On work days I may appear with the larks, or not crawl in until the end of the day so apologies in advance if I’m late with links.

We start tomorrow in zone 1 (hall, porch, dining room). Here’s the missions. Habit of the month is ‘swish and swipe’ which is a daily 2 minute wipe of our toilets and sinks. Tomorrow is anti-procrastination day where we tackle those tasks we’ve been putting off.

Anyway, enough waffle, July we are coming for you! shortly, I’m just checking the naughty corner is ready

More TaDa

drank tea and deleted some emails (didn't actually deal with any)
H washed up morning and lunch
hoovered S2's room, landing, practice room and our room
emptied vacuum cleaner
hoovered stairs hall and lounge (rest of downstairs is hard flooring)

• oh, I swept the downstairs loo room this morning

made lasagne did about a quarter of the ironing, hung towels commiserated with a damp S1 (who had gone for a walk) and a wet S2 (walked home from school) washed up from lasagne making

made Executive Decision that there is no point trying to do tricky admin when there is only an hour before dinner

My two are 20 and 17, and help when asked. It's their job to clear the table after meals, and S1 joins in cooking a roast (makes gravy and dishes up). They keep their rooms vaguely tidy and are fairly reliable about bringing crockery back down. Occasionally they bake. S2 did volunteer to wash up a couple of times when the dishwasher first died. He went through a phase of making his own lunch for school last year. I think he feels he ought to be doing more Thing is though, I don't have anything else I need to do so I don't see the need to ask them for help (it's not as if I spend my entire day on housework after all).

crosspost... nice re-purposing there xmummy! Was it a minor argument which just put you into a down, or more serious? Has the bad patch been going for a while (sorry I've lost track of what everyone's been posting)? Might be worth a chat with the gp if so. Do you have any smelly candles or essential oils to sniff?

Mine are 2 and 6 months so can’t really help out. I do make DS1 hell out tho.

merry it was quite serious, we have a bit of a weird relationship vry co dependant and I keep trying to change her so we can have a healthy relationship but then she doesn’t seem to want to change. She still tries to discipline me and can’t understand I’m a grown woman with children. So it’s just sent me a bit down. I haven’t been great for a while just feeling very numb (one of the reasons I came off the tabs was cuz I was numb tho) but if u have any essential oils or anything u recommend them I’d rather try them to perk me up than go back on tabs x

I think there are various scents specifically to help with mood and so on, but I don't actually know, I just sniff things I like

Lavender is a good all-rounder. In terms of smells (candles and toiletries) anything with grapefruit is lovely.

Roast dinner cooked and demolished, the DC even found room for an ice cream float after. I on the other hand can't move I've ate so much 🐷

Couldn't think of one the other day when everyone else was posting theirs but when I was cooking the pork I remembered DS2 used to ask if we were having crack with our dinner. He meant crackling 🤣

I've done most of the dishes and I suppose I'm going to have to drag my bum to Tesco and do a proper shop. Really CBA though

Thank u merry I will have a look

SC I don't know what flowers they are just thought they were beautiful, thank you.

Meg I hope ddog is doing better today, I'll find out when I get home tonight.

wine love your username! DD is 16, DS is 10, almost 11. DD is harder to get motivated to actually do stuff around the house, I do have a chore list of what I want done each day. They are home all day, DH and I work all day. I let them decide between them who will do what. For the most part DD makes DS do most of it, she says she's done her share when he was too little to help 😆

DS clears the table every night and rinses the plates. DD empties DW during the day so we can put dirty dishes straight in there. DS sorts laundry and folds clothes out of the dryer. DD puts washer on and goes in a huff if I make her help DS fold clothes 🤬 DD vacuums, DS mops. I think they take turns cleaning the bathroom. The way I have chores listed, they can get everything done within 30 minutes to an hour, there's really not much to do. It started by DD saying she was bored last summer and asked me to write up a list of chores. I think she regrets that now 😆

They do get a little bit of an allowance ($5 every 2 weeks, not much at all) and can earn a little extra if they go above and beyond, doesn't usually happen though. They cannot do what they want to do if they haven't done chores and will get yelled at if they haven't done what's expected of them. DD learnt at a young age to do what I ask. One day, probably around DS age she basically had a tantrum when I asked her to do one thing. Would have taken her 5 minutes. The more she carried on, the more chores I added. By the time she caught on she had 2 hours of chores to do. Never did that again. I was running out of things she could do. I think I wanted her to pick up her toys, she ended up picking up dog poop, vacuuming, mopping, cleaning mirrors, dusting, way more than I initially wanted.

Sorry, that was really long. I'm on my lunch break right now, half way through my work day. I still haven't got a list for grocery shopping, nor have I booked a pickup time for my groceries (I usually do that Tuesdays when I'm off) oops.

SC I also envision your home to be a chateau that is massive and gorgeous. I haven't seen zoo on here lately, unless I've missed her- are you okay?

lane I hope you're feeling better today.

Waves to foxes, lisette, bower, KT and everyone else I've missed - I know I have

Page 3 already 🤣

Thanks for all the thoughts about pens etc. I do think actually that having something accessible with Rowan-safe paper and pens would be a good plan 🤔 and our more grown up “school” stuff kept higher up 🤔 (DD1’s and my art stuff is all kept in our bedrooms) I do actually have a set of chunkier pens for her that I bought ages ago but have now lost, still sealed 🙄😳 She loves drawing though and we now have a load of scrap paper and old notebooks in a tub. She’s got an easel, but there’s only a small shelf for chalk. Maybe if it had a set home her art stuff could be in a box underneath but like the little book box it sort of migrates around the room 😳 - hard to believe this room seemed so big when we moved in! It is, compared to our old tiny house, but it still can’t fit everything in 😂

Lisette thank you so much for the book explanation, it sounds really worthwhile! The idea of the reactive zone really resonates with me - it’s quite like what we were discussing in the course I was doing before lockdown too. I’ve got audible credits so I’m going to use one on it and will listen once I’ve finished Miranda’s book :)

lane the videos on the website explain the concepts of the book and I found them useful. On the videos reactive zone is the red zone and responsive zone is the green zone. Anyway today I focussed on the nice things that happened at 'work' and in the house to build my bank of positive things. Had a late weights and bike workout. Tomorrow a run if not torrential rain. I hope you get better weather soon KT

I am not losing weight. i think portion size may have to change. I haven't had a biscuit in an age but I'm eating a lot of healthy food.

Oh yeah meg I'm the bathroom fairy too in this house. Pet hate - empty shampoo bottles in the shower. Ds (11) leaves his underpants in the corner behind the bathroom door like a calling card. I'm going to have to curb that before it drives his future life partner mad 😁

I should get back to my journal writing TBH - need to do a summary of June 🤔 I do find the three positive bits at the end of each entry helpful, maybe they build resilience and I’m missing out since I’ve stopped writing 🤔 I don’t take the time to anymore

Lisette I have 3 that leave underwear behind the bathroom door. I honestly don't get how because they would have to strip off in the weirdest position to get them there.

Well decided Tesco was too far so tried Aldi, went to get a trolley and realised I didn't have a coin so tried Morrison's and their escalator thing was broke so baskets only. Ended up in Sainsbury's. Now have plenty in to last us until at least the end of the week though. Bought a scratch card and won £6 then cleared out my bag when I got home and found a lottery ticket, won a free lucky dip. Must be my lucky day.

Shopping away
Cleaned hob again
Finished dishes
Cleaned benches

Now having to faff about with the printer because it won't print and things won't delete from print que either. It does this quite often and I can usually go into command prompt and clear the spooler but it's just not working. Really getting annoyed with it now. I only need to print a couple of things for schoolwork 😡😡😡

Final ta das for the day:
✅ second LOL washed and dried
✅ dishes done and sink semi shiny
✅ delegated work food prep to DH
✅ upstairs dusted
✅ downstairs vacuumed
✅ vacuum maintenance as wasn’t picking up well. Could probably create a third cat and several wigs with the hair I extracted from the roller bit
✅ general tidy
✅ hot spot in hall cleared
✅ pile of crap carried upstairs
✅ nagged DH about dining room table dumping ground.
✅ planning for the month done. Goals are to paint the downstairs loo and claim a tax rebate
✅ defluffed tumble dryer

Ta didn’t
❌hoover upstairs - filters washed instead
❌finish cleaning bathroom - too lazy
❌put away clean laundry - ditto

Welcome cornish! Glad the facilities enticed you in

Princes sorry you’ve had a rubbish day. Remember with your Mum you can only control how you react, not how she’s acts . Good organising!

Wine my dd is only 3 (just realised she isn’t really a toddler like I said earlier 😭) so definitely more hindrance than help! I do try and get her to tidy up her toys, put shoes away, clear table etc. Any tips on how to avoid the creation of a lazy entitled teen like I was are gratefully accepted.

Awol lol at crack for dinner. Roast sounds delish. I’d planned sausage and mash but DD really wanted freezer pizza and who am I to argue? She had some token veg sticks to reduce my guilt. Glad the shopping trip is done and dusted, and yay for the winnings. Do you have saturday’s lotter numbers?

Lisette well done on the workouts, you’re doing fab!

Zoo hope all is well.

I hope that's a typo meg because cleaning the bathroom after every wee sounds hardcore 🤣

Lottery number attached for KT

I've given in and accepted we need a new printer 😔 if I faff about any longer we'll need a new one anyway because I'll throw it out the window.

Have just downloaded a logic puzzle app because I'm bored of candy crush and I can't watch TV without doing something else so that's my entertainment for the rest of the night.

For SC www.rickhanson.net/effective-problem-solving-teenagers/

AWOL I think he kicks the pants away with his foot and so it ends up in the corner 🤣

KT thanks for saying that about the workouts. I'm really trying to get fit.

Lane do keep up journalling. It's great for reflecting and creative expression.

In case it didn't take SC here teen communication

Thanks for all time teaching tips. Very useful.

Quick hello from me, and welcome to the newbies winepls (brilliant username), duck and cornish (hope I got everyone there!)

Been out for a walk tonight with DH, combined with shopping trip - go us. Have not tidied up the kitchen properly, will go and make an effort now so I don't miss that target on the first day of the month!

Just a quick one this morning as today is a work day - just one though as I have annual leave tomorrow

launch pad

Today’s focus is errand day - a few of us did that yesterday with our shopping, we are a step ahead of you Flylady!

Mission is clearing hall hotspot - again I’m one step ahead we’ll not mention I delegated yesterday’s to DH and it isn’t done

KCC - a cute fact to warm the cockles

Right, up, yoga, LOL, DW emptied and dressed. Hopefully DD will stay asleep until I’m done and then wake in a compliant mood so I can get her dressed and have time left over for a story with her. I’ll be back tonight to read your enviable ta da lists!

Good morning all! One of the furries got caught short ...so I had a very peaceful walk just now, except for the dawn chorus ... very calming way to start the day actually, before everyone else is up.

I am loving the "ta didn'ts".... I always have plenty of those sadly!

Ah yes, the traditional pant-sock greeting, left in a sorry little heap on the bathroom floor beside the laundry basket every morning...utterly delightful...thoughtfully accompanied ....if I am really lucky ...by beard trimmings in the sink ...and as a special bonus on high days and holidays ...a couple of empty shampoo bottles in the shower, and a couple of empty loo rolls on the floor by the lav... . I have contemplated chucking the shreds straight out of the window on many occasion, but I know they would just lie on the terrace for days instead... .

A warm welcome to Cornishbelle

Lisette thank you so much, that is one of the best articles on teen communication I think I have ever read! (And, believe me, I have read a few!)

Hands AWOL large mallet with which to do a Basil Fawlty on printer ... . Sympathies. The whole printer thing is one huge conspiracy. I don't think a week goes by in the office without one of them dying.

Lane cant remember if I asked this before (apologies if so) please could you explain to me in Noddy language how I can buy Miranda Hart's audio book about her dog and get it on to dd's phone which is some sort of Apple 6? It would be an nice xtra b'day present for later in month! Sorry to be such a Luddite!

Hope you are all ok Zoo Foxes and That

Sorry you are feeling low and things are difficult with your mum Mummy

Hazel our house is more NY brownstone than French chateau! But not nearly as smart! We are actually in a v tall terrace. Next door is converted to flats. And one of our neighbours on the other side has lived here for years and can tell you which of the houses on the street were occupied by SS officers during WW2, which were occupied by sympathisers, and which were occupied by those working with the resistance. They say it takes nine generations for these sort of memories to work their way through ... occupation being a much more stressful and nuanced and psychologically conflicting experience than say, defending an island, which has its own different stresses, but where boundaries are clear and uncompromised.

I am definitely going to adopt your "accumulator" method when dd shirks her chores!

She does keep her room fairly clean and tidy to be fair. She's meant to help set and clear the table, walk the dogs, hoover, and empty the DW which sort of gets done, but it annoys me that she still has to be nagged prompted. It gets really old. She does always volunteer to mop though as she likes doing it. And she will cook a meal and clear up once a week now it's the holidays. And she enjoys baking. There is definitely room for improvement wrt to clearing up the trail of "stuff" she leaves behind herself and bringing mugs/water bottles downstairs and taking shoes etc back up. Also to be fair, she wants to do her own washing but I prefer doing it because I group it by colour/fabric and not by person and with only three of us it is silly to add more unnecessary small loads.

Ta da cont/...from yesterday:

• approx 2.5 hrs work admin ✔
• second dog walk of day✔
• prep supper (late!) cod and roasted med veg tray bake✔
• meal planning? NOPE
• BOUDOIR which is a disgusting pit - did 40 mins✔
• rebooted laundry ✔
• continued packing/prep - yes sorted meds/toiletries box✔
• Next sale order as "puppy" has shredded my slippers ✔
• banking ✔
• serve supper and clear up - and cleaned bits of kitchen while doing it ✔
• must also do more ironing, have stacks of it NOPE

To do:
S&S
lots of admin work
chase up dh re: holiday calendar
office stationery order
meal planning
on-line grocery order
take car parking form thing to be verified at commune hq
glass recycling
meal prep: veggie day so some sort of squash & chick pea combo
empty DW, make soup for w/e at same time
TD /hang up/early morning laundry
BOUDOIR
chemist
dog walk
ironing and laundry

Have a good one everybody!

Thanks for links KTCluck! Hope you can complete your yoga in p &q!

Sqquuueeeeeeeee @ sea otters! I saw them once in Redondo beach when dh and I were on a driving holiday in California. They are the sweetest creatures! ( Love the way they eat in the water, using their furry chests as trays ... .)

Urgh

I keep falling off the thread

Someone save me

stressy i have taught dd (7) to tell the time during lock down (achievement!) I havent read every post so unsure what you have already tried but i have been using a Collins workbook (age 5-7) and a clock you can move the fingers on. Can get both for under £10 on Amazon. I think knowing the 5 times table helps too