Swooping into September - Flylady fledglings assemble!

[MogTheSleepyCat]

First of all, a big thank you to SingToTheSky for leading us through the August thread, (you can park your mop and hang up your duster now)

If you are struggling 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 support and chatter along the way.

The FlyLady link is here . Don't be put off by the twee language of the site – we all agree that the underlying system is very effective.

This little-and-often system is designed so that you can follow a series of steps and routines each day (which gradually become second nature) in zones of the house which are designated weekly; defining and minimising housework - which in theory should leave you with loads more time to do something more interesting instead.

At the same time it is intended to reduce that panicky "rabbit in headlights" feeling when you are overwhelmed and everything needs doing all at once. No problem if you miss a day or two; just jump right back in and it will all come around again next month.

It's up to you, but we advise not signing up to receive the Flylady e-mails as you will be swamped with marketing nonsense. All the information you need will be linked here on a daily basis.

From the first of the month, we will be following Flylady's steps and routines using a three-pronged approach (dependent on the stage everyone is at):

• start or repeat baby steps
• repeat baby steps + do 15 minutes a day decluttering in the current zone
• reinforce baby steps 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.

There are three key points to keep in mind throughout:

• No perfectionism allowed - this is harder than you would imagine and many of us on this thread struggle with this one.
• You are never behind - just start where you are and anything you do is progress.
• It didn't get into a mess overnight, it won't get tidy over night - accept it will take time to get on top of things and you will be happier.

If you are new; then trying to spend 15mins decluttering daily and doing the baby steps is a good way to start. Some of us (mentioning no names) can have scary looking ‘ta-da’ lists but don't let that worry you. Do what you can, anything is better than nothing, and don't judge yourself against others.

If all else fails, a + the power of three technique + a bit of support on here can work wonders.

Here's the launch pad for more experienced fledglings.

Don’t let it put you off if we appear a bit cliquey, we really aren’t. Some of us have been on here for years – but all lurkers, intermittent returnees, oldies and newcomers very, very welcome.

SingToTheSky put together a glossary of the many weird and might-seem-a-bit-cliquey terms. We have been going a long time but we always love newbies - hopefully this list will help you settle in.

KCC - the Keep Calm Corner, invented by our lovely Fledgling SC back in March, where the OP posts nice diverting links, memes, questions etc to distract us from the pandemic.

Ta Da - instead of a to do list (which is of course welcome too) we often post our achievements, with accompanying jazz hands, in order to celebrate the positives, however small they seem! Sometimes if we want to share an embarrassed giggle/commiserations we also post a ta didn’t - the stuff we didn’t get done!

BRC - Bag/Box of Random Crap. These are usually formed when we are panic tidying and shove anything in “to sort later” which is also known as a stash and dash .

Power of Three or PO3 - the idea that if you’re feeling really unmotivated/overwhelmed by your to do list, you just choose three things to do, and then post when you’ve done them.

DLMS - didn’t lose my shit - in other words, somehow stayed relatively calm despite a stressful day!

SS/S&S - Swish and Swipe - this is one of the key parts of the morning routine, a quick once over of the bathroom.

And a few basics:
LOL - load of laundry
WM - washing machine
TD - tumble dryer
DW - dishwasher
HSL - hallway, stairs, landing

Placemarks,but may not post much
Things are Not Good here

Zoo

DD has just got back from her first day at school and announced that twice per week she and classmates will be taking public transport to get to their sports venue during the school day. The school have arranged it this way when there are plenty of other walkable venues nearby. Just when we had made arrangements/bought her a bike/sorted ourselves so that she could give public transport a miss. Oh well.

My cold is a bit better today; thank you for all the good wishes
Slept for ten hours last night.

I find myself sticking to very basic daily tasks, ie, dishes, plan for food for after school, toilet and bathroom tidy and clean. For now, all school uniform is washed at weekend, and casual clothes on Monday.

The rest of the house is vaguely following Flylady for the first two or three days, then a bit of a declutter, then back to the things that I tend to neglect while decluttering (and reminiscing) and back to the mess, pretty much in a cyclical way.

Ta da:

• Living room dusted/surfaces cleaned
• Small 'piano room' dusted and surfaces cleaned
• Kitchen S&S
• Started to declutter living room book shelves, and I am not talking books, I am talking random crap that accumulated on the shelves in front of books... In the process I found a Family Planner for 2020 which is pretty much empty (I clearly forgot I had it!) and a 4 year journey journal for couples which I started well over a year ago, and the last entry was in March 2019 I am clearly not made for journaling, as I have somehow managed to miss documenting the events like getting married and getting pregnant

Sing Sounds like things are starting to fall into place.

Thanks Mog, thanks Sing

It's been a lovely day here today - S1 came back from his walk carrying his jacket.

TaDa
hung overnight washing
went to gym
brought in bin
shower, put towels in wash
remembered to get lunch stuff out of freezer
?? quite possibly puzzles self-care regarding mental health
made lunch
made quick meal plan for next two weeks
did interim shop (reason for meal plan...)
read decidedly uninspiring Tesco magazine (no they're not Real Pub Chips, they're wedges)
walked back to shop to get eggs which I totally forgot to put on the list
took chicken out of freezer
hung towels
after text from vicar (who appears to have realised I never look at my emails unless prompted ) did some apcm organisation including several requests of other people (go me) and reformatting of three different nomination forms because for some reason nobody in central administration seems to care sobsob

H has picked elderberries and destalked them with help from S1, and is in the middle of making more bread. S2 has walked into town for a haircut.

ToDo
pick and wash celery
make curry

Slightchill "How is everyone else feeling mindset-wise? I must confess to feeling a bit low at the prospect of this autumn, the approaching cold and dark etc when everything takes extra motivation which I don't think I have currently."

Tbh, I feel slightly detached from everything right now. I think my mind is trying to protect me from being overwhelmed by reality. I know that detachment can be a sign of depression, but this feels different.

As someone has already said, the great thing about Flylady is that you are never behind. Nothing makes you feel guilty for missing a day or a week, then jumping in again when you're ready. Most of my life has been spent feeling ashamed, and now I mostly don't.

sc I struggle in a similar way but more with the deep cleaning i.e. I don't keep on top of dusting, hoovering, polishing at all. Because I'm always just trying to keep on top of the day to day dishwasher, meal planning, food shopping, toilet cleaning, laundry , picking up all the stuff that everyone else leaves around!! It's really really hard isn't it, to fit it all in?! Recently I've been trying to prioritise my health and well being more (that sounds corny I know), so I am making sure I get out for lots of walks, I'm taking time to read, I'm taking time to exercise. And the house is probably messier because of it but actually right now I'm ok with that. I'm keeping the bathroom clean, the kitchen is clean on the counters (but a huge mess in the cupboards!) and like Mrs says I'm done with the guilt , I just do it when I can do it and not worry so much about rigid routines (although I admit a basic routine is very very helpful and I do have tasks that I do every day at similar times)

As for decluttering I'm pretty good at some things but not all so -
Clothes - I work my way through my wardrobe left to right each day picking out the next thing to wear, if nothing goes with it, it doesn't fit right or I don't feel good about wearing it I put it straight in the charity bag
Kids clothes - as soon as I see something doesn't fit it goes straight in the charity bag (I have a stash of charity bags for different things in a cupboard in the spare room so any time I go into town I grab what can be dropped off)
I also regularly go through the kids clothes and toys and books and see what can go, this gets harder as they have opinions now!
Books - I tend to operate a one in one out policy on my books, so if I buy a new one I choose one to either donate or give to my mum as she reads similar books to me. I love to have shelves of books in my house but once the shelf is full I don't keep them anywhere else.
DVDs - the kids have some which they like looking through so I keep on their shelf, however, I got ride of pretty much every other dvd we owned years ago, I just wasn't watching them! Just kept a couple of favourites. I bought a box set the other day from eBay but once I've watched it I'll probably sell it on!
Ditto CDs! All our music is digital now so I got rid of all apart from a couple for the car!

What I do need to declutter is paperwork (I hate that job so much!) and the utility room because it is full of so much crap mostly dh stuff to be honest and I don't have a clue what half of it even is opened paint tins, gardening stuff (I'm not green fingered!) tools...
Oh and the kitchen drawer of doom of course but we all have that don't we ?!?

Sorry for the essay 🤣

The clothes thing makes me sound a bit wasteful, obviously I don't get rid of stuff constantly in this way it's just more of a "do I love this item or is there something that means I don't want to wear it?"...and if I'm always putting off wearing it there seems no point keeping it!

Hi can I hop on please? Single working mum here and I’m back to work tomorrow and am dreading it. I really struggle to balance kids, work and housekeeping so this might actually get me on track

Zoo hugs your way!
Fox I hear you on paperwork declutter. It's on my list, and I am dreading it. Planning to get to it after decluttering living room.

And yes, I used to have 3 kitchen drawers of doom! I've sorted the 2 of them in August, now just one left. The messiest, full of crap. I don't even know what's in there and I am afraid to look.
Orange welcome ☺️ how many kids do you have?

Mc only the 2, a boy and a girl. But they’re 3 and 1 so it’s a whirlwind.

Evening all, and a warm welcome to anorangeday

Howl a digital detox can be a great help, take whatever time you need

SC I agree with your three part approach to housekeeping. I think that decluttering makes the biggest difference to a calm and tidy home.
This might sound patronising, but do you actually use the 15 minute timer to declutter in a zone? It really helps, and its surprising how much you can do in the time.

Sing hope your DD will be ok, last time I was on the threads you were doing all homeschooling, so she, and you, have obviously made lots of progress

Naughty corner has been stocked with gin and comfy cushions for you Zoo - hope tomorrow is a better day

Mc3029 my living room bookshelves sound just like yours!!

Merry what are the elderberries for?

Foxes - I love your decluttering approach. We have tons of DVDs and BluRays as my DH is a bit of a film buff. Most of them have not been taken off the shelf in years; he just like to have them there

Today was my first day back at work after a week off. For those of you who do not know, I am a manager in a GP surgery. The last six months have been hell, and it is not nearly over yet. Today was rather intense catching up on what has been going on whilst I've been away.

Ta Da
Work
Unloaded dishwasher
Meal planned for the week
Food shopping and putting away once home
Chicken chores
Flylady mission - made a good start on cleaning lots of grubby marks off of doors downstairs
Decluttered a few bits from dining area
Went to Slimming World meeting

I know I should be getting stuff ready for the morning, but am tired now, and just want to go to bed [zzz]

Links coming next

Links for Wednesday 2nd September

We continue in Zone 1: the Entrance, Front Porch and Dining Room

Spend 15 minutes decluttering here before moving onto detailed cleaning.

Today’s mission is to dust the leaves of your houseplants and give them a drink.

Our second baby step is to get dressed to your shoes The idea behind this one is that we are more productive when we are properly dressed, including shoes. This is highly controversial – there are many fledglings who are just as productive in their PJs and bare feet…

Habit of the month is Before Bed Routine What do your bed time routines consist of?

Wednesday is [[http://www.flylady.net/d/daily-focus/daily-focus-wednesday/
Anti-procrastination day]] - pick a task you have been putting off, roll your sleeves up and just get on with it!

orange whirlwind - a very good description!
Wellies that's a scarily impressive list 💪👏
Mog my bed time routine is still work in progress, but at the moment it consists of:

• straightening out downstairs and upstairs
• setting up coffee machine for DH for the morning and instant coffee for myself (water in the kettle, mug out)
• brushing teeth and washing face.
• quick S&S of the bathroom
• various lotions and potions on
• a bit of reading/playing on the phone in bed, then sleep.

Welcome orange.

I didn’t get back on. Today was lovely and warm here so I changed things around from my plan.
Up, dressed and out. I had breakfast in the garden. Fed me, fed chooks.
Then I did something really terrible. While I was munching my breakfast I had my book out. Can you see where this is going?
I sat in the sun in the garden and read for an hour and a half. DH has gone walking for the day so I thought sod it. Normally I would be in a meeting today and it was very strange not to be so I sat and enjoyed my book because I could! Bit rebellious.🤣 when I finished the book I was very good and...

Ta Da
🌼Cleaned the windows in the front door.
🌻Cleaned the sitting room windows, stitched the half curtain ( to stop bloody man next door looking in every time he went past) so they sat better.
🌸Snipped/deadhead all the pots at the front and the hanging basket.
🌹changed water bottle in hanging basket.
🌺weeded the stone flagged pavement.
🥀Weeded further up and swept all the path and some of the gutter, brushed up and put all the rubbish into the bin.
🍄 vacuumed Hall in and outside the front door.
🌼vacuumed sitting room.
🌸 tidied bundle of random crap.
🌷Polished tv
🌻Made lunch.
🌺 washed up breakfast and lunch dishes.
🥀Mended a skirt and it is now fit to mind.
🌻made DH his tea. Leftovers from pork roast &veg with additional carrots and peas.
🌼Washed up.
🌸Made pancakes with lemon.
🌷Washed up
🍁S&S
🌸half way through another skirt unpicking.

💐 zoo I hope things will be better in the morning.
I don't remember who asked now but for the stove top it said to use dish soap, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda (just put some of each on the top, drizzle and sprinkle all over). They said to use an old toothbrush, but I just used a green scourer. It worked pretty well actually.

SC I find I don't do as much decluttering as I would like and a lot of it is because I'm not in the mood for it. Sometimes it's other people's things that I can't get rid of or sort out. I do my deep cleaning and sheet washing on Tuesdays, because I'm off work. I clean whatever I feel needs to be done, as I find flylady doesn't get around to the zones soon enough for my liking, but does help me to focus on something to get started. It helps that the DC have chores, although they don't do as much now they're back in school. Fridays they have the bulk of them to do. Can you not have help from DH? He does live there too.

Mog my nightly routine is getting my outfit out for the next day. Take a shower. Take meds. Start DW, if DH hasn't already. After dinner, clearing up etc I tend to just sit on the couch for an hour or so before my routine. I find I'm too tired for anything else.

Ta Das today:
🍁 Washed bedding, put back on bed

🍁 Washed big comforter (like a quilt and cover, but cover is not removable, I hate that about here!)

🍁 1 more LOL.

🍁 Made phone call about missing docs, still not found so trying again (they lost the original title to a vehicle we have that needs to be changed 🤬)

🍁 Filled out new forms, sent them certified mail (just like the last lot, but took pictures this time)

🍁 Bought a few things for DS for his birthday Saturday, we have a wedding to go to that day as well and he liked the outfit I chose (our lockdown is mostly over)

🍁 Picked DS up from after school club.

🍁 Grocery pickup.

🍁 Bleached bathroom.

🍁 Scrubbed bathroom floor (fluff sticks to it thanks to steam and hairspray and apparently no one else can see it)

🍁 Vacuumed whole house.

🍁 Mopped kitchen, ran out of the cleaner I use for a quick mop but lost motivation to try to refill it, so didn't get the rest of the house done.

🍁 Ate out for dinner as I was tired. I did take a nap after dinner, before my shower though.

Welcome orange

bower it sounds like you had a relaxing and a productive day.

I'm back to work tomorrow for the rest of the week so won't have as much flying to report.

Morning all

Catching up on yesterday!

Glad dd is feeling better about school sing Hopefully she gets some use out of the blazer!

I defonitley need to become my future friend

Got quite a bit done yesterday, finished tidying and decluttering the utility room, gave it a mop. Now i want to paint it. Scrubbed both toilets. Yuck. Boys. (not envy) Four lots of washing washed and dried. Lots of washing away. Swept all lower floors. Half tidied the small twos bedroom.

sc that seems silly of the school, hopefully the public transport wont be too busy

zoo

Welcome orange

foxes / mc i actually have THREE kitchen drawers of doom. Also known as 'The top/middle/bottom shit drawer'

Yesterday i also decided i don't have enough on my plate with uni / work / 5 kids / house, so i signed up to do my maths GCSE 🤪

Hope to see you soon Howl if you’re still reading. Enjoy the SM break

SC lovely to hear from you! Hope DD’s first day back went well. I also felt a bit flat at the impending season change. I struggle to get out of bed when it’s still dark. Doing some planning for the next few months including some family things has helped me - we are planning a trip to some local woods when the leaves start changing etc. Looking forward to getting the log burner going again, driving to work during beautiful sunrises, less tourists outside my front door making me feel guilty for being plonked in front of the TV etc. Plus I’ve started looking at my wardrobe - going to get rid of some bits, put summer clothes away and treat myself to some new cozy jumpers etc. That’s cheered me up a bit!

In terms of decluttering, I found once I properly got into it and started to see the difference it became much easier and quicker. If you have until
June to do it could you come up with a plan. E.g this area in September, this one October. I used to set myself a target of say 3 blocks of decluttering a week, and choose a drawer, or corner or whatever. If you have more to do you might need to do a full chest of drawers or do more per week but it’ll get there eventually. I found I was always motivated to get going after an episode of Marie kondo on Netflix. Also, I think you have to be in the right frame of mind. If you schedule it strictly and then don’t want to do it you won’t get very far. You have to be in the mood and almost excited for it I think.

To balance the 3 areas I find morning and evening routines to keep on top of the basics (though evening routine needs work as it’s not habit in the way morning is) and 2 x scheduled proper cleaning time including home bleurgh and with a nod to the zones (and I stop at the end of the scheduled time whether it’s perfect or not) works for me. My decluttering is done but I keep on top of it when the mood takes me now.

Foxes I LOVE your wardrobe idea. Will have to adopt something similar.

Zoo

Sing glad DD feels better after the meeting.

Welcome Orange!

Bower that’s an impressive list, especially after having a lovely relaxing time reading.

Good luck with the maths That. Busy day for you!

Wellies I agree with your method. I dust downstairs, then vac, then mop. Then do upstairs.

Mog I’m NHS too. It’s been very strange hasn’t it. I’m in an area that actually went a bit quieter. Your role must have been so stressful

My (newly written) evening routine consists of
Half an hour with DD after work
15 mins upstairs tidying, getting clothes etc ready for the next day, skincare routine etc
DD to bed
Kitchen and 2 minute tidy of living room/hall before bed.

Slightly different order on non-work days, which are a lot easier! Last night’s first attempt went well though.

Waves to Lisette, ED, Hazel, Too, MC, Merry, Tidy, Alex and anyone I’ve missed (do not want to list this epic post!)

No work today.

Ta Das:
✅ beds made
✅ me, DD and cats fed
✅ LOL on
✅ DW emptied and breakfast stuff in
✅ checked weather forecast to come up with a plan for the day - sunny this morning so out for a walk. Wet later (which is handy as my new hall unit is arriving )
✅ DD dressed.

I have upstairs home bleurgh and probably some missions to do later. Have a good day everyone!

Just dropped dd off for first day back at school, so just me and ds today. Asked him what he wanted to do today and he said, have a snack and drink and then go for a walk where there are traffic lights so he can press the button nice and simple I suppose!!

Hello, I'd like to join if I can.
I'm usually skeptical about fads ito housekeeping, but having just completed the first week of baby steps can really get the psychology of this approach.

I have a question though if anyone can help.
I notice that there are days/ times to declutter but I'm in the middle of clearing a whole room of doom.
We piled everything to sort into one room, can I continue to do this on a daily basis whilst following all the other steps, or is it best to wait for the designated time.
I just want the room done iyswim.

Afternoon all!

Gosh, thank you all, I'm very grateful, there are some brilliant organising suggestions here!

A warm welcome to Anorangeday!

Gosh Mog that does all sound v v stressful I do use a timer when I'm cleaning but not when decluttering so will give that a go, thank you. I know in my heart of hearts that a thorough declutter is the only thing that will help at this point (and then full renovation/decoration/storage assembly etc).

Ahh bless your ds Foxes that's so lovely! The simple things and all of that! Reminds one what is important ...

I'm so sorry if I have missed anyone out. DD has just arrived home starving hungry [half day on Wednesdays] so I must go and feed the beast but need to post lists!

Have a good afternoon everyone! BBL!

Howlathebees [so sorry not sure if I "know" you or not because I am not up to date with name changes/newcomers] but just wanted to say I hope your sm break proves calming/energising and look forward to "seeing" you back here as and when you are ready.

Glad you are feeling better MrsTidy and I like your housekeeping style . Let's say it sounds v familiar . That is so true about Flylady too, it is very forgiving ... and YY.. . I am so over feeling stressed and guilty about the appearance/condition of my home. I have solved it temporarily by telling dh we are not entertaining any more until we renovate! Simple! And one positive of Covid-19 has been to make it even more simple! [I can no longer decorate crumbling plaster with fairy lights in an attempt to make it look attractive.]

Agree Wellies that adulthood can be very tedious! [Great list btw and I adore bath buns!] Thank you so much; I will definitely have a good think about a rotating decluttering system. I always start with lots of enthusiasm but decluttering so quickly becomes tedious and hard, that might keep me interested and consistent at least!

Ahh, these last days of holiday with ones teens are very much to be cherished. I had a similarly nice "end of the holidays" one-on-one day with dd on Monday (dh was working). We (at her instigation) ordered on-line stationery, trimmed, bathed and blow dried the furries, ate Chinese steamed bao buns and watched "Howls moving castle" followed by "Paddington1" [think a bit of anxious regression was going on there]

Bowerbird your post is a very good example of how putting yourself first for once can have huge dividends!

Mc3209 Bravo: re bedtime routine! And well done re: book shelf decluttering! I am not made to journal either and have a copious selection of diaries and planners whose pages are bare. I always start with good intentions ... .

Zoo how are things today?

Foxes I think with two littlies to look after, it is entirely normal that you are very much focused on the day-to-day chores. Sadly, I don't have that excuse! Thank you so much! That is pure genius about sorting the wardrobe every day in real time as it were - and as one is actually getting dressed - really brilliant! It will certainly make the process less overwhelming (wardrobe is a tricky area because it brings up all the negative vibes around weight and weight loss etc). I am so with you re: the paperwork btw! I have an entire room of it to put in order [wibble]. Twenty years of delayed decisions = a huge teetering pile of clutter!

Hazel could you make your life easier and import some duvets and separate washable covers? To be fair to dh, he works all hours God sends, he's not slacking ifyswim, he hardly gets any down time, and he does do a lot of cooking but yes, a lot of the clutter is his stuff that I don't know what to do with. The best success I have had is "booking" a time slot with him in advance to sort it out and 50% of the time, he is available!

Wow to maths GCSE That! I was so crap at maths way back then, that I wasn't even allowed to sit the exam [oh the shame]. I cannot hold numbers in my head at all; my mind goes totally blank and panicky. Totally brilliant you are doing it now!

TheUpholder That's brilliant that you have finished your decluttering and I am lucky to receive advice from a master I really like your allocation of ie two lots of deep cleaning a week, alongside morning and evening routines. That's a very good idea about the planning .. and scheduling in some lovely things ahead in the calendar in order to motivate oneself. I don't really like the Kondo method but three blocks of time a week sounds do-able and realistic. And you've reminded me that once you do a little bit, it does spur you to go on to the next.

Well at least that is what used to happen. What has been happening here of late is that after I have deep cleaned an area [say the hall, or the bathroom for example] by the time I have done all the other areas, the hall and the bathroom need doing again, so there is never a "ahh I am done" moment which I find deeply frustrating. And what's more you can actually see the original bits becoming scuzzy again while you clean the rest! Aargh!

Hopefully it will be a bit easier to focus now dd is back at school and I am determined to be more like dh and just go off and focus on my own thing without consultation or reference to anyone else and not live my life trying to fit around his diary and meal times!