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

foxes I will have to carve out some time to do a workout, I know I'll feel better for it. It seems we both have a DS that share today as a birthday. We have a couple friends over, we played laser tag last night and I'm finding the motivation to make breakfast as well as frosting for the cake.

Sing I'm glad it seems DD is not standing for bad behaviour from her bf (hopefully he's now exbf). The plan for a day in London by yourself sounds perfect.

bower I hope your shoulder feels better soon, I hope your DH takes you seriously soon. Your orange and polenta cake sounds delicious.

Welcome lurch I just got our shoes figured out, but not sure if the rest of the family are going to stick to it or not.

devlesko I'm not sure how yours is set up but mine is a dining/ kitchen as well. The week it's dining room I would treat the wood on my table/ sideboard as I usually do the rest of the room when it's kitchen week. I would then work on whatever other room needs it at that time. I only really work loosely on fly lady though, but do try to focus on the room of the week. Since you have a front room and back room I would do both (depending on size) in the same week. So if I was to vacuum one really well, I would vacuum the other as well, even if it's on different days. Although I don't do much flying (barely the basics) the 4 days I work, and I have 1 day during the week when everyone else is out of the house now DC are back to school. That's the day I do my cleaning. Once you get into a routine though it will be easier and you'll find it's easier to keep on top of things.

Right, I best be off here, the pancakes aren't going to make themselves, unfortunately. I'll add some to the naughty corner once they're made!

Aw, thank you. I was a bit overwhelmed at the different zones and knew people managed to continue with flylady even if they had different layouts. I just couldn't think how to manage it.

All this talk of zones really makes me think I must get back into it, such a good way of making sure you get round to everything in turn. I had hoped to start from Monday as ds back at nursery and dd obviously at school but someone is off at work and they've asked me to cover which means extra hours and I'll have to actually go into the office, I was so looking forward to my day off on weds as well but looks like I won't get it 😬 .ah well. Maybe I'll start the week after 😂

Happy birthday to your ds as well hazel! We have had a few family members over and it's been very nice 😊

Everyone has gone now and the house is strangely tidy due to my manic tidying this morning, I've cleared up the party stuff and dinner will be easy -leftovers!

We've been so lucky with the weather today, the new gazebo wasn't really needed!

foxes and hazel happy birthday to your DSs!
Bower I hope your shoulder is getting better
Devlesko I would divide it something like this:
Zone 1 - front room, back room, hall
Zone 2 - kitchen dining room
Zone 3 - all bathrooms
Zone 4 - bedroom and DD room
Zone 5 - spare rooms upstairs and laundry rooms
But then I do my cleaning 'per room' as opposed to 'per task'. I would try something, and as you get into it you will make adjustments to what goes into which zone.

No housework for me today as it is Saturday (whoop! 💃💃). Today I've made a decision to learn to play chess properly. Myself and DH get very competitive over these things, and I want to gain an upper hand 😂 I've got the Bobby Fisher teaches chess book (which I got 2/3rd through, but I've already forgotten the techniques so may need to go back to the beginning). I just hope I will be able to stick to it properly.

Hello everyone and apologies for the late links today - I was shattered after a very productive day yesterday and had an early night.

Devlesko is your DH a musician? Mine did a few gigs back in the day (lead vocals and guitar) and they were always good fun.

Wellies - I completely agree that it is not possible to fit all errands into one day, never mind practical. My approach to the daily focuses is to make sure I do all of them at some point during the week, even if out of sequence or over several days.

Sing - so pleased you enjoyed your trip to London. I love museums and galleries and am spoiled for choice there. Have you ever been to the Museum of Childhood? Talk about memory lane...
And I feel super angry that your DD was treated that way, what is wrong with people (of any age) that show such disrespect to another?

Orange you have reminded me of when my DBro and I were growing up, we lived in a big crumbling country house with so many rooms - one of them was our playroom and it was a permanent bomb site!

Mc the best Christmas advert ever is the Sainsbury's one of Mog's Christmas (not that I'm biased, oh no...)

MrsTidy what podcasts do you listen to? I like The Archers and Ear Hustle. (Plus 'My Dad Wrote a Porno' is possibly the funniest thing I have ever listened to!)

Merry - enough of those negative voices! Be pleased with what you have achieved. Anyone that keeps up with ironing deserves some special award imho

Bower is the polenta cake sweet tasting? Or is it more savoury like corn bread? Looks lovely. And ouch re the shoulder! You really should get it looked at, if you don't you could end up with nerve damage.

Lisette - gardening definitely counts as flying and exercise!

I'm with you Up - would love it if my DS asked me to draw or do puzzles, but no, its always building lego spaceships and droids

Welcome Lurch - pleased you are joining us

Howl I didn't realise you were expecting too! Excited about the scan? Nervous?

Hazel - laser tag sounds fun!

[waves] to Alex Zoo SC Chic and all others

Sounds lovely foxes. You’d have needed more than a gazebo here. Torrential rain earlier for about an hour ( we were in Summerhouse) and flicked between bright, glaring sunshine and sudden, heavy showers.

🎂🎂happy birthday 🎁 to the birthday 🎁 children

Devlesko don’t fret too much it will become clear.
I have a kitchen with large kitchen table and a separate dining table and computer desk with a short walk space through. So I do all the dining kitchen as kitchen and the dining room end as dining room. I expect DH to look after the computer end since he uses it more. I would actually like to get rid of everything that end but that isn’t possible.

As your house is bigger I would start with the zones which are straightforward like kitchen then figure out where you can slot the others in. So it might be that you do all the vacuuming in front and back room one day then all the dusting the next or that you do as Hazel says and one room first couple of days then next the end of the week. You might find that you do it one way then the next time the other as other things get in the way. It is what suits you and your house and family.

Well due to shoulder I haven’t got much done. Had a lie in as I hadn’t slept well but then dozed as I was propped up with pillows and cushions DH brought me a mug of tea at 9:30am and so I stayed there.
Been sorting other small stuff and planning since. House is fairly ok in parts re clean and some bits tidy other bits ...not so much. I am hoping if I rest it I can get it back in myself. I might ring GP on Monday if still in pain. I don’t fancy going there at the weekend as it is usually packed.

Need to declutter the culprit basket in dining room.

Made cottage pie DH has done the potatoes I managed to cut onion, carrots and I put the rest of veggie sauce in the liquidiser and mixed that in as the sauce. Should be tasty it had aubergine, courgette, pepper and olives plus tomatoes. I put a big dash of Worcestershire sauce and tomato sauce so just waiting for it to come out of oven. It is definitely getting colder up here. I think I would quite like the wood burner on tonight don’t think DH will go for that idea.

Ta Da
Bed made
S&S
Sort pile of RCs
Made cottage pie - well the bottom half.

Mog that's a good one!
Lurch welcome!
Howl time really starts to speed up around 20 week scan, doesn't it?
Lizette I am very impressed with all the garden work you are doing! Hats off to you.

I have a feeling I am forgetting personals.. I am sorry if I did!

Ta Da for yesterday
Usual DS and pets feeding
Hoovered entrance hall and stairs
Dusted sideboard, ornaments, pictures and window sills
Dusted skirting boards and stair spindles
Put away all coats and shoes
Emptied welsh dresser of all china
-dresser dusted and cleaned
-all china in dishwasher
-all china returned to dresser
DW
LOL
Beds made
Chickens let out to free range, eggs collected and poo-picked run

Today
Changed all bed sheets
More laundry
Took DS to the park with DH - left them playing whilst I did my 2nd C25K run
Packaged up bay sales
Let chickens out
LOL, hung on line outside, brought in again

ta Didn't
Folding dry laundry
Washing up
(can all wait for tomorrow)

Mog
More sweet than savoury. It actually seemed to get better with time. We just have one piece a day usually afternoon tea time so lasts all week. It was hard not to have another piece at night sometimes. It is gritty rather than like spongy texture which takes getting used to. The Orange seems to soak through so more orange as time goes. Not sickly sweet though. I used a blood type orange. Don’t know what they were as DH bought them.

I don’t know how to copy links but it was on BBC website.

Hello everyone!

Thank you so much Sing for last month’s thread and thank you Mog for this one. Especially for thread leading while in such a stressful job .

Big welcome to newbies.

SC, so lovely to hear from you and I completely agree with your 3 parts to housekeeping. I also agree with lots of what everyone has put. For me, the key to it all is decluttering so I am trying to prioritise that. Although I rarely manage to do it effectively . DDs are now both back at school thank goodness (they have missed it so much) so I am aiming for half an hour a day. Also going to get back into The Organised Mum method but with some Flylady touches.

Bower, hope your shoulder is ok!

Cherry waves for all and some chocolate for the naughty corner.

What sort and how many chickens do you have now?
My rescue hens all gone now and I got three baths in lockdown when doing my excerise.

Waves to Toostressy lots of cross posts tonight😁

Evening all, just checking in from a campsite on the south coast (my DCs aren't back at school till Tuesday). Weather has been glorious, we are sitting round a campfire. Trying not to think about the massive To Do list waiting at home .

It’s always hard not to think of the lists (I constantly have ones running through my head) but you deserve a break ED. Glad the weather has been good to you.

Links for Sunday 6th September

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

Spend 15 minutes decluttering here before moving onto detailed cleaning.

No missions as it is the weekend!!!!!

Our sixth baby step is to learn about Hot Spots I think all us experienced Fledglings agree this is actually a very good step to get into. All of us have hotspots in our homes, these are the areas where ‘stuff’ tends to accumulate and clutter our homes, where we put stuff down instead of putting it away. Spend 2 minutes every day clearing these hotspots. 2 minutes, that is all.

Habit of the month is Before Bed Routine

The focus for Sundays is to renew your spirit Take time to do something for yourself that you really love.

KCC What do you all do to renew your spirit? How do you recharge yourself ready for the week ahead?
I love to read and have hundreds of books on my Goodreads 'to read' list. Since joining the Mumsnet 50 Bookers thread I have massively expanded my reading repertoire. When I feel the need to recharge and unwind, I lean towards fantasy and historical fiction.

Let's hear yours!

ED that sounds so lovely

Agree I always have a list in my head too, at the moment it's huge, just seems to be so much going on at the moment and mind is racing, I tried to explain this to dh but he really doesn't get it! (He's so laid back about everything, he tries to understand bless him but I don't think he ever will!)

Wish I could be that laid back

KCC - I read a lot, that's my main relaxation, sometimes TV if there's something I'm into, recently watched Schitts Creek and absolutely loved it, haven't found anything so good since then. I also like to walk along the river near where we live, I find water very therapeutic!!

I read all kinds of books but I avoid fantasy (sorry I know I'm probably on my own there!) and anything too scary

I avoid fantasy too Foxes and sci-fi, supernatural etc. I like historical fiction, stories of women's lives, anything that could reasonably be true. Also biography / autobiography.

I'm reading Sandi Toksvig's Between the Stops tonight.

We came here last summer and the weather turned so stormy the campsite had to close after our first night. We said we'd come back one day and here we are, it's a beautiful spot.

Place marking. I've never heard of flylady but it sounds exactly like what I need!

Oh yes hazel he is most definitely exBF! He broke up with her after a couple of months, not long before lockdown. Of course now I understand why DD1 wasn’t upset about it. He didn’t give a reason but it’s presumably because she didn’t do what he said.

Mog I used to go to the museum of childhood a lot! My parents (well mostly mum) were costume doll makers and there were lots of conventions and things that were often held there. I took the big two Caglets there a few years ago as there was a board game exhibition and I am a board game nerd. :o

I’ve written a to do list for tomorrow, as it’s the last day of the holidays. Yikes. Today was not productive as it was a socially and physically demanding day thanks to DD1 and DH’s plans, although I’ve done yet more planning on the iPad. I’m going to get DD1 started on some of her tasks (laundry, checking pencil case etc) shortly but then I’ll start all the printing hopefully.

I’m going to attempt the gym tomorrow and I’ll be coming back via town for any last minute bits, like more leggings as DD1 has to wear them daily now after the first day back (they’ve said no actual sport on Monday even if it’s timetabled). Not looking forward to Primark (although I’m also glad we won’t have the endlessly-needing-replacement tights issue!). I’ll definitely fit in some time to just sit with a soft drink somewhere though as I have a feeling it’ll be a very busy and stressful day otherwise!

I don’t feel like I’ve achieved much practical stuff today but I did channel the advice to just do something NOW if it takes less than five minutes - I was debating with myself whether to add “order extra PE shirts” to tomorrow’s list, when I realised it would be super quick, so I did it.

Welcome Lurch3r. Good to have you with us.

That sounds lovely ED

Well done for surviving the week Tidy. Hope your weekend blitz is going as planned, but you’re also enjoying some you time.

Devlesko I’d probably class the dining part of your kitchen as zone 5 too and have the laundry room as zone 1 in place of the dining room. Downstairs loo I lump in with my bathroom as zone 3, and spare rooms I’d alternate as my ‘other room’ in that zone assuming they don’t get used that regularly. I’m assuming your back room is a second living room so I’d lump front and back together as zone 5. I do DD’s bedroom along with mine and my (teeny) dressing room. Ultimately though I think you can have your zones however you want, it’s more the principle of actually having zones that’s the main thing. Garden is a weekend thing for DH us.

Missed that it was your DS’s birthday too Hazel. Hope he enjoys his day.

I take back what I said this morning about DH not being keen and lacking in flat packing skills. He started at at 7:45am while I was sorting breakfast, and had it done in no time! He then fixed the washing line, got rid of some dead plants in pots, tied back a climbing rose that had been savaged by the wind, deadheaded all of the roses, weeded, cut the grass and strimmed . I have no idea where it comes from but I do love his random bursts of productivity. It’ll be a while until the next one but I’m thrilled with what got done.

He also inspired me:
✅ hallway floor thoroughly hoovered and mopped
✅ current hall furniture rearranged and decluttered
✅ shoes into new unit - it looks waaaay better than the scabby basket we had that wasn’t big enough.
✅ coats hanging in hall decluttered (some are lying on the stairs awaiting new hooks going up)
✅ coats and shoes taking up space in under stairs cupboard rehomed/decluttered. It’s not that long since I did that cupboard but it gets messy so quickly. We’ve been storing these shoes and coats for ages but have honestly barely touched them so most are to go. The cupboard now only contains xmas tree/decs, suitcases, a few of DD’s bigger toys, bucket and spades and the hoover. Everything is accessible. It’s fab.
✅ new basket in dining room for DH’s work-related stuff that always ends up in there. At least it’ll looks bit tidier.
✅ rest of downstairs dusted, hoovered and mopped
✅ dining table cleaned
✅ living room window cleaned of sticky hand prints
✅ 2 x LOL done and dried on the line
✅ clean laundry away
✅ kitchen sorted and living room tidied before I’ve come up for an early night.

Also managed a walk with DD, and some Disney this afternoon. She’s had a bit more screen time than I’d like today but she didn’t really want to do anything else and I wasn’t going to put up a fight!

Tomorrow’s plans are a top up shop, ironing for the week, meal planning, and I should probably weed the front gravel having been put to shame by DH (front is my domain too Devlesko).

Lovely photo ED, it looks relaxing. I’m with you and Foxes with struggling to switch off from the to do list.

Hi ulan. Fly lady is great. I spend far less time doing/thinking about housework and my house is much better than it used to be.

KCC - I also like to read, preferably in a hot, deep candlelit bath with a glass of gin and bar of chocolate. Although im also partial to a bit of mindless time wasting on candy crush.

Excellent anti-procrastinating there Sing!

TaDa
washed laundry room floor while waiting for coffee machine
cleaned downstairs loo and sink and the floor
moved old plastic bin out of loo room where it was moulding up the corner and into porch with the rest of the stuff that's waiting to go to the dump
put all the cleaning cloths and H's disgusting hankies on a 95 wash
did some more apcm organising (vicar has definitely worked out that she needs to text me to tell me about emails...)
(H cooked lunch)
made pastry
washed up
looked through then recycled church magazine and Joe Browns catalogue and Parish Council newsletter.
Realised that annoying flyer is actually offering to take old coins and STAMP COLLECTIONS off my hands, for the small inconvenience of lugging them to the church hall next Saturday
rolled and chilled pastry, made sickly pie filling, baked pie
prepared stuff for blt sandwiches (H cooks the bacon and I do the rest), ate tea
watched Tangled and ate pie
washed up

KCC: I like to read, mostly stuff that makes me laugh though I attempt to do more serious stuff too. I do various puzzles - jigsaws, cryptic crosswords, slitherlink, sudoku, and I had a period of doing the Tantrix tiles and Rush Hour which were both bought for the boys

I am listening to The Boys playing Billy Joel - today it's Pressure

Oooh merry I forgot you had mentioned slitherlink. Scroll down this page to the “variety slitherlink” :o makes a change from the usual square ones - I like the Altair and Floret ones best. (There are printable ones too)

krazydad.com/tablet/puzzles.php

Sorry folks, as you were. 🤓🤓🤓

I haven’t got started on the printing or school prep yet, was just starting to get annoyed at her when she asked me to go up to her room, she’s in tears over group chat nastiness. It’s been a rough couple of weeks for her. FFS. What is wrong with people?!