Fledglings Flying Frightfully into October

[EerilyDeleted]

A huge thanks to Mogthesleepycat for steering us successfully through September

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 Flylady. 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 brew + the power of three technique + a bit of support on here can work wonders.

Here's the launch pad for more experienced fledglings Launchpad.

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.

Home Bleugh - Flylady's Home Blessing routine

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

And finally "The Naughty Corner" - this is for Fledglings who perhaps didn't get done what they had planned for the day but are in need of a comfy seat, pile of cushions, tasty snacks, stiff drink and friends to chat to.

Morning all. Feeling rather down in the dumps today TBH as various things are putting a huge strain on a previously very strong marriage 😣 so putting all my focus into home ed (DS’ friend coming round again later as Thursday and Friday are so busy) and DS has chosen Cluedo as our first scheduled board game time (it’s impossible to play when Cagletini is around so I put it on the plan!).

I was considering swimming this morning but too much to do, something has to give 🙄

Sing sorry to hear that. Take some time for yourself among it all, I had a bit of a day off yesterday and enjoyed it (now getting reminders for stuff I haven't done though, still going out for a coffee today anyway!) I love Cluedo, always fun to play and it's a classic - one of those games that people forget about but love it when they get a chance to play.

I haven't exercised this week either, I do love it when I do it (ballet stretch) but it's the first thing to give for me too.

Done one load of laundry this morning, will hang it up before I go out and iron it tonight. Had a large Costco croissant this morning for breakfast (really should have made time for the exercise ...)

Anyway, time to get ready to go out and continue my schedule of ignoring stuff Catch you later!

MC ah thank you. They are good boys. We don’t see them more than a couple of times a month and usually singly but I did suggest we should meet up in November at DS3’s house. It was so lovely to have them around the table. We went to DS1’s house but he hadn’t thought it through he only has four chairs! DS2 had arrived so offered to ring DS3 and pick him and a chair up. This worked out well because DS3 had fallen asleep after work. Dishing out the food DS1 realised he only had three forks so two ate with a spoon and he had asked us to bring extra glasses as he had broken two recently and only had three. We all said now we know what to get him for Christmas!
We all live within a five mile radius of each other. DS2 has worked away for a couple of years when he was younger. DD is the one with itchy feet.
ED love my kitchen. Probably love the baking cupboard best. So that or Everhot the best.
Nothing I would do differently as we worked with a kitchen planner. I do wish we had asked for wall to be skimmed. Did I tell you tiles are ready! Looking forward to new door being put on. It has been ready since lockdown as I painted it then.

Right I better get cracking instead of faffing. We went to bed late and I forgot my meds. Woke up at 4am and wondered. Nope hadn’t taken them so took them at 4so slept in until 9:30😲

Sing - I'm not surprised your relationship is feeling the strain with everything you have going on, hopefully the fact that underlying it is a solid marriage between good people will see you through the current hard times.

Wellies - it is a Victorian terrace but with a low ceiling in the kitchen, which is a modern extension, there are two steps up to it from the rest of the house and the ceiling is the same height, so only about 7' high. Also it has a flat roof and I'm a bit worried about condensation if we take the cupboards right to the ceiling as the insulation is probably not great. Oh and we're all shortarses (I'm the tallest at 5'5"). NEed to talk to a kitchen planner about this aspect. At the moment there's a 6" gap at the top and it's really hard to clean I rarely bother just let the cats go up and sweep it with their fur. The two steps also mean we can't knock through into the not-a-dining-room

Bower - I do have baking cupboard envy

Hi all, I wasn’t on yesterday as it was my DSF’s birthday so I was celebrating that. I also had my appointment, I have to have some blood tests. My stomach is playing up so I’ve been feeling very drained due to that. But other than that I’m coping!. I do have a bloody huge lot of washing to put away though, sometimes it makes me think I’d like a man but then I realise every man I have lived with just created more work🙄. I am SO ready to collapse now. I didn’t get much sleep last night, Ddog wouldn’t settle then lots of noise out front (kids bedrooms are at the front of the house so they woke up!) neighbour across the road was being arrested!!. We haven’t ever spoke but he’s always caused trouble for his mom (her house), I was being quite nosy having a look, but couldn’t get back to sleep then.

I need to save a bit now because I want to book some activities up for over Christmas. Oh also I got a pumpkin!. Will attach pic of it. Haven’t done any carving yet just wanted it for a display.

I’m sorry things are so difficult with DS mog

Thanks sing, I’m feeling better today, there’s just a lot going on isn’t there. I’m sorry to hear that you aren’t feeling the best, take some time out for yourself if you can.

Oh and thanks bower and zoo on the jelly tips!

I think I’ve caught up on the important things, sorry I haven’t done many personals, I’m just very tired!

Afternoon! Hope your ds driving test went well wellies eek!!

Sorry you're feeling down sing

Ta das
Went to Wickes (and then back to Wickes when I realised there was a hole in the bag of plaster 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️)
Went to Asda
Quick tidy round
3 X LOL (and have been trying to put away as I go!)
Dishwasher on
Cleaned kitchen taps
Cleaned toilet
Emptied bins
Decluttered some kitchen stuff, including pens from the drawer of doom !
Did an hour of work
Watched episode 1 of bake off with the kids

To do
Cook dinner (bacon & tomato spaghetti )
Make ds packed lunch for tomorrow

sing
Wellies 🍀🍀🍀🍀for D's

Been ultra busy
If get mo will come back with tada later
Hope everyone's ok

Hello 👋 can i join ?! I’ve lurked since finding the September thread - it helped dig me out of a bit of a pit regarding cleaning my house! I’m currently 8 months pregnant and have quite high anxiety, which along with nesting is making me clean like crazy/feel the need to clean everything. Needless to say i keep going flop 😬🤦‍♀️ I found the flylady website a bit overwhelming, then found this thread and breathed a sigh of relief- I don’t have to do everything all at once. The compulsion is still there; this house is very old (at least 300 years if not more) and literally crumbling, which makes life ‘fun’ 🙄 To top everything off we found mice have gotten into the room where we stored baby clothes/toys/xmas decorations 😩 they’ve pooped everywhere, in quite a few of the boxes too 😷 i’m struggling to get on top of that whilst not freaking out. The thought of them piddling over everything....shudder. Any tips on cleaning xmas decorations after mice may have been in contact with them??!!

Welcome kats. Don't stress at all about the flylady system. It's all a little and often. Congrats on your impending new arrival. Maybe a very weak bleach solution for the Christmas decorations, perhaps Milton solution?

Well done to your son wellies 🚗

May I join?

Thanks as ever for the loveliness

Wellies you’ve hit the nail on the head there - definitely need to be us and not just parents/carers. I found myself thinking the other day that even if we could get away for a quick date (DSD has babysat sometimes) I have no idea what we’d talk about other than how knackered we are .

We have a sort of honorary auntie visiting tomorrow which in one way I’m really looking forward to but also worrying a bit as I am not feeling sociable and the house is a mess (although if I really think about it I’m sure it’s better than before lockdown, and we could potentially make a big difference in the morning if we put our minds to it).

Evenings are currently in the “stop the toddler falling asleep too early”, nap-dropping stage. Thus, they are not a productive part of the day. Hopefully once through that phase things will improve though - more time for movie/game nights etc.

KCC before I forget - our kitchen is pretty small (could never get a table in it) but bigger than our old galley size one. In fact yesterday evening the four of us were in there at once doing different things and DD1 commented on how good it was we could all fit! Favourite things - double oven. It’s not an everhot or similar, it’s just big, but just having that extra space on top is brilliant, we were so lucky the previous tenant left it! I also love having a stainless steel sink TBH - our previous one was that composite stuff and wouldn’t shine if you drowned it in brasso, which always made me a little jealous each time Babystep 1 rolled around.

Least favourite things - well an actual extractor fan would be nice. We discovered ours was just a circulatey one when it fell off the wall - thankfully not when anything was on the hob. It was purely there for aesthetics and so we just have a vent. Also I would love a massive American fridge freezer if we had a wider space.

No problem Pumpkin jellyicious.

MC I think. Bulbs. I would also leave a patch without membrane where the bulbs are planted with a lighter spread of bark. Alternative is to put some in a pot and place on the bark then move when they finish and replace. Another idea would be to leave a section without bark and plant that area with bulbs and bark the rest.

Thanks Wellies and we met up with DS2 today to help him with curtains and poles. He was late so I was getting a bit panicky and sstrarted coughing which is embarrassing as you worry that others are worrying. A lovely assistant I was speaking to told me they had stickers for people as she has asthma too. She took me and showed me where they are and then helped me with information about curtains and poles. Well done Dunelm as a young lad was helpful before that. He has ordered samples for DS2. Later we went to DS2’s to see paint. He had a call about a painting job. He had a quote last week for the sitting room and dining room £1800 and the hall £800. She will do it all for just over £1000.😁 DS2 has had a good day...apart from work which is difficult due to Scottish border. Off to get tea out. Leftovers to Ishtar. Mmmm!

Welcome mother and kats :)

Yay Wellies! Congratulations to DS2!!!

I am starting to think about doing Cagletini’s dinner separately some nights. Which actually sucks now we’ve finally got a nice table and sufficient chairs to all sit round and chat. But evening clubs mean that I keep having to keep her awake until the others get home, as if I leave her long enough to cook it myself she will fall asleep too early. I’m easily flustered in the kitchen and it’s worse in the evenings once my Ritalin* wears off, so I can’t do what DH does to keep her awake which is to ask her to “help” with measuring pasta and stuff. So I think maybe some nights I need to have something easy ready for her but then she has to eat on her own. Bah. Any ideas please? I guess she could have leftovers of whatever the rest of us eat the day before.

*Other brands are available :o

Welcome mother and kats!!

Great news wellies!!!🥳

welcome mother'and Katz*
Sing pasta with sauce from freezer stash?
Casserole that you can eat later?
Cheese on toast and veg sticks?
Beans on toast?
A hot lunch and then a sandwich tea made at lunchtime and bung in fridge?

wellies yay to D's

Welcome Kats and mother none of us get all the steps done all the time so join in and don’t feel guilty tomorrow is another day. 😁
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼Another baby that’s what we love.

🐭 you could spray with method or similar. Do you really want them because( and I am sentimental) I might throw away and start again. If really need to keep I would wash those like glass and spray the others perhaps leave in the sun.
Sing she has come to see you.

Wellies yah passing his test! I have two that drive and two that don’t.

Oh I so love leftovers. That Meatloaf was delicious. I had sliced new potatoes in olive oil.

Thanks for the suggestions lisette and bower. i’m quite sentimental, which is why this has bothered me so much. The decorations look fine, but could be covered in pee 😬 i’m chucking anything like tinsel/garlands/artficial tree. Some of them are sentimental- e.g kids handprints i made for their 1st xmas. I think i’m leaning towards dettol spray for fabric/delicate items, soak in dilute bleach for plastics/glass. DP probably thinks i’m mad 🙄

Evening all,

Welcome to kats and mother. Please feel free to ask if you don't understand anything.

I'd feel the same about the decorations kats, I hate it when anything sentimental gets damaged.

Well done to DS2 Wellies

I am off for an early night, 5am starts don't mix with late bedtimes it seems.

A quick tada for accountability.

Up, dressed, delivered DD to swimming at 5.45
MN and cuppa
Washing on
Quick run spent more time taking photos than running stunning sunrise.
Shower and dress
Washing on line
Pick DD up and home again to change
Drop DD at station and go to work
Lidl shop at lunchtime, lovely sunny day
Pick DS up from school
Home
Washing off line
Drop something at friend's house
Cook dinner
DS to Explorers
Tap class
Eat dinner, bake sourdough
Pick up DS from a wet field in the middle of nowhere
Go through DS notes from school with him
Fill in medical forms for dentist

Not much housework - maybe tomorrow.

Oh no your not. Kids hand prints😲oh you have to keep. You don’t even know if mouse peed on them. Dettol good and if a sunny day I would leave them outside for a bit.
Tinsel I would bin as it does go awful anyway after a time. Garlands I would consider keeping if I paid a lot for them otherwise bin. We put ours into bin clip lid boxes and a Really Useful Box as we know we have mice in the attic at times and we have 🦇 so we have to put anything that goes in the loft in a plastic box or suitcase. Good luck.

Gone to bed. I haven’t achieved much today.

Woke up late due to forgetting meds and taking in the middle of the night.
LoL
Sorted out some more plant pots. DH washed them later.
Chopped back lots of perennials. Gathered up and green binned.
Went to Dunelm, looked at curtains and things waited ages for DS2 who got stuck at work.
Met DS and talked about choices. He made decisions. There for ages.
Went back towards our house then onto DS2’s. Had tea and carrot cake ( I made)
Stayed for an hour or so. Looked at his shrubs that need pruning.
Laundry on radiator rack( I forgot it earlier)
Home put chopped new potatoes and meatloaf in oven.
Poured glass of wine.
Mixed left over pasta sauce and lamb mince for DH for baked🥔 potato.
Poured glass of wine.
Ate my tea left DH to own devices as his took longer. He should have eaten the same😛
Watched tv
Wrote some of shopping list.
Went to bed.