Festive Fledglings Flap Frantically Towards A Calm, Clutter-free Christmas!

[SingToTheSky]

OK so clutter-free is a bit ambitious. But anyway, all welcome to join us for a jolly holiday thread, in which we very loosely follow (or at least half-heartedly mention now and then) the FlyLady system of housekeeping.

I’ll be posting links and reminding us all of various tasks up until Christmas Eve, for those who want to follow the system - and if it’s like previous years there will also be some specific extra missions to help us prepare our homes for Christmas. However, we really are just a bunch of frazzled Mumsnetters who will be very happy to welcome you along for chat whether you follow the system or not! We discuss housework, sure, but a whole lot of other stuff too.

We will also continue with the Keep Calm Corner, in which you’ll find various diverting questions, memes etc.

And finally a huge thank you to Foxes who did a fab job of running the thread for the first time in November! 💐

Oh and this week I sorted out through McTiny's clothes and separated the ones he already grew out of. Turns out I am so sentimentally attached to them, I can't bring myself to part with them! For now, I've pulled stash and dash, with plans to vacuum pack for storage until I am ready to donate them (if I will ever be...)

Aww mc they grow so quick! The first clothes have so much more meaning don’t they. I hope Santa brings him some calpol :o in all seriousness though he’ll likely only be a bit grumpy in the afternoon and fine by Christmas Day anyway. You’ll probably find it harder watching than he does having it! ❤️

DH is doing lots of clearing up. I cheered myself up by having a sort of fry up for lunch (sausage patty, egg, loads of veg and avocado 😋) and am drinking lots of water.

We were confused as to how a white sheet had got in among all the clothes in the cupboard. It hadn’t quite made it to the laundry yet when DH discovered it had big black eyes with holes cut out. The Halloween costume has now been disposed of :o 👻

My next task is to sort the big tub of random wooden toys as DH put them all in one but it would have been quite simple to resort them back into food/other 🙄

MC he mightn't be too off colour with his jabs. It just depends really. Usually they pull the stunt of getting chicken pox just as you're about to fly etc

Sing yes, Santa is well stocked up on Calpol!
Loving the ghost in the laundry pile 🤣
Tinselette that's good to know, something to look forward to 😬

Oh also speaking of babies I hope sherin is ok! I know she doesn’t post daily anyway but it’s been a few days now. ❤️

I dug out the other bag of clothes from upstairs - I’d forgotten most of it was actually adult clothing (maybe there’s another bag further back though?) but I did find a little Christmas dress from last year, it’s one of those simple cotton ones so although it’s a bit small it’ll be fine with leggings for a bit of festive cheer next week :)

The living room is currently at the “looks WAY worse before it gets better” phase 😬 I need to clean the back windows/door too so we can try that snow spray!

We really need to arrange a tip trip though and at present I’ve no idea how unless DS could collect at the door I suppose but he’s probably pretty busy at the moment.

DD1 just got home from the skate park, she needs to move her laundry on so DS can do his. Then I think while they carry on tidying I really REALLY must do my final edits on the first assignment. Hopefully I can then do the second one in the next week or so.

Fabulous froggie Woolly well done you!

Amazing 🐸❤️

Definitely not as admirable but we did just do the snow spray on the windows :o

Tis fabulous glittery ♥️♥️♥️🐸 I'd love to be as talented.

And that looks so good too sing ❄️❄️❄️❄️

Omg i want that frog 🐸

Woolly froggy is amazing! 😍😍
Sing snow spray looks very cool. Very Christmas-y 🥰

It’s sooo cute! I just showed DD1 and she was disappointed you aren’t selling it! 😍

Spray is all done, let the Caglets go rogue with extra bits of snow (stencils are only paper so can’t be reused as the spray is so wet). Might get some plastic stencils for future years.

Bit more tidying done but the living room is still a hellhole! Does look a bit more festive now though.

Yes, people often don’t appreciate why lovely home made things cost more! :(

Tired and sitting on sofa surveying the mess. We’ve agreed on a takeaway tonight though which helps a lot :o must gather the energy for remaining tidying needed though.

Haven’t actually worked out where the tree will go either! Last time we moved the sofa, Cagletini used it to attack the top of the Kallax shelves 🙄😂

TaDa
put towel wash on (remembered napkins)
walked to tesco because forgot potatoes on Thursday, also had planned cheese on toast without realising we had neither enough cheese nor enough toaster
got a 2.5kg bag of potatoes for 29p! (offer on till Boxing Day)
read tesco magazine - might try making the butternut and sage cornbread
H brought decorations and cards and wrapping down from loft
S2 and H wrapped Granny's presents and wrote her cards; H made a cardboard box to contain them all; H addressed parcel and took to parcel post box
washed up from last night (only bacon sandwiches and mince pies)
dusted bits of lounge to prepare for festoons
dropped duster behind bookcase while moving games and jigsaws
moved bookcase enough to get behind it so also retrieved small lid that's been there for about 8 years
took game lid belongs to plus a few other things and put in charity shop pile
did 60-piece jigsaw to check all the pieces were there before donating
put jigsaws in cupboard upstairs
washed up from lunch
S2 put up tree
put up rest of decorations
put recycling in recycling bin; put paper box in porch out of the way
sorted out some paperwork from My Pile on chair in dining room
ordered some LED tealights so we can have the candle tree in the porch (not only will it make the glass wreath more visible, but there is nowhere else to put it)
currently drinking parsnip sherry - slightly chilled because it's only just come in from the garage - while H cooks breast of lamb etc and S2 plays some sort of game and chats to his friends

ToDo
lay table
wash up
watch Strictly

ToMorrow
make S2 lunch! (Yrs 7 and 8 are distance-learning next week so only one dining hall is open, so he's not working Mon and Tues)
exercise class
Extra-Big Shop

Dinner will be curry and rice, and I think the weather justifies naan bread as well...

Ok. SO these are censored and there are pages that are not shown however we go, a flip through of my 2021 setup of my bujo.

I start my journal with a key, a photo page (Not shown) and then an over view. You are only seeing the 2nd page of the overview because the 1st half of the year has personal information on, but it has the same format. I always include a spacing page because it saves having to figure things out (i do need to make sure i finish all my regular spacings on it) and i like to have a word of the year and goals each year

This year i have added a list of books read to go with my chart of some craft projects that i am working on. I have the usual tracker of the various school/work holidays i need to keep track of for organising contact and annual leave etc. The sensored page has the tutor and deadline overview for the course i am taking.

I like to start my month with 2 pages which has a various set up of pictures and quotes to mark the start of the month. I then have a month calendar for keeping track of things. For january I have a dutch door type setup which is why you can see the edge of the quote peaking through. I find having a dutch door helps finding the start of each month a bit easier, but there are many ways of doing it.

I then have a lunar calendar (which is new in this format - tried an annual format this year but it didnt work well) and my sleep tracker

This is what my meal plan bingo board starts off as. It will get fuller by the start of the month, but i will leave the odd box blank for going off plan so to speak.

I use a couple of different weekly layouts and as i don't tend to set them up until close to the month starting i generally have a good idea what kinda week i am going to have so can pick the most appropriate. These three are my most commonly used ones.

And if you are wondering about the stickers... tesco christmas present label pack doesn't have to be fancy to be pretty.

I also have a house plant care sheet, cleaning list, health to do list, food prep list for before/or in Jan to make life a bit smoother, a places i want to visit list.

At the back of the book i have a list of the disc world books in order to help me work through them. A list of the books in another series that I am collecting, important telephone numbers. My 1 year plan and 5 year plans.

I only seem to get 6 months out of the journal but I found with conventional diarys i was ready for a change at this point and would just abandon them old one. At least this way the book gets pretty much filled. i have 6 pages in my current one that might not get used before the new year.

Looks lovely and very festive Hills. You've lovely handwriting which makes all the difference too. not like my scrawl

Merry love the tinsel decorations on the ceiling!!!

Ooh that’s so cool hills! (I was wondering what book series you meant by the way!)

Thank you very much for sharing, lots of inspiration there. I love the way you mark out rectangle spaces with just the corners, that is visually appealing and I’m definitely going to do that.

I have been keeping a list of trackers and records I’d like to keep (most of them won’t need daily updating so I’m hoping it won’t be too much) but I’ve not drawn anything yet. What pens do you use by the way? In my practice one (dotted exercise book I got on sale) I’ve been using triplus fineliners, they are also what I do most of my drawings with so I have a lot of colours :o

Oh yes I meant to say I like your handwriting too!

Great pics merry very festive and I love the full bookcases 🥰

We are watching Vicar of Dibley, bit more clearing up to do and then dammit it MUST be tree time! DH needs to get it from the shed. Getting it out earlier may have been sensible.