Fledglings are Flying into April, there's no fooling us.......

[EventuallyDistracted]

Welcome fledglings old and new, to April's Flylady thread!

For any newbies who have stumbled across us, we are following Flylady’s housework system which is based around routines and short bursts of activity to try to keep our houses and lives in order. (Sometimes we follow it more loosely than others). Feel free to join us, the more the merrier! We post our ‘ta da’ lists for motivation (no matter how long or short), and enjoy some random chatter along the way.

The link to Flylady’s ‘flying lessons’ is here Flying Lessons. Have a read, and if you have any questions, just ask. You can sign up for emails but be warned there are lots so most of us rapidly unsubscribed.

I’ll be posting links daily to keep us all on track. Jump in wherever you are, remember you are never behind.

This is a long running thread and we’ve developed some lingo along the way:
LOL = load of laundry
S&S = swish and swipe, a quick daily clean of the toilet and sink
PO3 = power of 3. When motivation is on the low side or you’re overwhelmed just pick 3 things at a time and do them
DNLMS = did not lose my shit
Ned = our mythical mate who helps with the laundry (hasn’t paid a visit to me for a while)
Pointy stick —-> = for when a fledgling needs a motivational prod (we can be gentle if required)
The naughty corner = a relaxing haven where we hang out when motivation is low, we are on strike, or we need a rest and some TLC

KCC - we don't do so many of these now, but these are little stories, photos, memes, off-topic questions, just to keep us all distracted from the general tedium of lockdown life. Feel free to chip in.

Thanks to Up for guiding us gently through March .

And off we go into April.

Excuse me while I work through my thoughts on the filing. A couple of years ago I decided to set up a single folder with everything important for the current year in it so this year's insurance, any important receipts, pension statements, DS's benefits etc then as the documents are superseded by more up to date ones remove the older ones assigned to either no longer needed (shred) or need to keep long term (file properly). Plus keeping up with my longer term budget spreadsheet, I'm OK with the short term budget but longer term I let it drift a bit. I need to make myself do this monthly but keep just letting it all pile up. Why am I so crap at all this stuff?

I have no advice ED as I’m crap too! TBH, DH does basically all the actual financial stuff for the family. We have our paperwork sorted now as I showed off the other week - it’s just in one of those concertina boxes with about 20 pockets/categories (I do need to label the pockets really but I might replace the folder first - it’s pretty tatty!). But although it’s sorted now it’s still not in a system really, there’s always random letters knocking about etc and we’ve not got stuff we actually need... 😬😳

I’m also just a little disappointed you don’t actually have a kids’ clothing spreadsheet, waders :o

I'm not great with paperwork either. I usually have a "pending" or "current" pile, which never really gets any smaller, and separate ring binders for filing each category once it has been dealt with, eg hospital appointments, vehicle insurance. The papers in the ring binders are in chronological order with the most recent on the top. This is the only way I have ever managed to keep track.

(Every few weeks I have a panic over not being able to find domething, and that usually spurs me on to have a bit of a file and some decluttering. But it's a real problem for me to let go and my most recent success was the receipts and MOTs for a car that was scrapped about twenty years ago.)

Today has been trying
I ate lunch at 330(veggie sausages,huge pile crinkle oven chips,roasted veggies and a peach jelly with peaches in)
Read rest book started day before
I need to feed everyone
Is in nearly bedtime yet???

That's exactly the sort of thing, old insurance docs for cars we got rid of years ago.

Anyway, I finally finished, whittled it down to one small pile to file, a small to do pile and a very large shredding pile. Now relaxing with a cat and a cuppa.

ED congratulations on winning the filing battle!
Zoo now I have a craving for crinkle oven chips 😬
Red glad you are feeling better. Hopefully your bloods etc will come back OK.

Ta das:
💥Sorted out McTiny's clothes. I will need to vacuum pack the ones he already grew out of. They are all in a designated storage box at the moment, but it's pretty full.
💥Got few next size up clothing. Sing you inspired me to get this sorted.
💥Organised his toys into 3 sets I will rotate, to make sure they are all played with.
💥Blitzed the bathroom
💥Rotated DW. Kitchen is actually looking alright, even though I have been slacking on missions this week.
💥Lolx2
💥Bought overnight reusable nappy system! Quite excited to try it out 😁 If that goes well, I might be tempted to completely switch even for the day ones.. Let's see how it goes.

Haven't been out of the house last few days because of snow. I am ready for spring weather again! I am so cranky last few days and it might be why.
🍒👋

Have done the ironing. Gearing up for sleep. Kitchen clean.

Wrong thread. Sorry. Reported for deletion.

Well I didn’t get back when I expected to. I was going to take a photo for Ships but kept getting diverted.

DBuilder turned up earlier than expected and did a couple of small jobs including screwing the bookcase to the wall. So now I can put all the books back. I have been wiping each book as some are a bit hacky with dust and dirt. I have done two shelves. One for gardening and Nature and one for art and craft. Weeding out a few for the Little Library or charity shop.

Ta Das
Kitchen✅Wiped down fronts of the rest of the cupboards.
✅ wiped curtain pole.
✅wiped door.
✅ wiped shelves and wiped all the canisters on it.
✅ Swept floor
✅ vacuumed part of hall and stairs then run out of steam.
✅ washed up x2
✅ pine wall unit with herbs &spices.clleaned
✅ S&S
✅ LOL

Paperwork- not great at it either. Often stick it in a drawer in Granny’s table. That is an improvement on pre table. DH has a file for everything. A concertina file for bank statements etc.

Plan for tomorrow

Clean dresser
Finish book cases
Vacuum hall and stairs, plus downstairs.

Hiya, I’ve not done too much today. I need to make some more cleaning stuff/skincare stuff so I made a list of the stuff that needs to done and have measured out all the ingredients ready for tomorrow, I might make it a bit of a science experiment for DD.

Well done on the filing ED I am AWFUL at it, I end up keeping everything and then somehow lose it all too.

mc wow you’ve got very organised today!

tidy I fear my tub of things the kids make me is going to take up my whole boat!. I keep everything, I’ve got a piece of paper with one line on it that DD drew me😂

red I need to sort out our bookshelves, and the kids storage drawers. I might have to do that when I get another day to myself!

Oh also managed to do most of my notes for my course!

waders that sounds awful!

We have signed the paper terminating the contract we had with our buyer, and may be able to sue him for the earnest money.
Our house is now re-listed for sale. This time we will look at offers as they come in and pick the best one. It is just about ready, just a couple things to do in the morning, including taking the dog to ILs for the day she won't be happy at all
It's late here so must be off, wish us luck that the right offer will come through quickly 🤞

🍒👋 to everyone

I know it’s early Waders but 🍷

Top paperwork sorting ED ⭐️ Good luck with the shed.

Fingers crossed for a quick new offer Hazel

Oh poor DD2 Zoo. She’s far from alone, I know lots of people (myself included) who’ve put on a lot in the last year. I’m a good 2.5 stone over my happy weight currently, well into the overweight category. It’s so easy done. It must be so difficult trying to manage that while encouraging Lil Zoo to eat more. Could a fitness tracker help? I know diet is the main part but I find my Fitbit really motivational at getting me moving - there’s various targets you can set.

About to start work so I’ll do a quick dump of YesTaDas:

✅ boudoir and dressing room dusted and hoovered
✅ quick wipe of bathroom
✅ cleaned sticky vanilla essence from top shelf of larder. Put everything back in.
✅ took everything back out and cleaned up spillage off caster sugar after knocking the bag over. (Why is it always hard when you want to use it but perfect separate granules when it’s knocked over?) Put everything back in again
✅ lots of dish washing and tidying
✅ LOL
✅ birthday present sorted and delegates to DH for drop off
✅ completed a photobook that I wa a missing from 2019 and sorted phone albums ready to do the others (I get a free one a month).

Right, off to work. Doing 3 shifts in a row so apologies if I don’t manage to pop on in the next few days. 👋

Morning all,

Sorry to hear about the sale being terminated Hazel, fingers crossed you get a decent offer from someone else.

Waders - aargh. Enjoy Lidl (be careful not to be tempted with heavy blunt implements, eg shovels, from the aisle of random crap)

Ship - ooh, making your own cosmetics sounds nice. One of those things I'd like to try but never get around to.

Red - the two sorted bookshelves sound nice. Ours are all higgledy-piggledy at the moment, need a good sort out.

Mc - we used reusable nappies with varying degrees of success (they were a bit of a faff out and about / at nursery). I got mine form a website called The Nappy Lady who had lots of useful advice, not sure if she's still going.

Sing - if I left the important paperwork to DH, well, we'd have been divorced years ago. He just shoves his in a drawer, not that he gets much compared to me. I try and intercept anything important. I have to say, even though I let mine mount up, if I do unexpectedly need to find something I generally can, even if it takes a while. The one thing that has persistently eluded me is any evidence of my first ever mortgage, which I am pretty sure had PPI, I registered a claim but the bank couldn't find any records, they have left it open in case I ever find the account number but no, I think it must have gone out in the last mass shredding session 10 years ago.

That is one thing I would advise anyone, keep one piece of proof of any financial products you ever have, especially the big one like mortgages, pensions etc and evidence of your employment history. I got tracked down by a pension scheme a couple of years ago, I only worked for the company for a couple of years 30 years ago but hadn't updated my address when I moved here and they wanted evidence of my payroll number etc. While I was digging that out I found a share certificate for an old building society I had had an account with years ago when it converted to a bank, I had been getting dividends of about a tenner a year but had never updated my address with them either so no correspondence, I decided to sell the shares and made a couple of hundred which was nice.

Right, today is perfect shed painting weather, dry and not too windy. I left the windows and door open last night to let it dry out completely and there has been no dew or frost so I need to grab my brush and get started, back with links in a mo.

Flight Plan for today - Thursday is Errand Day, and the mission is to give the counters a proper wipe down, not just the most used parts but all of it, under the toaster etc.

Just remembered I haven't been posting babysteps.

Babystep 8 is writing down your routines and starting your control journal, where you list all the Flylady stuff. Many use apps or other methods, some of us just wing it a bit and hope the habits stick.

Got in a muddle with my posts yesterday. Here is what I tried to send.

Cleared a very tangled corner of the garden. It's looking a little bit better, very slowly. Also chopped back overhanging branches that were touching the flat roof.

Two LOLs. Got it all neatly piled up then got distracted and was late switching it on. Must do more tomorrow.
Hoovered front room and hall.
Sorted out some more things in the front room tubs. Two folding crates emptied and in kitchen now, having been washed.
One tub full of stubborn things that DCs made at school and I can't part with. Keep it in my bedroom once the excess bedding is out of there.

Tomorrow's forecast is not as good as today. So lots of LOLs, sorting some more of the shed if it's not dry enough for the garden, getting front room under control.

Sorry to hear about your house sale Hazel. Been there myself in 2007. Waders hope supermarket brings serene moments. Mr waders sure is cranky this morning. I'm up and moving. Thank you for reminding that it's Thursday ED 😁

Bleary eyed today - Cagletini pulled an “I’m not sleepy” shift for hours last night, eventually slept for about four hours and then woke up. Normally she’d just lie down with us and go straight to sleep but she was awake from 4 until nearly 7 🤬😩😴 hope she’s not going to make a habit of that

Sorry about the house sale stress hazel what a nightmare :(

Right, breakfast time.