Fledglings Flying into Jubilee June

[ExtremelyDedicated]

Hello everyone, and welcome to the June Flylady thread.

We welcome newbies and returnees - if you are curious about the system feel free to ask questions or lurk! We do follow it, erm, loosely to say the least. So there is a lot of chat about random life stuff as well as housework, decluttering and organising.

A key element of flylady is not being a perfectionist. Most of us here are not naturals at housekeeping etc, so please don’t feel we are some intimidating group who demand perfectly shined sinks. We are human. We fall off the wagon. We commiserate and help each other climb back on, and we stock the virtual naughty corner with snacks and blankets for the days when adulting is just too hard.

So, the system:
🔹Some baby steps which are designed to help you build up a routine.
🔹Daily missions to help with sprucing up particular areas in the zones, for example the first zone of the month is the entry/porch and dining room if you have one.

🔹Try and do 15 minutes decluttering a day. It didn’t get cluttered in a week so it will take a lot longer to clear it!

🔹Daily focuses to help shape the week.
🔹Here on the thread many of us post to do lists, but also “ta da” lists of things we’ve achieved that day.
🔹We also recommend the Power of Three technique - if you’re overwhelmed with too much to do, just pick three things and don’t think about the rest.

Anyway, I will post some links each day (hopefully) but whether you follow the system or not - many of us just take the bits we like or build our own flylady style system to suit our own lives - do join in if you want a place to chat about keeping a house and family running!

Morning everyone! How is it Friday? The week has flown over.

Definitely no heavy lifting ED, take it easy.

Hoping for a speedy recovery for your DH Bean

Welcome aboard Coffee!

YesTaDas:
☀️Met some family for coffee
☀️Collected together all outgrown baby clothes and made a start on bundling them to sell/bagging up unsellable stuff for recycling
☀️Ordered some clothes for the girls for next summer in various sales… as well as some stocking fillers for Christmas!
☀️Swept the kitchen and dining room floors
☀️Put many, many random bits of stuff back in their homes.
☀️Trip to the park after school and an ice cream
on the beach

TaDas:
🌤LOL on
🌤reading and maths done with DD1 before school run
🌤Acquired bread and milk
🌤DW emptied while making my morning cuppa

I have absolutely no plans today and I’m loving it! There’s lots of clean clothes to put away so I should probably do that but otherwise I’m seeing where the day takes me probably not very far

Thanks ED

Plan for today is to do the beginner things (make bed, get dressed to shoes and shone sink...I think). I've started on the sink. Not dressed yet as have a late start at work today, but I will obviously have to get dressed for work 😀

Dancing yes! Fragrant lavender with lots of fat bumble bees buzzing round it and cold lemonade with slices of real lemon in it.

ED sorry to hear about your pulled muscle I hope it doesn't hurt too much.

I'm out of sync with FlyLady at the moment I seems. I spent the morning in the bathroom, I don't know how it gets so messy. Threw out all the empties and rogue bits of packaging. Sorted out the drawers because they'd got messed up with this and that everywhere in random places. The good news is I'm slowly making a dent in the stash. Everywhere seems to have a little more space than before. The drawers are no longer rammed full, baskets aren't overflowing and the sides of the bath are a little clearer. Feels good to see progress.

Coffee starting small is the way to go. It took me a while for me to understand the FlyLady system and now I can see it's all build around mini routines. If you tried to do everything at once it would be overwhelming.

Up I have a headache unfortunately, it's the weather. So lovely to have a day without plans, I hope you enjoy it. I'm unsure myself what I'll do with the afternoon.

Thank you Ditzy all well here. DH had a good day.

'all shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well’ Julian of Norwich

That is very profound @BeanAnTae

@DitzyBluebells hope the headache improved, well done on the bathroom

@CoffeeAndTV1 it’s tempting to raise an eyebrow at Flylady’s obsession with shiny sinks but it really does make a kitchen look so much better.

@Upsadiddles hope you had a nice unplanned day, that’s how mine was too.

My bback is much better tonight, it was extremely stiff this morning but has eased off a lot during the day. I cancelled yoga and PT which freed up quite a bit of time too, Fridays might be my day off work but they can get hectic.

Tada!
Deleted several hundred emails and a load of photos
Tidied kitchen a bit
Ordered Hello Fresh (tried Gousto this week)
Changed the fuse in the fan in my bedroom which went when I plugged it in the other night
Sorted litter trays
Helped out an elderly neighbour in need
Took in parcel for another neighbour
Picked DS up from school
Got my newly acquired secondhand rocking chair measured up for a new seat cushion
Spent far too long on FB and MN
Cooked dinner (Chinese chicken with cashew nuts from Gousto)
Sorted out my yarn stash for some new crocheting
Booked a meal out for tomorrow to celebrate end of GCSEs and A levels for the DCs
Hotspotted dressing and bedside tables, didn’t get around to dusting
Wiped away black grot on bedroom window frame

Sorry to hear about your back ED. I pulled a muscle in my back once and I'll NEVER forget it. I was flattened!

Bean - hello 👋 hope you are looking after yourself too.

Ed- oh no, hope your back recovers soon. Thats a great list.

I have been busy decluttering and sorting the sitting room since Wednesday. Granted, I moved two clean laundry baskets into ds room! 🙈
I found homes for lots of art ans craft supplies for the kids.
I can see alot more of my carpet. Swept with a rubber broom. Then vaccumed.
I have 30mins more to do in there and then hallway, dining room and kitchen.
We have guest coming around on Sunday at 3pm so its got to be done. I have to let go of alot of stuff.

🍒👋 everyone.

Ooh a rubber broom should shift a lot dancing

Lovely day here today:

To do: laundry, weeding, baking, coffee drinking 😁

ta da
Did not kill anyone
Still did not kill anyone
Wonder how someone gets to be a pensioner without basic manners or hygiene
nothing i was supposed to be doing
Gone on strike and refusing to cook or sort anything out for the people.
currently leaving house early and getting back as late as possible with naps in the car.

FML

Other than that i am fine

Oh Hills no wonder you're stressed with smelly rude people in the house. I've had that situation where home is just a place to sleep, wash and store your possessions but you don't actually want to spend any time there, so I know how hard it is. I hope the situation comes to an end for you sooner than later.

Dancing you're doing so well with the decluttering. I'm feeling frustrated because I can't identify anything to get rid of by taking it out. There's plenty to go eventually but it needs using up first which takes ages.

ED the rain damped down the pollen last night and put an end to my headache thankfully.

I've got a day of floating around doing this and that. I'll get back to being useful tomorrow.

Welcome coffee feel free to ask any questions as you go 😊
ED I'm glad your back is starting to feel a bit better. Some gentle yoga stretches might help. I found some on a board on Pinterest, if you need inspiration. I understand not doing a full blown session though.
hills hooray for you going on strike! You do way too much for other people who are perfectly capable.
Ditzy good to hear your headache has eased up
Bean that sounds like a perfect Saturday to me!
Dancing it sounds like you have made a lot of progress already, if I'm remembering correctly
Up a day with no plans sounds perfect, I hope you enjoyed it

This week we made some progress on the spare bedrooms, especially last night. We had built my built-in closet in DSs old room, last night I moved my clothes in there. I still need to declutter a lot of them. We moved the dresser in there, I really need to go through that too, part of the dresser is broken due to weight 🤦‍♀️
We set up a bed in the spare bedroom, moved the safe, put a rug down in the closet room, which will double up to be the workout room also. I vacuumed as much as possible. We dismantled DS'S old bed and DH posted it for sale on fb.
This morning I've got to sort out and clean the camper, this afternoon we are having a remembrance gathering for DH's grandma out at the family farm.
I really best get moving, I'm just finishing my 2nd cup of coffee before I go tackle that massive job. We haven't gone camping for 2 years and the pine tree it sits under has made a mess of it, inside, since we have a vent open to keep it aired out. Ugh.
🍒👋 to everyone, especially those I may have missed

Thunder and lightening stopped play. You can't sit on top a hill, even in a car, in a thunderstorm. So i came home to deal with the room with the leaking roof and make sure nothing is likely to be damaged by the currently monsoon like rain. I even had help when it was realised what i was doing.

As usually happens when i LMS people and go on strike, people are doing the basic stuff that is expected of them but they have not been doing.

I am still in a god awful angry mood, but only to be expected i guess considering how much frustration building up it took for me to LMS. I have a couple of offers of places to hide to work, and i think i might take them up, its just i dont want to be cheeky or put others out iyswim. besides i kinda like my car office, i am rather fond of the views. I need to consider a camper van type thing so that i can study in luxury

I did get some progress on studies but it was not enough. I will need to rescue the books from the car when there is a break in the monsoon.

Monsoon here this afternoon too, so heavy the car wipers couldn’t cope and I had to slow down to see where I was going. Fairly short lived though. Unfortunately DH had just put a load of washing on the line 🤷‍♀️.

Back is almost completely better today, keeping on the move all day yesterday definitely helped and I slept much better because I could actually turn over. Slightly less active day today but have still avoided slouching anywhere and stuck to upright chairs. Hazel - thank you re yoga stretches, I do try and do a few every night and they definitely help, I have found it depressing as I have got older how easily I can lose my flexibility.

Tada!
Two loads of washing line dried
Third load put to wash, went out, found on line in monsoon, still out there
Went to event on the green near our house (an hour chatting with all the neighbours, which was nice)
Helped elderly neighbour sort out her new phone
Lunch
Faffed about
Took DS to nearest big town to meet a friend, I had coffee with friend’s mum (they go back many years and so do we) while the boys did their stuff.
Bit of tidying
Booked accommodation for a weekend away
Out for a meal for end of exams celebration
Home and a bit of life admin with DS
Off to bed shortly

Hills - I like your camper van idea, sorry you had to lose your shit to get the people to engage with the essentials sometimes you just have to do it

I've become very stiff in my 50s and if I'm not careful it does affect me in everyday life. I'm trying to improve my balance too at the moment.

Unfortunately I can't take over the thread leading because there's too much going on at the moment. I know we are all busy but I don't have the headspace nor the timespace if you know what I mean. I'm very grateful to Ed for doing two months in a row.

I was going to volunteer but things have gone bat shit here, and i will be lucky if i am even going to be about.

I should move and leave the house. I have so much to do. <sigh> Tbf i have a lot i need to do here and non of it is getting done at cos i am never here.

willow I wish I could, we are planning on camping a lot more this summer so won't even have any service up in the mountains! Happy belated birthday to your DH. Didn't your DS just have a birthday too?

YesTaDas:
🪣 took everything out of the camper
🪣 Swept said camper (actually DS did this)
🪣 wiped all surfaces down in the camper (was dusty and dirty but not as bad as I was expecting) DS helped with this too, he did the floor
🪣 took all dirty laundry down to the laundry room (the less said about the state of that room now, the better)
🪣 washed one of the big sleeping bags
🪣 took out the new mattress, with a mattress protector on it
🍒 went to the family farm for grandma's gathering, had a lovely time catching up with DH's family from all over
🍒 had dinner at our house with ILs and one of DHs cousins whom we haven't seen in years! Her family is troubled so we are all going to make more of an effort to meet up
🍒 rotated the DW, had enough to drink that I couldn't remember starting the DW last night, but they were all clean this morning! 🤷‍♀️

Plans for today:
🐿 do my nails, I just got some gel builder in the hopes of making my nails longer as I seem to keep picking them short, even though I prefer them longer 🤦‍♀️
🐿 grocery shopping
🐿 video chat with mum
🐿 wash more bedding and towels for the camper

DH just got back from selling DS'S old bed, we have had that thing forever, I had it as a teenager for a couple of years even! Mostly the DC slept on it though, so makes a great bed for DC.
I need my 2nd cup of coffee, I woke up late today so struggling to get going.

🍒👋 to everyone

Thank you for taking over next month @GreenWillowAndCatkins, I enjoy doing it but two months at a time is long enough.

I am going to post for tomorrow now so I don’t forget in the morning

The Flight plan link is here www.flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=-60&d=1

WE are moving into Zone 5, the Living Room and putting out those hotspots (tidying the places where clutter accumulates, coffee tables etc, in fact every flat surface in ours seems to attract piles of crumpled receipts, pens, you name it and coins even though everyone claims to not be using cash any more).

I did Errand Day today, there was a big event on locally which meant parking problems in our road and surrounding streets so I cleared off out for most of the day:

Tada!

Took DS to work
Went to Savers, Superdrug, M&S, Sainsburys, Waitrose and the pet shop
Went to the allotment for a bit
Went to an art open studio nearby - the artist is an acquaintance and her work is lovely, had a nice cuppa and chat with some other visitors
Picked DS up again, parked miles from house
Lunch, bit of paperwork with DS
Took DS to football
Went for coffee while I waited for him
Home again, managed to get on the drive after two standoffs with people blocking the street with their cars
Cooked dinner, ate dinner
Chivvied DS up and took him back to school (boarding)
Drove around for a bit on the way home (beautiful evening)
Home again
Just got to finish the kitchen, shower and bed. Oh and make my packed lunch for tomorrow.

Lots of impressive lists ladies!

Well done on not killing anyone Hills. Hope the people buck their ideas up since you LYS.

Hazel I’m very envious of your camper

Ditzy Well done on your bathroom decluttering. I can never understand how it can get so untidy and yet doesn’t really need that much stuff in it. I bought one of those telescopic corner bathroom shelves that are really easy to put up (mine was from Dunelm I think, or possibly Wilko) and that’s made a big difference. The edge of my bath is now pretty clear.

Enjoy the red wine Willow.

It’s been an enjoyable weekend here. A family walk and ice cream in the sunshine yesterday, and then almost a date night (with a mostly-asleep MiniUp in tow while DD1 was with my DM) in a lovely local beer garden with a street food van. Today we’ve only ventured out for a quick walk, but have relaxed and played some games as a family.

YesTaDas:
🙌🏻 Full home bleurgh
🙌🏻 Made a list of ideas for places to visit in the summer holiday
🙌🏻Booked cinema tickets
🙌🏻 booked hotel for a family get together
🙌🏻 Decluttered drawer overflowing with colouring books etc with DD1. She’s surprisingly ruthless!

TaDas:
👏All ironing done and put away including today’s LOL <looks round expectantly for medal>
👏decluttered another Kallax box of toys with DD1. There wasn’t much that she didn’t want in this one, but we did find some bits that didn’t belong there, and she’s played with the stuff in there for the rest of the day.
👏put up some flat pack (storage unit) that’s been hanging around for a couple of weeks. Will fill it tomorrow.
👏defrosted legs and exfoliated

Unfortunately not UP things here are particularly bad atm. So bad a friend has offered me the spare room, and if i am honest I am half tempted to take them up on it. However, it would not solve the problem and would likely make it worse especially as that would not be a long term solution.