Fledglings January 2023: the one without an interesting title

[CurseYouPerryThePlatypus]

Hello everyone, it’s that lovely time of year when we all aim at a fresh start! Welcome back to our regulars, and if you are new or returning, a huge welcome to you as well! Please feel free to post or lurk, whatever helps you most.

So, Flylady. That mysterious system that promises a lovely clean house! This link is a good place to read about the basic principles, but we strongly recommend ignoring the first bit - do not sign up for emails as you’ll be inundated!

www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/

If you’re new to the system, or are wanting a refresher course, the baby steps may be a good idea. Some are more useful than others, we’ve found, and stuff like affirmations may not work for you, so pick and choose what you want to try. You don’t have to do it all! Perfectionism can be left at the door, we celebrate any achievement here no matter how small it seems (this is why you’ll see our Ta Da lists as well as To Do lists!).

www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/

There are parts of the house called zones, each taking a different part of the month, and missions in those zones to do little tasks we may have neglected. If you don’t feel ready for those though, a good way to start is doing 15 minutes decluttering in that zone! Remember it didn’t get messy in a day so it won’t be fixed in a day either. Slow and steady.

Then there’s the daily focus - each day of the week has a theme, although many of us switch them around to suit our own lives.

Each day I’ll provide the link to the launch pad, which is where you can see what is meant to be done that day (but again don’t feel you have to do all of it! That way lies burnout!).

A couple of principles we talk about on here are:
Future Friend - the idea of doing something today that benefits you later, such as choosing your clothes or making your lunch the night before.
Power of Three (po3) - if you’re overwhelmed, just pick three easy tasks - no matter how small - and forget about the rest until they’re done. Then reassess and decide another three.

Finally a few acronyms:
DW - dishwasher, not dear wife!
LOL - load of laundry, we aren’t finding washing hilarious
WM - washing machine
TD - tumble dryer

Can i just go to the garden centre unaccompanied?

<hopeful>

hills Hopefully the people called down before their destination 🤞

Welcome Peach those are some good new year's resolutions!

There's a lot of good resolutions on here! Some of mine I started just before Christmas, mainly taking better care of my face. My skin was drying out though so forced me to use more moisturiser.
My resolutions/ goals:
😇 moisturise more (morning and night)
😇 move more - spin bike (Christmas present) & yoga
😇 cut back on the carbs (starting tomorrow, although no chocolate today) I've already joined the bootcamp
😇 keep alcohol to the weekends (just Saturdays if I can)
😇 no spend January (DH is on board with that) and try to continue through Feb. March has lots of birthdays so that'll be tough
😇 grocery pickup more, I spend less using that service vs going in myself (also use what we have in the house already)
😇 meal planning and prepping
😇 follow flylady better!
😇 declutter (I threw away 6 candles that I'm not keen on and won't light - on new years eve!)
😇 work goal is to learn another role. Our boss wants us all to cross train, but me achieving that goal is dependant on my coworkers and our computer system

I do want to start painting my house to make it "ours" but that isn't one I'm including in that list.
Some of them on the list I was doing last year also but life got in the way, so shouldn't be too hard to start doing again.
It looks like a lot written down, but it's focusing on different areas of my life, and some go hand in hand.
I'll try to get back on here with some ta das 🍒 👋

hills that should say calmed down 🤦‍♀️ and yes! I think you deserve a trip to the garden centre by yourself!

Definitely! Hope it happens for you soon hills <sending peaceful break-from-the-people vibes>

Peach and hazel great resolution lists!

I definitely want to spend less. Due to early wages in December this is going to be a looong month. Can’t do no spend and already had to do an order for DD1 (bras too small, needs school shirts and tights!) but we are very much trying to be as sensible as possible. We were far, far too reliant on takeaway and expensive top ups etc last year, but as I mentioned the other day the new fridge seems to have given us a much needed kick up the backside and we are finding it easier to plan around what we have in.

I am really sleepy today, everything feels like wading through treacle.

Resolution lists look fab 👍😊
I forgot to add in Feb I will start weight loss mission, I think il do calorie counting via lifesum app and exercise . I want to loose 3 st 🤞 Previously been at my ideal weight for quite a few years but gained it all back in lockdown, then started getting very poorly: resulting in being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Feeling much better now so ready to get into healthy eating and exercise again.

Mindful spending - now adding this to my NY resolutions. I don't need any clothes, and if I resist buying junk, more of my wardrobe should fit over time. Take more care over food orders.

I've earmarked next week's teachers' strike days (Scotland) as a chance to declutter kids' outgrown clothes.

Today's ta-das
Laundry under control.

Recycling trolley on pavement.

Fridge tidied, food waste bin out.

Tomorrow's tesco list done.

Dragged some boxes out of understairs cupboard to see what's there and avoid duplicating items.

Clean clothes into wardrobes.

@UsernameNotPresent you need Olbus oil
Asap

Another resolution: declutter one item a day every day.

I'm not flying properly yet until schools go back but will keep on top of things until then.

Today:
❄️ family walk
❄️ decluttered 1 item
❄️ zero spend day
❄️ lol done
❄️ cleaned bird feeders
❄️ read and make up off
❄️ shined sink

Sorry about the autoimmune stuff peach you are definitely not alone in having health difficulties on this thread 💐 many of us do - probably because it makes housework much trickier and more tiring, I find that anyway!

I don’t think I’m tired enough to sleep yet even though I feel really lethargic. I have neglected today’s Flying specifics so that’s a great start! But study took priority (although not a vast amount of time, it certainly took all my attention span).

po3.2
❗️15min declutter on landing
❗️Change Cagbunny’s water, then shine sink
❗️Be my future friend and get stuff ready for first meetings of the year tomorrow (alarm is already set, boooo)

Ta Das:
🦙 budget planner pulled out and updated for January
🦙 meal planning done
🦙 grocery list created
🦙 chicken wings pulled out of freezer for tonight's dinner
🦙 chatted with mum
🦙 replaced screen protector on phone (Christmas present)
🦙 had DH start the return of a gift he purchased for me twice, not one I could have 2 of (kitchenaid attachment- same one)
🦙 put other gifts away
🦙 set aside a bag of gel polish that I'll take to work for a coworkers DD. I won't use any of them. I found a brand that works for me and none of them are it!
🦙 lots of lazing around

I will be going grocery shopping soon (just a few things) and DD is coming over to pick up a couple of gifts she got. Then we will work on dinner and use up some food we have in the house

ta da

📺ordered some essential clothing for DD1 (and a pair of next-size-up pyjamas on sale may have fallen into my basket for Cagletini)
📺had decent lunch (I’m going to put this on my list even when it’s just a sandwich or something as often I don’t bother with lunch and then mindlessly snack all afternoon!)
📺shower/hair wash
📺read most of a uni chapter
📺dried hair (I don’t bother doing this sometimes)
📺put all the clean laundry away while listening to audiobook
📺put Cagletini to bed
📺finished reading chapter and did questions from it
📺reported income/expenses to UC
📺decluttered tutoring inbox and unsubscribed to a mailing list
📺15min decluttering on landing
📺rotated DW
📺shined sink (remembered to sort Cagbunny’s water first!)
📺Future Friend - chose top, gathered hairbrush, notebook etc and put laptop on charge

Not as busy as yesterday but quite pleased I managed to get a few bits done despite heavy brain fog. Just enjoying a comedy episode with some cake while I finally have the living room to myself, then bed for me.

Night all! Hope those returning to term time craziness tomorrow find it as smooth sailing as possible!

Did you get anything from the garden centre Hills? Some of my plants died over winter so that's something else to sort out in the spring

Weegie that made me laugh re reading about everything else getting done and not doing your own. Guilty of that sometimes too. I need to read for the motivation but I'm trying to make sure I do at least a few things first

Welcome to the thread Peach

Ta-da's:

🌲 Morning routine
🌲 Tidied the shoe rack in the hallway
🌲 Home blessings
🌲 Went to the shop
🌲 Posted a letter
🌲 Walked round to see the local Christmas lights houses one last time before everyone puts them away again
🌲 Researched which oil and antifreeze the new car needs and written it in the manual because it took fucking forever people and I never want to do it again and apparently all those numbers and letters on the bottles mean something and you can't just buy any old random shite from the petrol garage and dump it in there when it looks low like I've been doing since the dawn of time . Oops. Who knew? 😳
🌲 Reorganised the porch storage so it's neater
🌲 Painted my nails
🌲 Evening routine

📚📚📚📚📚

Tuesday 3rd January

Still in zone 1, remember to declutter for 15 mins if needed! The mission is to put out hotspots in the zone areas so quite similar really.

Tuesday’s focus is planning - sync your diaries, write a meal plan etc, whatever you need to plan.

Baby step #3 is actually just to do the first two again. Shine your sink and get dressed to (metaphorical) shoes. I like this - it reminds us that habits take time to build up and it’s not always a good idea to throw new rules in every single day!

Here’s the launch pad:

www.flylady.net/c/lp.php

📚📚📚📚📚

Post got eaten.

Today must do :-

Load of towels
Gut out further depths of understairs cupboard.

Sort & tidy into tubs. Label.

Put food away as soon as delivered.

Today try to do :-

Pair and put away all socks on drying rack at front door.

Empty "miscellaneous" drawers and general heaps.

Morning perry

Ditzy i decided the fleece onesie and working on a crochet blanket that had been in time out was a better use of my time.

Yesterday's ta da
2 loads of laundry
take done 75% of the christmas decorations
cook tea
sort what was needed for today - i was people's back up alarm clocks this morning.

Ds is not in college this morning because his glasses broke so we need to get a new pair ordered, he is needed for this and can't see anything without glasses. He's had them since he was three. and he looked bloody cute at three with glasses - as hills wanders down memory lane

today's ta da so far
fix the wifi
get 2 people up
regret not going to be earlier
rip out yet another row of the blanket because i lost stitches. - at least only the 1st side of the row is the problem now so it is improving.

I should probably finish my coffee before it gets cold and hope that i have dry clothes to wear. I really should get a wriggle on and get stuff sorted.

Thanks for the links, it's very helpful to keep me focused.

❄️ thoroughly cleaned hall, stairs and landing and de-christmased that area
❄️ cleaned front step
❄️ put Christmas clothes away
❄️ read/makeup off/teeth. That's going to be called my evening power of 3 from now on.
❄️ zero spend on stuff but did take kids to soft play. £6
❄️ decluttered 4 items
❄️ will shine sink before bed
❄️ will plan food and do shopping list

Ta Das:
🐧 cooked DH his eggs for the week
🐧 went to my hair appt (roots and cut)
🐧 dropped off return for Amazon at UPS store
🐧 took down all inside Christmas lights
🐧 put away New Year's decorations
🐧 3rd LOL in washer (sheets washed, dried and back on bed, 2 loads of towels going right now)
🐧 cooked Brussels sprouts and bacon for lunch, waiting for DH to show up so I can eat 🙄

To do:
🦷 dentist appt
🦷 more LOLs
🦷 clean bathrooms
🦷 clean front and side doors (I cleaned the French doors New Years Eve)
🦷 spin workout
🦷 gel on toes
🦷 shower
🦷 pull clothes out for tomorrow

New joiner here 👋

Welcome! I love your name as a wacky races fan but I feel we may need to shorten it to muttley rather than dick 🤣🤣🤣

Welcome dickdarstardlymuttley (Muttley for short? More polite than Dick ) and Peach. Lovely to have you with us.

Ooh I love Brussels with bacon Hazel. I should really do my toes too. There’s some remnants of polish from
months ago that DD1 shamed me for this morning

I like your evening power of 3 idea Pompoms.

For fixing WiFi Hills.

I got a surprise about oil when I went to buy some too Ditzy, totally thought engine oil was engine oil, but no. Obviously the manual for my non flash car recommended the more expensive type.

You’ve made a cracking start to the year Weegie.

YesTaDas:
🎄tree and decorations down
🎄decluttered some decorations that haven’t been used for the last few years, put all the rest away in an orderly fashion, including putting the arsehole elf and the wooden advent calendars in a separate, easily accessible, but cleverly hidden, bag to save the November 30th late night stress. November me is going to love January me.
🎄cleaned floor and de-cobwebbed tree corner, dusted and put furniture back where it belongs
🎄cleaned living room window
🎄cleared ironing pile 🙌🏻

TaDas:
🏅cleared hot spots in hallway and on dining table
🏅decluttered some clothes, books and soft toys into a charity bag ready for dropping off
🏅a million loads of washing
🏅loads of clean clothes put away
🏅5 minute room rescues in bedrooms, living room and kitchen
🏅shined my sink
🏅DLMS during the bedtime from hell

Also managed a walk, vaguely healthy food for all of us, and a couple of board games with DD1. Tomorrow I plan to tackle her pile of Christmas artwork and her craft drawer which is out of control. Send help.

Haha, great minds Perry

😁

ta da
🗒changed litter
🗒shower and dressed for meetings
🗒external meeting
🗒replaced litter because Cagbunny was Very Naughty and tipped the clean tray all over her hutch
🗒staff meeting
🗒proper lunch (used the last pizza base with veg etc)
🗒LOL
🗒work - mainly planning/admin
🗒divided LOL between hangers and TD
🗒quick tidy of living room with the Caglets
🗒bit of studying
🗒registered new velvetiser (present) and tested it. Yum.
🗒family TV time rather than individual screens - this too is a win
🗒shined sink
🗒added up today’s work hours and made a note

So not a great day Flying rules wise, just felt too tired to manage the decluttering mainly because I couldn’t immediately see what to declutter in that zone. Of course what I should really do on days like that is declutter somewhere more obvious instead, even if it’s the wrong zone. For example I could
have easily chucked some stuff in our bedroom instead. Oops.

But anyway I’m pleased with the day overall considering it was back to work and I managed some uni work too. And in particular I was “boundaried” with both - didn’t try to take the laptop/books downstairs where I’d not focus properly and get grumpy with the Caglets. I’m feeling cautiously optimistic - if I can keep this up I think life will be a bit easier as I’m not trying to be in two places at once. Here’s hoping!

Night all 🍒👋
(for newbies, cherry waves is a frequently seen sign off here, thanks to a Fledgling typo a few years ago!)

Ooh and also
🗒read a couple of novel chapters

🎉

If I can try and either read a book or listen to an audiobook for a little while each day that would be great. I did have a few different non-audio books on the go at a time in the last few years but I’ve decided not to do that anymore - just one “real” book OR kindle book, and an audiobook, at any time. It usually ended up with me abandoning whichever one was more taxing 🤣😳

Ta-da's:

😸 Morning routine
😸 Life admin
😸 Took a walk
😸 Decluttered a few bits
😸 My new coat arrived. It's wool blend, grass green and cost the princely sum of £23 in the sale. It's gorgeous and I love it.
😸 Took down Christmas decorations. This usually makes me sad, but having decided to make more of Christmas in future I'm now having weird thoughts like oh well only 11 months to go!
😸 Put away spare blankets
😸 Evening routine

You've reminded me I need to tackle the craft supplies at some point Up. I made a whole junk journal out of the odds and ends drawer and there's still most of the drawer left! Plus all the other bits and pieces in their containers. I'm guilty of keeping everything just in case but I've got way too much now.

Thanks for the reminder to declutter Perry I need to be much more focused on this in 2023.

I like your evening PO3 Pompoms. I need to read more. Going to add it into my evening routine to read a chapter of my latest novel.

Crochet blanket sounds lovely Hills

Welcome Muttley, I remember those cartoons.

Gosh Hazel you've the patience of a saint. If I'd been waiting from noon until 8pm to eat, I'd be pelting those sprouts at him as he came through the door!
Oops! 😳 me forgetting Hazel lives elsewhere and it was probably noon 5min ago slinks away quietly

🤣 Ditzy I waited an hour before he came home to eat! I had decided I wasn't waiting anymore and he walked in the door as I sat down to eat, so it worked out okay in the end. I'm 7 hours behind you so it was just after 1pm when I posted, he walked in shortly after 😁

More ta das:
🍫 dentist appt
🍫 both bathrooms S&S
🍫 2 more LOLs
🍫 watched Bad Moms Christmas movie
🍫 spin workout
🍫 shower
🍫 leftovers for dinner
🍫 rotated DW

I still haven't got my toes done, I was going to while watching the movie, but lost motivation. I just have to get my clothes out for the morning (lunch is ready for me to just grab in the morning)

Welcome Muttley

Sorry for lack of other personals, I'm really tired and sleepy all of a sudden (just gone 10pm here) and I'm back to work in the morning.
🍒👋 to everyone!