Flylady Fledglings February: Thawing out of winter

[freezingpompoms]

Hello everyone, iWelcome 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.

This is an incredibly helpful thread and the system can be confusing but someone on here will be able to answer your questions and get you on track.

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

ta da
👻LOL
👻cleaned planner board
👻hung clothes up to dry
👻towel LOL
👻checked diary (book and online)
👻sorted new sticker chart for Cagletini
👻put Cagletini to bed
👻sorted meds for the week
👻wrote the week on the board

Glad I have done those few bits to get ready for the week ahead, it’s always a bad start to Monday if they aren’t done! I find it difficult to build new habits but the weekly planner board and sorting meds do usually work well.

Ta Das:
🍓 last LOL put away
🍓 sorted out bathroom cupboards a little better, I can't get my new organiser to fit so I'll be returning that 😪
🍓 put my return and a box of donation items in the Jeep, ready for tomorrow
🍓 cooked dinner - salmon and roasted veggies
🍓 got my lunch ready for tomorrow
🍓 took a shower while DH & DS rotated DW
🍓 wiped countertops (now the house smells like fish!)

I just have to get my clothes out ready for tomorrow and take my meds
🍒👋 to everyone!

Perry well done for being your future friend!

Last night's ta da's

• dishes washed + put away ✅
• kitchen tops cleaned n antibac'd ✅
• downstairs general tidy up ✅
• both bathroom basins cleaned n antibac'd ✅
• both loos cleaned n bleached ✅

This evening's to do list

• weekly food shop
• strip beds and make the beds

To do during the week

• catch up on the overflowing laundry basket
• hoover downstairs
• mop kitchen floor
• mop bathroom floors

Morning all. Tired. Currently supervising Cagletini making a book with lots of cutting, sticking and writing 💜 glad I’m not having to rush off anywhere. But I have a quick team catch up at 9 so really should get moving!

po3.1
❗️Breakfast/water/after-food meds
❗️Laundry in dryer
❗️Put a bra and clean top on 🤣

@CurseYouPerryThePlatypus you getting the chalets helping is excellent training for them. You are doing them a favour in the long run.

Thanks Cherry and Ditsy. I am waiting for a phone call from GP. Feeling a bit better but now I have a bad back as well probably from lying about too much. Went to Mass yesterday but realised i maybe shouldn't have as I felt pretty crap.Had lunch then picked up for choir as the person in charge is away and i don't have anyone else's number. Mistake. I took them but left after an hour and got another committee person to take them home. Grabbed a few bits at Co op on the way home. I had roast chicken in a bag, potatoes, squash, carrots and cabbage.Just had a little bit of squash and cabbage it was delicious. Dh made it while I shoved all cake ingredients into a bowl and sat mixing.Then discovered going black bananas, so online search and tweaked method ( all in one Victoria recipe and chucked in 3 slant chopped bananas)to make Banana Sponge Pudding with Butterscotch sauce.Patience needed for sauce.Oh my it was delicious! Left overs as no kids here. There was a Peanut Butter and Banana recipe too oh my I have 2 more bananas and needing to be used PB.

Tonight stir fry red pepper, carrot, onion and if a tin of Chinese veg that plus stripped chicken in bought sauce and egg noodles. Pudding leftovers.

Tomorrow carcase and any leftover chicken for Chicken Broth. Trifle planned if I feel well enough.We bought a jar of fruit in alcohol after Christmas sale purchase so said to DH I would make a Black Forest Trifle for him. Delayed.

Flying zilch. Wiped sink. I did do half of Baking Cupboard last Monday. Discarded flour not used and washed Tupperware. I hate throwing out but checked and it needed to go.

We could add in our 1 a day Declutter item on here.What do people think?

I think working and families is hard.
I find it hard as sentimental in buckets and also brought up my war teenagers so bags, string etc in case you need it. Recycling wasn't a thing then it was a way of life.My aunt was Queen on Make Do and Mend.She left a substantial amount so could afford to not do that.She was serving in the war and billoted out of Edinburgh before that. Dad was a Cadet and not old enough to go. Mum was in another country and was working from 15 in the family Bakery then a Chemist and then became a nurse for injured airmen, soldiers, navy until she married dad. Her boyfriend was sadly killed in the war when she was 17. I think a lot of this has bearings on our family. One sister is tidy no kids. The rest of us are not tidy. I like it tidy and hoped to achieve this when mine left home but it has not happened yet. I have some tidy rooms. Bedroom get dumped no home stuff but getting less. Room of Doom could be on hoarders but is only about 6'6" x 8'8" It used to be tidy when the kids were here but now houses craft stuff and some of DDs work. I plan to remove hers to DS3 attic where her house contents are and her art work so it is all together. Then I plan to start making the projects I have and tidy/ditch some.I said this last year, maybe the year before. Oh dear!

ED well done on Everhot. Ours needs doing again after cooking steak for friends on hotplate. Dh doesn't ever do it. Hmmm!

Hoping DH is going to help me change sheets later he has gone to a funeral.I have missed two in a fortnight. This one is awful. Dhs friend/s from childhood.

@Redsquirrel5 yes definitely to adding one decluttered item a day!

I also really enjoyed reading about your family and hearing about your meals for the week. My mouth is watering!

We are having left over chickpea pie tonight and I've made some random fridge item coleslaw: carrot, red onion, kale, sprouts and thrown in some nuts and seed, some new potatoes and cut up avocado.

Red - sorry you are unwell. The EH was a slog, I mustn't let it get that bad again. I switched off the hotplate and top oven for a few hours but it was still slightly warm. Then used lemon juice for the grease (rubbed a halved lemon over it). Then a paste of Barkeeper's Friend and water rubbed on and left to dry for the burnt on stuff - it was mostly the edges and lid. Lots of scraping. When the hotplate itself needs doing I throw ice cubes on any food residue (with it switched on), that works really well.

❄️ home bleurgh 4 hours
❄️ cleaned stove and took knobs off as told to by Flylady 😇
❄️ washed kitchen window and door and cat flap
❄️ visit library
❄️ sat in sun and read whilst baby napped
❄️ helped child poms with homework

To do:
🥶 clean fridge down
🥶 clean downstairs loo
🥶 clean marks off skirting boards
🥶 clean bath

TUESDAY:*
*
✅ clean the cutlery drawer out and make sure no other random bits are living in there.

✅ declutter 15 mins

✅ shine sink

✅ NEW PAMPER MISSION: I haven't actually looked a this section before but here's an excerpt from it: Take a few minutes and read a favorite book, magazine, story, etc. Give your body and your time to rest and relax and enjoy something you love! This is an easy way we can pamper yourself

REMINDERS: I've been keeping an eye on this section and it says there's some Monday reminders but I can't see that they actually change each day? I'll keep checking but top of the list is 15 mins loving movement. I really do not keep on top of this myself.
Here's a link to the reminders section:

www.flylady.net/d/launch-pad/mondays-reminders/

Yesterday ta-da's:

🗝️ Morning routine
🗝️ Painting my nails 💅
🗝️ Reading my new book 📚
🗝️ Evening routine

Today's ta-da's:

🌞 Morning routine
🌞 Home blessings
🌞 Decluttering
🌞 Life admin

To-do:

💚 Meal planning
💚 Take a short walk
💚 Evening routine

That's interesting about the nutrition courses Peach, thanks

I remember discovering the power of No, ED. I believe it's the most underrated word in the English language

Sorry for all your losses Red. Three funerals in a fortnight is a lot. Hope you're ok.

I'm the same with having so many unfinished craft projects. I won't list my decluttered items here because it's one more thing to remember and my posts are long enough as it is 😁

UNP wow 🤯 decluttering goals. If that was my criteria I could clear 60% of my home into a skip. Which makes me realise what a shocking amount of Just In Case stuff and Things I'm Not Really Bothered About there is. I need to get more ruthless

I love the idea of competitive Home Bleurgh Pompoms 😂 although I'd surely lose.

The book is one of those you can't put down. Every time I get a cuppa I'm reading it and I'm 1/4 of the way through already.

What you say about surfaces makes sense. I love ornaments and although it doesn't take too much time to remove, wipe shelves and replace, somehow it's the motivation to do it on top of everything else that needs doing. If the surfaces were clear I wouldn't even need to think about it. I envy your cupboards, my place has almost none. Maybe I need to look into that.

Hope your meds adjustment isn't too unsettling Perry. I hear you with the struggle to keep all the plates spinning and make improvements at the same time.

My bedroom is the main dumping ground too. I'd like everything to have a place and it kind of does, but so often that place is the floor! I mostly avoid having people in. Maybe I'll get Marie Kondo's book. I spend the 15 FlyLady declutter trying to find something I'm happy to part with and sometimes fail 😔

Hazel "can't find it" and "didn't know we had it" is how I've ended up with multiples of things. So maybe cupboards with shelves is better than cupboards with drawers.

I used to be on the last version of that decluttering thread and never counted outs, nobody minded so I wouldn't let it put you off joining.

@DitzyDaffodils what's the book called again? I've scrolled back but can't find it

ta da
🥨made a book for Cagletini
🥨LOL in dryer
🥨work meeting
🥨reading practice with Cagletini
🥨helped Cagletini make a poster with last week’s painted maths stuff
🥨signed permission slip for DD1
🥨another meeting and a bit of follow up stuff

Awww DD1 has just informed me that it was a year ago today that we got Cagbunny!

Awww Perry cagbunny is gorgeous!

pompoms re pampering, I'm trying to spend at least one night a week taking a long relaxing bath. I usually just take a shower every night, but for the past few weeks I've actually spent a little more time relaxing. I'll add Epsom salts, lavender bubbles, light candles, keep the lights low. Sometimes I'll put a face mask on too.
I plan on taking one of those baths tonight, but it's because my I tweaked my back today and I need some relief 😪

Nothing done today, I worked all day. DS did his chores today so the house is fairly clean 😍

Red I hope you feel better soon and get some answers!

Oh I just thought of something I did do today, I donated my box to the charity shop!

Ditzy I'm the opposite of you, I invite people over so I'm forced to clean up and tidy! 😁 ... and maybe hide some things from view, in a room no one goes in 🤫

Lollie it looks like you're doing good with flylady!

I will need to deep clean my kitchen tomorrow, for sure!

I've been awake since 1:30. Child woke up briefly and I couldn't go back to sleep at all. I'm going to need a lot of coffee to get through today. This is getting a bit off a torturous routine now so I'm going to try the podcast where nothing much happens and earphones tonight. I used to use it before and it's boring enough to make you sleep.

podcasts.google.com/search/Nothing%20much%20happens;%20bedtime%20stories%20to%20help%20you%20sleep

@CurseYouPerryThePlatypus love the rabbit. My child would do anything for a rabbit. Would you recommend than as a good pet?

@HungryHazelEyes envious of the bath. If I have a bath two kids climb in and then it's all funnels and cups and ducks galore.

@DitzyDaffodils I finished my book last night and cried my heart out. So funny how a book can do that. It was The school for good mothers Jessamine Chan.

As for home bleurgh times I just don't know how an hour is realistic. I'm either very slow or am doing more than I should but either way I'll stick with my 4 hours. I like to know the whole house has been done for the week. Then Flylady gives me the prompts to do stuff I jus wouldn't think of like taking knobs of cookers and cleaning vents.

Don’t worry pompoms it is long established here that the home bleugh is not realistic time wise! In a busy family home it just can’t be done in an hour.

Cagbunny has been a great first pet, we adopted her from a family who developed allergies. Quite easy to care for, water/hay/dry food/veggies (there’s quite a bit rabbits shouldn’t eat), and it does help that she’s litter trained 😂 needs brushing and nails trimming, injections annually. Ours lives indoors and goes on the grass on warm days, I like that she’s indoors and hops about around us but the hay gets everywhere 😂. Rabbits should generally live in pairs, but she had never bonded with another and the vet agreed it would be too stressful for her at the ripe old age of six.

Annoyingly I woke up even before DH’s alarm today, and it’s going to be a really long day. I’m a bit sad as I can’t take Cagletini to a home ed event today - work is stressful at the moment and it’s making me resent missing out on stuff like that. It does make more sense for DH to go though.

A hit the ground running day.

So far i have stood in the kitchen and wondered where the fuck to start, so i wandered into the lounge and wondered where the hell to start and then tried to go up the stairs and sighed at the giant laundry pile that appeared from ds actually putting ALL his laundry out and not just the bit he wanted washed. 'Can't wash socks if they don't appear in the laundry, and if you want clean socks they need to be put into the laundry' has apparently been taken to heart.

So just finishing my not cofffee coffee and trying to find the will to move. I suspect that i am 5 and i need to bribe myself.

@CurseYouPerryThePlatypus gorgeous bunny 🐰 She looks huge! I love rabbits. I would have a pair but we have a stupid paved backyard and I think the rabbits need a proper lawn to have a run on. Will get some when we buy a house at the end of the year 🤞

@Redsquirrel5 get well soon 💐

Yesterday's ta da's

• weekly food shop ✅
• beds stripped n made ✅
• ds's bedroom tidied ✅
• washing machine on x2 loads ✅
• dishes washed n put away ✅
• kitchen tops antibac'd ✅
• living room tidy up ✅

😁 it’s quite a misleading photo, she’s actually fairly small (she is a dwarf lop). She’s quite happy with cuddles now and makes the cutest buzzing noise when she’s excited! I had no idea they did that when we rehomed her - confused the hell out of me at first, I thought I was hearing things 🤣

Right, whole team meeting in five minutes, best go <sigh>

Awwww Cagbunny 💖🐇🐾

Pompoms it's We All Have Our Secrets by Jane Corry

Hills I hate those days when it all feels so overwhelming

Ta-da's:

💛morning routine

To-do:

🎗Go to pharmacy
🎗Buy birthday cake
🎗Buy leggings
🎗Declutter
🎗Evening routine

hills that's frustrating! As far as each room goes, can you start in one corner and make your way around the room? That's what I do if I don't know where to start.

pompoms here's some coffee ☕️
When mine were little I would either wait until they were in bed to take my bath, or DH had strict orders to keep them out.

Oooh Lollie buying a house is exciting!

Perry it does suck working sometimes, missing out on things with the DC. With DD I didn't have to work until she was 2 1/2. With DS, he was 9 weeks old, but I didn't miss any of his firsts, thankfully.

To Dos:
☕️ cook DH his eggs
☕️ wash bedding
☕️ take dogs to groomer
☕️ deep clean kitchen, including the top of the fridge 😱
☕️ video chat with Mum
☕️ take Dobby to the vet (last round of vaccinations, I think)
☕️ wash a gentle cycle LOL
☕️ cook dinner
☕️ fit a spin workout in somewhere

I still need my 2nd cup of coffee, I'm enjoying sitting on the couch 🤫 (it's almost 8am, when DH gets up - I'll need to start on his eggs then)