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Flying into Spring - The Fledglings are no Fools

237 replies

ExtremelyDetermined · 31/03/2023 23:09

Time for the April Fledgling Flylady thread - regulars, returners and newbies are all very welcome, post as little or as often as you like, or just lurk, whatever suits you, but please feel free to ask if there is anything you don’t understand. Also feel free to chat!

Flylady is a system for running a household, it is a system which covers housework, a bit of self-care and quite a lot of just general organisation. It runs on a monthly cycle, hence a new thread at the start of each month. Links will be posted here daily, but do go and have a good browse of the website, just don’t sign up for the emails unless you want to add to the clutter in your inbox.

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
BRC - box of random crap

A big thanks to @icypompoms for running the previous thread Flowers. The system starts properly on Monday, but the weekend is a good time to have a look at the website and start planning.

Getting Started | FlyLady.net

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

OP posts:
Thread gallery
12
ExtremelyDetermined · 09/04/2023 15:30

Afternoon all,

Another day mostly spend outside so far. A couple of hours at the allotment this morning listening to an audio book and removing couch grass, which is frustrating but quite relaxing at the same time. It’s a race now to get all the grass clear in time for planting things out next month. Came home and pressure washed the glass of my greenhouse and some of the patio furniture, I am now a bit damp, about to have a shower/hairwash then go for a walk round a local nature reserve in a bit (hopefully the crowds will be dying down by then). We don’t do a special dinner, church or see family on Easter Sunday, so apart from the chocolate its not much different to other Sundays. We will visit my parents tomorrow though.

I’ll get started with the links again tomorrow, I agree @partypompoms we don’t really need them at weekends.

OP posts:
HungryHazelEyes · 09/04/2023 16:36

🐣🐰🐤🐇🐥🪺 happy Easter everyone! 🐣 🐰

DS's jazz fundraiser went really well. We had a good time, they enjoyed themselves and the auction went well.

I do need to get DS to start on rolls this morning, I have already pulled the roast out to get it to room temp. That will go in the oven shortly.
I need to put the cheese ball together and make the glaze for the lemon loaf. I'm taking my time this morning. I don't want to rush anything as I want to enjoy my Easter Sunday!

It's supposed to be really nice outside today the warmest day for a very long time, I believe. We should even be able to eat lunch outside

Scourgify · 10/04/2023 06:30

More lovely sun again yesterday 🌞 I stayed out longer, and listened to podcasts. All the back garden paths are swept, and some buddleia cut back. Piled up other garden rubbish as my garden bins are now full. Tried to chuck back one of next door's balls back. It hit the top of the fence and bounced back into an even more inaccesssible spot!

It looks like rain today. Kitchen catch-up is on the cards. I'm expecting some paviers to arrive today to go under the hedge in the front garden, and that'll make it much easier to keep the paths swept.

partypompoms · 10/04/2023 06:37

I need to get the home bleurgh done today and I also aim to declutter some toys that the kids have outgrown.

THATissoooFETCH · 10/04/2023 08:19

I need to do a toy declutter too, so much lying around not being played with!

Up at 7am to a poonami. Yuck

Need to motivate self ....

Searchingforsunnydays · 10/04/2023 08:56

Morning everyone, we had a lovely day with family yesterday and got back home just after midnight . It's going to be a rainy day here today so I'm thinking board games and Lego day with the kids. I'll have to split the jobs into 5 or 15 minute bite size chunks depending on the kids moods after a very late night !

What a lovely wake up call that... I do miss mine as babies, poonarmis not so much 😂

Pompom and that toys absolutely take over our home ! It's one thing I struggle to declutter . I may join you and see if dd2 will help donate 5 toys. Good luck with your declutter !

Glad you had a lovely day in the garden Scourgify , good luck with the kitchen today !

Hazel brilliant that the fundraiser went well, I hope you managed lunch outside ? Your food always sounds so delicious!

ED sounds like you had a lovely day yesterday! I love listening to audiobooks too, I always listen to them when getting my jobs done.

THATissoooFETCH · 10/04/2023 09:30

Toy declutter / reorganise has begun. Ive already set aside a fairly large pile (out of reach of my helpers) hopefully this will make downstairs easier to keep tidy. We have two living rooms, in the long run id like one to be toy free, maybe achievable once littlestTHAT is past the age of eating lego/playmobile.

Has anyone ever tried using a pool noodle or anything else to block under the sofa and stop all the toys getting under there? Or does anyone have another magical solution!

ExtremelyDetermined · 10/04/2023 09:35

Oops, I am not being a very efficient thread leader. I meant to have a look at this week’s links last night and forgot went to the pub instead

http://www.flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=-60

Today’s flight plan is here - we are moving into Zone 3, bathroom / guest bedroom.

Our mission today is to do a 27 fling boogie <cringe> in the bathroom, chuck out all the empty bottles, old toilet roll middles, anything like that, maybe do the same in the guest bedroom.

Monday is Home Blessing Day, maybe you have time today as it’s a bank holiday.

Here also is the Launch Pad link - this is helpful for delving in more depth into the different aspects of Flylady for the week. It’s easy to keep just going to the daily flight plan, but sometimes it is a good idea to have a good nose around the whole site

http://www.flylady.net/c/lp.php

FlyLady.net

http://www.flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=-60

OP posts:
Redsquirrel5 · 10/04/2023 11:29

Hi,
Happy Easter to everyone
quick visit. Haven't caught up with this thread at all. Cant stay on to read one post on the IPad. DD has hasn't time to look yet as she is flitting about seeing friends. I have more or less fallen off the Fly wagon.
It's my birthday and I am officially a pensioner now.Hopefully money will be in the bank tomorrow. After 3 years of no income. plus I am receiving my education pension which i paid into for years and I am taking a lump sum plus reduced monthly income.I will believe it when i see it in my account because it initially seemed very small but they have written again with a sum more than i was expecting so I hope the second one is right.

Hope everyone is ok and i will try and catch up. DD has been on the computer a lot and Dh is often on. Whinging starts and a sarky comment was texted to a friend about Mumsnet because i had been on the computer for a couple of hours once last monthHimself was watching a film so not like her was doing all the housework!

Best go as he has gone to pick DD up and we are going to Lakes for a ride around and a picnic if I get something made. Then meal out tonight with all and bestie and hubby. Italian as they are open and have lots of Vegan and DF options. Not far to drive either. So far have chocolates from DH and seed trough from friend😃
Hope to see you all soon but taking DD to the South this week as she starts work on the 17th. Cherry Waves!👋

ExtremelyDetermined · 10/04/2023 12:34

Happy Birthday @Redsquirrel5

I saw your namesake on the Isle of Wight last week

Flying into Spring - The Fledglings are no Fools
OP posts:
THATissoooFETCH · 10/04/2023 12:59

Happy birthday red 🎂

Im doing that shit thing of doing lots of bits of things all over the place so you cant actually tell anything has been done 😕

Searchingforsunnydays · 10/04/2023 14:32

Happy birthday Red !

Searchingforsunnydays · 10/04/2023 14:41

Ta da
🎉 some time on putting clothes away before getting a 'mummy' shout
🎉 bit of time tidying the bathroom and my bedroom......before getting a 'mummy' shout

Now sat watching Charlie and the chocolate factory with ds & dd2 and trying to write down some sort of minimum daily routine , splitting into morning, after work and evening .

Searchingforsunnydays · 10/04/2023 22:16

Evening ,

I spent the rest of the day painting dd2 nails, playing board games and watching Matilda the musical . I did manage to tidy and hoover the living room and we all ate a lovely roast chicken dinner at the table which was good.

Off to read in bed now, I'm still reading 'The silent patient' which is a good book so far .

I hope you have all enjoyed your bank holiday weekend 💐

ExtremelyDetermined · 10/04/2023 22:46

Evening all, I’ve decided to do the links tonight as I’m back at work tomorrow and will probably forget in the morning.

Had a nice day today, took DS to the football with some friends and then visited my parents on the way back.

Tuesday’s flightplan is here (will update overnight)

http://www.flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=-60

The mission is a dual one, shine your bath or shower, and make your guest bed (if you have one) guest-ready.

Tuesday is Plan and Play Day

http://www.flylady.net/d/daily-focus/daily-focus-tuesday/

FlyLady.net

http://www.flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=-60

OP posts:
partypompoms · 11/04/2023 06:49

It's so hard to declutter beautiful lovely wooden toys! But I've got two bin bags ready to go and two trikes. Also another bin bag ready for the charity shop of household stuff. I feel liberated!

Happy birthday @Redsquirrel5 An Italian with lots of vegan options sounds rare to me.

@Searchingforsunnydays that sounds like a lovely relaxed day.

@ExtremelyDetermined thanks for the links. The night before worked for me too then at least you can hit the ground running in the morning or at least know what job you are skiving from.

🐣 packed Easter decs away
🐣 cleaned house from top to bottom
🐣 finished book Three Women
🐣 sorted huge bag of craft stuff post Easter and party. That was a terrible chore.
🐣 sorted all toys into boxes to be rotated.
🐣 packed winter hats and gloves and scarves away
🐣 lol
🐣 H boarding out attic which will honestly improve our lives no end
🐣 cleaned bathroom
🐣 culled toys and books
🐣removed nail varnish
🐣 listed a few things to sell

Searchingforsunnydays · 11/04/2023 08:25

@partypompoms that is an impressive ta da list! Is three sisters part of the tattooist of auschwitz series? I've got them on my goodreads list but I haven't read any of them yet . What did you think to them ?

Tada
Morning coffee

To do
Stitches are being removed today !!!
Ds has got a football tournament this afternoon.
General chores in between
May pop to the library with dd2 depending on how the day goes 😊

HillsBesideTheSea · 11/04/2023 09:17

Based on info about the author i learnt about the author I will not be reading the tattooist of auschwitz, and there is another author whose books i will never look at again who i am considering if i require them on my shelf. The author already has my money so that point is moot. But they will not get more and I am not sure that i will be able to read the books again. And i am not talking about JKR. There is another author who is far more problematic. And i am not sure that how i missed things in the plots that are problematic, they are so so so obvious when pointed out.

I started to tidy my room and did some reorganising. Needless to say i bit off way more than i could chew and the room still looks like a complete bomb site. Which is a problem as i was only going to surface tidy to stop it looking like a bomb site <sigh> why do we do this to ourselves?

DitzyDaffodils · 11/04/2023 12:43

Hills that was my tidying method as a child. So my room almost always looked like a bombsite. Now if I'm faced with an overwhelming mess I look at each room and decide one thing that I can do to improve that room. Whether that's cleaning something, tidying something, adding something or organising something. Then I just do that one thing and move on to the next room to do the same process. I find it avoids me making more mess that way and after I've had time for a few goes round the place it all looks a lot better

Good luck to DS for the football tournament Sunny

I would have ended up keeping the wooden toys and displaying them as ornaments Pompoms. Good on you for being able to let them go

Commiserations on having to return to work ED hope you had a lovely Easter weekend. Loving the squirrel pic too. So cute

I know you can't see it visually but you're doing a good job of preventing things deteriorating further THAT. All those little bits here and there really do add up. You can get storage boxes in all sizes or use cardboard ones from packaging. If you store things under furniture there's no space for things to get knocked under there. In the longer term only buying furniture that's either high enough to hoover underneath or comes right down to the floor without a gap is a good solution to this problem

Happy birthday Red. Fingers crossed for the pension. Hope you all have fun at the lake

Glad the fundraiser went well Hazel. It sounds fun. Hope DS enjoyed himself

Ta-da's from the bank holiday weekend:

🐥 Kept to the morning and evening routines ⏰ 🌞🌚💤
🐣 Deep cleaned the bathroom, getting behind the shelving unit 🧹🛀🛁🧻
🐥 Tried on some autumn clothes 🧦🧤🧣👖👕
🐣 Decluttered 🎽👚👔🗑️
🐥 Haircut 💇
🐣Did some exercise 🏋️🚴🏞️
🐥 Two extra LOL in addition to the daily one 🧺🥻👗👔👖👙
🐣 Home blessings done 💣🕸️🧽🧼🧹🚽🛏️🛋️
🐥 Weekly planner done📊📅🔮
🐣 Meal planning done📑🍱🍲🍝
🐥 Shopping list written📝🍋🍏🍠🧅🥦🥐🍕🥬🍞🥩🧀🛒🏪
🐣 Did some weeding, digging and planting in the garden 🥀🌷🏵️🌼🌿🌲
🐥 Manicure 💅

HungryHazelEyes · 11/04/2023 16:08

Happy belated birthday Red I hope you got treated like a queen! 🧁🥳💐🍷🎂
ED I love that picture of the red squirrel 😍
Sunny I really need to write down routines as well. I'll probably need to do things a little backwards though as waking up at 5:30am is early enough, and I hate rushing in the morning. I have to leave the house by 6:40am, and have that routine down, just to get ready to leave! So things like S&S would have to be done in the evening.

pompoms well done on decluttering the wooden toys, that way other little children can get to enjoy them, and use them for what they are intended for - playing with!
Ditzy you've had a productive weekend, from the looks of it.

YesTaDas:
🐥 meal planning, with help from DS
🐥 grocery list written
I had to work yesterday, so not much else done. It's not a holiday over here, unfortunately 😕

Ta Das, so far (9am):
🪺 1 lol in the washer (it's actually done, I just need to strip our bed now)
🪺 took DS to school, so he didn't have to fight the bus with his trombone

To Dos:
🐰 more LOLs
🐰 bake cupcakes for work
🐰 go grocery shopping 😕
🐰 maybe take Jeep through the carwash & vacuum it
🐰 paint toenails (use regular nail polish)
🐰 deep clean bathrooms
There's more of like to do (and NEED to do, like workout) but that's all I'll put, for now

Redsquirrel5 · 11/04/2023 18:04

Thank you for all my birthday wishes.😘

Not really Hazel but I mostly enjoyed the day.DH baulked verbly at the price of the launch so that spoilt it a bit but i told him to just find somewhere for the picnic. He turned the car around and dropped me off, so I paid for the tickets so he couldn't moan. Bloody hell we haven't been on there for at least 10 years. I have vowed that I will take off on a sunny day in summer on my own and go again.

DD enjoyed it and drew lots of quick sketches. A quiet lad of about 8 was watching her and when she showed me one his eyes grew wider with surprise so that was worth seeing. Bless him. The picnic was yummy and when Dh went up on deck( it was cold ) I bought us a cup of tea and discovered they had Gin. Now I gave up Gin for Lent so I decided I would have one. Lakes Gin is really lovely and that is what they were serving. The weather improved and stayed dry so I enjoyed it especially after the Gin!

We had a lovely meal out. One DS didn't turn up as he was exhausted from the weekend and hadn't finished until 3am.I was a bit sad as we haven't all been together for 4 years but he did sound tired.The meal was great and just enough attention from the staff. My best friends hadn't been out for ages so really enjoyed it and they hadn't seen DD yet so plenty to talk about. I was in bed by 10pm as we had stuff to do today.I spent my first pension😊on the meal but it was worth it.

DD and I went to a pottery morning. I have made a wall sconce and DD made a clay picture which she cut in three. Her partners aunty came too and made a wall sconce too. They can go inside or out and have enough room for plants.
I had lunch at home then went to village WI where we did watercolour painting. Yeah for my arty day. I have been sitting putting a baby blanket together for Ukraine and as DD and dH went out without me I have jumped on here.

I cleaned the basin and toilet today.
Made my bed.
Did a LOL and hung it out.

I shall try to catch up on reading.

Redsquirrel5 · 11/04/2023 18:17

Great photo thanks ED. We used to have them visiting our garden. There were four on the green nesting in one of the enormous trees. Then someone in the village ran over a youngster...oh my goodness...word went around the village though the murderer didn't own up someone knew who it was. It is a wonder it didn't go back to the ancient court. Then a grey was spotted about a mile away and despite possible capture( I told the local vets) the remaining three disappeared by the following year presumed dead. No more though some have been sighted in the woods. I miss them I used to sit with a mug of tea watching their antics every morning as I came around.

Poonami yuk! Before tea...oh no!
I have the shallow Really Useful Boxes under my sofa That. A4 and some other covered boxes fro Smiths 3 for £10 in the sale. I keep my patterns and recipes in them. i used to keep boxes of toys put away and rotate them every couple of months.
They're back!

Dancingtomusic · 11/04/2023 18:24

Hi Everyone 👋 hope you are all keeping well. Big hellos to all newbies that I havent met yet.
A belated Happy Easter from me.

Red- Happy Birthday! 🎂

I have been in survival mode while working- still loving it! Its hard juggling my fraggles and work but just managing it. 😊
My fraggles are growning up and becoming more responsible and I am treasuring the time I spend with them.

The sofa of doom is currently being tackled. Dh deep cleaned the kitchen and dining room over the past 2 days. So I know i have to empty the sofa of doom.

I must let go of childrens toys. Happyland must go.....I will let the last lot of happyland toys go. 😊

Tada-
Easter decoration of my small table 🐣

Scourgify · 11/04/2023 18:57

Quite a lot got done in the garden yesterday. Almost all overhanging and/or dead
Buddleia cut back. Much tangle eliminated around greenhouse.

H laid paviers at the edge of the path at the front door. It now looks so much better. Next is to pave a similar area at the bottom of the path. I really hope this reduces the dust and grit that blow around the front door.

Today was a lazy day.

HungryHazelEyes · 12/04/2023 06:03

Ta Das:
🌞 aired out the house most of the day
🌞 LOLs x7 (mostly sheets, blankets and towels)
🌞 washed & vacuumed Jeep at the carwash
🌞 went grocery shopping, stocked up on frozen veg as well
🌞 bleached bathrooms
🌞 painted toenails (regular nail polish)
🌞 handwashed dishes
🌞 cleaned out fridge
🌞 cleaned rubbish bin
🌞 bathed dogs
🌞 to DS to get his hair cut
🌞 had DS rotate DW, I started it
🌞 got lunch ready for tomorrow
🌞 got my clothes out ready for the morning

Phew, I'm tired 😴 I also got to enjoy watching my show, relaxing on the couch.

We got a new body scales today, ours stopped working 😕 its a smart one so connects to the phone. I'm excited about it! We spent a few minutes getting it set up this evening. I didn't like the weight it put me at though, although I won't know the full damage of Easter and chocolate until the morning, the normal time I weigh 😪

🍒👋 to everyone