Flying into Spring - The Fledglings are no Fools

[ExtremelyDetermined]

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 . The system starts properly on Monday, but the weekend is a good time to have a look at the website and start planning.

@Searchingforsunnydays no it's modern stand alone book. It's had rave reviews. It's not anything like I'd usually read but I'm glad I've read it.

@HungryHazelEyes that's made me feel a lot better about the toys going!

@DitzyDaffodils I have lots more nice wooden toys and some will definitely be kept for forever.

✅ family. dentist trip
✅ lol
✅ taken bag to charity shop
✅ dropped old medication to chemist
✅ tidied house ready for family visitors
✅ made falafel and humous and salad and Welsh cakes
✅ h completed attic and we have the boxes up
✅ delivered trike and wooden toys to a friend before I change my mind
✅started new book
✅ cut cats claws

Morning all,

I’ve taken another day off work today, feeling the need for a catch up and I did have some holiday carried over from last year.

Today’s flight plan is here http://www.flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=-60

Our mission for today is to wash rugs, shower curtains etc from the bathroom and to decobweb the guest bedroom. We don’t have rugs but the bathmat goes in with the towel wash every week, but I might do the shower curtain, OTOH we are refurbishing the bathroom next month and will probably get rid of it anyway, so, we’ll see. No guest bedroom but there are cobwebs elsewhere, going to get my feather duster out.

Don’t forget, the missions are suggestions only, but the priority is decluttering, so if for example there is stuff dumped all over the spare bed, prioritise that over the cobwebs.

Wednesday is also Anti-Procrastination day, do something you have been putting off.

Good morning ☕️

Ds did amazing at the football tournament and scored a hat trick! Dentist went great aswell , stitches are out, didn't feel a thing ! I'm not back until July now to start the implant preparation.

Yesterday's ta das
👍decluttered all kitchen sides (apart from Easter eggs cluttering them up)
👍 hoovered through downstairs
👍kitchen cleared and cleaned after tea

Off to soft play with dd2 and friend this morning then she has gymnastics later on . Some flying will be done in between .

Hills how is your room coming along ? I do the same as you then wished I would've kept the tidying simple. It'll be worth it once you've finished.

Daffodils that's an impressive list ! Well done for sticking to the routines ! I am starting to think that is the key to success !

Hazel 530am is definitely early enough ! Maybe just doing tweaks on the evening routine may help. I'm going to attack the routines one step at a time with the thought that making bite size changes, it'll become more of a habit. Fingers crossed it works ! An amazing tada list , I'm not surprised you were tired! I have smart scales, I really like the app because you get to see how far you've come . Whenever I have a gain in weight, I look at the yearly graph and it really helps looking at the overall picture rather than focusing on a gain 1 week , it helps to motivate me to get straight back on being healthier and reminds me that I haven't got a date to be a particular size , just that I want to live healthier if that all makes sense . I hope you find them as useful ❤️

Red glad you mostly enjoyed your birthday! And yay for a crafty day !!

Hi dancing ! How is the sofa of doom going ? I am terrible at letting go of toys 🙈 my youngest is 6 so I know it won't be long before she doesn't want big bulky toys, but at the moment, barbies and babies have taken over our home 😂

Scourgify sounds like your garden is coming along beautifully !

Spent the morning tackling the kitchen then ran errands and did some study admin.

Re toys - i have some because it was easier to just shove it in a box in the loft, some because just in case, and some because dammit i am going to get it out of the loft at some point and just have some fun because i can.

Wasps in the house season has started, bastarding crows playing ding dong ditch/knock knock run has started.

Plan for today:
laundry
computer admin
study work.
Currently ignoring the bedroom atm.
Check car over

Tomorrow I am having a long drive day for a family event.

Morning all. Time seems to go so quickly at the moment and I keep forgetting to catch up and post here!

I have had quite a nice relaxing Easter break so far. Pretty much caught up on uni work now and got both assignments in early, so just the one left.

Unfortunately that has meant I’ve been mostly ignoring all the other stuff I should be doing (hyperfocus is not always a positive 😬) so I must somehow find the motivation for that.

I really have no clue how the housing association will manage to get to every single socket in the house for testing! Some have full-to-bursting furniture in front of them let alone all the other clutter hanging around. Normally a panic tidy means shoving stuff in our room out of sight but that won’t work this time! At least the hallway cupboard has no sockets but it’s already full.

Struggling to know where to start really so I think it’ll be a power of three day.

po3.1
❗️Gather dirty laundry in basket
❗️Clean out a couple of boxes to put Cagletini’s books in
❗️Look for rubbish to throw away

Will also delegate a few tasks to DS - sort through old toys, hang towels up and then tidying his Lego explosion bedroom

Sunny the routines have honestly changed my life. I'm so much more organized now. Your plan should work it's exactly what FlyLady recommends. It's what the babysteps are all about. I've been doing it a year and my daily routines are established but I'm still getting to grips with the days of the week routine.

Interesting FlyLady says to focus on decluttering over doing the missions ED. I've always struggled with the missions, maybe that's why. I'm trying to make decluttering my main focus this year. I'm one of those people who never really gets rid of anything. After a lifetime of bringing stuff into the home it's something that needs tackling.

Perry when I first started renting I didn't know landlords checked anything and happily went round organising my home with no regard to boiler, sockets or anything else. My advice is take the stuff that's in the way and put it on the sofa, tables, bathtub and beds.

Nice to see you back Dancing

Amazing that your crows know how to knock your door Hills 😆 maybe you're designated goodess of the crows and that's why they keep calling you to the door

The book looks interesting Pompoms

To-do:

Easter crafts
Decluttering
Read my novel
Life admin
Exercise

Thanks ditzy we will do that on the day for sure! Currently though there is far too much crap everywhere 😭🙈

I had a reasonably productive time after my previous post, sorted a few things and got rid of stuff. Then had a break but I want to get back on with things now. I am managing to be ruthless but it’s slow going as I find decision making so difficult and there’s just so much stuff everywhere!

po3.2
❗️Gather some of DH’s stuff that is among everything else so he can decide on it in one go (rather than me asking him about an item whenever I find it!)
❗️More general tidying of clutter, getting rid of stuff etc
❗️LOL (hadn’t planned to do any today but I need jeans for tomorrow)

There was once a neighbour who trained them to knock on the window for toast crusts. Several neighbours later and they still sometimes do it. Apparently if you dont ask you dont know applies to toast crusts and windows...

Study day done, some laundry done but need to rescue last load from machine, next up car checks and plant watering.

Have a good trip tomorrow @HillsBesideTheSea .

Glad you got somewhere with the decluttering @CurseYouPerryThePlatypus . We would be in difficulties if all our plugs had to be accessible too.

@DitzyDaffodils yes, I will dig out a link where Flylady explains about decluttering first. That is the only issue with this thread having been going for so long, we tend to assume people are familiar with the whole system and it can be a bit daunting, took me a while to get to grips with it. I agree about routines really helping.

@Dancingtomusic lovely to hear from you, so glad you are enjoying your work and the Fraggles are stepping up on the home front.

@HungryHazelEyes / @Searchingforsunnydays we don’t have smart scales but I have been tracking my weight on the Fitbit app on and off for about 10 years, I really like having the records to look back on and motivate me.

@partypompoms I really need to tackle toys too, DD has always been reluctant to get rid of any but she’s 17 now and has agreed some of the old wooden things, Happyland etc can go. I just need to get them out and cleaned up, some are in her room, some in the loft, some in the garden shed <sighs>

@Scourgify great work on the garden, it makes such a difference, I have often thought it ought to be part of one of the Flylady zones.

Well, I got quite a bit done today. Went to a couple of bathroom showrooms - we are getting ours partially refurbished (new flooring, lights, wall coverings, mirror etc). 2 x LOL, did put them on the line but they ended up in the dryer, it has rained so much. Then spent the afternoon on paperwork, mainly financial stuff, I had an ISA that was not getting much interest I wanted to move, but had forgotten the login details, then I decided to check my premium bonds and had forgotten the login details for that too, it all took a while. Chopped up some expired cards, emptied the recycling bin, few other small jobs.

This is the link that explains the sequence whereby decluttering is followed by missions, the logic being that you often can’t do the missions if there is too much clutter in the way.

http://www.flylady.net/d/zones/

☔️ lol
☔️ delivered two toys out of the house
☔️ middle poms to gymnastics
☔️ coffee with friend
☔️ packed winter clothes away and then it snowed here
☔️ watched toy story three with kids tonight and cris my eyes out...it's all about the toy declutter!!!

@partypompoms that film is the reason DD struggles with letting toys go, it was the first thing we ever took her to see at the cinema and she was totally convinced that toys have feelings, she didn't tell us till about 10 years later

Dancing great to see you! (Mc in disguise here)

Impressive lists, everyone! Spring clean in full swing.

I finally managed to get my evening routine ironed out:

1. home via nursery,
2. Lol on,
3. dinner on,
4. clear up after dinner/rotate DW/wipe kitchen,
5. play with McToddler,
6. dry laundry folded, wet out onto the airer,
7. toddler teeth brushed then into bath while I brush my teeth/wash face/apply evening skin care,
8. toddler into PJs, stories, bedtime,
9. future friend with nursery bag/clothes out.

And then I collapse into bed scrolling MN. It works well, although can feel a bit like a groundhog day after a while. I try to vary it with activities I do with McToddler.

I struggle to let go of the toys too, and I am a fully grown ass woman 😬😅

Morning all,

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

Today's flightplan is here. Still in the bathroom, today we are throwing away old cosmetics.

Morning everyone!!!! 😊

I am off to swimming with the kids in 10mins.
Today i needed to do a major declutter the hallway or finish tidying the sitting room. Nope - we are off on a family swim 😑.
(I must do fun things with ths kids while on Easter hols or I will feel guilty.)

Lovely to hear from you guys!
I will be back later! 🤗

Ta das:
💥Zone cleaning: surfaced antibac-ed in both bathrooms including baseboards, all potties antibac-ed properly, bathroom mats washed, harpic to all loos.
💥Started on the garden. Washed outdoor kids toys. Set up outdoor chairs/table. Pruned overhanging plants.
💥 Kitchen wiped and DW rotated

I have family over from abroad so no flying here.

See you in a couple of days and have a great weekend.

Morning all,

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

Today’s Flight Plan is here. Our mission is to scrub the bathroom basin and any countertops, I definitely need to do this one.

Another useful link is the Launch Pad, which has links to all the main areas of the site, it’s good to have a nose through these links from time to time

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

I got quite a lot done yesterday (was a half day of WFH, so no travel). Actually the DCs did quite a lot of it. All towels, bathmats and the sheets from our bed washed, line dried and back in place by bedtime, it is SO nice getting into a bed with freshly line-dried sheets.

Kitchen floor swept and mopped
Ground floor hoovered (by DS)
Washing (helped by both DCs)
Bathroom floor mopped - need to go back today with a cloth and do corners/edges.
Weekly food shop done (put away by DD)
DW rotated by DS/DD
General bits of tidying done.

I have invited friends round for coffee this afternoon, so need to get a bit more tidying done before that.

Good morning everyone ☕️

Thanks for the links ED.

Busy day yesterday, dropped dd2 off at her friends house and went to the hairdressers with dd1 for our usuals and dd1 prom trial 😍 by the time we got home , there was only time for tea before going back out for dd2 gymnastics and ds running clubs . I did clean the kitchen once home but that was about it yesterday 🙈

For those of you that are readers, I finished the silent patient - I would recommended it . I gave it 5 stars on goodreads, brilliant read . I have just started unexpected lessons in love by Lucy Dillon .

Todays plan is to start organising for back to school and work next week so I don't have an unexpected ' I need a green pen' 'my shoes don't fit' my bag is ripped' 'there's a hole in my shoe' on Monday morning ( all above things have happened on a Monday morning, just before stepping out of the door 😂)

I will catch up on personals during a coffee break later .

Morning all. Been awake since 7 but nothing achieved. Need distraction as my grandma is not at all well, I need to sort out what’s happening next week so I can visit.

Yesterday was lovely though, a few colleagues met up with our kids, had lunch on the beach and watched the Mario movie. ❤️🍄

I need to try and do some life admin as well as more tidying, but I also want to do uni reading so I don’t lose the momentum (didn’t have time yesterday).

po3.1
❗️Phone CAMHS to ask for more time with DS’ ADHD forms (Easter holidays wasn’t the ideal time for his tutors to fill in their stuff!)
❗️Pay tuition and tap invoices and book Cagletini in for the next set of dance club
❗️Bit of general tidying

Glad you enjoyed the meetup with colleagues Perry

Thanks for the decluttering link ED. I appear to be way more attached to my things than Flylady is. It's going to take me a lot longer than a few months to declutter

Those crows are so clever Hills. Hope your day out went well

Well done for a avoiding the last minute back to school dramas

Elf the routines do feel like groundhog day but the tasks need doing and there's only a finite number of hours in the day so I've come to the conclusion that feeling is the price we pay for being organized. It is nice to get to the weekend and not have to spend it tackling a week's worth of chaos

Hope swimming went well Dancing

Hope family visit is fun Pompoms

Yesterday Ta-da's:

🐮Morning routine
🐮Met a friend
🐮Life admin
🐮Decluttering
🐮Watched a film
🐮Walk on the common
🐮Tidy living room
🐮Evening routine

Today Ta-da's:

🐪Morning routine
🐪Decluttering
🐪Tidy bedroom
🐪Reorganise wardrobe
🐪Took bag of clothes to clothing bank
🐪Walked to the shop

dancing good to see you on here again!

I've had a busy few days, including baking cupcakes on Wednesday for a coworker for her birthday (we always have a potluck for birthdays). Thursday evening I helped DS cook, he keeps thinking of things that take a couple of hours to make 🤨 but he's learning, and that's the main thing. Of course, both of those were done after work, so made for a long couple of days.
Last night we had no internet (massive outage) and we played a new monopoly game, so it was really nice!

So far I've made pancakes for DS for breakfast and just finishing my 2nd cup of coffee (not quite 9:30am here).
There are things I have to do today, as well as DS doing his chores that he didn't do yesterday 🙄 hopefully I'll be back on with some ta das.
🍒👋

Some ta das:
🚲 spin workout
🧘‍♀️ yoga workout
🚿 shower, shaved, scrubbed
🌞 self tanner applied

We will be trying to find swing cushions this afternoon as we haven't replaced the ones destroyed by the squirrels last year. Hopefully they'll leave them alone this year 🤞

Did the squirrels take the cushions for nests Hazel?

Ta-da's:

⛸️ Morning routine ☕
⛸️ Decluttering 🗑️
⛸️ Trip to the park 🌄
⛸️ Tidied shoe rack 👞👟
⛸️ Reorganised hallway cupboards using drawer organisers 🗂️
⛸️ Movie night and pizza 🍕
⛸️ Evening routine 💤