Summer holidays are coming, fledglings flying into the fun.

[HillsBesideTheSea]

Welcome to a long running chatty thread. We love new faces so feel free to join us as we attempt to tame the chaos and building routines using the fly lady system.

We have a few words and phrases that we use that might not make sense, just ask and someone will explain. I'd like to explain but the brain noped hard and i can't think of any

a few rules cos i like rules
🍄you are never behind. Jump in where you are with what needs doing because everything comes around again

🍄you can't clean clutter. lets be honest you can but it is going to take 50 times as long to get the basics done and you might loose the will to continue in the process. So that pile of paperwork that needs dealing with, yeah we all have one. Deal with it don't ignore it.

🍄be kind to yourself. chaos does not happen in one day unless you decide to knock down a wall but that's a different kind of chaos so it is going to take more than one day to get rid of it. Also habits take time to build and reinforce.

So tomo we start with the baby steps and you can find the information about it here

In case the links go awry the launch pad which is a good place for starting to explore the system more can be found here

Saturday is family fun day so do something fun with the family.
You can define what fun means to you and your family. It doesn't have to be big and flashy, ie could just be watching a film together.

@BloomingHazel hope you had a good 4th July and were able to celebrated despite the recent drama

👋 hi everyone.
I have a grand announcement!
TaDa!!!
My dining room is tidy and free of horse stuff! It's all hollow and echoey now 😁
I'm now in line with FlyLady zones.
More TaDa's
Took three more bags of clothes and put them straight into the Sally Army bin at the co op.
Bundled up old electrical items for the next recycling day.
Boxed up a few more bits and pieces, books, CDs and DVDs to go to charity.
ToDo
I've got a box of random stuff waiting to be put where it belongs.
All my horse stuff is boxed into categories but needs a bit of brain work to arrange it so I can find what I want easily. I've got garage shelving and DP is good at organising that sort of stuff so hopefully he'll give me a hand.
Then once everything is put away I can put my feed bins (which are living in the bathroom) in the lean to and I'll then be able to access the cupboard where my hoover, mop and broom are supposed to live. Phew!
How are you all doing?

Things are not good here. Gonna drop links whilst here.

Launch pad here
babystep here
Thursday is errand day.

@HillsBesideTheSea Sorry to hear things aren't good, hope things improve for you soon 💐

Oh they wont. People took a holiday, came back full of throwing weight about and attitude. This will go one for weeks until they get bored of it. Only the damage will be done and if i win the lottery and move. Strict non contact will be the result.

Ah Hills, what a pain. Sending ☕ and🍷. It's so tough. We can fantasize about winning the lottery together.

Cherrydog congratulations on taming the horse stuff! Stellar effort on decluttering. I've declared a war on BRC (box of random crap) in our house, these tend to proliferate the moment one let's up a bit 😂

Ta das:
😎Bathrooms bleached within an inch of their lives, including shower screen seals, windowsills and awkward corners.
😎All surfaces antibac-ed, including behind the toilet.
😎 All bathroom toys antibac-ed.
😎 Bathroom mats washed.

Tomorrow it's kitchen (this will be quick, I am keeping on top of it daily), piano room, and dining room 🥵 Then my blitzing the house mission will be complete.

sunny I feel overwhelmed with everything we have to do. I keep hoping I'll wake up from this nightmare at any moment, and it's just not happening 😭
I am making progress in the kitchen though. I've been sorting things out too, decluttering as I go. I've done multiple loads in the DW, wiped cupboards and drawers. I'm still not done. I'm doing this between work, replacing items, we put the pool up (had just got a new one) and been sorting through clothes as they will be picked up tomorrow 😱 DS has a lot he is getting rid of, so that will need replacing soon.

hills our 4th of July was good, quiet, and avoided the crowds. We spent a little bit of time in the pool, which was nice. Then went to ILs for dinner, so we didn't have to cook! It sounds low you're going through a bad time. Is there much more for building work to be done in the house? It seems like it's been going on forever! I don't know how you do it.

Elf that reminds me, I need to bleach the bathrooms tomorrow. I have that as my day off this week as well as Tuesday, since it was a holiday 🇺🇲

Cherry well done on reclaiming your dining room!

Hazel is there a chance of hiring a cleaner for few hours to take some of the load off you to save your sanity? Just so they do the worst of it for you all of it, and you finish it off in your own time?

No, everything will be cleaned, per restoration company, but because we want to stay in the house I'll have to clean it before then. They'll be in at the end to clean the main floor. The other option is to stay at alternative accommodation 🙄
Honestly I have 2 other people in the house who can help but don't.

After reading back what I last put, I should clarify. I'm the one rotating the DW with stuff from the cupboards and drawers, but DH & DS did inventory the fridge. I'm also the one who has been wiping everything down, but DH & DS have been sorting their clothes out for pickup tomorrow.
I feel like I just need to come myself about 3 times!
I think we have most textiles sorted out ready for tomorrow, but I don't really know what to expect.
I bought temporary curtains today, so we have window coverings while ours are being cleaned, as well as makeup etc that I needed to replace.
I also took the Jeep through the carwash tonight, all after a full day of work.
I'm exhausted, but now sitting on the couch with my feet up, drinking a bottle of cider!

OMG! I didn't proof read before posting!
I feel like I just need to come myself about 3 times!
That should read:
I feel like I just need to clone myself about 3 times! 😳😳😳🤦‍♀️

@BloomingHazel I read that 3 times thinking WTF? 🤣🤣

I've had 2 nights in a row waking up at 3am and not being able to get back to sleep. I've been up, fed dogs, washed last nights pots, loaded DW and come back to bed with a cuppa.
ToDo's
I washed a pair of curtains and hung them up wet in the dining room. This morning they look terrible, all crumply and appear to have shrunk as the lining is sticking out the bottom. They're just a cheap cotton pair and I thought they'd be OK to wash.
I'll iron them which will be a novelty for me after several years of not ironing anything 😳😆

@BloomingHazel! You are doing so well, it must be soul-destroying seeing so much of your stuff dirty and damaged. Sending hugs.

@DomesticElf sounds as though the nesting stage has arrived!

@HillsBesideTheSea sorry the people are being so problematic and that the building work is never ending.

@CherryogDog well done on the dining room declutter!

@Searchingforsunnydays your prom day plans sound great, we had that last year but DD wanted minimum fuss so it was all very low key here.

I am slowly putting our house back in order after the building work. I have invited friends for coffee tomorrow to incentivise my efforts. Need to order some new coat hooks, the ones we had in the hall were those ones on strips of pine, they are a bit dated looking and are being relegated to the understairs cupboard.

It would be ending if people didn't keep deciding to knock down walls and remodel etc. Some of it is wear and tear and forgivable like the wall in the garden that needs rebuilding after 30 yrs.

ds went out last night. I had to pick him up early this morning so he could be back for work. Needless to say there are 2 very over tired grumpy people in the house atm. Definitely my kid then

I am going to find proper clothes rather than the oh shit overslept can't drive in nightstuff stuff i threw on and go run errands. If i am feeling posh i might even do my hair. If not I have a bobble and will brush it later. I should care, i don't. Banks have all changed their hours around here. One is only open 10-2, the other mon-thurs. It is a nightmare when you need both. Especially as it is now a 45min plus drive to get to the banks. And it has to be done in branch in person <sigh> I want the old cash based system. Cashless is an absolute PITA! but in a use it or lose it environment we are losing cash based economy stupidly fast.

But then i am not one who likes self serve tills. They are slow, don't work properly and if you have ever worked a till soul destroying frustrating. I just want to go beep, beep, beep, beep done. Not beep, think about it, no you beeped the then next thing too quick so unexpected item, wait for a person, ok you can now beep the next thing. Arrrrgh! Thankfully plu codes no longer reside in my brain because the only time i used them that was a nightmare.

I annoyed a friend yesterday because not only did I only have three things, I went through a till with a person and i paid in cash. I was unnecessarily delighted, it was so easy. I can use modern technology, I don't like modern technology. Makes everything so slow. It is a delightful day when the old card Swipe swipe machines come out because the tech has gone down. I love the look of confused on the younger people's face, and the nostalgia on the older faces. I will admit though that is a slow thing when the swipe swipe machine comes out (yeah no idea what it was called, but if you know what i mean you know what i mean)

Not sure if anyone remembers me but I was on here then I dropped my phone down the loo. Then I had an old temporary phone that was hell to use which just made me not use it much. But I'm back.

Aiming to be fully flying again by Monday but glad I've found you.

Of course we remember you @partypompoms welcome back. Have you got a new phone now?

I have got a VERY busy day tomorrow so I have just got ahead of myself by decluttering my car and handbag while I watch DS play hockey.

Hello pompoms 👋 of course we remember you! It's good to see you back again
ED you overachiever you! I washed my Jeep yesterday, but it was long overdue. I hope you enjoy your coffee visit from your friend!
hills I think I know what you mean by a swipe swipe machine. It wouldn't work here anymore as none of the cards are embossed, just printed. They started switching them over a few years ago.
Cherry I've washed curtains before with a liner, it also happened to me. I think they should have been dry cleaned, but I have never taken anything to the dry cleaners. Not even my wedding dress 😳 it's getting dry cleaned now, along with everything else being washed. It's only been over 20 years! 😳

Ta Das:
💤 bleached both bathrooms
💤 vacuumed main floor twice
💤 cleaned out 3 cupboards & 2 drawers in the kitchen, handwashed a bunch of dishes that can't go in the DW
💤 wiped said cupboards & drawers and put things back
💤 finished sorting out clothes for textile cleaners
💤 did the walk through with said people, pointing out what needs to be taken
💤 tried not to have a nervous breakdown while 2 strangers were gathering up a bunch of our stuff. I was so anxious!
💤 had DS help me inventory stuff from both bathrooms & add to the shopping list while I wiped everything down. It was so bad!
💤 cleaned the floor in kitchen & dining room
💤 enjoyed the flying visit from DD as she was here for an appt & saw the house for the 1st time
💤 helped DH hang the temporary curtains while dinner was cooking
💤 watered my plants outside
💤 remade our bed with temporary bedding
💤 recovered couches with other blankets (normal ones are being washed, should get them back Monday)
💤 currently sitting on the couch with my feet up, finally!

I'll attach a picture of how bad the bathroom cupboard was, the one off our bedroom. It's mostly come up, but there is a little discolouration after cleaning it (it looks yellowish). You can see where bottles were sitting during the fire! I'm thinking I'll need to replaced that plastic drawer set. It's cheap anyway.

Back to work tomorrow, then another busy weekend. We have a lot to do still, especially with gathering prices of everything we're throwing away. I threw away 2 big bin bags from the bathrooms today! Also sent away 6 other big bin bags with the textile cleaners to go and not come back, so lots of decluttering done here.
Sorry for the long post!
🍒👋

Hazel yikes, that's a very busy day. Sounds like you are making a good progress. I bet you can't wait until this whole nightmare is over

Hi Pompoms! Did you manage to replace your phone?

ED oh yes, nesting strikes again. I am the size of a hippo now, with a similar agility. Less than a month to go, which is a bit scary.
Hope your busy day goes smoothly.

Yes tadas:
💃Kitchen front cupboards cleaned, all kitchen appliances wiped, surfaces wiped, DW rotated
💃Quick hoover around the house of the high traffic areas
💃Dining room: all surfaces antibac-ed, upholstered dinning room chairs cleaned with upholstery cleaner, hoovered all dark corners
💃Piano room: dusted and antibac-ed surfaces, hoovered. This room is the one that has an airer in it when the weather is a bit pants. It used to live upstairs during the colder months, but I am not lugging it around up and down daily, so I have to put up with its ugliness downstairs for the ease of shoving it outside when the weather behaves.

I think house is pretty much ready, I will just put up a Next2Me at some point next week and that's it really. Oh, and I need to pack hospital bag just in case 😬
I remember with McToddler it was ready from about 30 weeks! 😂

Hills that's why I like Lidl! They are so quick through the till you really have to be on top of the packing. I do depend a lot on cashless now though, I can't remember when was the last time I paid anything in cash.

As someone who worked in retail in the 1980s I remember the swipe-swipe machines well, also PLU codes and tills that didn't tell you how much change to give (we were trained to do it upwards as we picked the coins out of the till and gave them back "that's 35, 40, 50, 3 pounds, 4, 5 thank you".). I have gone back to using people-tills for my main weekly shop after a couple of years of self scanning in the aisles as it is so much more efficient. Not having to scan as you go round makes it so much quicker, then I sort my stuff into cold, ambient, fruit/veg on the conveyor belt for my three shopping bags which end up far better packed than they are when I do them as I go round. I still use self scan if only buying a few things though.

@HillsBesideTheSea I'm old enough to remember the machines you swiped your card along the top groove. But I also remember a gadget where you put your card flat on the surface and the cashier slid a thing over it, to take a sort of photo copy, but I may gave got that completely wrong 🤔
TaDa's
Other than daily routines nothing much, a few errands. The bits and pieces from the DR that I put in the kitchen had made their way back onto the DR table last night but I gritted my teeth and put them on to today's Todo list. They weren't in the way of anything but DP's a man and they work in mysterious ways.

Hazel - yes our cards are no longer embossed which is why i am kind of nostalgic for it.
Sorry you are having so much extra work with the clean up. It is impressive the difference between where things were and were not.

Cherry - yes the machine that you put the card in flat and then swipe swipe to take a copy of the card and hand wrote a load of details.

ED - thankfully by the time i did retail we got told how much change to give. My counting is notoriously terrible.

Blimey Domestic elf - that is coming around fast. Hopefully you can enjoy the nesting.
Our Aldi have just installed self service tills and seem offended that i do not want to use the damn things. One of the good things about aldi and lidl is the fastness of the tills.

Friday is date night, and clean out your car/purse.
launch pad is here
babystep is here

I just stand by the self service tills and look hopeless until a member of staff wanders over and does it for me.
I've just ironed my curtains which say machine washable at 40° so no idea why they shrunk, and the lining didn't.
While I had the iron out I ran it over some of my clothes. I don't usually iron my clothes, most of them are stretchy, and those that aren't, well I'm fat enough to fill the wrinkles 😁

Actually I do wish Aldi had some self service tills, I know the checkout staff are fast but if you only want a few things having to stand in a queue behind 2 trolley loads is annoying. Lidl have them and I pop in more often now because of it (I don’t use either for my main shop though).