Flying through August & the summer holidays with Flylady!

[BloomingHazel]

Welcome to this long running thread, we may seem clicky, but all are welcome to join in!

Do NOT sign up for the Flylady emails - it's an excessive amount sent every day.

There are Baby Steps for starting out, add one thing at a time to start good habits and routines.

There are 5 zones that we will rotate through, don't worry about finishing it all this month, it'll come around again next month! Flylady is NOT about perfectionism!

Habit of the month of August is Laundry

Daily missions: each day of the week has a different mission.

• Monday: Home Blessing (or as we call it, home bleugh)
• Tuesday: plan & play
• Wednesday: anti-procrastination
• Thursday: errand day
• Friday: clean car & purse out and date night (what's that again?? 🤔)
• Saturday: family fun day
• Sunday: renew your spirit

Common acronyms we use:

• LOL: load of laundry (washing is certainly NOT funny!)
• DW: dishwasher, we are not rotating wives by any means, although an extra pair of hands could come in handy sometimes 😆
• LMS: lose/lost my shit
• DNLMS: did not lose my shit

I'm sure there's more I haven't mentioned, feel free to ask us to explain something. I'll try to update links every day, although if you can, it's worth downloading the app, you can even have it send you notifications (although I only have it for when the zones change).

As a side note, this is my first time leading this thread, please be patient with me if I miss something. We really are a friendly bunch!
Links are below 👇 if I happen to not add links in time, they do update at midnight for you.

Launch Pad: www.flylady.net/d/new-links/

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

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

The cucumber tally is up to 21 now. I gave 4 away last week, pickled about 8 of them, made a giant batch of tzatziki with 4 of them, ate one in salad and am going to pickle todays ones again. They are only about 8" long thankfully, not like shop ones. Still lots more baby ones on the plants.

@HillsBesideTheSea sorry about the covid, what a pain.

@DomesticElf no one here would notice a freshly dug up patio <taps side of nose>

Elf sounds like you’re dealing with three kids there not two! 🤬

I should really get changed, taking DS to the park soon to meet some home ed friends while I chat to the mums! DH is doing the beading stuff round the edge of the floor. Hoping when we get home we can build Cagletini’s bed, I also want to clean the Kallax and hopefully start unpacking some of her stuff into that and the storage in her bed.

I also have two requests for ideas please…

1. What’s a good way of labelling the fabric baskets that fit in a Kallax? I don’t really want to write on them with a sharpie and I assume stickers will peel off.
2. What could we attach to the top of the Kallax (it’s 4x4 squares) to further divide the room? I don’t want to attach another Kallax on top. It would be good to increase storage somehow, maybe baskets with something light like cuddly toys, but I also don’t want to encourage climbing on said Kallax to reach them! DS would happily put bigger Lego models on them but that will be a bugger to clean as well as not really dividing anything.

Any ideas would be gratefully received!

@HillsBesideTheSea courgette! I knew it was a long green thing 😅

Cherry we are in the US so have different options for vehicles. We got a Dodge Ram 2500, diesel, to pull our camper without struggling.

hills I hope you test negative soon! It's hard to rest when you're feeling better, I completely understand that, but make sure you do get plenty of rest.

ED 21 cucumbers! 😱

Sing do you have handles on the baskets? Luggage tags maybe? If no handles, safety pins on the inside and hang the luggage tags on the outside (I hope that makes sense).

Sorry for lack of links, I'll try to add some shortly

Elf I'm at the ready with a shovel! It may be time for a stern word with DH. He didn't even do any laundry when you were in the hospital?! And you should be resting currently! 🤬 I'm angry at him for you. It may be time to unleash some rage on him, I don't think I could bit my tongue and would tell him to either step up or go back to work!

Thanks hazel they are fabric cubes basically but there’s a flap of fabric at the top that could hide a safety pin! Love the tag idea!

Just got back from the park, was lovely to see friends for ages.

Thursday is errand day.
Today's mission is to scrub our countertops. Nice one thing at a time, do not clear them completely as that can get overwhelming. Put away anything that doesn't belong.
Baby Step https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-10/ use a timer, set it for 15 minutes, do 15 minutes of work (declutter or clean), then set it for another 15 minutes and sit down with your feet up.

Ugh that should say move one thing at a time, not nice!

The idea of nice-ing one thing sounds rather lovely though to be fair 😁 how to slowly make our homes lovelier…

ta da
🛹took DS to the park to meet friends - he actually came back earlier than I did, I wanted to stay and chat to my friends longer 😁
🛹helped build Cagletini’s new bed
🛹made bed with temporary mattress (an ikea foam one that needed trimming!)
🛹bedtime routine with Cagletini

Been thinking of how to best use the storage in there. Plans for tomorrow are to clean the 4x4 Kallax, and DD1 is giving Cagletini her 1x4 too. Then I may as well declutter Cagletini’s books. Might go into town on a basket hunt - if I could find something perfectly sized for the shelves in her bed it would be brilliant, but good enough is good enough!

Reeeeally need to do laundry as well 😩

Night all, going to watch some decluttering videos to wind down for sleep!

Right before everyone gets up for the day I have:

Collapsed 2 pieces of furniture and utaken all bits downstairs so can go to the tip later
had a good fry up for breakfast
made lunch and an emergency sandwich snack
moved several boxes out of area affected by the new lot of building work

Currently hindered until the stuff that had to be removed so the last piece of building work gets put away so anything else i do today is basic tidying and sorting. but only after i sleep as sleep was not happening last night.

Hope you all have gentle and productive in what ever manner you desire days.

@HillsBesideTheSea you're definitely on it today! I don't eat breakfast but now I want a fry up!
No TaDa's from me, feel very tired, the heat yesterday didn't help.
Have a productive day everyone!

Sick or not, we still have to find the source of the leak that has brought a ceiling down. which means clearing the space that needs the flooring and walling removed to do so. No one wants glass fibre in their stuff. So yeah. a little here and little there. it is just super complicated by trying hard not to expose anyone to the plague. Ergo i get the 5am - 8.30am doing today through the weekend. Best we can do in this batshit situation.

I have already discovered that the inside of the cupboards needs pictures of how things go away because no fucker can be arsed to put it away properly - and always use the excuse that they don't know where things go excuses for being lazy and truly it is annoying as hell.

And i am trying to figure out how long it will take to fry fleas. Ds came home from a visit with friend's covered in bites which he suspects was due to fleas. He bathed immediately on getting home, and his clothes are in a sealed black bag in my car. I am thinking a week of this warm weather might do it?

hills when we had someone bring a dog over that invested our house with flees 🤬 I washed the dog beds in hot water and dried them in the dryer. It was a little different for us though as they were in the house, but we had to vacuum absolutely everywhere all the nooks & crannies along the edges of the carpets & mattresses. Vacuuming was done everyday for 2 weeks and I washed the bedding 2-3 times in that same time period, as they lay eggs 😪 out didn't get bad, thankfully, but we caught them early.

I'm sorry you're having to deal with so much while you recover. A ceiling falling down is definitely an emergency!

Friday is clean car & purse (handbag) out day.
Today's mission is to sweep and mop the kitchen floor, it's the last day in the kitchen.
Today's baby step is to add a page to your control journal (I may have missed actually setting it up, but it was when you're supposed to list your morning and before bed routines). This page is your inspirational page, spend 15 minutes writing inspirational quotes.
https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-11/

Today, for me, is also "try not to kill your coworker day" the day has just started for me and I'm struggling!
Hopefully I'll actually get to do more housework tonight and this weekend, it's been neglected this week, not good for being the thread leader! 😳

Hills gosh, it all sounds like a shit show. I hope you recover soon, and all the building works head in the right direction speedily. You are made of strong stuff.
Hazel sending coffee and alibi if needed.
Sing you are on fire. Re your question about what to put on top of kallax, maybe a set of large wicker baskets? Can be used for storage of non daily stuff.

Ta das:
🎶 Bathroom mat washed
🎶LOL cycle sorted - dry put away, wet out to dry, etc
🎶Fridge cleared of "science experiments"
🎶All surfaces wiped. Several times.
🎶DW rotated

YesTaDa
👽cleared, dusted and scrubbed 4x4 Kallax
👽LOL
👽gathered and sorted through Cagletini’s bedtime story books - got rid of 107 through the day
👽scrubbed 1x4 Kallax which DD1 had cleared and moved
👽organised remaining books in their new home (in alphabetical order obv. You can take the assistant out of the library…)
👽LOL2 (DH moved the first one into the dryer)
👽bagged up 90 books to donate and dropped them at a charity shop (via taxi)
👽bought some storage baskets for Cagletini’s shelves - even got the tape measure out to ensure they fit perfectly
👽dug out and sorted through Cagletini’s play food, got rid of a full carrier bag’s worth including some difficult “but I was so excited to buy that” stuff that’s actually just a PITA to keep clean and MY TIME IS MORE VALUABLE!!!
👽arranged remaining play food, till etc on one of Cagletini’s shelves
👽put 17 books in recycling

Really pleased with yesterday’s progress! I’ve had a rubbish start this morning though as I woke up too early and haven’t got motivated. No idea if we are doing anything today but I need to try and get some momentum going.

po3.1
❗️Breakfast
❗️Check dryer and move last night’s LOL into it if possible
❗️Discuss plan for today

appears in cloud of dust

It seems i REALLY need to declutter a man from my life

Plus side im slowly decluttering toys

Oh dear @THATissoooFETCH <hands over shovel>

Thats to bash his head in with right?

Spent half the morning on right move

Ta da
🌪 LOL x2
🌪 dishwasher empty and reloaded
🌪 two beds stripped
🌪 work tops tidy and clean
🌪 drawers in bedroom dusted
🌪 dcs lunch in oven

Or to bury him under the patio. Or both.

I am watching the football and everyone else is out #winningatlife

Two loads of washing on the line and a third nearly finished. Vacuumed earlier. DD has promised to tidy her bedroom this afternoon, I'm not holding my breath.

Multipurpose tool

It is raining here

THAT I'm sorry you're having man child issues

ED it sounds like you're enjoying your Saturday!

Sing you are on fire! You have been so busy sorting your house out

Elf coffee was definitely needed! She survived the day, just.

YesTaDas:
🍹 DS did the home bleugh (his weekly chores, basically, but no changing sheets)
🍹 took the Jeep through the carwash & vacuumed it out really well
🍹 sat on my outside swing with a well earned drink

Today we are going to the next big town and going shopping. We have to replace our TVs 😪

Seems to be a trend of manchildren on this thread, I'm definitely adding mine to the patio queue!
TaDa's
One LOL, dried but not yet put away.
Cleaned the kitchen down, put out the counter hotspots.
I've made a ragu and cooked up some quorn meatballs ready for dinner. And right on cue, like he does every fkn time I'm cooking, he comes in to make a sandwich. We've got plenty of counter space where he could take the gubbins, but oh no, only where I'm prepping food is good enough to make a sandwich.
Then he does what he always does, eats his fkn sandwich at the counter, giving dramatic martyr sighs every time I ask him to move so I can get something.
I got a death stare from him when I made the audacious statement that he could put the food on a plate and take it elsewhere to eat it.
🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
While things were simmering I dug out the Kilrock gel that I bought ages ago for the taps, I've scrubbed my sink and I can see my reflection so I'm mega pleased with that little TaDa!

Well done on the shiny sink cherry

THATtwat has just gone out, thank god. I do think really that we just need to seperate now but that means all the mess off dividing house etc and then if (unlikely) he decides he wants to do anything knobby like ask for the DC 50/50