New Year, Fresh Start with Flylady

[HazelNotHungryLC]

Are you looking to finally getting into a new routine with housework? Something simple to start that can be easy to add to over time? Flylady may be the answer for you!

This is a long running thread, but we are a friendly bunch and 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!

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. It's also date night (with your significant other, or friends, or yourself!)
• 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

There are more, 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). You can also modify the tick lists to suit your home & lifestyle.

Links are below 👇 if I happen to not add links in time, they do update at midnight for you. I am in the US, 7 hours behind the UK, so I'll do my best.

Launch Pad: https://www.flylady.net/d/new-links/
Zones: https://www.flylady.net/d/zones/
Baby Steps: https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/

So after joining this thread full of hope earlier in the week I can't really claim any victories. I have moved a whole load of bin bags full of dry garden matter into the lobby so I can take them to the tip (half of them were in there anyway) which was my contribution to clearing the lobby/entrance. Everywhere else I've mostly made more mess, but (for example) taking off the cupboard door and pulling out the washing machine to try and fix what's ailing it. It's just staying like that until the new pump arrives now.

I made soup for my lunches, which helps with the lose weight for summer thread I'm also on, but has left my kitchen a bit of a mess, because it was make soup or clean up and I am determined to eat more healthily.
My car is currently already clean and tidy (so that's an easy one for today) and my handbag is also because I have a travelling zip-bag that moves between handbag and laptop bag (a la KonMarie) so I have my essentials and the handbag itself is empty. Maybe the laptop bag could do with a sift through though! And the sinks could definitely use a buff up, so I'll try and do that today at least.

Morning everyone
I’ve been awol for a couple of days as MN was not behaving for me. Couldn’t even read threads without it constantly refreshing and going back to the top let alone post anything. Seems better so far today…

Some impressive lists from you all this week!

I’ve been keeping up with the basics not doing quite so well with the zone stuff although my bathroom cupboards were cleaned out only a couple of weeks ago so I should maybe consider that done.

Today so far I have done
Morning routine
school run
popped to shop on way home
moved a unit up into ds’ room as we now have a dart board up and have to keep moving it out of the way to play
made a coffee and accidentally ate a whole pack of some Jaffa cakes

To do
hang up lol
put on second lol
fold and put away lol x2
clean bath
quick tidy up
vacuum downstairs
school run
library
cook dinner
post dinner clear up

I wanted to try to finish my library book as it’s due back today but think I’ll have to renew it

✅lol x2
✅ fed birds non stop as it's so cold
✅ made a vat of vegan gravey to freeze
✅ made a curry for tomorrow
✅Hula hoop and headstands
✅ drove half an hour to take child to swim lessons and forgot the swim bag 🥴

@hazel thank goodness for leftovers!

@Backinthedress I'm a big fan of soup for weight loss. And also you can't function in the home without quality food like soup so don't beat yourself up.

Yes I found better jeans Hazel and decluttered the ones I was wearing which were a bit tight. Your back to work day sounds a bit of a nightmare

I'm impressed you can do headstands too Pompoms. Handstands I'm fine with but I never figured headstands out

Yesterday Ta-da's:

👽Morning routine
👽Reading
👽Park with a friend
👽Food shopping
👽Evening routine

Today ta-da's:

💥Morning routine
💥Tidied living room
💥Tidied bedroom
💥Filing
💥Shredding
💥Life admin
💥Decluttering

To-do:

🌌Exercise
🌌Evening routine

You made a start Dress that's the main thing

It's impossible to eat only a few Jaffa cakes Character 😁 I don't know what it is about them but I always end up scoffing entire packet too

@ItsieDitzyBitsOfOnionInTheSoup well I can't do a handstand to save my life!

Ditzy I'm glad you found some better fitting jeans, it makes all the difference, I swear! And well done on decluttering the other pair.
That day was awful, today was much better in the office.

pompoms oh no on leaving the swim bag! That's so frustrating! I'm sure we have all done that though at some point, with one thing or another.

character it'll be nice for you to be able to play darts without having to move stuff. Saying that though, ours is set up easy enough and we still never play!

dress every little bit helps. Doing a little at a time and building on it is how you start to do things automatically and get into a routine.

Saturday is family fun day, no missions!

I plan on cooking most of the day, but I'm looking forward to it.

I have a confession to make - I'm slightly hungover 🙈 I only drank 3 of those small g&t cans but wowzer I'm feeling it this morning - trying g to drink as much water as possible as I'm taking the girls out shopping before taking dd2 to gymnastics later ! I don't know whether it's because I haven't had a drink for a little while or because I hadn't eaten much 🤦‍♀️ we were celebrating - dd1 has gained a place on the Cambridge pelican scheme and also the UCL expand course !! Super duper proud , however I am concerned that trying to do these, whilst leaning to drive , full time a levels , DoE and working an average of 22 hours a week is too much ! I think she will have some tough decisions ahead of her!

To do

Drink lots of water !!
Morning routine
Hang washing up
Put LOL on
Ds ready for football
Take girls shopping
Take dd2 to gymnastics
Being dd1 home in time for work
Meet with work colleagues for a walk around the park
Collect dd2 from gymnastics

That should take me through the day until around 4pm then I'll think about the next to do list .

I hope everyone has a good Saturday !

It's quiet in here this weekend - I hope you're all having a wonderful time !

Yesterday I got lots of things sorted and organised for upcoming school trip to Berlin. Also dd1 has been invited on the Cambridge pelican programme and the UCL expand programme so we've been figuring out when she needs to go to London , cost of train etc . I think we're all going to go together and stay overnight for the first session, which will be a nice day out , for the final session , she will be making the journey on her own!

Todays to do:

🤪 finish off any uniform / work washing
🤪 ironing
🤪 dc homework
🤪 roast dinner
🤪 make granola

searching that's exciting news about your DD! My thoughts are that some things will naturally drop off, she will either realise she's not as excited about something as other things or she will just make it all work!
I hope your hangover didn't last very long. Drinking plenty of water helps, especially while drinking said alcohol (or having a large glass or 2 of water before bed helps too).

Sorry I was AWOL yesterday, in the morning I was working on meal planning, grocery shopping etc. In the afternoon I was cooking all day! Everyone really enjoyed it 😍
I made chicken tikka masala, rice, cauliflower rice, naan bread, onion bhajis and mango Lassi. It was a lot of work in the end, but I spread it out and didn't get overwhelmed! The DW was working overtime though, and ran a total of 3 loads through it 😂

I plan to catch up on a couple LOLs and change out decorations from "new year" to valentine's! I do want to fit in a workout today on my spin bike, especially as I couldn't yesterday.

Dry January is going well for me & DH. FIL not so much! I found out last night he only made it 10 days dry! He really needs to stop the drinking.
Sorry about my little vent, I just worry about him, getting back into bad eating habits and drinking again. He does have his heart doctor appt this week, I'm hoping he can get through to him. He's headed down the path of having another heart attack 😪

Ta Das (so far):
☕️ clean clothes put away
☕️ morning skincare routine
☕️ got dressed
☕️ swept floor (I spilled some coffee grounds)
☕️ lol in washer
☕️ relaxing on the couch with my 2nd coffee currently

To Dos:
🚲 spin bike workout
🚲 handwash dishes from last night (we had company so didn't want to be cleaning up for too long)
🚲 rotate DW
🚲 more LOLs
🚲 air out the house a bit as it's a little warmer outside today

Wow well done to your dd @Searchingforsnow , that’s a real achievement!

Also I sometimes find the hangover is just as bad after a couple as it is with more. I get a hangover after one these days 😳

@HazelNotHungryLC that meal sounds delicious. The dartboard has novelty value at the moment as it hasn’t been up since pre renovations 7 years ago. Also ds is into playing at the moment which makes us more likely to.

@ItsieDitzyBitsOfOnionInTheSoup Im not usually a binger but Jaffa cakes and Maltesers are my downfall. Doesn't happen often though so can’t bring myself to care too much!

@Searchingforsnow huge congratulations to your daughter and you of course. You've obviously done a great job.

When I weighed on Friday my scales said I was 54% water which is the most I'd ever been so I was pleased with that!

@HazelNotHungryLC sorry to hear about FIL. It's very frustrating having family members who make bad decisions. I try to focus on them being grown adults and it's all up to them.

We've had a lovely day and have been to see Going on a Bear hunt at the theatre and then swimming. I absolutely exhausted after all that fun.

I didn't realise that I'd mentioned about dd1 twice 😂 can you tell I'm super excited for her and so proud !! Thank you for the congratulations !!

Got most things done today - the granola tastes delicious!! A few bits of the uniform isn't dry so I'll have to iron again tomorrow.

Yes I agree @HazelNotHungryLC, she will have to either make it work or make some tough decisions. She's actually still sat doing her college work now after being at work all day , I feel exhausted just watching her !! No need to apologise for being absent !! The meal sounds delicious 😋 I'm craving a curry - may pop it on the menu for next weekend . I can understand you must be worried about your FIL, it must be a little frustrating to watch , unhealthy eating and drinking are such hard habits to break .

@TheMainCharacter I Luckily , the hangover cleared after an hour or 2 and drinking plenty of water . I'm with you binging Jaffa cakes and those pink wafer biscuits - I only buy them on holiday for that reason !!

Thanks @cosypompoms , it's all her doing - I'm often telling her she needs to slow down a little ! Which scales have you got ? I've lost another 1&1/2lb this week so it's coming off steadily ! Glad you've enjoyed your Sunday - sounds like great fun !

pompoms it is hard to watch FIL go back down the same path as before. You are right, I can't force him to do better for himself, he has to make that decision. All I can do is support him and encourage him to make better choices.
It sounds like you had a really lovely day 😍

character I get the novelty thing. We used to have our dart board in our garage so it didn't get played much at all. Once we moved house and now have room for it in the basement (game room) it got played quite a bit. Now not so much. Same with the pool table.

searching nothing wrong with being proud! I'm glad to hear you're feeling better. Hangovers are awful!

Ta Das:
🚲 spin bike workout (felt so good to get on the bike)
🚲 LOLs x3
🚲 swapped out new years decorations to valentine's
🚲 currently airing out the house
🚲 video chat with Mum

Today is a light housework today as I'm trying to focus on work this week!

Tadahs so far:

• Rooma'd office carpets (again... just so it's on the "right week")
• Changed Roomba edge brush
• Cleaned top of Roomba and its base
• Shredded all the shredding (!)

To do:

• Fit new countertop in utility (partially done/ready, just need DW to cut out the "cable notch" at the back)
• Return too-short blind to B&Q
• Choose/buy replacement blind online
• Washing up x3
• Clear desk of misc. crap (...again)

Sorry I forgot to add links!
We are in a new zone this week. We are in zone 4, master bedroom.
Monday is home bleugh. Vacuum, empty bins, change bedding.
Monday's mission is to attack the clothes pile. You know the one, on your chair, floor, dresser etc. While you're at it, declutter the clothing that you no longer love, instead of hanging it back up.

https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-22/

Yay! My washing machine is fixed. Just in time for washing all that bedding 😆

Yay! 🥳 dress I couldn't imagine going without my washing machine! I would have to take it to MILs to wash.

Professor you've had a productive day! DH usually takes care of our Roomba and is in the routine of having it do the main floor on Mondays, which really help.

It's been very quiet on the thread, I hope everyone is okay, getting back into routine with the new year starting.

I bought a new tea the other day to help with sleep, and oh boy it works! I'm only half way through it and about ready to go to sleep!
I was working all day and other than cooking dinner tonight I've done no flying. My work days are long though.

Tomorrow I have my hair appt and have a few other little bits I need to get done.

Tuesday is plan & play day.
Tuesday's mission is to spend 15 minutes putting things away that don't belong in the master bedroom. Spend 5 minutes gathering said items, and 10 minutes putting those items away. Don't forget to set your timer!

Baby step #23: https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-23/
Building your afternoon routine, after school, work, cook dinner routine, whatever you want to call it.
Zones: https://www.flylady.net/d/zones/

Got lots going on paid work wise right now so down to routines and maintenance.
Ta das so far: (6.20am)
✅ unloaded dishwasher
✅made coffee!!

to do:

• start 1 lol
• feed animals
• feed children and myself
• swish and swipe
• wipe down kitchen surfaces
• shower, wash hair and moisturise skin/ make up (I include self-care stuff in Flylady like Flylady does, I think)
• drink my water
• School run

after work:

• fold laundry and put away (worst bit for me is putting away)
• 5 - 10 minute room rescue
• reset kitchen after dinner
• if time/ energy, allows hoover hta

also, am getting DC to help more (DH working abroad this week).

phew, feel a bit daunted.
Will update tonight!

Bon courage, everyone!

Not posted for a while as I feel a bit swamped by it all! I do try and leave my sink tidy, and I do always get up and d:ressed.

I'm slowly de-cluttering, but I find it difficult to keep on track of what Day, what Zone, what Mission, etc and I keep feeling that I've missed stuff.

Today so far I've done:

2 loads of laundry
washed up and wiped kitchen down
done some paperwork.

I'm about to go and do a de-clutter of my bedroom!

Thanks to @HazelNotHungryLC for trying to keep us all on task!

Hello everyone
Slow start for me this week. Ds’ birthday yesterday threw me off track a bit. Managed the basics and making a cake

Today I went to see my parents as my mum had said my dad wasn’t doing too well and had asked me to pick up a few bits for her. Not too well is an understatement. He didn’t know who I was for the first time ever 😭and kept trying to start business meetings with me. Physically he’s not doing too great either, had to help him drink and sit up etc 😞.

So I’ve been feeling pretty shitty and not achieved much since I got home

Tada’s
Morning routine
school run
shop for mum
visit parents
lol x 2
clean bath and shower
organise dps hats/scarves/gloves as the drawer wouldn’t shut

Going to round up a few things that shouldn’t be downstairs and take them up, fold and put away a lol and do the zone mission now