July Flylady Thread: Would July-k to join us?

[CabbageBearGoat]

Welcome to the July FlyLady thread! Need guidance with routines and keeping up with housework? This is the thread for you! FlyLady is a reliable and flexible system for keeping on top of housework, one thing at a time.

This is a long running thread, but we are a friendly bunch and all are welcome to join in at any time.

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

There are Baby Steps for starting out, which add one thing at a time to start off good habits and routines. If you're new to FlyLady, start with these. If you are not ready to start these at the beginning of the month you can set your own Day 1 as today and keep track by following the Baby Steps linked below.

After Baby Steps you can graduate to Zones. There are 5 Zones that we rotate through in the same order every month, week by week. Don't worry about finishing it all this month, it'll come around again next month! Flylady is NOT about perfectionism! The system is designed to compensate for those days which don't go to plan, as it all repeats. As FlyLady says herself, "You are never behind. Jump in where you are".

Daily missions: (each week is the same).
Monday: Home Blessing (or as we call it, home bleugh - a quick whizz over basic cleaning)
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 (something to recharge your batteries)

Common acronyms/phrases we use:
LOL: load of laundry (washing is certainly NOT funny!)
DW: dishwasher (we are not rotating wives!)
LMS: lose/lost my shit
DNLMS: did not lose my shit
BRC: box/basket of random crap
Mount Washmore: self explanatory

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 (useful for when the zones change). You can also modify the app's tick lists to suit your home & lifestyle. FlyLady is flexible.

Links are below 👇 if I happen to not add links in time, they do update at midnight for you.

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

Flight Plan (Today at a glance): flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=-60

Weekly Zones (With this month's dates): https://www.flylady.net/d/zones/

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

Tuesday marks the penultimate day of your Fly month which makes it a perfect day for planning and playing.

Baby step: https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-30/
Today's task is to add "buy birthday cards" to your shopping list so you always have a stack at the ready. FlyLady suggests adding "check birthdays" to your calendar on the 27th of each month so that you have time to get a card for special people in your life. Do the routines!

FlyBabies: 15 minute declutter of something in Zone 5.

FlyExperts: Today's the day we look upwards - dusting tops of doorframes, pictures, removing spider webs from ceilings, that sort of thing. Personally I'm a big fan of the "soft brush" attachment on the vacuum cleaner as I've not yet found a duster that actually removes the dust and not just sweep it off. But whatever your method, remove that dust!

Daily mission: Plan and play. Is there something you're planning to do in the near future that needs a bit of extra planning now? Maybe like me you've discovered your running bra is an absolute joke and you need to fix that before you can actually... y'know... run. Maybe you have family visiting at the weekend and you need to meal plan or get an extra few minutes in on the tidying (also me). Maybe you're working on a big DIY project at home that needs a quick trip to your nearest DIY store for another slim paintbrush or some sponges (er... also me!). Whatever your plans, get planning them so you can play with it later.

Yesterday was a near total write-off for me but today seems promising, so I'm currently on my planning and playing mission of hunting down a better sports bra. Thrilling stuff. Had no joy at the weekend trying some on at two different shops (one specialist running, one regular shop) so online it is. I'm hoping that if I order a couple, then one might be ready for the weekend where I'm hoping to combine some walking with some light jogging for ParkRun. Wish me luck!

I think the DVDs are overwhelming me, because I need DC to let me know who they belong to and whether they want them. And that gets in the way of my moving along at my own speed.

I’m going to go back to being in the garden as much as possible, listening to my audiobooks.

I a going to pose a suggestion for next months thread. The suggestion is that we just run a chat thread rather than posts every day. Sometimes august is just problematic and having links in the opening post, and a space to pop into works better than a normally lead thread with daily flylady info posts.
I am not here enough right now to offer, and if there is no one really about enough this might be a solution. And then return to normal thread style for sept.

@SleepingIceDragons I wouldn't mind trying that out for August and would be happy to set it up too. Links in the first post to all the FlyLady pages and just general chat for the rest of the thread... worth a shot. As you say, summer months get so busy.

Some wins this morning:

Cleared and wiped top of kallax
Emptied lounge bin
5min tidy in lounge
15min tidy in hallway
Installed fitted 6x rear window shades to car
DW finished 2nd coat of paint on front fence
Requested 2x window cleaning quotes
Sports bra research complete (no purchase yet as I got overwhelmed deciding 🤣)

Dragons that is an excellent idea for next month, if no one is available to add links daily. It might actually make me utilize the app that I still haven't done yet!

My planning that has to get done today is figuring out meals for camping. I need to get in touch with SIL to see what she is planning on bringing/ making so we have enough food! I will then need to go grocery shopping. The good news is the camper is plugged in, fridge still on, so I can load the groceries directly into the camper when I get home with them!

I also need to wash our sleeping bags from the camper (on our bed we have 2 king size sleeping bags that we zip together, it's so nice!). There is a bunch of stuff piled up on the bed though so some moving around is required first.

We have window cleaners coming this morning, as well as the brick getting power washed. They should be here by now. They are late. 🙄

I got stuck on a news loop. Have a phone appointment at 4pm (but could be as early as half 3 or as late as 7pm) which means i couldn't possible go out and run the errands i need I need to make the effort because otherwise tea is going to be an issue. Might have to be a late tea if they don't call on the earlier side. This last week has been a struggle.

Tuesday's ta das:
🌻 windows cleaned by the pros so I don't have to! (inside only), they'll be back to do the outside
🌻 brick powerwashed by pros as well
[Both of the above were the restoration company]
🌻 LOLs x4 (2 were our sleeping bags that are huge and take forever to dry, in the dryer)
🌻 meal planning for camping with SIL & BIL
🌻 took DS to get his hair permed, it turned out really good!
🌻 bought stain for the brick, the new brick wall doesn't match the old brick and there's still some char on some bricks. I don't have enough for the whole house, but I need to see how it turns out before I order more. I'm doing it myself as it'll be a lot cheaper than paying someone else to do it
🌻 grocery shopping for camping
🌻 loaded most of the groceries into the camper, ready to go
🌻 cooked egg muffins for breakfasts while camping
🌻 set my clothes out for the morning

Best be getting to sleep, my eyes keep closing on me! 😴👋

Wednesday, and our last day in Zone 5 as tomorrow is a whole new month.

Baby step: https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-31/
Baby step 31 is all about doing that routine, taking care of yourself and see the things you've accomplished this month. Now go shine that sink!

FlyBabies: 15 minute declutter of Zone 5

FlyExperts: Today is about prettifying the lounge - FlyLady suggests flowers. I would like to suggest an alternative. As it's the last day in here, and my hayfever says no thank you to flowers, I would like to suggest a job that often gets neglected - a thorough dusting of all the TV/media players/consoles etc. Whether that's a CD/record player or all the television bits and bots, there's probably some electrical equipment in your lounge that doesn't get dusted enough. They all get hot, and dust and heat don't make for useful friends. So be a friend to yourself and check out what's going on back there - wipe down the lot and make sure you're setting yourself up for success.

Daily mission: Anti-procrastination day, the things you've been putting off.

Aaaand I've set up the new style August thread. Tis over here, get your placemarks/thread watchings at the ready: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/housekeeping/5131662-august-flylady-thread-no-rain-au-gust-of-wind-will-stop-us-from-getting-our-shit-together

Yesterday:
Received and accepted window cleaning quote! I’m sceptical but we will see if their poles will actually reach our velux next month!
Weekend family visit food shop ordered
Vacuumed and dusted car
Trial fitted baby car seat
Vacuumed lounge lights and coving
eBay listing admin

This morning’s wins:
Caught and repatriated CabbageCat’s early morning mouse friend
Researched garage door paint options
Morning routine + S&S
Cleaned family bathroom
Financial admin

And this afternoon we’re going to visit a nursery – weirdly nervous! It seems like quite a big decision from here. We have another visit set up next week to a different one so we have a set of three. Fingers crossed one clicks.

@HazelNotHungryLC I love meal planning for camping. Living vicariously through you at the moment. It’s pasta salad weather, surely? If you use vegan mayo you don’t need to worry so much about it going weird either. Last summer DW and I stayed at a friend’s log cabin in the woods (right by a lake, no wifi, no power or plumbing – bliss!) and we did pre-cooked meatballs in a tomato sauce – worked great on a fire! Tinned tuna and baked potatoes another summer win.

@SleepingIceDragons did the phonecall happen when it was supposed to? I get stuck in "waiting mode" too. It's so bizarre and unhelpful but it just happens sometimes.

@Scourgify are you able to set up an "unknown owner" box for the DVDs? A sort of "claim by X date or it's going"?

Cabbage I say camping, but I really mean glamping!
We have a portable pellet grill so we can cook hotdogs, hamburgers, chicken, carne asada for tacos (grilled meat in Spanish). It is definitely pasta salad weather, unfortunately I can't eat the gluten and I'm trying to avoid carbs as well! I am making caprese salad though and we'll have lots of regular salad too. We also have a fully functioning (and fairly large) fridge & freezer in the camper.

What are you doing at a nursery that's making you nervous? I'm sorry if you've explained previously.

@HazelNotHungryLC we're visiting nurseries ahead of putting baby on a waiting list to attend one. Not due until November so they won't be starting until this time next year at the earliest, but round here they get booked up very fast and people get on waiting lists during pregnancy 😬 so the nerves are just "are we picking the right one".

Oh that makes sense!
I had been thinking it was like a greenhouse nursery, so I was thinking what was so hard about buying plants! Or layouts of a nursery for your baby (their bedroom) and had visions of you going into other people's homes to see their nursery for their baby!
Clearly I was off the mark! 😂
Thankfully my next holiday from work starts tonight at 6pm (will be 5 hours left of my day when I go back after lunch) and I don't go back to work until next Wednesday! I need it, for sure.

@HazelNotHungryLC I love that you considered I would visit other people's homes for inspiration like a Pinterest /IKEA crossover 🤣 No fear there, we're all set for baby's bedroom. Just daycare to sort! Would definitely have no trouble at a plan nursery either. Love a garden centre.