August FlyLady Thread: No rain Au-Gust of wind will stop us from getting our shit together!

[CabbageBearGoat]

Welcome to the August FlyLady thread! What the heck is FlyLady, I hear you ask. Well, FlyLady is a reliable and flexible system for keeping on top of housework, one thing at a time. It splits the house into zones which we work through week by week, and there are daily tasks designed to tackle everything in sequence. This is a long running thread, but we are a friendly bunch and all are welcome to join in at any time.

We’re trying something new this month as August is a busy one. So, instead of daily updates from thread leader we’re going to stick with just this front post with all your links and information in, and general chatter and updates from here on out.

For people completely new to the system, there are Baby Steps, which add one thing at a time to start off good habits and routines. 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. Time is inevitable. There's no escape. 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".

This month in particular I would really recommend you download the app and get to using that as you can modify the app's tick lists to suit your home and lifestyle. FlyLady is flexible.

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

Common thread acronyms/phrases:
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

So here we go. Here are your links, which update when needed:

Flight Plan (Today at a glance): http://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/
Launch Pad (Quick links): http://flylady.net/c/lp.php
Weekly Sneak Peek (This week's tasks at a glance): http://flylady.net/c/sp.php

Daily missions: (each week is the same - hyperlink for more info).
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)

I still use Facebook because there are a couple of local community groups on there that I like to keep in touch with, and a group for my medical condition that has given invaluable info and advice. But I have to wade through reams of dross that is "pushed" at me. I'm on Insta and follow a few people there in the sewing community who post about techniques/tips/their recent makes etc. I'm not really interested in "influencers" who post about their life styles so avoid them.

To do today:
🌞 load of laundry
Then out with DH, who's on holiday, for a walk and lunch out.

There's a little bar on the bottom of the phone screen with insta Hazel. One of the symbols is your profile pic, you click that and are taken to your page where your pics are that you uploaded. The house symbol gives you all the pics from people you follow (and a pile of ads 😤). I used to think I was making people happy when I saw someone gave me a heart or followed me. Then I read that magazine and realised they're probably just wanting me to follow their account and don't GAF about my pics. So naïve 😅. Yes my day off was lovely it rained outside while I drank hot chocolate and watched films, snuggled up in my duvet.

I use FB a lot but nearly all within groups and also follow lots of local pages, organisations etc. However I am quite keen on photography so do post quite a lot of photos of places I've been etc. Insta I virtually never post on, I follow lots of home renovation and fitness accounts and a few celebs / musicians / actors etc. I do post quite a bit on MN too but agree that there is a LOT of nastiness. This thread is a nice cosy corner.

Thank you Ditzy I doubt I'll ever get back on there, but now I know where to look!
I agree ED this is my favourite place on mn 😍

Ta das Friday (not much the rest of the week due to work):
🧱 worked all day
🧱 picked up dinner on my way home
🧱 stained most of one brick wall on the side of the house (I used up a whole tin)

I have to go to the DIY store to get more stain. I have one more tin left, but DH thinks I'll need 10 more for the rest of the house! I have no idea when it'll be in, but I know I have to special order it in.
Once I get it all, it'll probably only take me a couple more days to stain the rest of the house. I'm excited for it to be done!

The brick before and when I got started. I got most of the wall done but it was just about dark at that point. I'll take another picture in the morning before I get it finished 😍 I love it so far!

I gave on instagram when they updated it and decided my device was too old to be allowed to use it. My device STILL works perfectly well but yes it is old (android 4) so that has essentially become a reading device. Which i am fine with. I also got annoyed with the fb take over of it, and the small print of meta with regard to using your info for training their AI is mildly terrifying. But i still use FB . <shrug> Mostly I follow the local police and traffic threads as it helps with road closures etc around here. We get a lot becaues tourists don't know the roads and accidents happen, or the weather is just utter shite and they have had to close the road for snow/ice/flooded/half the dang road fell down the hill/ or more recently giant ass sink holes in the middle of them.

Today is kitchen prep kinda day, and a pull out and rebuild a compost bin kinda day. Basically i am never ever ever moving again by the end of it until tomo when the bully to do list stares me down and I have to get shit done

Sink holes in the roads sounds utterly terrifying Dragons

Honestly ItsieDitzy i have more issues with the road fell down the hill closures because often they are years in the repairs IF they can repair them. sink holes are just an inconvience until they get around to fixing them. last couple have apparently been caused by burst water pipes and fixed in a couple of months thankfully. But knowing what is going on before you leave the house is sometimes a bonus that saves you sitting in a whole heap of traffic/having to turn around on a narrow road.

Didn't get around to the compost bin because the kitchen day was a bit over ambicious. I need to rest more and push through burn out less.

I have been slacking off regards my fridge. Mostly it's been looking like a skip lately with everything tossed in there higgledy piggledy. Spent the morning emptying it out completely, got rid of the expired stuff, thoroughly cleaned it. Then gathered up tupperware and emptied out all the half opened packets into it, with labels stuck on and everything. Loose vegetables, eggs, butter etc was gathered up into spare bowls and pie dishes I don't use. Now it all looks pretty, like an Instagram fridge 😁

noescape I need to do that to my fridge too! Would you be willing to post a picture on here for inspiration?

Ta das from the weekend:
🖌 stained the brick wall on the side of the house
🖌 ordered the stain for the rest of the house
🖌 prepped & painted picnic table & benches

Oh god I ache today!
I have attached pictures of the stain. I'm very happy with it, even though it is a little darker than I had planned.

My fridge has never looked this good before

Oooh, I do love how organised it looks noescape 😍

Today is going to be a busy day for me.
☕️ dentist for DS & me
☕️ drop DS off at the county fair to help run the booth for the band fundraiser
☕️ pick him up a couple of hours later
☕️ go back over to the county fair with DS to help out for 4 hours (I'm not looking forward to that - it's going to be hot in there!)
☕️ find something to eat at the fair and go watch the moto rodeo again (we went last night too)

In between all that I really need to get on top of the housework:
☕️ laundry
☕️ bleach both bathrooms (they really need a good scrub all over, so I'm glad it's bathroom week!)
☕️ vacuum
☕️ mop (thorough job)

I know there's more, but I don't know if I'll have time or not. At the dentist I need to have them fix my filling. He didn't do a very good job at filling it and my tooth is very sensitive on that side. Last time I went he said he could add more filling to it, but I don't think it'll be today as I'm so busy - I just don't have the time! I do think that part of my filling came off on Sunday night though, so I'm sure he's going to need to fix it sooner rather than later 😪 I'm not looking forward to it.

Ta das (Tuesday):
😴 all the running around listed above, and went to the bank as well
😴 vacuumed
😴 bleached bathrooms (including floors)
😴 LOLs x4 (including sheets & mattress protector)

I'm so tired now! I didn't drink enough water while working the booth either so I'm starting to get a headache 😒

DH is on holiday (at home) and for some reason time seems to slip away. Have done nothing this week except put vac round. Bathroom lies neglected. I'm so industrious when he's not here. It's not as if we've been going out & about or having long leisurely lunches (I wish). Need to pull socks up for rest of week.

Today:
🌞 Bit of handwashing that needs doing
🌞 Clean bath & shower

Hazel that looks really good.
I have fridge envy - mostly because i have to keep mine as empty as possible until the new working one arrives. And the building work chaos is still not at a level to facilitate that right now.

This week is slipping away from me faster than i would like. Been battling stress/lack of sleep/too much pain migraines. I have meds i can take to prevent this but can't drive if I take them and it is for a chunk of time rather than just the day of the migraine. So i am just sucking it up, and pushing through on pain meds and avoiding leaving the house. I have to leave the house today because i have a medical appointment so going to stack the errands with that so that I can hermit later.

ta da so far:
empty DW, reload and run
rescue washing from the dryer
wash up the stuff set to soak first thing
figure out why the kitchen sink is not holding water when the plug is in
set next lot of washing up to soak
write shopping list
empty the bucket that has been dumped in the wash room and has been abandoned for embarishingly too long (finally got the sink cleared enough to do this yesterday)
up date journal - appointments have been added, check list collection added,
To do list for the week revised.

I should find clothes and be ready to leave.

Have a good day

Inspired by photos, I’m tidying the fridge-freezers and being more careful with tesco order. Also figuring out if I can pressure wash the side wall and paint it.

Bagging up some rags for dunelm today. Hoover stopped working this morning, so I continued with tidying and cleaning utility and kitchen.

Flylady well and truly fell off my radar lately... some minor pregnancy symptom issues, but it seems we're all good now.

Today's wins:
30min tidy of chest of drawers
Reorganised jewellery box (!)
Fitted highchair slider base things
Cleared upstairs hallway of random stuff
Vacuumed upstairs hallway
Prepared charity bag of books
15min tidy of lounge
Emptied all household bins

Miss that happens in our house too sometimes. DH is off for whatever reason and we lounge about not doing anything! It happens a lot on the weekends mainly, especially as it gets colder. Make a plan with him to go out for a nice long lunch, while he's still at home!

Dragons thank you, I like how it turned out too! I hope your migration eases up and you can finally get the rest you deserve!

Scourgify re power washing brick - if it's older brick, you'll want to be gentle power washing it or it could crumble. Our house was built in the 60's and they needed to be careful, but it could just be the style of brick too! I'm sorry to hear about your vacuum, that really sucks 😔

Cabbage I'm glad everything is okay with your pregnancy, and that it was nothing too serious! Completely understandable flylady went out the window!

I go into work late today. DS will be marching in the parade, so he has to be able to get there and back. I'm excited to see their performance, but not excited for the crowds and no parking! I would rather not go into work at all today, but I'm running out of time to use 😔

@HazelNotHungryLC thanks for the advice on power-washing the wall. I hadn’t thought of that.

Today was my least productive day this summer, I think ☹️ I disappeared down a rabbit-hole in the morning before getting up, and stayed all distracted for most of the morning, composing witty rejoinders in my head.

Sat down to tackle some overdue life admin, tried to complete it online, then on paper, then gave up. Drove round and round the convoluted one-way system in our town centre, trying to spot the lawyer’s office so that I could get their name and then phone for an appt.

A wee rant now ;

My memory for names has started getting worse again, with the stress of messages from the horrible school app and its half-dozen platforms. I was all
zen and happy in my garden at the weekend, and now I don’t think I can face another year of so-called trauma-informed teaching ruining the Teens’ mental health.

Rant over. Toddling off to bed with a relaxing audiobook and some sudoku.

Scourgify I hadn't thought of it either. Thankfully the restoration company had spoken to the masonry expert before power washing anything!

Today will be a busy day. I have lots of to dos! We are having a BBQ tonight for DHs birthday next weekend, since we're camping on his actual birthday. The rest of the stain came in yesterday that I ordered so I need to pick that up too and get it mixed to the right colour etc.

To dos:
☕️ drink 2 cups of coffee - I'm going to need them (I may even have a 3rd later..)
☕️ get dressed & decent to go out
☕️ put the pool vacuum in the pool to do it's thing
☕️ pick up stain (get it tinted to the right color)
☕️ go grocery shopping for BBQ tonight
☕️ stain for an hour or 2 (depending on the time)
☕️ bake cake for tonight
☕️ handwash dishes
☕️ rotate DW
☕️ make seafood salad for tonight
☕️ shower & get ready
☕️ put birthday banner up outside
☕️ clean up patio
☕️ water plants
☕️ try to convince DH & DS to build the 2 end tables I got for outside
☕️ dust
☕️ bleach bathrooms
☕️ general tidy in house
☕️ clean glass & mirrors

I should probably get working on making my 2nd cup of coffee so I can attack this list! I may or may not be back with ta das.. have a happy, fun Saturday everyone 😊

YesTaDas: (not as much as I'd hoped)
🥳 drink 2 cups of coffee
🥳 get dressed & decent to go out
🥳 put the pool vacuum in the pool to do it's thing
🥳 pick up stain (get it tinted to the right color)
🥳 go grocery shopping for BBQ tonight
🥳 bake cake for tonight
🥳 handwash dishes
🥳 rotate DW x2
🥳 make seafood salad for tonight
🥳 shower & get ready
🥳 clean up patio
🥳 dust
🥳 S&S both bathrooms
🥳 general tidy in house (put out fires in hotspots)
🥳 clean glass & mirrors

The BBQ was a success! Everyone enjoyed themselves. There was plenty of food (read: too much)

Today I just plan on spending some time staining the brick before it gets too hot. Then I'll do my nails and get in the pool!

Hello! I'm back from a lovely holiday in Cornwall . I would absolutely love to move near the sea ❤️

This weekend we've got some new drawers for the girls room so I've been in the depths of clothes decluttering ! Dd2's is finished - 2 black bin liners worth of clothes will be off to the charity shop tomorrow! I'm going to help dd1 to declutter her clothes tomorrow, hopefully this big declutter will help stay on top of the laundry . I have even made a list of what to declutter in October half term because I know some summer clothes won't fit next year !!

Ok, new week fresh start for me. I've enjoyed watching people's done lists and seeing all the amazing progress this month! Yesterday I had a lovely slow day reading, gardening and boardgames - really feeling that "spirit renewal". We also managed to put up some bookshelves, so that's handy.

Today's wins are limited to eBay admin - posting sold things, listing new things. But that's part of my normal Monday morning, so it's feeling good. Hoping to get a bit of vacuuming done, maybe a 15minute tidy here and there. Lots happening this week, so I'm planning to use FlyLady to keep me grounded!

Hello 👋 Newbie here in need of getting on top if things at home. Did a big wardrobe declutter a few weeks ago which was wonderful, followed by under the stairs (a dumping ground, no door) and today I have spent time sorting books from when my kids were small. I also got dressed to my laces first thing. I am finding cleaning my sink a mountain I can't face for some strange reason but I will try. I don't know why I procrastinate on small tasks.

Any advice from you pros would be great. Do you really never now have a dressing gown morning?! I can see the value of up and at em at the same time. Throwing away 27 things regularly? Reading and watching carefully. It is raining and miserable so altho I'm not supposed to overdo it week one I am going to continue to declutter today as I have the time and motivation. Thanks for this thread!

Welcome @mikado1 👋 did you used to do Flylady? I've never heard of a dressing gown morning!
Cabbage that sounds like a great spirit renewal day! I did my nails, I think that counts!
sunny you sound on top of things with the future decluttering. I miss being closer to the sea (we were 1.5 hours away, now we're nowhere near the sea 😔)