Flying on our broomsticks into October

[HauntingHazel]

Witches, vampires & zombies - whoever/whatever you are, all are welcome on this spooky flylady thread.

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.

October's monthly focus is paper clutter.

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

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

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

@LaMarschallin that book looks right up my street!

It's one of my favourites.
Bought it at a garage sale, already ancient and battered, when I was 13. I've always had a bit of a yen for old fashioned housewifely tomes. This one was copywrite 1958, but very far from the "Put on a little makeup and a ribbon in your hair before your husband comes home" style typical of the times.
I managed to seek out the "I Hate to Cook Book" (also by Peg Bracken). I wouldn't use the recipes as they are very typical of the 60s and use a lot of tins and packets, but it's just a great read.
I've never come across recipe instructions like "Let the meat brown while you smoke a cigarette and stare sullenly into the sink" before...

It's getting them to empty their receptacles that's the problem here, ot just doesn't happen. DH has various drawers stuffed full of his crap that never gets sorted and his preferred tidying method is to throw things in the nearest drawer, basket whatever so no one can ever find them again. Whereas I prefer the "home for everything" approach.

That type of "putting away" rings a bell, EerilyDecorated.
Elder DD was awful in her teens. Every week, I'd remind her to tidy her room the day before the cleaner came (replied to with "I know!" in petulant tones) and, the morning of the next day, everything would be moved from the floor onto the bed except for clothing which was moved from the floor to the laundry basket 🤦‍♀️
It's easier now there's just two of us at home, although I've had to accept that DH has a couple of drawers that I never want to look into and the dining table will only be cleared on a monthly basis and, in between, I've learned to endure it.
Maddening though and you have my sympathies.

Flat Surface Syndrome drives me crazy! Every table, kitchen worktop, ends of stairs, and tbf so much of it is mine. In my defence, most of my mess is from being constantly interrupted, and brain fog resulting from teen meltdowns. But I do have a home for everything, just need to get it there.

New washing machine delivered and plumbed in this morning. Birthday cards bought, signed and on their way.

Laundry catch-up for most of this week.

The issue of emptying receptical is big here. It becomes just another hotspot. Ergo the it MUST be returned no later than Sunday. If it becomes a problem they will just become a sorting and transport aid for me and i will hide them <evil cackle>

mikado I'm sorry that I hadn't explained hotspots clearly 🤦‍♀️ it looks like everyone has explained them nicely though. Thank you all!
No need to worry about zone work yet anyway, right now is the time to work on building your routines with the baby steps.

LaMarschallin we are all going to be clowns! DH wants to be Pennywise but cannot find that costume in his size (the newer version). I haven't seen IT and have no intentions to! But I will dress up so we all match. We even have Pennywise costumes for both the dogs. They will hate us 😂
Did you manage to get your microwave clean?
That book looks interesting!

Dragons sorry to hear about inconsiderate neighbours. I hope you get more caught up on sleep tonight.

I've never come across recipe instructions like "Let the meat brown while you smoke a cigarette and stare sullenly into the sink" before...
This made me chuckle.. I'm at work! 😂Oops!

Scourgify a new washer sounds exciting!

A couple of days of decorating here, and a bit o garden work over the weekend too. Today was admin Monday with a lot of emails I'd been putting off!

Loving the descriptions of hot spots. Here, the hotspots are many and varied but my main two are the coffee table and my chest of drawers. They both acquire stacks of things which don't quite have homes yet. It's bizarre. The front stairs are also particularly bad.

Managed to shine my sink yesterday and wash and line dry all the bedding (4 x lol) but not much else. I’m in the process of reorganising kitchen cupboards and decluttering in there. Today I’ll sweep and mop in there too.

Pumpkins oooh, what decorating have you been doing?

Poison that sounds like it was a productive day!

I worked today, cooked dinner when I got home, did my yoga & got my clothes out for the morning.

Tuesday is plan & play day.

Tuesday's mission is to scrub your countertops clean! Move things as you go, so you can get the whole thing.

Baby Step 8: https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-8/
Grab a binder/ folder and build your control journal. We have just started on our morning & evening routines. In the link you'll see them broken down.

Hi everyone, just checking in after falling off the wagon in September. Our stuff finally arrived from the removal and after a few weeks of enthusiastic unpacking we’re down to the last free boxes which have no obvious holes and the place is a mess. Hoping that reconnecting here will help motivate me to find a way through…

Managed to deep clean my kitchen counters today and remove most of the crap clutter from the kitchen island - our main hotspot.
I've put my new light up pumpkin decoration in the middle of the island to try and inspire myself to keep the cutter away 🎃
Cleaning takes a million times longer with a new baby about. I'm so used to just getting it done when I want so I'm finding it hard to be constantly interrupted and/or forgetting what I even wanted to do due to baby brain. At least she's cute!

@GreenFlamingo11 that’s a good idea about an island centrepiece…and adorable babies beat everything hands down!

I’ve managed to shine my sink, declutter DD bedroom for another 15 min and get two black bags for the dump sorted from upstairs cupboards. Oh and hoovered all of downstairs.
I watched some Stacey Solomon Sort Your Life out for first time.

I love SYLO @Poisonwood it is such a heartwarming show, Stacey and team are just lovely.

Welcome back @Dolphinnoises well done on the unpacking

@GreenFlamingo11 I think that is a good technique putting something decorative in the middle of a newly decluttered space.

Tada!

Up and fed cats, work.
Home, put on WM and DW
Made DS’s bed (he went back to uni last week and I washed his sheets at the weekend)
Decluttered DS’s room (picking up random bits of paper and coins, odd socks etc)
Directed DD to make dinner as I was going to aquafit
Went to aquafit
Ate dinner (chicken curry)
Put washing in dryer - intermittent downpours going on, no chance of line drying
Did some governor paperwork
Spoke to DS on the phone about a few admin things (he has SENs and needs help quite often)
Did a few bits of tidying
Ordered an advent calendar for the cats 🐈🐈‍⬛
About to go and put clothes out for tomorrow, packed lunch is ready in the fridge

Welcome back Dolphin just do a little at a time with unpacking what you have left.

Flamingo that is a great idea to decorate your hotspot. Hopefully no one starts dumping stuff there 🤞

Poison you've had a productive day! And it seems there's a nice balance there too, with some down time.

ED you've had a busy day! You reminded me though, I still have to get my lunch ready for tomorrow.

Ta das:
🦇 hair appt (cut & colour)
👻 LOLs x3, including sheets and blankets
🦇 meal planning
👻 grocery shopping
🦇 bank
👻 vacuumed main floor
🦇 mopped main floor
👻 spin bike workout
🦇 rotated DW
👻 handwashed dishes
🦇 scrubbed countertops
👻 finally removed all the plastic that was still on the fridge (almost 3 1/2 years later..) 😂

I still need to be my future friend.. I still need to pull my clothes out for tomorrow and get my lunch ready for the rest of the week. Then I can take a shower & go to bed!

Wednesday is anti-procrastination day.

Wednesday's mission is to grab an old toothbrush and use it on the taps. Get all the grime out from them and make them shine. She also says to then use the toothbrush on your rings to make them shine, but I don't know if I'd want to use the same brush! I keep the free toothbrushes from the dentist for cleaning as I'll never use them on my teeth!

Baby Step 9: https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-9/
Learn how to declutter, a few minutes at a time. Here's that link also: https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/flying-lessons/decluttering-15-minutes/

I have three what appear on the surface to be really easy things. Except they are not. They are going to be a lot of changing about and sorting out to get to a starting point.

Anti-procrastination stuffs
paint a ceiling
banking
find out where the fuck my prescription went so i can have the meds i have been without for more than a month.

I have decided to get rid of my bed frame. I am happier and hurt less without it so i am done with society norms that say i have to have a bed frame. Long term goal is to get a japanese sleeping mat. As it is i much prefer to sit on the floor and will choose it over a chair/sofa in general so I have some serious thinking to do about furniture choices long term.

But for now i get a second round of hunt for the thing which went so well for me last week so i can do the banking... <sigh> it is going to be a long day.

None of those sound really easy things on the surface, I promise you, SleepingIceDragons.
They all sound a right faff and everything is difficult if you're under the weather and struggling without the medication you need so I think that’s where you need to concentrate your efforts.
I hope your day ends up better than it started. I'm hoping mine does because I slipped on my morning routine and, while that doesn't sound much, it could make everything descend into a kerfuffle.

I am honestly going with what has a hard time limit. Banking has to be done before 1pm and requires a 45min-1hr drive to get to, paint has to be done whilst there is light. Pharmacy is open til 5pm.
Currently waiting on bread to rise so i can get cooked before i head out. Tight squeasing that time limit? yep <sigh> but still gotta play find the thing and that will take me at least the 30mins the bread will take to rise.

We have painted the whole hallway (following the big front door/porch swap job in the summer), painted the conservatory and had some electrical work done by my dad to prepare for a new oven and hob, which both failed on us a couple of weeks ago! Not ideal with baby imminent. Today the kitchen stuff will be all fitted and done and hopefully all the remaining filling / sanding / painting in the hall can be done this weekend. No painting for me, mind - DW has handled that with my mum so I could avoid the fumes 😊

Hello all! Checking back in for October after a derailment in September. On top of having to go rescue my mama from abroad and bring her home after she popped her hip replacement out, I managed to herniate a disk- so I've been unable to do much at all! Nevermind. Onwards and upwards. Mama has gone to her home abroad for 2 weeks and will be back to have her operation with us in November so I need to get on top of things a bit by then! And I think my sister and her family will be in the country (they also live abroad) to celebrate Christmas with us.... though staying near by not with us... but there is a lot to be done to make the house more welcoming!
baby steps....
tadas

• 2 LOLs
• filed last tax return
• signed up ds2 for his school laptop

todo's

• empty dishwasher
• one more LOL
• find DS1's watch that needs repair
• order more waterbottles for kids to take to school
• order thermos flasks for kids to take soup to school
• walk dog with DH
• declutter in zone

I'll be happy when I can see the todo's as tapas!!! Have a lovely day all!

Ta da list for yesterday and this morning:

• folded clean airer clothes
• put away airer
• 2x LOL on at various stages
• inspected spring bulb delivery 💐
• vacuumed lounge
• put in for grocery delivery
• refilled coffee machine beans
• shined toaster!
• household admin
• eBay admin

By the time i got back from banking it was already gone 2.30pm. So decided that i would not get the prep for painting and painting done today thus played chase down the missing prescription. Currently muttering dark words about how every one has the heating on boil. Made me feel really sick.

Main quests:
Banking (2 branches visited)
Meds collected

Side quests:
2025 calendar and note book (hard cover) - the works
Chinese super market
Lidl
Aldi (lidl didn't have everything)
Find out how to cancel a contract
put in complaint about the chase around with the meds

Need to figure out tea as i might be short on eggs, might have to send someone out for eggs. bother.

Just enjoying a cuppa before dealing with the abandoned washing in the machine, remindinng people of the no go zone (zero tollerance unless call for me or life/death emergency within the specific times), and sorting the area reading for painting. I am already more than done with today, and i have sucessfully mostly avoided the people so far. I have yet to deal with them. I am going to have to and that does not make me enthusiastic for anything. I NEED a holiday from the people.

Falling by the way side with the kitchen as still decluttering else where, but I’ve done that for a couple of hours, shined my sink, dealt with loads of recycling, and done some yoga and put my clothes ready for the morning. It will look good in the end!!