Fledglings Marching Into Spring - Flylady Mar 25 Thread

[ExtraDecluttering]

February has ended here with a beautiful sunny day, washing dried on the line, daffodils out and now of course it’s Spring and that traditionally means cleaning. If you're looking for 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 - unless you want to end up with a very cluttered inbox

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! Her motto is “you are never behind”

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 a week. 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. 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:
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/

Sunny again today, and spent a couple of hours in the front garden which has been sadly neglected for months. Enjoyed the fresh air and exercise. After that, I slept for more than an hour in the afternoon. Having a very lazy evening before tackling Mt Washmore tomorrow.

It's been a busy week/ weekend here.
DS got the home bleugh done on Friday, I had to wash all of our bedding yesterday as Coco threw up on it Friday night 😪
I also gave the dogs a bath yesterday as they both smelled like puke.
There's more laundry that needs to be washed today as well, neverending Mt Washmore 🙄

DD is here this weekend, but staying with friends, she just got a new car (it'll be better than her old one) and broke up with her BF. He called her during the night last night and was really nasty to her so now she's scared to go back home 😭 she texted me at 4:30am, after he called and let me know she was safe at her friends house.

She lives 2.5hrs away, so not easy to commute and she has a very small circle of friends.
Her uncle does live near her, but not sure about having her stay with them (even though her cousins love her!) as they have a houseful as it is. It's so stressful! I worry about her so much! She'll be 21 next weekend, very independent and strong headed, but taking the hard road through life, even though we gave her the tools to succeed without the tough life. It's frustrating.

Sorry, that was super long, I just don't know what to do!

Edited to add: I know this has to be her decision, I just don't know what options she has and she's asking for help!
Really I'm just venting and getting it out there, I'm not expecting answers from you guys at all!

That sounds tough Hazel , mine are little now but everyone tels me the worries get bigger as they grow.

nellie my DH was very annoyed a few years ago when he used a pickup service from the garage and they wrote "very dirty interior and exterior" in the "vehicle condition" box. He still never cleans it though and I'm certainty not doing it for him!

scourgify welldone on the gardening. Mine's a disaster.

DS has been awful all weekend. All the washing is washed and everyone is fed but that's the best we can say. Zone 2 was a bit of a write off. Roll on zone 3.

I’m sorry @HazelNotHungryLC that does sound hard. I hadn’t realised she was so young still, I’d assumed a couple of years older because she’s so independent. The main thing I guess is that you are there fore her, and there is a local safety bet with her uncle. Can she work remotely or does she need to be back in her local area for work?

Sorry to have been AWOL this weekend it’s been a busy one. DH has been decluttering the garden shed. We keep our tumble dryer in there, we used to have a vented one which had the bonus effect of keeping a good flowthrough of air there in the winter, but it broke and we changed it for a heat pump one last year to use less electricity but now we are starting to find mildew in the shed, so I think we need to add some better ventilation and maybe some sort of dehumidifier, I’m reluctant to get an electric one as the whole point was to use less electricity and they are quite expensive (we have one in the house).

Dilly there are definitely different worries as they get older & move out. There's always worries of one kind or another as they're growing up.
ED she cannot WFH unfortunately as she is in a care role with MH clients, so very hands on. She did find someone to stay with, although it's the same person she was living with previously, and had issues with 😞 but it will only be a couple of months, then she'll move back closer to home (as I think she's still planning on living with friends, not back home with us).
She is currently looking into getting out of her lease a little early since it could fall under domestic violence (& he's pretty unstable right now).
I think we did a good job in raising her to be independent, and at the same time think we could have done better, but I don't know how.

I wonder if you could find a cheap- running dehumidifier as with the added ventilation it might not take much to keep the moisture levels down.

Good morning. @HazelNotHungryLC hope things go improve with your dd. @ExtraDecluttering I have small children and any housework is an achievement. My youngest is just 2 and a difficult baby until recently I couldn't really do anything much else when looking after him. Now he will watch 10 minutes if TV, he also plays with his toys indepently a bit. My eldest used to enjoy helping with housework and this age, not this one...I was ridiculously jealous of babies who would watch a screen for a few minutes, even though I know it's bad for development.
I also had quite a busy weekend too. Relative birthday meal on Saturday then working yesterday until 3. Together me and DH did normal laundry and towels. I managed to lay out my clothes the past two days and have been referring to my morning and evening to do lists, which I've been getting better at. I also sorted out some laundry and bagged two items to get rid of. By flybabies standards I am a hoarder a so couldn't go round the house and throw away 20 or so items without giving them a second look!
The Baby step I'll aim for today is housekeep my emails, I can't remember which one that is. delete some and sort out folders etc. I have 3 email addresses at the moment, personal, work and uni so it's a bit chaotic, but they're lid out nicely on my phone like ready made folders.

Morning all,

I’m in a bit of a rush today, my app is still saying zone 5 but I think we need to get ourselves into Zone 2 the kitchen http://www.flylady.net/d/zones/zone-2/

I am going to suggest that today we clear the counters and give them a good wipe down, including moving small appliances. If you have time wipe the appliances too.

I’ll come back to babysteps later

Hello! Found you all again after a long break! Definitely need to get back on top of house work and general life organisation.
shall read through the thread and try to keep up!

Welcome back @Captainladder . The website seems to be broken at the moment so we are improvising a bit.

I am sitting in my zone 2 (kitchen) and it is a mess. Been out all day. Better get on with it I suppose. I did do a bit of tidying before work and the other day I bought a new small bookcase and some baskets to go in the hall to hold things like gloves and suncream and all the bits we take out of the house at different times so I have been gradually tidying random things off surfaces and into the baskets. DH made a good job of the shed yesterday and has got the jammed window open plus the old air vent for the tumble dryer. I did have another think about dehumidifiers but the electric ones don’t work in cold temperatures and that’s when the biggest damp problem is. I think I might get some of those ones with the crystals in though.

Morning all,

Tada!
Sorted some laundry
Re-booted water softener (it's a bit temperamental and you gradually realise the bathroom basin is getting scummy really quickly from limescale when it's not working).
Made packed lunch
Swish and swipe bathroom - this is one of the babysteps, not sure if we've got to that one yet but it's a 5 minute wipe down of bath/basin/shower and a quick toilet clean, done every day it keeps the bathroom guest ready.
Off to work now, I'll have another look at the website and app later.

Meanwhile in the kitchen I am going to make it my mission to clean the fronts of cupboards and drawers today.

Morning,

Yesterday I cleaned the kitchen sink. This morning I did all of my morning routine, then wrote down brush hair, because I often do this when I'm getting ready to leave the house but it really is part of the get dressed and ready into shoes first thing. However, I have a toddler who woke before 5 today so getting myself fully dressed and ready to go out as soon as I get out of bed Is not feasible. I normally get myself ready after DH was walked the dog and sits with ds for more breakfast (he's a slow eater).

I didn't sort my emails, will try that today as well as booking a nursery viewing. I will also do the 5 minute room rescue, add that to my bedtime routine

The flylady babysteps section is working. I've copied and pasted day 11

"Today we are going to add another page to our Control Journals. We are going to call this our “Inspirational Page.” On this page, I want you to spend 15 minutes writing down some of your favorite inspirational phrases. Some of mine are:
You can do anything for 15 minutes
Housework done incorrectly still blesses your family
You can’t organize clutter; you can only get rid of it.
I know you have others that you love. Use this page as a place to write them down when you see something that touches your heart."

Thanks @2in2022twoyearson I often think Flylady is a bit twee, but there is some value I think in gratitudes and positive thoughts. I was telling some friends the other day that I was decluttering photos from my phone for last year when I kept finding pictures of things I had sold or given away on free sites and thought, that's quite a lot so I made a list in my journal and it was nearly a whole page, a lot of them were quite bulky (roller boots, paper shredder, garden shears, you name it) so that is a whole lot less clutter in our home.

I've just looked at day 14 and it's using a calendar, which I do and look at quite often, so feeling good about that. I'm at work now, so I'll plan for tonight and tomorrow:

To do tonight:
Bedtime routine.
Keep it simple.

Tomorrow is my day off with ds. To do, maybe visit the nursery with him at the hospital I work at and get him on the waiting list. It's much cheeper than the day nursery attached to DD school...He's 2 and at a childminder who's recommended he start nursery as he'll be the oldest by quite a bit in a couple of months. DH would rather he stays at childminders but I think he'll love nursery. DD took a while to get into it, but she turned 2 during COVID and is a bit more naturally introverted.

Otherwise, no plans except school runs. Hes been napping well recently so should be able to get some work done.

Welcome back Captain 👋

2in2022 it looks like you're doing well with the baby steps

ED it can be surprising how much we all have that we can live without!

Ta das:
🧚‍♀️ annual checkup (it seems I might be starting the change early - I'm about to turn 41 next week)
🧚‍♀️ dogs to groomer
🧚‍♀️ vacuumed
🧚‍♀️ mopped
🧚‍♀️ handwashed dishes
🧚‍♀️ rotated DW
🧚‍♀️ wiped down all countertops
🧚‍♀️ S&S both bathrooms
🧚‍♀️ dusted
🧚‍♀️ LOLs x7, including blankets from the couch
🧚‍♀️ aired the house out all day, it was beautiful and warm
🧚‍♀️ meal planning
🧚‍♀️ grocery shopping
🧚‍♀️ bank
🧚‍♀️ healthy dinner prepared and eaten!

DD got home okay last night, exBF had got most of his things out so she won't need to move for a couple of months when the lease is up.

It feels good to get all that done today, the sunshine definitely helped!
I'm now waiting on a phone call to set up an appt for a mammogram. It'll be my 1st one ever, I'm not looking forward to it, but I guess we'll see how it goes 🤷‍♀️

Morning all,

@HazelNotHungryLC I’ve had about three mammograms now, I can’t say I love it, but the staff have always been lovely and it doesn’t take too long. We don’t start them till about 50 in the UK. Glad exBF has cleared off and cleared out.

@2in2022twoyearson mine both went to a private day nursery (none attached to schools here or workplace options), it was very caring and supportive.

Just been putting away a few bits and bobs of what I call “downstairs laundry”, I take all the clean laundry upstairs and sort it on our bed, but then there’s always a little pile for downstairs, hand towels, flannels and cloth napkins, gym towels etc (our bathroom is downstairs), I roll up the cloth napkins and teatowels into little balls as they stay in their baskets better that way so it takes a few minutes. Work today, then an exercise class and after that I need to get some car insurance quotes.

I have found this video which explains all the babysteps very well and quickly

K

Today we are still in the kitchen, I am going to suggest (because mine needs it) a deep clean of the floor, get right into all the corners that regular mopping can miss, wipe the kickboards, clean out gaps under and beside appliances.

Here is the Zone 2 page from the website

http://www.flylady.net/d/zones/zone-2/

Babystep 12 is to delete old Flylady emails, I never subscribed but I ought to delete some other emails, I do let them build up a bit, like someone else mentioned, I have multiple email addresses (6) so I need to keep on top of them.

Morning all! Thanks for the welcome
back!
I am making sure that my draining board and sink and the island counters are clear before going to bed at the moment (lol 2 days and counting!) makes such a difference coming into a clear space in the morning!
floor definitely needs a mop so that will be tonight's task when the kids are being taken to their fencing activity.
have a lovely day all.

Morning all. I’ve managed a little more flying than usual lately. On Saturday I had a productive day with DS - we sorted two dreadful corners of the living room (Lego and TV). Long way to go before I’m ready to host but it’s a big improvement!

Yesterday I also managed to make the most of bin day by getting a lot more rubbish and recycling out than usual so that was good.

Morning all, I didn’t mop the floor yesterday, I went out to exercise class almost straight from work (I am having a fitness kick at the moment) and when I got back DH and DD had gone to the gym and I had the house to myself so I put my feet up and watched TV because I don’t often do that in the evenings. Anyway I watched 1.5 episodes of Sort Your Life Out in order to motivate myself, I do like that show but it is getting a bit samey now, the episodes blur a bit.

I will do it today though <determined>

Babystep 13 is to go and do one of Flylady’s missions.

So, still in the kitchen, another thing that needs doing here is wiping down the appliances.

Thursday’s daily habit is Errand Day, I actually need to do planning rather than errands today I think but whatever. One planning day, one errands day, one anti-procrastination day a week are all good habits no matter how you organise them. And I am ahead of the game for Friday as my carr was serviced on Tuesday and they washed and vacuumed it.

Haven’t talked much about decluttering this month. Flylady says that you can’t clean clutter and it’s true, it bogs you down mentally and physically, so if you don’t feel up to doing the zone specific tasks, an alternative is to spend 15 mins decluttering in the weeks zone. We have a breakfast basr which doubles as a home desk (no one WFH here but we all use it for laptop and paperwork tasks) and it easily becomes a dumping ground, I’d like to get that clear this week as well as the wiping down tasks.

Morning, off with DD today so a much needed change of pace after a busy work week.

House is all upside down and our cleaners didn't come this week (they cancel at least once a month). I have just spent half an hour walking round and round the house putting things back where they belong.

Hoping to get lots of flying done today in 10-15 minute bursts!

I definitely need to do a lot more decluttering. I’ve been more ruthless over the last week but have a long way to go!

I have had a nice morning with Cagletini (reading and a board game) but I’m overwhelmed with admin etc.

po3.1
❗️ring dentist to postpone appt, can’t make it tomorrow
❗️pay friend for a show ticket
❗️do a bit of financial admin

Nobody answered at the dentist.

po3.2
❗️make sure Cagletini is ready for gym
❗️get myself showered and ready - need to dress warm 🥶
❗️message friend

Morning all, chilly here today but a bit of blue sky breaking through the clouds. It’s my day off today and have had a mini lie-in. Going to be out most of the day though.

Babystep 14 is https://www.flylady.net/d/flylady-guide-on-how-to-use-a-calendar/
using a calendar. Many of us use electronic ones now (we have for years) but the same principles apply, check it once a week, add things immediately etc

Friday is Clean out your handbag and car day - I started on my bag yesterday and found a receipt from Ikea at the weekend where they had double charged me for something so I spent a while sorting that out, glad I didn’t just chuck the receipt in the bin, I nearly did as it was a load of very low value things not anything I’d ever be likely to return.

Still in the kitchen, I can’t rememeber what last month’s missions were,so at risk of repeating those I am going to suggest clearing out either under the sink, the cutlery drawer or any other drawer that fills with unwanted odds and ends or generally gets untidy.

Today I have just a few hours at work. Im jealous of your lay in as ds got me up before 5 and had 2 accidents this morning. Done one lol and wee clothes are having a prerince. Also cleaned my sink and did my morning routine. Over about 2 hours. After work I'll clean my car and bags and do some decluttering.