April Flying with the Fledglings - We’re No Fools

[EffortlesslyDecluttering]

Welcome to the April Flylady thread, we are starting the month with spring well and truly sprung, flowers out, longer days and hopefully warm, dry weather.

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”. We will be decluttering and cleaning in these zones with a daily mission posted, these are tasks that should take up to about 15 minutes.

Other daily themes: each day of the week has a different regular to-do:
Monday: Home Blessing (or as we call it, home bleugh) - hoover, dust, change beds etc
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.

Note: The Flylady website and app are not working reliably at the moment, both are stuck in Zone 5 and have been for several weeks. So the launchpad is not always up to date. However the Zone and Babystep pages are useful for reference. I will be posting the daily Flight Plan from the Flylady FB page instead for the time being.

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/

Not so much Flying here as belly-flopping. Some things got done. For the first time in months, TeenBoy walked to school today. He’s practising with TeenGirl this week so that he feels brave enough to do it on his own next week when she’s on study leave. So that was a big achievement.

Have been decluttering ancient schoolwork, mostly piles of workbooks and notes.

Captain that's a very productive day!

ED I'm sorry that there's issues with the links.

Scourgify it's crazy watching the DC grow up, isn't it?

Ta das:
🥕 I ended up counting how many LOLs I actually did today.. 14!! I have never done so much laundry in my life! 😱 but now we have no dirty clothes, other than what we're wearing.
🥕 cleaned mirrors and glass on the outside doors (x3)
🥕 wiped ceiling fan in master bedroom
🥕 wiped bedside tables in master bedroom
🥕 got my clothes out for the morning
🥕 got my lunch ready for tomorrow
🥕 enjoying putting my feet up currently, before getting ready for bed

Wow blooming hazel I don't think we have enough clothes, towels and bedding for 14 loads. How many people in your household, did it include dogs bedding too?

Well, I've given up on the FB links and the website hasn't come back either.

However Wednesday is Anti-Procrastination Day, so if there is something you have been putting off now is the time to tackle it. In the Master Bedroom we are cleaning and wiping down our nightstands.

2in2022 we only have 3 of us and 2 dogs, however, I had to split some loads as they would have been too big. I really haven't done any laundry since last Tuesday.
The loads were:
Mattress protectors
Sheets (master bed)
Towels x2
Delicates x2 (hung to dry)
Blankets x2 (from the couch)
Blues x2 (lots of jeans)
Greys x2
Blacks
Whites

My washer & dryer take about the same amount of time each (about 55 minutes) and they both play a tune when they're done so I'm able to head to the basement as soon as they're done. I started before 8am and the dryer was going when I went to bed at 11pm!
The dogs beds and blankets were the only thing that didn't get done that probably should have been washed!

Wow Hazel thats some epic washing. My dd is very into party dresses at the moment so I'm with you on the delicate loads, although my machine takes 3hrs40 for a standard wash!

ED thanks for the anti procrastination reminder. I saw it and did some school admin I'd been putting off.

Well done on the school stuff @DillyDeclutter you’ve reminded me I need to do some governor stuff.

In all the time I’ve been on this thread @BloomingHazel I don’t think anyone has ever reported 14 LOLs in one day <bows down>. Our WM take an hour so long as you don’t overload it, when it adjusts itself and takes 3.5 hours which is bloody annoying. Dryer also takes 3.5 hours (heat pump) so I’m not even going to attempt it. I sometimes manage 4 or 5 if the weather’s good and I can line dry as we have a huge whirligig. That has reminded me I need to stick a load on now.

Governor admin done, washing on ✅

Just testing links again

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Your-Flight-Plan-for-Tuesday-.html?soid=1120012284937&aid=7cIWcv8yjkA

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Your-Flight-Plan-for-Wednesday-.html?soid=1120012284937&aid=1VrJZrVx94I

I miss the days when I had two washing-machines that whirred and bashed away together until they eventually rusted and had to be replaced by one very handsome new machine that does a lovely job but is oh so slow :-))

It’s getting a good workout today. TeenBoy came home from school mid-morning with a sore tummy and a nasty bout of d&v. I’m hoping it’s a result of his too-large breakfast rather than a bug for the rest of us to catch. TeenGirl came home before afternoon classes started, as she was genuinely tired with her aches and pains.

Well I don't think I'll be doing that many LOLs again, especially where I don't usually have that much to wash!
I ended up with over 15k steps, at least half of which was from going up and down the stairs!

ED the links worked for me when I clicked on them 😊

Scourgify about halfway through the laundry yesterday I was dreaming of a 2nd set, then remembered I'm not usually this far behind!

No flying today. Just work all day, then we all need shoes, before Saturday (theme park with the school band & orchestra) as they're all getting a bit worn out!

Good morning all! Those links worked for me too @EffortlesslyDecluttering!
That is a sterling effort with the laundry @BloomingHazel ..... and I'm always suprised at how many steps I rack up with I'm trying to clean the house (probably because I ping from one thing to another and leave a wake of more chaos behind me untill it's all done and all things put away - why it takes me so long I guess!!)
@Scourgify Hope teen boy is feeling better today - when mine were younger they had a habit of eating too much (especially pasta!!) and then being ill after.... they still will over eat but mostly stop before they are actually sick 🤦🏽‍♀️)

yesterday less tadas
🎉made bed
🎉laundry on and folded out the dryer - awaiting distribution!
🎉 sink and counters left clear for the morning

Didnt manage the fly lady de clutter bedside table mission - really needs doing so I'll have that as my mission for today as dresser tops pretty much clear.

looking forward to going to the gym this evening - I've started a weight training progam with an online coach and although ily 3 weeks in I'm feeling so much stronger - makes me feel less like I'm heaving and hauling myself about and more easy just day to day - I can almost get up off the floor without hands 🎉 I really want to be able to do just one pull up on the playground bars 🤣 (I work in a school!)
have a wonderful day all

Yeah, the links work when I can pist them, but sometimes MN doesn't let me post them IYSWIM. So a couple of times I have made a post with links in, pressed post and just got an error message, which I haven't always noticed before I walk away (in the mornings I post from my ipad then check in during the day on my phone while I'm at work and realise the post hasn't appeared).

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Your-Flight-Plan-for-Thursday-.html?soid=1120012284937&aid=hFZfp5r7ZF8

It worked today. I don’t know, will keep trying.

So, Thursday, Errand Day, also our mission is to go after our dressing tables, declutter the surface and wipe it down. Mine is a bit of a lost cause, it is shared with DH and DD who doesn’t have her own (her choice) and we don’t have enough storage so it is always cluttered. It is one area of the house I have never really got on top of storage for.

So, apparently, remember a few weeks ago MN was getting spam from people posting links to illegal images, they have had to put in tighter filtering for links and it is likely that some of these are falling foul. I'll just keep trying.

I have decided to blitz our bedroom, tinkering with surfaces isn't enough, it needs a wholesale clear-out and reorganise. I did one drawer today. Babysteps!

Checking in. Recent house guests mean the house is pretty tidy in general, although I know all the deep clean stuff is behind. However, I have recently "Vanished" the kitchen sinks again so it is "shining", and most days I clear the draining board and wipe the surfaces, and the carpets downstairs get regular vacuums. Upstairs is behind. Kitchen needs a deep clean although yesterday I gave the SodaStream a thorough clean and that was very satisfying.

Regular routine of a monthly car wash has kept that up, and even though I'm sure the automatic system thing isn't good for the car long term it's a better compromise than it not ever being washed at all! Have managed to keep up with the internal car vacuuming by parking baby parsnip in a chair with a crinkle book to entertain for 10 mins... but I'm running out of time where that works as she's coming up on 5 months old now and getting more mobile!

So there's a lot more tasks nowadays that need to be done in weekends or evenings when DW and I can tag team baby watching. But we're ticking along quite well now. Struggling with the Mumsnet website as it keeps complaining about my ad blocker and I'm not turning it off... so we'll see how that goes 😅

Morning all
just checking in with some to do's

• laundry on
• breakfast stuff away
• do bedside table declutter
• Go to the gym

thats it for now! have a lovely day all

Morning all, here is today’s flight plan, going to post it and see if it works before typing a lot of text

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Your-Flight-Plan-for-Friday-.html?soid=1120012284937&aid=MIXKhxSIZrU

Oh good, it worked this time again. The mission for today is to remake the bed, change the sheets, maybe flip the mattress, vacuum/steam it, the things you might not do every time.

And yes, clean out our bag and car. Well done on the regular car cleaning @ParsnipSnap - I have let mine slip a bit, I had it valetted in March but haven’t vacuumed it again since although I did take it to the car wash last week after parking it under trees and finding it covered in bird shit.

Morning all

Had a bit of a crap week at work. You know when just seems like whatever you do is wrong? Yeah that. And then while my work is criticised more tasks are added to the pile. Bit fed up.

Still waiting for news re the house I applied to rent and not feeling hopeful. This is getting me down too cause I feel a bit trapped.

Sat in bed with brew #1 feeling sorry for myself!

I'm so sorry to read that THAT 😔 don't lose hope on the house! Whatever happens, is meant to happen.
Try to put your work situation out of your mind this weekend, and get some rest. Is your work aware of your home situation at all?

Oh @THATbasicgirl sorry, that's all a bit shit. I hope you head about the house soon, it's horrible to just be left dangling like that.

Well, I did vacuum the car yesterday. Also did a couple of 15 minute room rescues, there seems to have been a creep of low level clutter again everywhere, just random small stuff gradually covering all the surfaces. It is surprising what you can get done if you set a timer and don't stop till it goes off.