Flylady Thread: Fledglings flying into Sunny September

[DillyDeclutter]

It's September, a good time for a fresh start! Are you looking to finally getting into a new routine with housework? 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 - 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 has a different mission for the zone we are in.

Daily focus:
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 (although I only have it for when the zones change). 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. Although there are some issues with the website and app right now, so bear with me!

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

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

A big thank you to Hazel for running August! Welcome to all regular posters, occasional passers-by, and lurkers!

See you in the morning for September's first mission.

Thank you Dilly for volunteering to run the September thread!

ED I'm sorry to hear that life is so full on for you right now, hopefully that'll settle down again soon 🤞

I did a whole lot of nothing yesterday, we didn't go for a drive, but we're going out tomorrow instead, since it's a long weekend here.

Happy September 😊

Thanks dilly & hazel for threads

Thanks @HazelNotHungryLC for August thread and @DillyDeclutter for the new thread.
I'm still in the naughty/recovering from flu corner, I've cleared a couple of hot spots but nothing else to note.

Thanks very much Hazel for last month's thread and Dilly for this. I don't post that often but I really am very grateful for the threads which keep me, if not always flying, at least "falling with style" ☺️.

Morning!

Monday is home bleugh day - hoover, dust, mop, clean mirrors, change sheets, empty the bins. Flylady reckons you can do this in an hour.

This week our focus zone is the hall, porch and entrance. I can't find the missions though so I suggest you choose an area and spend 10 minutes blitzing it. Im going to sweep under the conservatory furniture.

Baby step 1 is to shine your sink: https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/

I finally found the mission via ChatGPT. It was a struggle, but I’ve never seen it before. Pasted it below ,

…………

On Mondays, The Weekly Home Blessing hour is the time FlyLady spends blessing her home. No detailed cleaning required; vacuum the middle of the floors only! Set your timers and have fun – you are blessing your home and family!
FlyLady sets her timer for 10 minutes to work on each of 7 ways to bless your home: If you don’t have 10 minutes then use our 2 Minute WHB Challenge.

• Vacuum
• Dust
• Quick Mop
• Polish Mirrors and Doors
• Purge magazines/catalogs
• Change Sheets
• Empty all trash cans

You can have FlyLady coach you through the Weekly Home Blessing hour by listening to her. This takes approximately one hour; some tasks take less than 10 minutes. “Don’t obsess, set your timer for 10 minutes for each task, then QUIT!” ~ FlyLady

Thank you @DillyDeclutter and @HazelNotHungryLC

Dilly I found her daily missions on the Facebook page, you may have to scroll past 16,000 posts to get to the "flight plan", but it's there. It's towards the bottom of that link as well, if that makes any sense.

I should have put that we are going out for a drive today on my last post! It was midnight when I posted that, knew it was morning for you all, and messed up my post 🤦‍♀️
Anyway, that's the plan for today. The dogs will get to explore and play in a lake.

Thank you for the thread, can I join in? Not sure how long I'll keep it up but everything helps! I got home early today and did 15 minutes decluttering my porch, loads of beach toys in there (my kids are over 20...) and a collection of brown paper packing for a friend, which I can drop in to her.

Really need to start going to bed at a decent hour, so the habit is well timed!

Aha thank you Hazel, I have found the mission which is to spend 15 minutes decluttering the hall/entrance.

This months habit is to sort out your bedtime routine. For me, washing up, putting an overnight wash on and tidying is enough. Making my lunch and laying out my clothes doesn't work for me but I know it works for many.

Tomorrow is the Last Day of the Holidays and I have a day off with ds but annoyingly everything is closed!

Thank you dilly and hazel. We feel a bit bligh in our household. Yesterday DH gave me a lie in. Stopped me getting out of bed before 6 saying he'd get up with ds, as he was due to wake up soon. But it's harder to get out of bed later! Felt crap all day. Today DH felt bad so it might be illness. Today I changed the childrens bedding, I think, against flylady recommendations I might alternate weeks our bedding and children's bedding. How do you dust the house in 10 minutes? Wave a feather duster? I like to damp wipe with a cloth.

Honestly I dont know how you could do much of any of those tasks in 10 mins. Did she have a REALLY tiny house?

I also need to work on an evening routine

Tonight I have had a bath, washed and dried my hair, shined my sink, and even put my moisturiser on - this is all unheard of recently

Aiming to be asleep by 11 - back to work in a couple of days so I also have a 630 alarm set to prepare myself for early starts!

Welcome @Murun! 👋
You've made a great start to flying with doing the daily mission. It's amazing how much of a difference a few minutes can make.

Dilly I'm glad you found the mission. It'll be nice when there is a new and improved website that works!

Alwayslearning25 & THIS I'm convinced that flylady is really a fairy with magical powers so really can get things done with a click of a finger! That's the only logical explanation! 😂🧚
I can get things done fairly quickly in my house, but it still takes me 3 hours! For just the basics. That is without the struggle of a toddler undoing anything and everything I just did!
Do whatever works best for you and your family as far as bedding goes.

THIS I'm still so excited for you and your new adventures! I'm sure it'll be easier to establish a new evening routine with starting a new job. It's changing an already established routine that's hard for me!

Today we went to the lake as planned, DS stayed home though. He bargained with us. He didn't want to go, so he offered to clean the whole house and wash 2 LOLs. I said he could stay home if he washes 3 LOLs, and makes sure to vacuum downstairs as well. He did, he also vacuumed the stairs for me too! He got everything done as promised! The only thing I'll need to do tomorrow is bleach the bathrooms, so it's a deeper clean.

The dogs had a lot of fun in the water and walking around the mountain. As did we. We also checked out some camping spots that we'll plan to camp at next year.

Tomorrow morning I'll be out of the house mainly, but plan on getting LOLs done. I also need to repaint my nails, so will get to relax a bit too.

When does everyone's DC go back to school? DS has been back for 2 weeks already, but gets 3 months out of school here.

My DD is back to school on Thursday. Me and her are both quite nervous about it, I don't want to show her. She loves school but she's not missed it in the summer holidays. She's going into year 3 and has told me they will be doing new subjects, french, cooking and sewing.

Ds is starting nursery on Thursdays and Fridays.

I have one back this Thursday, four on Monday and the last one next Tuesday - so a mix here

Littlest dc is starting reception on Monday - this might be a rough few days ....

I was awake for 620 but didn't make it downstairs until 730 .... fail

Ta da
💤 last bits in dishwasher & turned it on

Always my ds is back tomorrow, he's nervous too. He's in a mixed age class (small school) so he's in the same classroom with the same teacher as last year but still having some very wobbly moments.

I wash duvet covers and pillowcases one week, sheets and pillowcases the next. It's the only way I've found to manage the washing mountain.

Today's mission is to sweep your front porch, shake the mats out and tidy round.

Tuesday is plan and play day - do something productive and go and have some fun. I have a few party presents to buy for the dc so will plan that, and it's DS's last day off so we are going to a big adventure play place for the afternoon.

Today's baby step is maybe a bit late depending on when you're reading: get dressed to shoes the moment you get out of bed. http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-2/

Thanks for the shared excitement hazel I should be home by 530 every day with new job (old job could be 630 getting on for 7pm) I need to meal plan 4 quick easy teas so I can get in, start tea - bath little dc and do things like their reading and have them in bed by 730. I think the meal planning is gonna be a big thing here.

Once the Littlest ones are in bed ill have more time to do the other stuff I need to do. What I need to avoid is sitting, scrolling, putting things off ......

The younger years in my daughters school are doing mixed classes y1/y2 this year for the first time as they don't have full intake due to an Ofsted that came out in the summer DD was due to start. I'm really happy with the school though and I've told that to a few toddler parents. There's loads of school choices in my area.

My dcs primary is all mixed classes - even though its a big school usually full to capacity. They just like it like that. Id prefer it wasn't like that but there must be reasons behind it. It's never affected my dc. It does mean every other year my little two may end up in the same class - this probably wouldn't be wise.....

I’m still trying to work out how missions/focus/steps work together. Was this actually a daily focus … and a mission something else? I didn’t see anything about porches.

I had the exact same thought. I managed the hoovering and it took a lot longer than 10 minutes 😂

suitcases I would love to explain it to you but I haven't got a clue!

Hoovered stairs, landing and my bedroom - 30 mins

Ta da
💤 last bits in dishwasher & turned it on
☀️ hoovered stairs and landing
☀️ quick tidy down side of my bed
☀️ hoovered my bedroom
☀️ dry washing sorted and away
☀️ 2 x LOL on
☀️ work tops wiped
☀️ outgrown uniform put away for when someone grows
☀️ named some school socks with stamper
☀️ tried to tidy utility room - dont have a "good" space for the dirty basket need think of solution

Hi yes I think this was Chat GTP being foxed by Flylady! That's the daily focus that it's given you (Monday home blessing). Then there are weekly zones (this week is the porch/entrance) and daily missions in each zone.

There are also morning, afternoon and evening daily routines, but they don't really work for me so I admit to ignoring them!

I've got to apply for littlest's school place soon, she starts next year. Scary how fast they grow! Hope first day isn't too emotional This!