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/

Morning!

Today we are in zone 4, master bedroom, master bathroom, closet.

Monday is home bleugh day.

Today's mission is to spend 15 minutes decluttering your bedroom.

Today's baby step is about keeping on top of your control journal: http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-22/

Always we live next to a busy A road and our double glazing makes our house liveable! The first winter with it was fabulous. I also think it keeps us a bit cooler in hot summer weather.

My cleaners have cancelled this week so I'll have to do my home bleugh myself! (They usually hoover, mop and dust although often miss the edges) Still, we are fairly tidy after the weekend.

Our road is busyish but cars rev a lot with hills illegal night racing and random fireworks all through the year so the sound buffering is great. We had our worst widows done last year and the rest now.

Morning ☕️

How is your DD getting on @EffectivelyDecluttering? We're going up to visit dd this Sunday and then she's coming home next weekend to work, her job has kept her on as casual which was really good of them, she messages her boss when she's going to be home, then they give her some shifts , keeps her money coming in at least ! Congratulations to your DS ! Does he know what he would like to do now uni has finished ? Sorry to hear about DF , that must be hard to cope with , has he got a move date ?

I did get a rest thanks @DillyDeclutter, I have been trying to finish off most things by around 7/8pm to try and avoid doing too much then becoming exhausted , sometimes I'm working until 9ish or I have to pick dd2 from gymnastics so I won't get home until 9 but since being a little stricter with rest time , I have been much more productive at home !

Yesterday tada
🎉 30 mins clearing bedroom surfaces
🎉 folded clean washing and placed into bedrooms on the same day it had been washed 😱🤯

My bedroom is the 2nd worst room of the house so I've been looking forward to this week ! I haven't been following flylady properly for a while but I'm slowly getting back into it . I had lots of decorative boxes of 'stuff' on the top of my drawers, I've decluttered even more than the last time I went through them , meaning I'm only left with a small basket that holds my inhaler, daily moisturisers etc . I've got 2 more surfaces to go ,1 will be easy , the other has another 'dump it' box that holds my hairdryer , straighteners & make up in , but other things end up getting put in there over time - I couldn't even tell you what's in there so most of it can probably be thrown !!

On the note of hairdryers , straighteners, makeup etc may I ask where do you keep them ? Is it better to keep them is a drawer or out in a basket ? My mum always kept hers out aswell as her toiletries but it does get messy when they haven't got a home ?

I have an inbuilt dressing table with draw that is flat and wide so good for makeup but I don't use it. Unfortunately, there's no electricity outlet so I don't keep hairdryer there, it's stuffed in the air cupboard amongst the towels. It needs a new home.

Yestadas, I have a cold so not much...
Changed bedding, hung up sheets.
Put away a box of clean laundry
Emptied all bins
Cleaned toilet bin
3 mins hotspots
Tidied kids craft area

I have a hairdryer and curlers, these are in a basket. I never use them though except occasionally for craft purposes!

Tuesday is plan and play day. I am planning the birthday and christmas (sorry!) present buying as we have 4 birthdays in October and November, so it all has to be carefully done or someone ends up with nothing at one and too much at the other.

Today's mission is to put away your clothes pile ("floordrobe" in this house). Spend 15 minutes on this.

Today's baby step is to develop your afternoon or post work routine: http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-23/

No straighteners here, and haidryer I keep in the hall, I have put a cable tie through the hanging hole and it hangs on a hook behind the coats. The light is really good there, there is a wall mirror and plug socket. I don't use it very often though and no one else does either.

I also have a wide flat dressing table drawer but it is stuffed full of costume jewellery, hair accessories, spare tubes of hand-cream etc, plasters, scissors, pens and make up I don't use very often. It is on my list for decluttering. I have my everyday stuff in a little pen pot (tinted moisturiser, brow pencil, eyeliner, mascara, shadow pencil and mascara I don't use any powder products). However the top of the dresser is very cluttered, part of it is taken up by an extension block for cables (TV and mini sky box which are on an adjoining chest of drawers, lamp, tower fan in summer). Then there's the tower fan, I must put that away now. Plus deodorant, fragrances, day and night creams, serum, nail varnish remover, little dish for earrings etc and DH has bits there too, I really need to blitz the whole thing. I did start the process a few weeks ago by blitzing my bedside drawers so there is space to move some of the dresser stuff into now.

DD seems to be fine, I am seeing her this weekend too, she was desperate to see the cinema stream of Hamilton so we booked tickets at her nearest cinema and I'm going up for that she's less than an hour away. She considered trying to keep her weekend job going here (a friend's DD locally has managed that from the same uni but hers is only one short Sat eve shift) but DD's was full days fixed hours Sat and Sun, too much, she has offered to go back at Christmas though and has saved a lot in the last year. DS has got a parttime job for now and is looking for full time work while also volunteering to get experience. Glad your DD is doing well @Searchingfordaffodils that's great about her job. DF hasn't got a move date yet, I think he will be in hospital for at least another 2-3 weeks but we need his social care assessment doing and I need to tackle his finances as Mum is no good at it and Dad did it all. Feels quite daunting.

Just popping back to say before I left for work I did put away the tower fan, I also hotspotted the surface the bedroom TV sits on and gave the top of the dresser a cursory tidy. None of which I would have done if the thread hadn't prompted me

I have a makeup tray, similar to what I've attached. I keep it in the bathroom, in a cupboard. I have eyeshadow and blush palettes that I store under it as well (about the same size). My hairdryer goes in the cupboard, on a shelf and my straightener either sits in the drawer or on the countertop in the bathroom (depending on usage). I am fully aware that I'm lucky with all the storage space we have in our bathroom though.

It's been a minute since I've updated!
We only played softball on Saturday (5 games) we lost 4 of those games so we didn't go back on Sunday. I was actually relieved!

On Sunday we worked on some decorations for Halloween, cutting boards to make them look like arrows for signs, some of which are for our neighbours behind us! They actually had the boards and they were going to throw them away!

I worked yesterday, but picked up some paint for the decorations on my way home.

Today I'm hoping to spend some time on painting the decorations, but I do have other things to do too, so I'm not sure how realistic it is that I'll be able to get anything done to them.

Ta das (so far):
☕️ took DS to school (he drove)
☕️ stripped bed
☕️ 1st lol in washer (mattress & pillow protectors with the whites)
☕️ enjoying my 2nd cup of coffee currently, while waiting for MIL to call me

Tada
🎉 all the surfaces of my bedroom are decluttered and dusted 🥳 into the floor tomorrow 😬
✅ uniform ironing up to date
✅ the usual's, school run , work , everyone fed, washing , dishwasher etc etc etc

Off to bed to warm up and read soon - it's cold this evening but I don't want to put the heating on yet !

More ta das:
🌻 LOLs x6, including sheets
🌻 picked MIL up and had her hang out at my house while she waited for her car to get worked on, we drank tea, had lunch etc
🌻 grocery shopping
🌻 bleached bathrooms
🌻 cleaned mirrors in bathrooms
🌻 dusted living room
🌻 rotated DW
🌻 handwashed dishes
🌻 got lunch ready (leftovers from dinner, Tuscan soup)
🌻 got my clothes out ready for the morning

I really should have dusted in my bedroom as well, I was going to, but ran out of time.
I also really need to redo my nails, I still haven't done them!

I've had a short absence from the naughty corner/ sick bay to do three LOLs, tidy and hoover my front room, and start clearing the dining room table hotspot.
Was going to hoover all of the downstairs, but nearly all the sockets are behind furniture, I was too lazy to find an extension and my cordless hoover had ran out of battery.
Washed the big pots, kept up with my little daily routine of cleaning the loos and the shower and cleaning up after the dogs.
I've not got much on for the next couple of weeks so hoping I'll finish my decluttering which seems to have been going on for ever!
I'm reading everyone's updates, very inspiring!

Me and DH play this passive aggressive game where he picks up my floordrobe in the morning and put it on our bed. Then at bedtime I return it to the floor. Half an hour ago I was going to tidy it as it's our zone, but bedtime with ds was shit and I'm just staring at it.... I'll pick out tomorrows outfit.

Morning! Sorry I missed yesterday - it was anti procrastination day and i was on a long work day.

Thursday is errand day. I need to take dc to the shoe shop and do the shopping as well as usual LOL, etc.

Today's mission is to clear off and dust your nightstand. Mine is clear but probably dusty!

Today's baby step is to read Flyladys testimonials and do your daily routines:
http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-25/

Morning! It's Friday! Today is declutter your car and purse day, also date night. I washed my car yesterday, so half a step ahead.

Today's mission is to spend 15 minutes decluttering your dresser.

Today's baby step Is to just to do your routines: http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-26/

I have a long to do list but also work to do! Hoping to find a good balance today.

My car really needs a clean out and I have a few hours spare this afternoon

Lost my hours as I'm now staying at work a bit later....

Morning! Hope you got something done yesterday Always.

Saturday is Family Fun day. No missions at the weekend!

Today's baby step is to think about what you're having for dinner (tea in my house) in advance. http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-27/ .

I got lots of jobs done yesterday but we are coming into birthday season and then Christmas so a lot more to do at the moment!

I did not clean out my car, but I did empty out my bag, throw out some rubbish (and shoved most of the unnecessary contents in another bag). Otherwise I got home, had lunch, sat on my phone for a bit then went to collect DD from school. I did do some DW rotating, washing up and cleaned the kitchen sink in the evening though...my master bedroom unfortunately did not get much of attention this week....I dusted the bedside tables.

That baby step is something DH and I need to work on. He is incharge of meals and shopping but it's all in his head. I cook 1-2 meals a week mostly spag boll, but I don't know what food we have in a lot of the time/ leftovers to use. We need to sit down and meal plan ideally.

Happy Saturday all

Don't think ive posted yet this week! Super tired and dealing with tired little dc too! Think people are just a bit run down. We did our errands this morning and are now staying in until Monday morning so hopefully we can all recharge

Planning an early night for the dc (and probably myself) - I have been doing better with getting to sleep around 11pm most nights. But I'm up at 6/630 so still only 7 or so hours. How much do you all get?

Does anyone have a hot chocolate station? Looking for inspiration

Ta da to day
💛 3 x LOL
💚 Some uniform hung straight from dryer (winning as does not need ironing)
💙 Picked up prescription
💛 DC swimming lessons
💚 Browsed online aldi wooden toy event (good for Xmas presents)
💙 Tidied & cleaned worktop
💛 Made soup

I aim for 8 hours. Bed by 10 and up at 6. Sometimes ds or dh wakes me up earlier.

Alwayslearning25 seeing if your DH will write down (or at least tell you) what meals he's planning will help for sure! Unless you can start reading minds that is..

I actually washed my Jeep yesterday, and went through my handbag! <adjusts halo 😇>

THIS I usually get 6-6 1/2 hours, more on the weekends, other than last night, which was 4 1/2 hours! I'm so tired today. I always aim for 7 hours, but can never seem to get to bed soon enough to reach that.
For your hot chocolate station, what is the space/area you have for it?
Will you need to put it on a countertop or do you have a piece of furniture for it?
Jars are a good option for the hot chocolate mix and toppings, with a little scoop in each one. Hooks for mugs, or a mug tree. A cute little sign or picture.

We are on our way to the 1st marching band competition, so excited!

It's going to be on the work top, I might get a machine for it. Used to have a tassimo but that belonged to THATtwat .... thinking of trying the one with more hot chocolate pods, can't remember its name

Dolce Gusto? We have one of the velvetisers but use normal hot choc not the Hotel Chocolat stuff because it’s so expensive.

I have just come on to apologise, I keep saying I will lead a new thread again soon but I really can’t do it again in Oct. I’m not going to offer again till things get a bit easier but I will stick around and do it again one day. My Dad is not in a good way, I’ve taking over his and mum’s finances and we have to find him a care home. We have lost two other elderly relatives recently and another one will not be with us much longer. And I’m so busy at work. The house is not in a great way but I am trying to declutter again.

Now looking at velvetisers.....they look good, how do you clean them? There seem to be similar items from different brands, a larger capacity one would be good for me

Im thinking cost wise they are probably better than a pod machine if you can just use normal hot chocolate powders?

Up at 6am when it was pitch black outside. First brew drank. Little 3dc up watching tv. Planning a day in the house, relaxing and catching up on things to be my future friend....