December Flylady - Fledglings fluttering towards the Festive Season

[ExquisiteDecorating]

Well, here we are — Christmas is this month. Yikes. But fear not, lovely Flyladies — we’ve got this (mostly).

This thread is our little corner of calm amongst the chaos — a place to cheer each other on, share small wins, and occasionally moan about the state of the laundry mountain. Whether you’re shining your sink for the first time or just trying to keep the kitchen table visible for more than an hour, you’re in good company.

The Flylady system is all about baby steps — 15 minutes at a time, routines that mostly stick, and being kind to ourselves when life happens (because it always does). Pop in, post your list, or just lurk with a cuppa — everyone’s welcome. Let’s make things calm and cosy as we head into the festive season proper.

Kettle’s on. Who’s flying today? ☕🕯️🧺
This is a long running thread, but we are a friendly bunch and all are welcome to join in. Please ask if you don’t understand anything.

Do NOT sign up for the Flylady emails - there are too many. I have done this so you don’t have to. The Flylady website is not working very well any more so I will copy over from the emails in the mornings and we will get through together.
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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!
Zones:
Entryway, porch and dining room
Kitchen
Bathroom and one other room
Master bedroom
Living room

Daily missions: each day of the week has a different mission. Then there’s:

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, there is an app, but I don’t think it’s working very well either.

Given the broken-ness of the app and website I would advise you not to spend any money on Flylady apps or purchases (we are mostly UK and she’s US based in any case). Sorry Flylady.

Links are below 👇

You can also check out the Facebook page Zones:https://www.flylady.net/d/zones/ Baby Steps: https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/

Fell off the thread again. All the fails!

Welcome back cag! Cagletini being 8 is crazy, I remember her being born! THATbaby is now 4 and the oldestTHAT is nearly 18. I have been properly living as a single parent since the start of summer although we separated before that.

Ive been approached this week by a job nearer to home and I think I may take it. Current job works better for me than old job but this newer job is so close to home / kids school it would really make life easier. I will need to make a decision this week.

Christmas. I am behind. Get paid on Friday so need to do a big splurge on presents as havent bought much yet. House is decorated - but needs tidying. And I've booked in Christmas food deliveries. But I do feel very unorganised.

Ta da
🎄 dc taken to and from activities
🎁 2 x LOL
🎄 DW on
🎁 kitchen surfaces tidy and wiped
🎄 picked up few bits from shop
🎁 bought and fitted tree skirt
🎄 ordered food shop

Hey that good to see you and glad you have got rid of the ex. 💪

Struggling to remember to check in and I’ve also decided that this month my priority has to be life admin over housework as that’s causing me the bigger stresses right now. So much I’ve been putting off. I am not hosting at all this year so I’m not putting pressure on myself to have a clean house for Christmas when we will be at ex’s anyway!

Ive fallen behind again, but it wasn't a case of procrastination so I'm not beating myself up about it. I had planned a day of IRL Xmas shopping and a nice lunch, then home to a bit of housework, but I woke up feeling ill, tried the shopping but ended up coming home early. No lunch out and no housework. Still, tomorrow's another day!

Happy 1st birthday to baby Cabbage! I can't believe it's already been a year!

ED I hope you enjoyed your Christmas dinner out with friends.

THAT the new job offer sounds great! That's a big decision to make, but I'm sure you'll make the one that works out for you best.

Cag definitely prioritize life admin if that's causing the most stress for you. You may end up finding out it doesn't take as long as you thought, so you have more time for other things.

Confused I hope you're feeling better now!

I have been busy with work, making my truffles and caramels and trying to get started on party games. It's been pretty non stop here, but I did take some time to watch a couple movies today, along with DHs works Christmas party. I probably should have been doing something at the same time, but it felt good to relax in the moment.

ILs are coming over for coffee so we can discuss Christmas. Food, places, etc. Then I'm going to the next big town with MIL for some shopping. It shouldn't take all day, so I'll have time to work on more of my truffles, since I have orders coming in.
I also need to clean. Like, I mean really clean. I have not been able to do my normal routine on Tuesdays and I'm not happy about it!

I'm hoping to recieve the official job offer tomorrow which will help make up my mind but I do think just for atleast halving my commute time it is worth it. Feel a bit bad leaving current job after only 3 months because that's not really my style but jobs so close to home are rare for me

Ta da
🎄 dw unloaded and back on again
🎁 hand wash dishes having a soak

I'm gonna have a quick shower and then crack on. Lots to do today. Yesterday I put away alot of the boxes etc from Christmas decorations, tidyed swept and mopped the hall, did a couple of LOL and changed one bed. Think I will do power of three. Starting with ....

1️⃣ LOL rotated
✌️ dry laundry away
🥉 Strip 2 x dc beds

Tadas: morning routine
10 minutes dusting, mostly corner shelves in the living room that are too cluttered.
10minutes hoovering
15 minutes room rescue (the attic dump ground) brought down some Christmas books kids we missed last weekend.

I'm going to work soon, so DH decided to take the kids to his parents for the day. So had some rare me time. Could have done more, but focusing on babysteps and the December habbit of pampering ourselves.

Tomorrow is the first time I'm having a friend of DD (age 7) round after school. Reasons I haven't done before, we don't live very close to the school and I didn't want to faff with car seats. This friend is extremely tall so not needed one for ages. Reason 2 had a baby when she started school then did a pgc last year. So am not I ln the in crowd. Reason 3, house is a tip, but he's 8 so won't care. My focus for September has been more playdates, this is the first at our house. Had the first proper conversation with said friends mum last week.

Thank you @HazelNuttyElf it was a big get together for my volunteering role so some are friends who I’ve known for quite a long time and some are newer people I hadn’t met before or their partners so it was a nice mixture, a bit like when you go to a wedding. Mind you on MN you are supposed to hate that sort of thing, but I like it. Hope you had a nice day out with MIL, it always sounds as though you have a great relationship with your ILs ❤️

@THATlittlechristmascracker well done on the job offer, closer to home makes a big difference. When my DCs were born I was in a job 45 mins drive away but I changed to one 20 mins drive away when they were pre-school age and it made such a difference.

@Alwayslearning25 good luck for the playdate, some mums do seem to take it all in their stride but I always found it a big deal hosting, same with birthday parties.

@Confusedmeanderings sorry you are unwell, hope you have felt better as the day has gone on.

@Cagliostro I am genuinely so pleased you and @THATlittlechristmascracker have decluttered your exes and are living life on your own terms 💪

Well, we got our tree today, it is up with fairylights and tinsel on but didn’t get as far as baubles, they can wait till tomorrow. DH hoovered downstairs afterwards (it’s a real tree so some needle drop on the route from the door to the living room). We usually go a week later but feeling in need of a bit of festive cheer ATM and next week feels like it might be a busy one.

I have done some batch cooking of pumpkin soup from the left over Hallowe’en pumpkins (which I grew 😇) and the Jamie Oliver Get Ahead gravy. Also bought and froze a turkey roll from the farmshop, it will just be the 4 of us this year so no big turkey needed. Mind you it cost more than the Christmas tree.

Thank you for the Get Well wishes. I went to bed early and slept through. Today has been much more productive:
🎁LOL on
🌲Went back to town and did the shopping I didn't do yesterday
🎁went through my present buying list and realised I am just about finished
🌲Made a list of all I need to do before Xmas day and realised it looked quite manageable
🎁 Did a room rescue of the dining room.

Morning everyone, hope everyone is OK, and that anyone who's been under the weather is on the mend.
I'm just keeping up with my LOLs.
DP still hasn't sorted through the understairs stuff. Prime example of what a procrastinater he is. Most of it's camping gear.I'm never camping again but he thinks he might. He won't. He's incapable of making plans.
I've got the box of brio that my son's coming to collect, a suitcase containing my late husband's dress uniform that I want to have made into memory cushions, and the stand fan to go back in temporarily, but want that at the front for me to access.
The Anglo doorstep collection is booked for tomorrow but I'll probably have to cancel it again.
Or I could just let them take the lot and say I put it all back when he wasn't looking...
I'm trying not to LMS over it.

Oh, sympathy over procrastinating men @CherryogDog we too have piles of camping stuff we’ll never use again (if we go again now it will be to one of those yurts or similar) but DH is hanging on just in case.

Anyway, I’m running a bit late, I will come back with the babystep later but our mission is to scrub the stovetop, get in and around burners, knobs, whatever. Ours does need a good going over rI must admit.

Stovetop? As long as I don’t have to do the oven [shudders]
Thanks @ExquisiteDecorating. I got a bit confused about what the task was for yesterday . Was I supposed to have done an hours cleaning?

Procrastinating DP has amnesia now, no recollection of the Anglo collection and it's unfair of me to book it for tomorrow when I'm not in.
Can anyone provide me with an alibi? 😅

@narniabusiness it took me a full day to clean my cooker 🥵. I've now got an oven liner. DP does most of the cooking and somehow that means it's my job to clean the cooker. When I cook it's also my turn to clean the cooker (puzzled).

@narniabusiness sorry, I probably forgot to explain, Sunday is "Renew Your Spirit" day where you are meant to just do basic routines and then do something nice just for you, anything from going to church to watching a movie or whatever really. Of course it's a handy day for doing cleaning for a lot of people though, we tend to catch up on some of the Home Blessing tasks. Home Blessing is meant to be Monday's daily focus, so it means 10 or so mins each on changing beds, running the vac round, emptying bins, dusting etc.

Playdate went well, housework not so much.

I confess, I am often a stereotypical husband and have plenty of decluttering I have been procrastinating. I also may be guilty of 'weaponised incompetence' esspecaly after DH has a moan about housework, and bit seen what I have done, only what he hasn't. And he's genuinely so much quicker at cleaning down the kitchen. But I'm thinking more and more than I have ADHD.

On the topic of decluttering procrastination, I took a "before" picture of the garage last January......... there has yet to be an "after"!

Thanks @ExquisiteDecoratingfor the explanation about Sunday.

Sorry, I overslept today, this is my busiest week and things should calm down a bit after the weekend.

Today's mission is to clean your silverware holder, this used to puzzle me but it is if you've got one of those big pots on your counter with wooden spoons, ladles, fish slices etc in it, clean it out, remove hairbands, paperclips etc. We have ours in a deep box in a deep drawer but it could still probably do with a clear out, it is overflowing with implements and I suspect we've got duplicates of a lot of things.

Some flying wins today. Swapped the usual tablecloth over for a seasonal one, which meant also clearing the accumulated random bits and bobs from the table finally, and giving it all a thorough clean. So for instance we have a little tray with coasters, salt and pepper shakers, daily vitamins etc and that hasn't been wiped out in ages. Actually scrubbing the placemats not just wiping, etc.

Also set up a "nighttime meds" shelf on the landing for small cabbage (Calpol, syringes, Calpol plugin sachets, scissors, thermometer and ear covers, baby wipes etc) so it's all ready to grab if we need it (but high up enough it's toddler safe!). Nothing life changing but very satisfying.

Meanwhile:
2x LOL
Rotated DW
Vacuumed lounge
15min utility tidying
Emptied bins throughout
Generic admin

Apols for the poor service this week, I have been out every night and busy at work. Hoping for an easier day today.

We are still in the kitchen, our mission is to declutter our plastic bags and foil drawer. There is also a suggestion to clear your mail hotspot, I am doing a lot of paperwork on our breakfast bar for my parents at the moment and it is in big piles, I have just invested in some coloured plastic envelopes and a compavct black wire magazine rack to keep it all in, so I need to sort that out later. Thursday is also errand day.

DH has been good this week, he cleaned the dishwasher filter yesterday then swept mopped the ground floor and washed the doormat and runners (we have a matching set of thos rubber backed ones).

Friday is the day for decluttering our handbags and cars. Our mission in the kitchen is to sort out the cleaning supplies under the sink. Throw out empty packets, replace anything that is used up.

Morning! I'd like to join your thread please. Have been loosely following the flylady system for years. I have just downloaded the app. Does anyone else here use it?
Thank you for taking the hit with the emails @ExquisiteDecorating I learned the hard way to have a separate email address for them, but since then have unsubscribed.
I know the routine more or less by heart after all these years but I do find the daily missions useful.
Thanks for the handbag and car prompt!

Welcome @WinterFrogs I've got the app but don't really use it, it can be used in place of the control journal with ticklists etc but it is permanently stuck in Zone 4. I wouldn't sign up for premium, I suspect Flylady is bankrupt or teetering on the brink. She has a FB page but it is full of spam and also hard to find updates. The emails unfortunately seem to be the only part that is working properly.