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/

I have a blank sheet with days of the week down the side and a space to note which week it is on the top of each column. Four weeks fit on a landscape page of A4. I photocopy this blank sheet to write on in pencil ( so it can be changed if needed). I fill in what we are going to eat each day doing one or two weeks at a time . When I first started on this I kept it simple so each Monday would be egg, baked beans and hash browns, Tuesday would alternate between chilli and curry, Wednesday would be pizza alternating with pasta and so on. I only meal plan for the evening meal. I then use this as a basis for drawing up the food shopping list. The completed menu sheet stays on the kitchen counter where it’s easy to refer to it.
I hope that’s helpful. Btw I originally got the idea from the children’s school as they would send home a similar sheet showing what they were feeding the children.

No meal planning in this house, DP does the majority of the cooking, he doesn't like any type of lists, rotas (or regimes as he calls them).
We have far too much food wastage though.

I've had three awful nights of hardly any sleep, got the remains of a migraine from Tuesday night and my hip is not happy.
I would only be mildly embarrassed if someone visited, mainly because my vacuum cleaner is playing up.
Keeping up with the LOLs, but not to the point of putting them away.
Still wanting to reduce the volume of my clothes though.
I bought new pine wardrobes 8 years ago, seems like the wood has never completely dried out, so clean dry clothes can smell a bit fusty if left in there for too long.
Less clothes, faster turnaround.
I do have those little dehumidifier hanging bags in there.

Ooops, sorry, forgot to post this morning. I did finish my flat surfaces in the bathroom though.

Our mission for the day was supposed to be to tidy your computer or desk area, just straighten things up, blow away the dust, empty the wastepaper basket etc not a full scale blitz.

Thursday is Errand Day. I went to the bank to sort something out for my parents which I have been putting off.

Meal planning - I am a complete and utter fail in this task. My DP ignores any lists, rotas etc that I put in place too, but I do the majority of the shopping and cooking. To be honest we all just wing it day by day, DS is ASD/dyspraxia, DD is ADHD/dyslexia and I am sure so is DH. My attention is not great either. Everyone has very different tastes, there are only about two meals we all like so we have been mixing and matching since the DCs were little, it was that or food refusal when the DCs were younger and I just wasn’t going to do battle over it, at least everyone eats reasonably well balanced diests of things they like even if it does cost a bit more and take a bit longer (I am frugal in other areas). Sorry not much help. Every now and then I do manage a week of planning but inevitably only a week.

Holy shit its very nearly christmas

I need to sort myself out

Send motivation

<sending motivation / kick up the arse>

Also opening up the naughty corner for anyone who is feeling overwhelmed. Remember to take a few moments for you in amongst the craziness.

No missions today because it's Saturday, but Flylady has written a good essay about calender use in her email today which is pertinent to menu planning, and also speaks to those of us with ADHD in our households.

Dear Friends,

Did you know that most sidetracked people are calendar challenged? It took me years and thousands of dollars to finally develop a system that worked for me. With every new system I tried to get my home organized, I would buy a planner in hopes that it would somehow miraculously fix me. Guess what, it doesn't happen!

Many calendars are developed by naturally born organized people. These folks automatically know how to use one. If they came with directions, we wouldn't use the instructions anyway. Our system is a bit different. We teach you routines that actually tell you to open up your calendar and check your appointments. This seems strange for born organized people.

They have never needed to be reminded to check their calendar. In fact they think something is wrong with us, because we need this kind of prompting. Let me tell you one little thing. We are every bit as smart as the next person; we just have a little different way learning.

These things that come naturally to born organized people, we have to practice and develop into habits. It took me 30 years to learn how to use a calendar. As I started adding one habit at a time to my daily routines, the calendar became an integral part of my planning for the next day.

In order to know what clothes to lay out for the next day, I had to know what was on my schedule for tomorrow. So I would look at my calendar that I kept right beside my Control Journal and check my appointments. Then the next morning I would recheck it, after all I had slept and there is no telling what I had forgotten during the night. So I would write it down in order not to have to remember and keep juggling bits of information in my brain. This in itself relieves stress, especially if you only write these things in one place.

This is why we recommend using one calendar not three of them or twenty different slips of paper stashed in your purse, posted on the refrigerator or piled on a so-called desk that is a superfund hotspot! We don't even care what kind of calendar you use, just that you practice using one. I had wasted a lot of money on planners/calendars. This is why we developed a calendar for FlyBabies.

We want to teach you how to use your calendar, but keep in mind it is a tool and a tool will do you no good if you don't learn how to use it properly. Checking your calendar is part of your morning and before bed routine.

Each week we check our schedules with our family members to determine our menus for the next week and prepare our grocery list. You can also use it on your desk day to plan for bill paying and sending birthday cards. Your calendar will become your life if you will use it in conjunction with your control journal to act as your memory so you don't have to try and juggle all the information in your head.

These skills don't happen overnight. They take time to develop and implement. You can do this. Let me tell you, if I can do this after 30 years of being calendar challenged, you can too.

I want for you what I have and it is a peace that comes from not missing an appointment, paying my bills on time and knowing that I haven't forgotten some important date. You can have this too. Follow our directions and you will find yourself FLYing before you know it. Baby steps will get you there. I promise.

Are you ready to FLY with your Calendar guiding you every step of the way?

FlyLady

Thanks for sharing @ExquisiteDecorating

That's a great post. Maybe flylady has ADHD? It's my birthday tomorrow, I turn 34. So I've had maybe 23 years trying to sort out my calendar, as age 11 we got given a homework diary in secondary school, that was effectively my introduction to a diary. They were also fun with quotes and recipes in, and probably where my love of paper journals come from. But, I think I get a bit carried away in enjoying the journal itself and imagining how organised future me will be, over it being very functional.

DH actually implemented a weekly planning meeting as flylady suggested based on something he'd read online. But we haven't done it for a while....

I don't really consider Christmas festivities to me real until after my birthday. We have all the kids presents, they need wrapping. DH is sorting food.

Did I post on here about sorting socks? I tried with DS he threw them everywhere. Did it on my own this morning and we all have about 4 more matched sock pairs each.

Left the naughty corner today, tidied up the dining room, cleared hotspots, put some bits back under the stairs. DP has put the charity shop stuff in the back of the car. It's looking much better now.

My sleep is horrendous at the moment, I can't shut my brain down. It's not Christmas because we don't "do" Christmas. I just buy presents for my grandchildren.

In other news, we did a Christmas gig at a care home. Turns out I'd left my guitar stand there when we did a gig in summer. So that's a mystery solved.
Now I've got another mystery. Amongst the stuff under the stairs was a huge suitcase containing my late husband's dress uniform and some other bits and pieces.
I'd been pondering what to do with the uniform, didn't want to give it to a charity shop, and the museums don't want them.
Turns out it's not even his!
I have no idea if he even knew.
It's a bit of a relief really because it has lost any sentimental attachment. I will contact the ex service men's organisation and see if they may be able to contact the rightful owner, or his family.

Well done @CherryogDog you are really doing well with the decluttering, good idea to try and track down the owner of the uniform.

Hope you had a lovely birthday @Alwayslearning25 , I know it’s probably not ideal having it so close to Christmas.

Right, I have bene busy this morning, up at 5.30 and out to the supermarket for the big shop, it was lovely and quiet and fully stocked. Just got to find space for it all now eeek.

Today we are in Zone 4, the master bedroom. The mission is to do a “27 fling boogie” (without tripping over the clutter) - grab a bin bag and toss out anything that can be got rid of whether it is old tights or junk mail or empty cosmetic containers.

It's the Mistress bedroom in this house as we don't share a room.
I'm still trying to plan a better system for clothes storage.

Alwayslearning25 happy belated birthday!

Cherry well done on decluttering. I like the sound of a mistress room, although it sounds a bit naughty to me! 🤭

ED good thinking going out to the shops early to avoid the crowds.
I'm planning on doing similar tomorrow, although not as early as I need to catch up on sleep!

It's been insane here, crazy doesn't even come close to describing it.
We had our Christmas party on Saturday night, soooooo many people in the house (33!!), too many games, too much noise and way too much mess! It was fun though. A friend came who I haven't hung out with in years. We have to plan another get together though as we didn't get to catch up much with so much going on.

I have to get a couple of things from the store, then I'm done shopping for Christmas. Then I have to wrap.
We had our Christmas with DD on Sunday, which was nice. We allowed her to bring her kitten (I'm allergic) and I didn't react at all, which is surprising, but good.

I'm still really sad that I have to work on boxing day. It really sucks especially as it's a Friday this year. It seems pointless that we'll be open that day, but it's not a holiday here 😪
I'm still hopeful that the powers that be will decide to be closed, but that might just be wishful thinking.
Sorry for rambling, I'm tired!

@HazelNuttyElf the party sounds fun. My mum likes hosting lots of people like that. My husband thinks it's hell and I'm not interested enough to argue for it. I will have to keep up with the playdates in the new year, but by weight loss/ health is a priority. As I'm getting near the obese threshold. I like flylady but, it won't be a priority.

I am always surprised boxing day is a holiday here. I always thought Christmas eve and boxing day is a better pair. I work in a hospital, 3 weekdays @ week and 2 rotated 'overtime' shifts a month. So other years I volunteered for boxing day, but didn't get it, going to my aunt's that day, she is one of my closest geographical relative, so I see her fairly often (she also loves to do childcare). I'll see cousins I've not seen in a while.

Today will be a housework day, we have 4 visitors tomorrow. I've managed to put out a fire on a high up dining room surface. (was a hotspot months ago but it's been out of control for months) Yesterday. Some things thrown, most moved into a box. 😳

@Alwayslearning25 I used to work in a hospital and I loved working over Christmas.
I've gained loads of weight, and I really need to get on top of it. I've joined the low carb boot camp thread, it really helped me before.
DP and me have a bit of a busy day tomorrow, and he wants to do the shopping tomorrow as well.
I want to go this evening, but he wants to go out.
He's now sulking because I've said I'm going today and he can go tomorrow to get what he wants.
I'm a vegetarian/pescatarian, and won't buy meat (unless it's chicken for a poorly dog, priorities 🙃) so he'll have to sort that himself. Plus his alcohol.
@HazelNuttyElf your party sounds great! I haven't been to a party for ages.

I'm also needing to get back on track, I've gained weight in the last month and I'm going to need to make it a priority as well, like Alwayslearning25. I'm also going to need to join the low carb bootcamp, it really helps. Carbs are my nemesis, if I avoid them for a couple of weeks, cravings go away, it's just avoiding them.. in the new year it'll be easier.

I do have to admit, the party did get a little overwhelming for me. Little kids with no manners, no parenting going on, things thrown everywhere, DSs Legos taken apart and thrown around, people wearing shoes in my house 🤬, all the things! I'm wanting a mellow new years eve, only inviting a couple people, if that. I just can't do it again so soon.

Morning all, just popping by to wish everyone well for Christmas Eve, hopefully even if your house isn't still quite how you want it you will be further on that you would have been without Flylady. I took the afternoon off work yesterday (am in today but it's quiet) and did a few last bits of shopping plus some food prep and then hit the hotspots that seem to have appeared everywhere, it was very satisfying. DH and DS are also working today but DD has promised to do some housework in our absence.

@HazelNuttyElf @CherryogDog I have also gained weight (and lost fitness) these last few months, having to visit my parents once or twice a week (hour round trip plus time spent with each of them, previously only used to go about once every 6 weeks) plus all the admin related to DF having to go into a care home has hammered my exercise regime and pushed me into less home cooked food. I have tried the bootcamp in the past but just can't stick it, I find the high fat aspect as hard as the low carb. I am going to re-boot my Noom account having had some success with that in the past.

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!

I have hoovered the house and swept the yard. Been for a run. Made the red cabbage and fresh bread. Cleaned the kitchen and bathroom.

I have done fairly well with exercising more in December and hoping to keep that going into January. I hit my year end decluttering target (2,025 items) yesterday although as we still have smalls, stuff comes in as fast as it goes out.

This year I've had a little and often approach to Christmas prep and it hasn't been stressful. Hope to carry that over to future years.

Hazel that party sounds stressful but fun! I am lucky to have fairly tame kids but we've had some stressful play dates.

Happy Boxing Day! I joined the thread then promptly fell off it! I also deleted the app as it wasn't very useful.
I started in the days of making one's own control journal. Does anyone here still do that?
I need to commit, again. Off to shine my sink.

Happy Boxing Day! Welcome back @WinterFrogs . I started out 15 or so years ago and it was very much a thing but I haven’t heard anyone on here actually say they use a control journal for a long time. I use a bullet journal but don’t plan with it it is a journal plus lots of lists more than a calendar/planner for me. I’d probably be better at sticking to routines if I actually wrote them down. I have always resisted the app because once I pick up my phone I’ve had it.

Hope everyone has had a pleasant and not too hectic Christmas. Fairly quiet here, dinner at home yesterday then over to see my parents later. Out with friends today. I cooked the dinner yesterday and did most of the shopping/organising but DH and the DCs have stepped up with cleaning and tidying. Off to visit the ILs tomorrow.

Uneventful Christmas here, cleaned my bathroom sink today, the hand-wash had leaked all over it.
DP cooked yesterday, I cooked today.
I've eaten far too much this week!
Hope you've all enjoyed Christmas 🎄 😊

We've had a lovely few days over Christmas. I did have to work half a day on Christmas Eve, then a full day on boxing day, both days were stupid slow.

We went to ILs Christmas Eve for dinner.
Christmas day and boxing day dinners were at ours. On boxing day I came home to a clean house, thanks DH & DS! And leftovers were warming.
Saturday was more like boxing day to me, nothing done, cleaning wise, but I did manage to repaint my nails and do some yoga - very much needed. I also watched a couple of movies and ate a lot of chocolate (selection boxes from UK, thanks Amazon!).

Sunday will involve more running around. We have bulk shopping to do (not much though), as well as replenishing chemicals for the hot tub. DS also needs his, well technically DDs, car worked on (he's ready to do his driving test). He got a job that he'll be starting in just over a week and a car will help him get from A to B.

Happy Christmas everyone 🥂 i completely dropped off the thread (again) the run up to Christmas was so busy, gifts being made , making sure the activities and days ran smoothly was a task . This is the first year where I did not go overboard with tat, the majority of things given to the kids were useful , clothes , luxury bath / body things , nice food and drink . My 9 year still has a few toys and everyone had Lego but I'm proud that i didn't go overboard on things that eventually turn into clutter. I was worried that the kids would be disappointed , but they loved everything . Ds has spent some of his Christmas money on trainers yesterday and dd2 spent some of her money on a new bedding set , blanket and decorative pillow so maybe its a sign that they're growing up and the days of piles of toys are beginning to end . Really sad however I'm also looking forward to changing some of the home spaces to create chill out room for them to have friends over - this is an aim for 2026 !

Todays task is to give the living and dining room a once over and catch up on some washing , I won't be putting decorations away until Saturday but I have gifts that need to find homes that are currently in piles . I have had a full rest over the Christmas days and I'm actually looking forward to catching up on some tasks - I don't recognise myself - excited to tidy.....I think I must be coming down with something 🤪 I'll be back later with some tadas !

I hope everyone is ok this festive season , I know it can be tricky for some 💐

Morning all, back to normal today, I'm at work, not many in though and not a huge amount to do. The house feels crowded when we are all at home especially in winter (we use the garden a lot in summer) so I'm quite glad to be out today. We had Christmas dinner at home then went to see my parents in the afternoon. Boxing Day I went to the football with DS, Saturday was a long day out visiting the ILs, nice to see them all. Yesterday catching up at home. Despite there being no more toys here for a long time the house still felt very cluttered, we seem to always end up with a lot of food gifts now and the cupboards were already full so trying to find space for everything was tricky. I did clear out the fridge yesterday though.

As it's Monday it is meant to be Home Blessing Day, 10 mins or so on each of changing beds, running the vac round, dusting, emptying bins.

If you can't do it all in one day Flylady suggests:

Monday - change beds
Tuesday - sweep and mop
Wednesday - dusting
Thursday - toss magazines and junk mail
Friday - vacuum
Saturday - shine mirrors and doors (not sure about this, I'd substitute emptying bins, I do the bathroom mirror as part of swish and swipe)
But you could make up your own schedule.

Our mission today is in the Living Room - putting out hotspots, clear those flat surfaces of stuff that doesn't belong there.

@Searchingforsparkle I get the sad feeling. When my son was about seven, he decided he was too old for Thomas Tank.
He (we) sold all his stuff at a boot sale. I hid behind a tree and cried my eyes out!
I've spent some time sorting my study/music room, as I've gone through the house everything that belongs in there has been boxed up and shoved in there so I've going through the boxes and putting it away.
I'm going away on Thursday for a few days, I'll be mainly focusing on hotspots, little tasks that I can finish quickly.
I'm still not putting my laundry away because I've not yet worked out a system for clothes storage that suits me.
I need to grit my teeth and have another clothes cull!

@CherryogDog My daughter is 7 and a few parents in her year have said over the past few months their kids have decided they're too old for certain toys. My DD loves little kids toys still and asks for more babish things if anything recently. DS 3 adores Thomas the tank engine but the day may come to sell stuff. For now, kids toys is our house decor. I felt like a SIM with a plate with an object the other day. Looked for somewhere to put it down, then went for the floor. Today I'll have the opportunity to tidy but things will just get stored.

Tada
🎉 living & dining room tidied & hoovered (still have gift piles under the tree, I won't pack that away until new year)
🎉 beds made and quick tidy of bedroom, windows open
🎉 washing brought downstairs into laundry bins
🎉 all packaging from sorting gifts and gift bags that can't be used again , thrown in the bin

Having a break whilst I decide what my next task is, possibly folding clean washing and a bit of clothes decluttering 🙂