Jump In Where We Are: March Flylady Thread

[WinterFrogs]

Setting up to start tomorrow. I wanted to make the title That's Not Flying, It's Falling With Style, as an acknowledgement to the number of times I have fallen off the flylady wagon. But I wasn't brave enough.
"Flybabies" old and new all welcome!

weekends tadas
Not much on Saturday, work and gathered a few things ready to pack, low on energy so I had a rest day.
Sunday :
🥳 morning routine
🥳 15 mins decluttering bedroom
🥳 quick tidy of stairs and living room
🥳 ironing and packing ready for DS residential at the end of the week (clothes are ironed and hung up on a rail, if I put them in the bag, I will unpack them to check them so many times, it’s easier to have them on the rail until the last minute so I can count them 😂)
🥳 afternoon and evening routine

This week is a busy week, last week of term , ds birthday on Thursday, residential 2am on Friday and fetching dd1 back from uni Friday evening. I’m going to lean into the routines to try and help keep things ticking over .

@JumpingPumpkinhave you got the app? I have found it really helpful this week. I try to look at it in the morning , after work then once the kids are in bed to use it as a guide. I’ve been setting a timer for however long I have (sometimes only 5 mins in the morning) and I try to tick a few off. I understand the mental energy to try and remember everything, it can be draining! I don’t think I’ll ever get into a habit and will always need prompts or lists .

Thanks for the suggestions, I do keep trying variations on these. I just find I get distracted by things that can't be avoided for several days and then lose it

TaDa! I have a sparkling deep cleaned bathroom. Took me hours lol, especially the shower door. I've even gone over it with AutoGlim. Ordered a new seal because I gave up trying to clean the old one.
Years I've spent trying to clean it without realising the dirt was on the inside of it, think that's a stupid design flaw!

No tadas today apart from the usual work and school runs.
I received a tax letter saying that I owed them money ? After 2.5 hours on the phone talking to different people, it was from a self assessment from 2016/2017! I had my daughter in May 2016 and didn’t work afterwards! So I know I was so far under the threshold, but they haven’t got how much I earned on the system as it’s a ‘historic balance’ and I only have to keep books for 5 years so haven’t got them handy straight away, although I believe I kept everything so it’ll be somewhere in the loft but there’s just no way to prove it ! I have had no correspondence asking for money over the past 10 years, it was only £50ish pounds so I logged into my account and paid it because the talk of interest being added daily and credit scores being effected was so upsetting . I have paid it now but my stress levels have been so high that I haven’t got anything done and I also can’t sleep, I haven’t eaten much either 😢 it’s just so wrong and I honestly don’t know what to do about it all 😩 I thought it was a scam when I first called to question, but it was legit , I went through the government website, no links etc but I just don’t know how this can be right apart from a computer error .
Venting done , I need to try and get some rest and then get some tadas in tomorrow 🙂 I hope everyone has had a good day .

@Searchingforsparkle I've heard citizens advice is good for that sort of thing.

I've decided I need to get back to basics. Not quite baby steps one day at a time, but this week I will get myself ready as soon as I get up, do 3 minutes hotspots (2 morning tasks) and at bedtime will swish and swipe, get tomorrow's clothes ready and clean the kitchen sink. (3 tasks). Focus on the 3 minutes hotspots. As I tried to do the home blessing with 3 minute timer. Did just our bedding in 7:40, but it was too messy to do a bit of hoovering and dusting 10 minutes each. At this point, I don't really care about windows.

So sorry the conclusion, if I do at least 3 minutes tidying every day, cleaning will be easier

Apologies for the midnight rant everyone 💐 it was meant to just be a no flying today post but turned into moaning! Sorry.

Oh @Searchingforsparkle that's awful and would have really stressed me out too, I dread making a mistake on self assessment and getting into trouble.

Rant away Searching! That does sound like an awful situation. Step outside, take a few deep breaths and see if that helps to ground you. CAB is a good shout out, might be worth a call to them.

That sounds like a good plan Always and you'll probably find it won't take long to get everything sorted out again.

I've got my annual appt today. Dreading it. But only because it's someone new, yet again, as the lady I had last year retired! I was actually looking forward to seeing her again, as she was older and more knowledgeable about peri and what to expect/changes my body is already going through. Hopefully it'll be a quick appt so I can get on with my day!

To dos:
☕️ sort out hair/makeup on (I'm already dressed)
☕️ laundry (including mattress protector)
☕️ vacuum
☕️ mop
☕️ deep clean bathrooms
☕️ put up Easter decor

I'm leaving the list as it is, although there's more I do want to get done.

Cherry we bought a new seal for the en suite shower door years ago.. still not installed 🙄 it needs to be cut down a little (metal part), and I need/want DHs help with it. So there it sits!

Thanks for understanding and for the advice 🙂 I have felt calmer but emotionally exhausted, a good evening walk would have probably made me feel better but the weather is awful !

tada
✅ school and work
✅ tea made
✅ dd2 taken to gymnastics
✅ ds taken to Tesco to buy snacks for his residential on Friday
✅ my tea

I’ve got a few things to do but only going to potter for a few minutes at a time . Tomorrow will be better ❤️

Hope your appointment went ok @BloomingHazel.

I didn't think they could go back more than 7 years, I have chucked out all my self-assessment info from that time thinking it was irrelevant now!

Good plan - have done a few things this evening - better than nothing.

@JumpingPumpkinI thought we only had to keep for 5 years ! I did keep the paperwork but it’s in the depths of the attic because I haven’t been self employed for 8 years. I only worked for a month for that year due to having dd2 in May 2016 and I didn’t even earn enough to claim maternity allowance so I know it’s wrong . I just don’t know why it’s taken them so long to get in touch! It’s all very frustrating and upsetting . I do feel better after a rest and some sleep though so hopefully today is going to be better .

TaDa
🥳 up and drinking a coffee in peace . I prepped nothing last night so it’ll be a busy morning but I’m giving myself 10 minutes then I’ll get organised. 2 nights of not doing the regular things means the house is a mess but I’ll see how I get on this morning and catch up this evening.

Morning everyone 💕
I am so sorry to hear of that stress @Searchingforsparkle and I would have just paid that £50 like you did. The taxman clichés are true for a reason aren't they? I bet none of them lie awake worrying. I hope you are feeling steadier now 💐

Going back to struggling with the routines @JumpingPumpkin are you trying too hard? As you know I've already admitted to slipping off when life gets stressful, but this should be simple- ie swish and swipe the loo first visit of the day, run a cloth round the sink when you clean your teeth, gather laundry up on your way to the kitchen ( or check the laundry basket anyway)

I get perfectionist sometimes and think i must wait till everyone has used the bathroom, and wondering if I should leave laundry till later because there might be something to go in later, etc. And that's when it goes wrong. So bed, soon as I've got out of it ( even if I'm up first, if I neaten up my side, dh will generally follow suit) I've also taken to laying out clothes for morning during the day ( rebellious, right?) because for some reason it's Too Hard in the evening when I'm tired.

Habits do eventually form and then you don't have to remember them ( though I've been doing this nearly twenty years and it still gets precarious sometimes)

@Alwaysgrowing it's amazing how much we can get done in very short bursts isn't it? I'm going to take that as a reminder to do that a couple of times today.

I changed bed sheets yesterday and intend to vacuum today. I also opened all windows first thing to air the place but off out now so closing them again.

I hope you all have a happy and gently productive day 🦋 💜

@Searchingforsparkle I'd be annoyed too. I find all the house admin stuff stressful.
I've been admiring my shower door everytime I go in the bathroom 😄.
I'm not putting my ToDo's down because I'll probably jinx it, hopefully be back later with some TaDa's.
@BloomingHazel DP will have to put the seal on, I'm too cack handed for anything needing precision. I've asked him to put something in the bottom bit, hard to explain but the narrow flap of the old one was gunky, I've spent ages trying to clean it not realising it was a groove and the dirt was behind it. So hoping he can push some silicon to fill the gunk trap.
@Alwaysgrowing that's a good plan. I should do that really. I let things slide so much, and then I don't want to clean a small spot because the whole room needs cleaning.

I find it upsetting that HMRC will pursue the individual who has possibly made a mistake years ago (or maybe hasn't) when huge corporations and billionaires get away with it and it's frightening to think they can go back years like that. Also they make it SO complicated if you have anything more than PAYE.

I completely agree!

Sorry to hear about the HMRC woes. Somewhat ridiculous they come back so many years later for private individuals, they must know most people won't have the details or energy to challenge.

So far I've not done anything in my bedroom. The daily challenges aren't quite relevant so far so that makes it easier to avoid.

Im also now trying to maintain 2 x DS room, the bathroom and kitchen side of kitchen diner so think that takes up some of my time I could previously dedicate to the zone.

Ta das today:
Made bed
2 x packed lunches
Fed dog
Swish and swipe
1 x lol
1 x dw
Bins brought back in
Recycling and food waste out from kitchen
Kitchen bin emptied
Dirty socks etc collected up from round the house

Think that's everything. About to take the dog out for a walk.

This popped up again so I’d just like to say a really huge thank you to whomever mentioned Flylady. It is working! My downstairs (apart from the library) is now clean and tidy and is being kept that way, the library will need a whole day spent on it so that will have to wait until next week. Upstairs isn’t too bad, but will take concerted effort but I am enthusiastic- for the first time in my life I can invite people in without panicking! I’m 65 so that really is an achievement.

That's fantastic @bigyellowduster
It really is a good way of doing things isn't it.
Seems to click for people who otherwise struggle.
It works well for me and DH, who were very much a intense flurry of activity followed by neglect.

Well, it turns out I had high blood pressure yesterday 😩 so now I have to check it every day for a couple of weeks. I guess I needed the kick up the backside to get myself healthier 😪 (damn mini eggs anyway).

Also, the birth control I've been on for probably 18+ years has now been found to increase the risk of beast cancer by 20-22%! So that's just great. Thankfully everything is all clear for me, as far as the mammogram I had last year and the breast exam I had yesterday.

So it wasn't great tbh.

But, it was nice enough outside that I pulled weeds for a couple of hours and got a little sunburnt! Not enough to hurt, thankfully.

@bigyellowduster that's so good to hear flylady is working for you

Positive that's a great ta da list!

Cherry silicone to seal it is a great idea! Especially if it's impossible to reach to clean it!

I did not get my Easter decor up yesterday, I pulled weeds instead! But I did get everything else done, as well as cleaning the mirrors and all windows on my doors in the house (3 doors). The house feels clean now, which is nice!