Spring into action: Flying into April, a flylady April thread

[Positivepositron]

Welcome to the April thread. This is my first time starting a flylady thread. And I've been doing flylady about a month but very are many on the thread who are years in.

I'm cutting and pasting Hazel's great intro which explains everything:

Whether you're starting to build a new routine, stuck in a rut, or been around for years, join us on the Flylady thread. I'll try to keep us on track for the month, with baby steps, daily missions and weekly zones.

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:
🩷Entryway, porch and dining room
🩷Bathroom & one other room
🩷Kitchen
🩷Master bedroom & master bathroom
🩷Living room

Don't worry about finishing it all this month, it'll come around again next month! Flylady is NOT about perfectionism!

Daily focus: each day of the week has a different 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 😆
• S&S: Swish & Swipe (wipe the bathroom sink & toilet)
• 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, if I can get them to work, she's updated the website! Although if you can, it's worth downloading the newly updated 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 👇
Daily missions (for the zone we are in): https://beta.flylady.net/daily-mission
Baby steps (on a different website, since the link isn't working on the new site yet): https://mymerrymessylife.com/flylady-31-baby-steps/

Feel free to ask any questions you may have, some of us have been doing Flylady for a very long time, as well as others just starting out. We may have other things to add that we have found works for us that could help you too!

So it's 1st of April tomorrow and a Wednesday. Wednesday is Anti-Procrastination Day. Tackle tasks put off during the week, such as focusing on a specific, small cleaning project (like a single cabinet).

I haven't been following this weekly routine not sure how many do. But could be a useful prompt.

And babystep number one is:

Shine the Sink: Keep the kitchen sink clean.

The babysteps are for those just starting who need to build habits one at a time. They are useful reminders in general though as they do seem to snowball into better habits. If I'm shining the sink then I'll often clean the hob and island etc too.

Tomorrow we enter the new zone for the 2nd half of the week which is entryway, porch and dining room.

Thank you @Positivepositron 🦋 💐
A lovely Springy thread ✨️

Thanks for new thread @Positivepositron and thanks @WinterFrogs for last month's.

I'm planning a mega effort to finish sorting upstairs today ready for tomorrow's mission.
My dining room is the catch all area, piles of laundry, boxes of random with no home.

Our dining side of kitchen/diner is a hot-spot disaster also.
We pile things on the window sill, on top of cabinet, in the cabinet, on the kitchen table and on the floor!
We did clear the kitchen table during the kitchen week and have kept on top of it clearing regularly. I halved the window sills pile last week but it has accumulated quarter back again by the looks of it. And we did an epic clear out of the cabinet yesterday. Though made the spare room of doom worse in the process.

I am also trying to scrub the kitchen sink and bathroom floor semi regularly in an attempt to clear stains. We made mistakes when choosing these and I don't know if they can become clean again but they are reducing so that's something I guess.

While picking up dog poo this morning I saw that some sparrows have moved into my new terraced bird house which is lovely to see. We now have a 3 bed terrace, a single house and a couple of families in the eaves of our shed and they were all very industrious this morning.

Thank you so much for the new thread Positive I love your description of your feathery neighbourhood ❤️🐦 it sounds like you'll soon have a little birdie village!

WinterFrogs thank you for running the March thread, you did a great job, and my house looks better for it 🥰

Our major hotspot is right in the middle of the dining room and living room. It's all open plan, which we knocked down walls to make it so, shortly after moving in. All mail gets dumped there, packages that arrive, anything else no one knows what to deal with goes there too. It drives me insane!

Thank you @Positivepositron and also @WinterFrogs for last month

Thank you for the new thread positive and for last month winterfrogs

I spectacularly failed in March and anticipate the same for April (am a tax accountant and it gets a bit busy!). I'll do my best to read along but no promises!

Our hotspot is our Welsh dresser in the kitchen. I got cheesed off with it in Feb and put all the junk in a box. Now the box is still there and there's even more junk on the dresser.

Morning, thanks @Positivepositron and @WinterFrogs. I'm going to my parents today for Easter so will be back to flyladys routines on Monday. I might clean my parentss kitchen sink though. I haven't been doing them so a reset might help. I'll get on with my morning routine now.

Morning happy first of April 💐 today we are in zone 1: Entrance, porch and dining room.

Today's mission:
Today is the day to toss the decorations from the front porch! If you still have Christmas lights up; it is time to let them go! If you have already cleared these items from your porch and front entrance area, then grab your broom and shake out your door mats! This is a mission that will take less than 10 minutes and will really make a difference!

Today's babystep is to shine the sink and Wednesday is Anti-Procrastination Day so use it as a spur to do a job you've been putting off.

Tada
🥳DW emptied & quick tidy if kitchen
🥳 washer is on
🥳 dining table nearly cleared (still is home to some clean washing that needs putting into piles and taken upstairs)
🥳 a little bit of time on my cross stitch

Both dining room and entrance could do with some tlc , this also fits with the anti procrastination task to take the charity items to the shop and deliver items to friends . First though , shower and get dressed , nipping to the charity shop in my pjs is not a good idea 😂

I didn't quite finish tidying upstairs yesterday, but I did get lots done.
I've had yet another night of very little sleep, and I've got errands to run, so I'll probably finish upstairs and start the dining room tomorrow.

Oh no @CherryogDog, lack of sleep is horrible ! Hope your day is going ok.

tada
🥳 shower
🥳 rest of morning routine
🥳 lunch made
🥳 things dropped at charity shop
🥳 walk around shops with Dd1 & Dd2
🥳 Easter treat bags made for Dd2 friends
🥳 tea made

still have a few bits to do including hanging washing up , declutter task , gymnastics drop off and folding clean washing, my energy levels have dipped so embracing a 10 minute timer for the home jobs 🙂

I've had a productive day. Was off work but the children didn't want to do anything.
The new shoe rack I ordered arrived and DH put it together so the porch is now finished. Though we've decided now to get the same one again so they match.

🌸 Swish and swipe
🌼 dw x 2
🌸 lol x 2
🌼 cleaned coffee table, dining chairs, dining sideboard, living room skirtings
🌸 hoovered sofas
🌼 hoovered living room, kitchen and a bedroom
🌸 decluttered 15 minutes in room of doom, mainly old paperwork
🌼 recycling out
🌸 went to look for new sofas but didn't choose any
🌼 collected up ten books for charity
🌸 two old trainers in the bin

Tomorrow is Thursday so Thursday: Errand Day — Grocery shopping, bank, dry cleaners, and other out-of-house tasks.If you follow these.

And the babystep is to get dressed first thing so you are ready for action.

So still in Entrance, porch and dining room today.
And here's today's mission:
We are in Zone 1 and your mission for today is to clear out the clutter in the interior entrance of your home. Set your timer for 15 minutes and put away the shoes, jackets and mail that have piled up in this area. Put away anything else that has managed to smolder in the beginings of a hot spot! Toss that junk mail and smile!

I doubt I'll get anything much done today need to go into the office. But I can at least take the books out to charity.

Tomorrow's babystep is to keep doing what you've been doing so shining the kitchen sink in the evening and getting dressed first thing.

Tomorrow's weekly task is: Friday: Clean Out Your Car/Purse Day: Empty trash, clean out your purse, and enjoy a Date Night or personal relaxation

Hello!

I'd like to join if I may. I have heard about these threads from the lovely @WinterFrogs but never before taken a peek in to see what it's all about. It sounds VERY inspiring!

I try so hard to keep on top of things but often become very dispirited. I look forward to joining you all!

Entrance hall cleared. I discovered where my black work jacket went (Hung up under coats). Now heading for the charity shop to dump a bag that has been sitting in the hallway for at least 6 months.

Sounds like you are off to a flying start @SpringingIntoSummerLobelia
Welcome to the thread. I only just joined last month but have followed flylady before.
It is an inspiring thread to follow and it really does build over time without asking too much at once.

I realised I've missed that there is a habit for the month which is all about respecting your bedroom and keeping it neat and having a beautiful bedding set that makes you smile.

Welcome @SpringingIntoSummerLobelia, sounds like you’re off to a great start!

tada
🥳 ds residential unpacked
🥳 1 lol out on the line , another lol started
🥳 DW on
🥳 clean clothes folded and taken to rooms

Dd2 has finally woke up after watching the rocket launch last night , so shower and finish the morning routine next . I’m not sure on the plans for the rest of the day , depends how tired ds and dd2 are but definitely need to clear and hoover stairs and work this evening 🙂

Morning all

I have about 24/30 hours to make my house guest ready

Argh!

Ta da
🌸 all up fed dressed
🌼 LOL on
🌸 some bits hung outside
🌼 dw on
🌸 tesco shop away
🌼 ordered bits i forgot

Nice and sunny here today - cold though!

Tada
🥳 2nd LOL outside, dried things taken to rooms
🥳 showered including hair wash
🥳 dishwasher emptied
🥳 dining room decluttering/tidy dusted and hoovered
🥳 kitchen hoovered
🥳 stairs cleared and hoovered
🥳lunch made
🥳 Easter decorations completed and put up with dd2
🥳 work email reply’s

I’m at work this evening so I’m going to get the washing in and warm up some soup for tea . Happy with the productive day !

As suspected I didn't do much yesterday. Was pleased to get 10 books and a dvd boxset out to charity. One load of washing done. But that was it for me.

We are still in the entrance, porch and dining room. And today's mission is:
Today take a look at the walls and the windows in your dining room. Grab some cleaner and a cloth and go after the finger prints and smudges. Wipe the light switches and door handles too! That will help keep the spread of germs down in your home as a bonus!

I will try and get this one done as will prompt a re tackle of the window sill hot-spot as well.

Tomorrow's weekly task is family fun day and babystep is to write the babysteps on post it's ( I don't know if anyone does this, just more mess to me). I have to say the concept of babysteps is good but there sure are some daft filler days in there.

Ta da

🌼 first LOL on
🌸 3 beds stripped
🌼 freezer shop ordered
🌸 table and chairs scrubbed
🌼 placemats scrubbed
🌸 kitchen radiator wiped
🌼 kitchen / dining room wall wiped
🌸 1 x worktop tidy and clean

Good morning!

Today I have:

Changed kitty litter trays
Cleaned out my car (DH calls it 'The Wheelie Bin'.) and cleaned all the car windows.

I have some work to do now but will do the dining room plan later.

Hope everyone has a good day.

Adding

🌼 hall swept and mopped
🌸 utility swept and mopped
🌼 dining room swept and mopped
🌸 hand wash dishes washed
🌼 dw on