Flyladies keeping on top of the household in August, it’s going to be a hot one.

[ExtremeDecluttering]

Well, at the start of July it was hot, at the end of July it was still hot (for most of us anyway) and here we are in August with no change in sight, but hopefully we are acclimatising a bit. And now we have holidays, children at home, all the changes of routine.

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. I have taken one for the team but use a junk email address I will check them periodically and report anything interesting / useful
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 day. 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, it's a new website! 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. There is a paid version and a free version. I use the free version. The missions haven't been updating on the app.
Links are below 👇
Daily missions (for the zone we are in):
https://www.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!

Most of this is copied and pasted from previous months but is all correct, I do get the emails and do use the free version of the app, plus the new look but somewhat sparse website. There may be odd days I don’t post but the links do update overnight so click back to the previous ones.

OK, Monday here we are, sorry I have not kept up with babysteps. Would it be helpful if I listed the week’s missions? Flylady send’s them all out on Sunday night. Zone 3 bathroom and one other room

Monday - clear the flat surfaces in the bathroom and declutter the laundry area.

Tuesday - clean behind the toilet - yuck. Second room (your choice) - grab a bin bag and toss any rubbish.

Wednesday - get rid of old worn out towels and bathmats. Laundry -0 dive around and behind the machines for dust bunnies, socks, other random bits

Thursday - bathroom, assess your supplies, do ou need to stock up on cleaning stuff, toothpaste etc. Same in the laundry room.

Friday - bathroom wash bathmats, “show towels” any other soft material, eg shower curtain. Other room - declutter for 15 mins.

Also Monday is Home Blessing Day where we empty bins, run the duster and vac round, change beds etc.

I'm going off on holiday today, I managed about half of my 'house blessing' yesterday. will sort the beds when I got back. My kitchen and utility still need a bit of work but are much better as a. Result of the weeks focus. Going away and leaving a cleaner house to come back to helps me to feel much calmer.

Sorry to hear about your dh @ExtremeDecluttering and I hope physio turns out to be local

I'm hobbling about on a bad foot, it's been hurting on and off for ages but now I'm struggling to weight bear on it.
But I've deep cleaned my upstairs bathroom, and done a couple of LOLs.
I've screen shot your weekly list @ExtremeDecluttering, feeling smug lol because I've recently decluttered bathroom and sorted towels and can leave the bathroom until it comes round again.

That's very helpful to have the week's missions ahead of time! Thank you ED!

unicorn I agree that it's so nice to come home to a clean home when going away for any length of time. DH doesn't get it though so will roll his eyes when I'm cleaning before we leave to go anywhere! The last thing I want to do when getting home is to clean the house! I want to unpack and relax!

Cherry maybe you need to get your foot looked at?

I'm actually planning on calling the doctor today to get my chest/lungs checked out. I was thinking that the pain from taking a deep breath and sneezing was from the smoke affecting my asthma, however, it's not as smoky, the pain is getting worse (it really hurt this morning when I was in bed), and I'm having some dizzy spells sometimes when I stand up.

Dr Google says it could be something serious, although I'm doubtful it is as urgent as it sounds due to me dealing with this for over a month!
I think it's from when I fell down the stairs on the 4th of July, or the steps a couple of weeks later.

I just really didn't want to have to go to the doctor. They're expensive! Especially as I will be classed as a new patient. I haven't been to a regular doctor since mine passed away a few years ago. I usually just see the nurse practitioner at the women's clinic (but I go every year, without fail!).

Sorry my update ended up being long, and nothing to do with Flylady!

Yes, I always used to like the Sneak Peek for The Week page on the old website. I think I might continue with listing the week's missions plus daily focus like this on a Monday and copy and paste it each day deleting the day before each time IYSWIM, easier for me and hopefully everyone else. Watch this space.

As a retired nurse I suggest you all get these body parts looked at asap. In fact I demand it 😂

I’ve also taken a screenshot of your proactive list @ExtremeDeclutteringand happy that I have in fact been keeping up with this list to a point.

Will hoover once I can as I fear the noise might be too much for DD

DD returned this morning from a festival with her DP in tow so LOL. They look broken 😂 they are broken.

Was it Boomtown @PeonyBulb ? That’s local to us. My two have never fancied it though. It’s ENORMOUS and very dusty.

Ha yes it was. And very dusty. She wore scarves around her face, festival sequined barely there clothing and her Merrell trail runners 😂 she looked like she was at the Burning Man festival in the US it was so dry and dusty. She has asthma but it didn’t flare up. I’ve just completed at least 5 loads of washing and drying with another load tomorrow (which could have gone in with my first load but I found those too late. Lots of clothing and strange costumes hanging up too that can’t go in the dryer. She’s off on holiday in couple of days then another festival.

I cleaned the back of the loo, not too grim as I only did it recently. DW and swishing and swiping. Will hoover and mop in a couple of days time.

I sound ancient saying I’m retired but I’m still in my 50’s. Just been ill and took early retirement.

We drove past a few nights ago and all you could see were the clouds of dust, it gathers because it's in a hollow in the ground. I'm starting to adjust my thinking around retirement too, it's always been so far away I haven't thought about it but I'm 59 so plans need to be made / pensions sorted.

Ok, here's a cut and paste list for the rest of the week:

Tuesday - clean behind the toilet - yuck. Second room (your choice) - grab a bin bag and toss any rubbish. Plan and Play Day.

Wednesday - get rid of old worn out towels and bathmats. Laundry - dive around and behind the machines for dust bunnies, socks, other random bits. Anti-procrastination day.

Thursday - bathroom, assess your supplies, do you need to stock up on cleaning stuff, toothpaste etc. Same in the laundry room. Errand Day

Friday - bathroom wash bathmats, “show towels” any other soft material, eg shower curtain. Other room - declutter for 15 mins. Date Night and clear out your handbag and car.

Hopefully we should be building routines too, I haven't posted as much about that as I intended to, but we are supposed to build morning, afternoon and bedtime routines. I was out late last night so didn't do much toilet scrubbing etc but did put out my clothes for today, I do find that very helpful. I will do the toilet tonight, promise!

Evening all,

In an attempt to catch up with the babysteps I have found this page that lists them all
https://clean-with-kate.co.uk/pages/flylady-31-babysteps

Today’s is to read Flylady’s 11 Commandments linked here with an update on routines

https://mymerrymessylife.com/flylady-31-baby-steps/18/

I am going out very early in the morning so here is tomorrow’s update on the weekly list.

Wednesday - get rid of old worn out towels and bathmats. Laundry - dive around and behind the machines for dust bunnies, socks, other random bits. Anti-procrastination day.

Thursday - bathroom, assess your supplies, do you need to stock up on cleaning stuff, toothpaste etc. Same in the laundry room. Errand Day

Friday - bathroom wash bathmats, “show towels” any other soft material, eg shower curtain. Other room - declutter for 15 mins. Date Night and clear out your handbag and car.

I can't find some school uniform I sold on vinted. So I started pulling things out of my double wardrobe to find it. It's not my clothes wardrobe but bags of kids hand me downs...then I remembered we were going out so left it. Went to town with the kids, to the cinema and got a few bits I need but ds just likes to RUN. Allthough he does listen to stop, he zig zags about and it was getting busier. So when we got home I wanted to lie in bed but it was full of clothes. So I continued, pulling everything out, sorting and returning...one load of washing as found some maternity and baby clothes (most materoty clothes probaly now too small) and DDs old clothes DS can wear. and 2 hours later it's still not done but cleared enough space in bed to rest. Definitely regret. A friend gave me her DS clothes from 2+. So much 5-6 clothes but he's wearing 18-24 months at nearly 4 years old so it could be a looong time,

Does flylady say something like don't remove more than you can return in a certain time.

Do do:
Do nothing for 10 minutes see if I can nap
Put everything away. Fill one bag for charity shop.
Swish and swipe
Get clothes ready for tomorrow.

I need to hoover. I hate hoovering. I’m off to hoover.

Did you end up finding the sold uniform Always?

Busy day today.
I volunteered to ride in the back of the pickup truck throughout the parade. But the band kids will need water to drink, so for a good cause! And I'll have the best seat!
After lunch I'll be working in the food booth. It's going to be hot!

Hoovered stairs and landing and entrance to bedrooms up to where DC clutter starts. Too dizzy now and back hurts to hoover wooden flooring but I sweep kitchen and hallway regularly and with dust pan and brush. I don’t have pets and it’s a no shoes house so not too bad. But due to heatwave and windows all constantly open on the most part more dust than usual. Bedroom windows have been open day and night for weeks now.

Will vax stair carpets in next couple of days whilst weather still in the 20’s. And then again in a months time or so before weather gets to cold to dry properly

Kitchen floor needs a mop so will have to hoover that in a bit

@HazelNotHungryLC no, I didn't. Theres one more wardrobe it could be in. That's also a mess. I told the buyer I couldn't find it when it wasn't in the box of stuff listed on vinted and offered to cancel or keep looking in a few days and she said I can keep looking.

It's much cooler here now. So I think that's why I thought I should tackle a wardrobe. We've had some rain the past couple of days too.

Much cooler here too. Just DW, LOL swishing and swiping.

Apart from half an hour after work I was out of the house from 6.45am till half an hour ago. so not much Flying today. I have just tackled a few hotspots and am saving the bathroom missions till Friday. The DCs are stepping up to do things DH normally does.

@Alwaysgrowing yes, that’s Flylady’s 7th Commandment. It’s far too easy to do with clothes though, I did it with my wardrobe a few months ago, made a big Vinted pile, sold a few of the more expensive bits but after a few weeks of starting at the pile I decided I CBA to neaten it all up for photos for a £ or two each and charity shopped it. I am in profit in my Vinted account at the moment though so that’s good. I need to remember to go and pick up a parcel tomorrow, I forgot today even though I drove right past the place twice.

Cooler here too today, but still humid. We had a couple of showers. DS went off to visit a friend 20 miles away nearer the coast and said there was torrential rain there.

Thursday - bathroom, assess your supplies, do you need to stock up on cleaning stuff, toothpaste etc. Same in the laundry room.

Errand Day today, I need to go and pick up my Vinted parcel, do some food shopping and go to Boots for my vitamins and to recycle more blister packs.

Friday - bathroom wash bathmats, “show towels” any other soft material, eg shower curtain. Other room - declutter for 15 mins. Date Night and clear out your handbag and car.

Babystep 20 is doing one load of laundry a day and going right through the cycle, if it isn’t dry in a day putting away the previous’ day’s counts. This one is so important (assuming you are a household big enough to generate a load a day, if not it can be less frequent but the point is to keep on top of it and only deal with one load at a time). I fell off this particular bandwagon a couple of weeks ago, we use blue ikea bags to carry ours around in and I took one up to our room to sort after drying, as usual but put it on the floor in the hope that someone else would do it for a change. But no, then there was another and another and by the end of the week I had 4 bags worth to sort out and it seemed overwhelming especially as it was so hot. I did it in the end but then my sorted pile was so big I put it back on the floor instead of away, it derailed me for about 2 weeks.

I can't believe that I'm actually up to date with the routine. Even if the rest of the house is a filthy tip 😅
I'm seeing the MSK specialist this morning to have my foot checked out, after that I'll bring all the charity stuff downstairs ready to go to the Sally Army bin at the weekend.
@Alwaysgrowing I've done that so many times, it's mentally exhausting.
I remember posting on here ages ago that I pulled all my towels out and crying my eyes out because I had so many, and none of them were scruffy enough to be dog or horse towels.

Hope your DH makes progress with the arm while not getting unwisely ahead of himself, @ExtremeDecluttering . And the DC continue to step up in the meantime!

I didn’t finish all the kitchen missions last week, but I’m relaxed that they will come around again in due course. What I have been doing is extensive decluttering. I’m a fan of open shelves in both kitchen and living room, and therefore whenever a friend or family member gives me a lovely trinket it ends up on display somewhere. Over the years this has added up to an awful lot of Stuff Everywhere which makes clearing and dusting the Stuff and the surfaces a massive and fiddly job. So I hardly ever do it. It’s been taking up space in my mind, so I’ve had everything off, outside in the hot weather to wash in hot soapy water (the things that
had been on the top shelf in the kitchen in particular were sticky as well as dusty as they’d been up there unattended for, um, let’s just say a long time…) and dry in the sunshine.

I’ve been relatively ruthless and have a pile for charity, but have had the genius idea of boxing up the items I still want to treasure, thus keeping more of the shelves/tops of things clear and easy to dust regularly. My plan is to then artfully put a few things out on display in both rooms before visitors arrive. This will be the work of moments compared to a frantic clean-up. Just a couple of shoebox size boxes. They are on the bottom shelf in the hallway so I know exactly where they are. It’s what I need mentally after all these years of Too Much Stuff being out.

I have returned some beautiful pottery jugs and other crockery to the top shelf in the kitchen, as it gives me real pleasure to see them especially now they are gleaming clean. When flylady tells us to clear the kitchen surfaces I will get those things down for a quick wash, and this will keep things looking lovely.

I am brand spanky new to this fly lady thing. I don't want to commit any faux pas so I'll try and jump in and not be a liability 🤣

Hi @Namechangerextraordinaire1 jumping in is the right thing to do! There is quite a lot of jargon, just ask if you don’t understand. Basically the house is divided into 5 weekly zones which repeat every month and we build daily routines around the zone cleaning.