September Flylady: Fledglings inspired to make a fresh start at the beginning of a brand new term!

[mixedpeel]

Whether you're starting to build a new routine, stuck in a rut, or been around for years, join us on the monthly Flylady thread! Flylady has created a series of daily and weekly prompts to help anyone who finds it tricky to get or keep their house clean and tidy. She totally gets it if you feel overwhelmed or don't even know where to start - as do we! The best thing about Flylady is that you are never behind - just jump in at whatever point you are at, and do what you can.

This is a long running thread, but as a newbie myself I can confirm everyone is very friendly and all are welcome to join in. We spur each other on, but also commiserate when life gets in the way and we don't get as much done as we might have wanted to.

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
We usually link to the daily missions (jobs to do in whichever zone we're in) every day, but the new website doesn't seem to be working for me right now. I will keep trying, but they should update every day so you can click the link yourself to check. We will post the missions in the thread too so don't worry about missing anything. Most importantly, don't worry about finishing it all this month, it'll come around again next month! Flylady is NOT about perfectionism!

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

Flylady also tries to help us get into habits so that eventually we do things without even having to think about them. She has 31 baby steps to gradually pick up (on the previous website, since the link isn't working on the new site yet): https://mymerrymessylife.com/flylady-31-baby-steps/

Daily focus: each day of the week has a different focus. It's not all jobs jobs jobs by the way.
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

If you can, it's worth downloading the app (link on the flylady website), you can even have it send you notifications. You can also modify the tick lists to suit your home & lifestyle. There is a paid version and a free version, though the missions haven't been updating on the free app.

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

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 probably more, feel free to ask us to explain something!

I am interested in trying this. My house is a filthy tip and I have no motivation or idea where to start.

Welcome, @KitsyWitsy! Hop on with us and see if the Flylady system helps you at all. Everyone is different, but for me I absolutely love how she takes the thinking out of it. There’ll be something to do each weekday. But equally it’s about doing what’s realistic for you - you’re never behind with Flylady.

Anyway, even though my kids are now young adults, and it’s many years since I was at school myself, there’s something about September that always heralds the promise of a new start! Might not be a shiny new pencil case these days, but it’s a good time of year to feel motivated to level up in terms of getting the house in a better state.

Today is the last day of August, but as a Monday in flylady terms it’s Home Blessing day. This is Monday’s daily focus every single week, and possibly the least realistic part of the Flylady system, so I personally never do this. Over the years it has been christened the Home Bleugh on these threads because, well, Home Blessing is pretty twee isn’t it?! Anyway, if you fancy trying it, it’s this: Run the vacuum around quickly (no moving furniture) empty bins, change sheets. Spend 10 minutes in each room, if you can, an hour total. As far as I know, no one has ever done this in under an hour in real life. Some people spread this across the week rather than doing it all on one day.

Fret not, all her ideas are not as crazy as this one!

I'm a sporadic Flybaby, I will aim to join you this month. I've had a few months off and the house definitely needs a reset after the summer holidays! My dc are primary age and go back on Weds.

Ironically my front porch and entrance is the one area I've kept reasonable, so better not expend too much energy in week 1 . . .

Hi @DillyDeclutter! At the end of August’s thread @FrumpyUnicorn pointed out that we haven’t had a full five days in Zone 5 (Living Room) for a while, so you may find that we spend the whole week there if we can track down the missions! You can have next week off instead when we swing round to Zone 1…😉

For now, although it’s late so no obligation to do it, here is today’s mission:

Zone 5 Mission #1 Monday - the Living Room
Spend 15 minutes getting rid of anything that does not belong in your living room. Look critically around it as if you were a visitor, sometimes we stop noticing our own clutter. Out it goes!

Tomorrow will bring Baby Step 1: Shine Your Sink. This has been an absolute Flylady gamechanger for me. All she asks is that you make sure your sink and taps are clean and shiny at the end of each day. It doesn’t take long, though if yours is currently as manky as mine was originally, the very first time might need a bit more elbow grease. Simply doing this every day massively lifts the appearance of the kitchen and makes you feel really on top of things. The Baby Steps are intended as things to gradually become habits that you barely even notice doing. There are 31, one for every day of the month, and it’s unlikely that you’ll acquire them all over the first month, but this one really is a quick win and highly recommended.

Thanks for the new thread @mixedpeeland inspired encouragement
I’m currently finishing off drying a tent ground sheet in my living room which definitely does not belong there but will be folded up and gone tomorrow. It’s dry but I need to air it further to be sure.

Thanks for the new thread @mixedpeel

Welcome @KitsyWitsy and welcome back @DillyDeclutter

<waves at everyone else>

The zones always revert to Zone 1 on the 1st of the month so for instance 1st August was a Saturday so we did get 5 days in Zone 5 in July. Zone 1 gets curtailed similarly. But it all evens out.

My DCs are young adults now too so we don’t have the back to school thing quite, but this is our 4th year in a row of one of them going off to uni and I’m a school governor so that starts back up this week with INSET days, but not the same as getting younger DCs back to school. Still a good time for a reset though.

Mine are young adults now too. One starts uni in a couple of weeks and the other is starting their final year. Once they’re both gone I can do some serious deep cleaning

I haven’t had my two overlap at uni, DS moved back home just as DD went (they are two years apart but DD had a gap year). We have literally only had one or two nights ever when they have both been away. And while it’s nice having them around I am a bit envious of my friends whose DCs the same ages were away at the same time as each other, I’m not ready for a permanent empty nest yet but partially empty would be nice.

Thanks for the new thread @mixedpeel and thanks for last month @ExpertlyDecluttering .

Looking forward to a brand new shiny Flylady month tomorrow.

So here we are in our brand new shiny month, @IlovetoKnitandRead!

For absolute newbies to Flylady, we’ll start with Babystep 1: Shine your Sink. Click here for a fuller description of how Flylady works, and scroll down a bit for the sink-shining blurb https://mymerrymessylife.com/flylady-31-baby-steps/

As I said upthread, this is a really simple and effective thing to get into the habit of doing. I was interested to see her say it doesn’t necessarily need to be last thing at night (though it’s amazing to come down to a gleaming sink with no lurking dishes piled up on the side or ‘soaking’ in scummy cold water) - just to try and shine your sink once during the day is all she’s asking initially. If it’s literally the only housework-related thing you do today, you can bask in the sense of achievement looking at that bright shiny sink. You did that!!!

Then if you want to, you can do something for Tuesday’s daily focus: Plan and Play day. Find a few minutes today to look ahead to avoid getting caught out later in the week/month. Pick from any or all of: meal plans for the week, a diary check for birthdays or other significant dates you need to buy/do stuff for, or life admin stuff. Also plan in some ‘play’, ie make sure your planning is not all tedious stuff, but a coffee with friends or booking tickets for the cinema - whatever floats your boat.

Today we are back in Zone 1: This Zone includes the Entrance, Front Porch and the Dining Room. Thanks to @ExpertlyDecluttering for explaining that we ping back to Zone 1 on the 1st of every month. Thanks also for the idea of posting the week’s missions in advance as a sneak peek. I’ll repost with each new day at the top as we move through the week. As a rule, take 15 minutes max on a mission. You get as far as you get, and then leave it safe in the knowledge it’ll come round again at some point. This is about chipping away at things bit by bit. (Of course if you find yourself in the throes of unusual enthusiasm and have the time, I can’t see why you couldn’t make the most of it and do a bit more one day - she’ll never know! The main thing is to know you’re not aiming for perfection in each mission, which is very freeing.)

Zone 1: Mission #1 Tuesday
Today your mission is to sweep your front porch, shake out your door mats and wipe down your front door. Reward yourself with a glass of water wine.

Zone 1: Mission #2 Wednesday
Take 10 minutes to get rid of the hotspots that gather in the hall/porch area. The junk mail, newspapers, shoes, jackets etc. Throw away any rubbish and put away the shoes and coats (didn’t need a coat all summer until last week’s torrential downpours)

Zone 1: Mission #3 Thursday
Dining room today. Take 15 minutes and work some more on your de-cluttering as we throw away / put away. Keep reminding yourself that you are going to change your home 15 minutes at a time - the power of 15.

Zone 1: Mission #4 Friday
There seems to have been a glitch in the system as the mission is the same as Wednesday. So if any more hotspots have appeared, put them out. Maybe focus more on the dining room as the porch/hall has had two days.

Thank you mixedpeel for the shiny new thread!
And thank you ED for running the August thread.

I did end up going to bed early last night and plan to do the same again.
I'm not sure what's going on with me, if I have a cold trying to start up with the weather changing & DS starting back at school, or if it's to do with allergies and harvest kicking things up, or what it is.
Or if it's from me getting done with the antibiotics and steroids.
I just know I'm super tired and my head is starting to feel pressure around it. Ugh!

I've rotated the DW and I'm sitting down with my tea & honey. Nothing else done today as I was at work.

Hi everyone, is there room for a lapsed fledgling to jump back in? It’s been a few years since I was on the thread (waves to ED and Hazel). I’ve still loosely followed FlyLady but now that MiniUp is starting school and I will have one day a week with no children interrupting me, I feel it is time to get back into my routines properly. Thanks for running the thread Mixedpeel.

I also see September as a fresh start, and as well as getting back on top of the house I have ambitions for shedding the excess couple of stone that has crept on in the last couple of years, and getting on with a couple of qualifications at work that I’ve been procrastinating over.

Over the last few days I’ve made a start trying to reclaim the house from summer holiday chaos and I’ve also done a bit of decluttering- we aren’t too bad clutter wise but it’s definitely been sneaking back in, mostly due to DD1’s penchant for stuff. I am waaay behind on laundry thanks to broken dryer and currently having no washing line thanks to building projects, but I have a repair man coming today so should be able to get on top of that in the next couple of days. I did a home bleurgh yesterday too.

Going to get out up and have a cuppa while the girls have a lie in and then make a start. I need to get uniforms named and hung up today, and I’d like to make a start on the Dining Table of Doom which has been taken over by half finished craft projects and a small school’s worth of art supplies. Happy Flying everyone!

Another lapsed Fledgling checking in! I fell off here spectacularly in 2023, but I've been flying on and off since August 2003... <totters off to find zimmer frame>

👋🏻 to Hazel, ED, Up and Cherry who are names I recognise.

Three of my children are now adults 😱, but DC2 works in education and DC3 is starting an MA, so Back to School is big for them, still. And my youngest is going into bricks & mortar, actual, in-person Sixth Form after seven years educated online from home, so this year is BIG in the Willow House. DH & I will be predictably on our own in the house during the school day for the first time since May 2017, when DC1 went on study leave!

I have started as I mean to go on with a Morning Routine of LOL, coffee, brain dump, breakfast, ablutions and a wipe of the bathroom.

Immediate to dos are

• Dishwasher rotation
• Hanging washing out
• Taking WillowHound (idiot terrier) for his haircut

Thank you @mixedpeel for the new thread and @ExpertlyDecluttering for last month. I'm going to try to follow this months Baby Steps, so will go and shine the sink in a bit. I was heartened to find my husband had done the mugs and his glass from last night, so I came down to an empty sink. Yay!

Have done my bits of admin, other than paying my mother's care bill, so will do that next and make another cuppa. The last two days I've used a magic sponge on the tiles in the bath/shower area and I think it looks better already - as I've got bedroom and bathroom in my zone for this week (out of synch, but doesn't matter), I'm going to sponge the tiles each time I get in the shower and see how it's looking by the end of the week. Lol on, a very long wash with vinegar and soap powder, and that'll do for today I think. Have a great week!

Thanks @mixedpeel for the new thread and thanks to @ExpertlyDecluttering for the last thread and explaining how the zones work.

My porch and hall are pretty clear from starting past month but I did not get onto the dining room which is my conservatory and very messy and quick to be cluttered as it is also my kids craft and play area, so I am going to focus on that this week. This week and going forward is a real test for me with back to work and school but I am going into it with a calmer cleaner house and feeling more confident of the routines.

Oh thank you, I really need a reset and am new. Just washed the door and that feels like a start at least :)

Back to work for me today (I was off last week). I remembered to shake out my front doormat yesterday, it was surprising how much dust flew out considering I only washed it last weekend (it's a turtle mat type). We get a lot of leaf debris blowing in that door in autumn so that won't be long now. Managed my kitchen routine this morning, re-booted DW, cleared drainer, washed a few bits and shined the sink

Welcome @CharityShopMensGlasses and welcome back @Upsadiddles and @GreenWillowAndSnowdrops good to hear from you both!

Welcome, and congrats on washing the front door! I am weirdly excited about doing mine later because this is exactly the kind of thing I would never think to do. My porch and entrance hall really are pretty scuzzy so it’ll be quite the revelation to have them looking better by the end of the week.

Hello, please can I join? I tried flylady a few years ago and then dropped off. House has been very cluttered and messy this summer but I spent all of yesterday tidying and cleaning and managed to deep clean the living room, dinning room, kitchen, bathroom and my bedroom.

It felt so good waking up to a much more ordered house this morning and I'd love to stay on top of it.

Today is a bit of a tricky day to start because I was in work early this morning and it's my church study group tonight. But shining the sink and wiping down the front door is a doable task I can squeeze in. Our neighbours across the road wash their front door and patio and windows every morning! I'm a bit in awe of them!

Hiya @HedgehogNotes I started off my flylady routine about a month back with a deep clean - I had been on a long-term declutter before that, which greatly helped, and once I'd done my deep clean I started doing the zones, which are out of synch with the Flylady ones but it doesn't matter. Even after just a month the house is looking a lot better.

Will say, comparison is said to be the thief of joy; have you seen your neighbours' house from the inside? It might be a total tip! 😆

Welcome onboard, @HedgehogNotes

And a warm welcome back to all the returnees @DillyDeclutter @IlovetoKnitandRead, @Upsadiddles, @GreenWillowAndSnowdrops . We will definitely be leaning on your Flylady wisdom during the month.

I’ve been reflecting a bit on the Monday Home Bleugh. I’ve always taken it to be rushing around the whole house for an hour just on the day when a lot of us don’t have that sort of time, and therefore just about the last thing you might want to do. However I’ve reframed it more towards what I think Flylady is getting at. Her whole thing is nudging us towards ‘little and often’ combined with ‘something is better than nothing’. So ten minutes in a room hoovering the bit you can see is way better than leaving it for weeks because you can’t possibly start until you’ve cleared the floor of all the toys. If I could talk to my previous self when I had young kids, I’d say just shove all the toys/clothes/whatever is in the way into a heap and run the hoover round the floor you can see. I reckon on that basis I could probably pretty much do the whole of downstairs in 10-15 minutes.

I know I can be guilty of task paralysis when it seems like just too much needs to be done before you can even make a start.

@mixedpeel I totally agree - I think tackling a zone per week is enough without adding on an hour's extra cleaning on Monday - at least, it doesn't work for me. What does work is, taking a duster up to bed the night before, with some essential oil, then first thing the next morning (whatever day I choose) I drop some oil on the cloth and wipe the surfaces in the bedroom, landing, hall, living room and utility. I keep meaning to time this but I'm sure it takes less than ten minutes. Then do a sweep and mop or swiffer another day.

Ah - I’ve found today’s post from Flylady going into a bit more detail about exactly what we’ve just been talking about: https://flylady.net/ask-flylady/are-you-neglecting-weekly-home-blessing