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!

@Frumpyunicorn oh no! Hope resting up helps you to recover quickly

@PamelaColmansMustard Thats a great goal! Yeah, Deuteronomy is quite a heavy one, but if you finish it you get to move on to the more action packed Joshua and Judges.

Not much flying going on here and I'm out again tonight but tomorrow DH is talking about taking DD out shopping and I could have a lovely mooching about at home day - get some gardening done, make soup, de-clutter dressing table.

Today Flylady is with those of us who want to crack on a bit faster or maybe have a visitor deadline in mind (it also includes mention of feeding the critters, so looks like she may well indeed have pets!): https://flylady.net/morning-musing/having-trouble-with-your-routines

@PeonyBulb not exactly prepping as such, but we do keep a stock of tinned and packet stuff in, and a pack of toilet rolls - not because of the pandemic, we've always done it. What we haven't got is anything to cook things on, other than the open fire, but at a pinch I'm sure we could.

I washed and dried all our bath towels.
And caved in and bought a nice new Panasonic bread maker because my secondhand Cooks one which actually made great basic loaves no longer does. And I love having a bread maker and always planned on getting a Panasonic at some point. I often make Sourdough and whilst it has a sourdough and sourdough starter function which I’ll be giving a go I’m not convinced it’ll taste nearly as good as mine made from scratch from my years old starter.

But it’ll be great for normal loaves. Plus it’ll make bigger loaves and the paddle should hopefully come out when the loaf is done because it’s really annoying having to slice onto a paddle. If it doesn’t I’ll be fine with that but fingers crossed it slides out. It arrives next week so I’m looking forward to it and hopefully eating better loaves than ever.

Thanks @PamelaColmansMustard , @PeonyBulb and @HedgehogNotes feeling a bit better this morning and not working over the weekend will help

A bread maker sounds exciting. I had a cheap one years ago that I never really got on with, if I make bread which isn't often I haul out my ancient Kenwood to make the dough

@PeonyBulb I don’t think you’ll regret the Panasonic. From what I gather they have a justified reputation for making the best home breadmakers. The ‘cost per use’ will be very little over its lifetime. And let’s hope for no more cutting round the paddle!

Babystep 26: Each day is a new beginning
https://mymerrymessylife.com/flylady-31-baby-steps/26/
More proof that there really aren’t too many actual babysteps to instil as habits. This is another day where the message is you are never behind with Flylady. There are always going to be days when you don’t get as much done as you planned, and maybe longer periods where life just gets in the way. Cultivate a mindset of knowing that tomorrow is a fresh start. The whole world gets a new dawn every 24 hours, so just start all over again wherever you find yourself in the process.

Saturday is Family Fun Day
I hope you all have something nice to look forward to today. I know several of us will still be doing some Flying over the weekend. However I am super happy as DS1 is home for the weekend. We all met him from the station last night (DS2 wanted to come and so we put the dog in the boot too to complete the clan) and just chatted together catching up for 3 hours until late. Games are planned (including Wingspan, @HedgehogNotes!) and it’s just going to be like old times.

Hope everyone gets the Saturday they need, especially @Frumpyunicorn recovering from that cold. I’m mindful that the Back to School time of year often means DC bringing nasties back home, and sometimes it’s us parents that get walloped with the bug more than them…

I miss my breadmaker. Have made it by hand a couple of times, having found the joy of the Doris Grant No Knead method.

@mixedpeel thanks for the flylady instructions 💗

The dog fostering…if i say the organisation it’ll be incredibly outing like mentioning a child’s spechul hobby 😂 but let me say that the dogs we foster are being trained to assist a person. We just home and feed them during their training - and take them for walkies! They are LOVELY and about the box table: reading that made me join the thread! it was so funny that i knew i had to be part of this 🤗 also glad to hear that it’s now been removed!

@PamelaColmansMustard i love the pre Raphaelite life you’re describing! I picture you in an old converted Mill tbh livibg in tune with the seasons yes thank you for mentioning the equinox. I always like to know these things. Glad you got your mum’s care sorted xx P.s our bed (2008 edition) had a refurb recently which will make it last. So get your hands on an electric screwdriver you won’t regret it! you can repair this

@timoteigirl we hide (not!) stuff in our front room and conservatory (the latter one is such a useless space!)

@HazelNotHungryLC purple shampoo? you’re a specialist 🙌🙌 love some beauty! For DS a rinse may not be necessary as he got himself highlights, not a whole bleached orange head! Thank goodness. The overall impression is ginger. It does look good but I still ‚don’t allow it’ IYSWIM. Also, I love how you describe your Coco and am glad she’s all better and that once again you can hear how happy her feet sound as she’s running to eat her breakfast

@DillyDeclutter I like to keep busy too, love those chats while you tidy and they’re eating breakfast / getting ready.

thanks @ExpertlyDecluttering it was me who asked about the diary time! It’s useful to know as I want to be more organised! Great idea to go somewhere else with it than home and make it a thing ☕️

haha @HedgehogNotes you’re a step ahead with the bedside table! i ll leave tidying inside the drawers for next time - the top is free and polished though, massive difference! absolutely agree that banging out 15 minutes a day is so doable and the place looks much much better

wishing you a speedy recovery @Frumpyunicorn glax you get the weekend to rest a little

@PeonyBulb sending so much support for you and your ds it can be challenging when they go through something just wanted to say we’re all thinking of you - and yes, it is a lovely thread and yes, it’s taking me ages on a Saturday morning to go through it all, wayyy longer than it takes to do flylady 😂 also i’m in awe you sound like an action taker 💪 p.s. i was born in central Europe so hoarding food and supplies is normal to me, we’ve always done it.

@Alwaysgrowing so nice you could spend quality time with your little boy! And you have an older Dd and a baby on the way? my oldest is in tune with me too, we have that connection, which is lovely and sometimes tough I guess. We have girl boy girl btw

What else? Following along with the zones 🫧🧽✨☕️

@WattTheHell Second your thanks for the instructions from @mixedpeel . I love my life, I'm very lucky to live with a bloke now who is open and encouraging; I set up my equinox altar earlier in the week (with a postcard of Jane Morris as Proserpine) and he came up with his own suggestion to celebrate it. Mother's care packages always go really well, up until the point that the council funding people get in and bugger it up; we were just off out yesterday afternoon to the theatre when I got an email from them telling me that while mother's care has actually reduced in hours, she'll now be paying double...I was so p!$$ed off. So last night as the sun was disappearing, I went outside barefoot with a glass of mead to restore equilibrium, hoping that there wasn't any cat/pigeon poo or rose clippings on the grass 😆It did work. Have now stopped swearing. Ish. Onwards!

@WattTheHell, yes that's right and allthough he's entitled to free childcare every school day he does 4 days and I work 3. I find it a good balance...I think. I'm going to carry on having him one day off when the baby is here (as well as weekends). But change it to Monday as he's just started gymnastics I currently take him to straight from nursery then gym to school. It's nice as the parents watch from a viewing gallery with a cafe so a good spot for 45 minutes feeding baby etc before school collection. After wanting me to stay in the first session he's also keen for me to leave lol.

I had energy past few days. Today is a non working day I did 3 lols to catch-up. Was our bedding and clothes including lots of little DS clothes. It's so sunny and warm againtoday and I think it's the first time using all my pegs, and I didn't peg socks.

Been a nice morning, apart from my first calf cramp woke me up and I shouted and woke ds up too at 530 so we're both flagging. DD has mostly been drawing today which is nice as she hasn't done that for a while, normally starts then gets annoyed that her pictures aren't good enough. Just one thing she was trying to draw kept coming out 'hideous'

DS has been invited to his first friend birthday party, a joint 4th soft play one from 2 nursery friends. We've got to head out to that soon. I've booked DD in too. I expect he could sleep on the way home.

I hope everyone’s enjoying the weekend and doing the odd 5 minutes of flylady here and there.

@Alwaysgrowing I miss all the funny little things DC say and do but we did enjoy watching all the old videos when I was downloading them onto a hard drive. Which reminds me I still have 1000’s of photos to download. I’ll give that a go this weekend.

@PamelaColmansMustardoh I feel for your £££ care package pain. I hope the Mead and profanities helped 😂 I made bread by hand for years. Then started my sourdough journey. Both very time consuming when working and commuting full time. Bought a bread maker in a charity shop for £20 which was brilliant. So now it’s no longer functioning properly I’ve treated myself to the one I wanted all along as it’s reduced in JL. My bed feels much better with the book stack.

@WattTheHell Aww what you’re doing with the dogs is amazing. At my DD new uni halls there’s a paraplegic student in a room with another room for her carers she shares with 2 other students my DD has met. So they’re making sure she has as good a time as possible albeit she goes to bed at 8pm and can’t join in with a lot of things.

@HazelNotHungryLC I’m glad Coco is feeling better. We use Fanola shampoo which is great for reducing brassiness. Mustn’t leave it on for too long though as it’s strong.

@mixedpeel My baby step today will be hoovering. I just hate it. I’ve been in my PJs for 2 days now. Bit embarrassing when I bumped into my neighbour yesterday afternoon putting some rubbish out. Their front door was open so I had to call inside to make sure nothing awful had happened. Turns out they’d just painted it so it was drying.

@Frumpyunicorn Glad you’re on the mend as it’s never fun feeling under the weather. Funny old term that is.

@CherryogDog I hope the country show was fun and the plough match. What do they do for that? I envision it as Robot Wars.

I don’t know what I’m pressing but at times a whole paragraph I’ve written just transports itself to another part of my page / post 🤷‍♀️

I’ve poured sink unblocker down the bathroom sink after discovering DS rinses all his beard hair down there when he shaves. I told him he needs to wipe it off with loo paper and put it in the bin so it doesn’t clog the pipes. Not convinced he is so it’s a precautionary step.

I’m making lasagne.

My wind up radio arrived which is actually really good so I’ve been carrying it around all day to listen to since I got it and charging it. No idea if the wind up or solar function works but it’s got a good sound, light, torch, charger etc so good for camping. It’s nice and sturdy.

Ordered lots of seeds and sultanas to add to my bread machine as it has a seed dispenser which is actually great for me as I always missed the beep on the old machine when you’re meant to add them.

I have a Panasonic too, I bought it in 2005 and it's still going strong albeit with a replacement bread pan in 2021 which cost nearly as much as the £60 original machine (inflation alas!). I use it for dough e.g. pizza and pita; I now bake loaves by hand as we prefer the taste.

I've hoovered under the bed, it was disgusting. Must be a couple of years since I've been under there!

Always my dc do lots of drop off classes which I love (they're 5 and 8). Nice to have a little bit of time with the other child, even if it is usually on a random out of town industrial estate or run down small town!

@PeonyBulb Thank you; I've emailed the council in the almost certainty that it won't make one scrap of difference!

Hope the book pile won't be needed, but it's a good idea. Are you able to move the slats at all, in which case could you put the broken one at the foot end? Let us know how your new breadmaker works out. Friend of ours had a Panasonic, don't know how old it was but she used it nearly every day and it always turned out a good loaf.

@DillyDeclutterthats really good to know. My sourdough loaves are by far the best but require time so the bread maker is perfect for daily bread so I can just add ingredients and not think about it at all. I want minimum effort as I’ve always got it on the go because current one only makes smaller 400g flour loaves. So looking forward to larger sizes. I’ve got a KitchenAid mixer which I use for mixing the sourdough because again it’s such a pfaff by hand every time.

@PamelaColmansMustard So the shorter slats that go down the whole bed aren’t damaged just that one side tends to slip off occasionally. It’s the main beam down the middle they lie on that I noticed had dropped a bit at one end, sort of coming away and downwards from it’s fastening hence the book pile to alleviate sudden bumps in the night and to prevent it from snapping off completely which is harder to sort out.

The council tend to pull it out their proverbial when you state you are unable to give any support yourselves so they have to implement more help. But different in all situations but downplay your own efforts otherwise they take the… Also if anyone is hospitalised if you refuse to house / help then they’re forced to sort things out properly. I’m a retired nurse so this situation was always arising and you have to force their hand. If you don’t it’s all on you and less haste and effort is made on their part.

@PeonyBulb so very bluddy true - my OH had a similar issue with them when his own mother needed more care; in the end he washed his hands of it, at which point they finally got stuck in. I've found that what they promise financially doesn't actually materialise, but by then I've already used their promised information to make a decision re: carers. They just move the goalposts. What happens when she's got no money left, goodness knows. However the NHS adult social care have been brilliant, but let down by the system.

Very impressed with all this breadmaking. I've only made bread once or twice in my life. DH makes soda bread every now and then. You're all tempting me to make some more but I really shouldn't be picking up a new project right now!

@mixedpeel hope you enjoyed your family day and had a good game of wingspan!

If we can include quality time with friends and family in the ta da list, then yesterday's list is quite good for me

🍂 Walked to village bakery with DD to get delicious pastries for a Saturday treat
🍂 Planted snowdrop and daffodil bulbs
🍂 Made parsnip soup with DD
🍂 Started jigsaw with DD
🍂 Prepped Sunday School lesson for today
🍂 Got DH to dye my hair
🍂 Watched Practical Magic 2 with a friend at the cinema
🍂 bedtime reading with DD

DH also
🍂 lol
🍂 washed dishes
🍂 went shopping and came back with things I wasn't allowed to see (my birthday is coming up!)

So a very fun day but alas the messiness in the house as crept up again. I need to tackle it today. We have church in the morning and an 80th birthday this afternoon so will have to squeeze a bit of flying in somewhere.

That is a wonderful Saturday Fun Day ta da list, @HedgehogNotes! I will do mine later, just putting the Sunday info in the thread:

Babystep 27: plan dinner tonight
https://mymerrymessylife.com/flylady-31-baby-steps/27/
I don’t know how many of you already meal plan for the week. This baby step is for those who aren’t in that habit, and is saying to think about what’s for dinner tonight. Tonight only. Decide what you’re having, plan in shopping time if you need any additional ingredients, get stuff out of the freezer to defrost if relevant. Just decide now so that come the evening you’re not caught out. Especially useful on a Sunday with early closing of the supermarkets.

Sunday is Renew Your Spirit day
Whatever that means for you today. I would happily find most of @HedgehogNotes list soul-enriching, tbh! Starting the day with delicious bakery products followed by autumnal soup-making and then a companionable jigsaw sounds like a recipe for a lovely weekend morning!

No zones, no missions, just freestyle if you do need to do any flying today. I feel it’s justified under spirit-renewing if there are particular areas hanging around in your head.

Sorry I’ve been so busy. My partner is going back to the US tomorrow so I should have more time for flyladying.

Thanks for all the goodwishes about my interview! It is on Tuesday and I am so nervous because it would obviously be brilliant to get a council job but I don’t have much work experience from the last 20 years so I will really have to sell myself!

@hazelnothungryLC

He lives in the affluent suburbs of Chicago (Naperville). I did notice in Iowa that people were not mowing their lawns to the same level…

I have pretty much missed out this past zone but I am carrying on. I did manage to get to the tip and things are still fairly reasonable here. I also got tons more listed and sold on vinted.

Also, I am trying out various ventures online, This week I opened a pod Etsy store. I know it’s not likely to succeed but whatever. I have been doing shirts about crafts and machine learning/ai as those are my particular interests.

I also did a site a bout learning Python, have got 6 apps on the App Store and I have published a few ai books too (dont hate on me!). None of this so far has made me any money! But tbh, I do no advertising and really need to.

So this coming week, I have my Viva hopefully for my msc. Looking forward to that being completely finished and the job interview at the council. Not planning on applying for anything else now as ideally, I will be going to US for 3 weeks in november , but if I get the council job, I can make it shorter or not bother at all. It’s bloody freezing in Chicago at that time of the year. I nearly froze to death last time.

But I will get back into doing the zones now. I think I have one half of the main lounge ( split it into two because it’s a big room and half of it is dining area etc) also, sewing room and landing. I really want to get my sewing room useable again while I am still in this house so I will definitely try and declutter and organise it a bit. I have a big machine knitting cabinet with the machine and all sorts of associated stuff. Going to get my son to come help me get it downstairs and sell it. I have started listing my coned wool on vinted and odd bits I find. I have loads of spare stuff for it. I fell out with eBay so don’t want to use them.

@KitsyWitsy is that a Keyto cabinet? I used to long for one, but now I wouldn't have the space - there's only just room for the machine on a folding table. I've got a few more panels for my duster coat and then the process of scouring them and sewing them together - fingers crossed they all shrink at the same rate...Spent a bit of time punching a card yesterday too, something I've not done in decades! Hope your sale goes well.

S&S of bathroom done today and cleaned and tidied my desk and set it up ready for some study. One LOL yesterday, and I synched up my own house zones with the Flylady ones - I think!

I'm not sure it's keyto - it's this one in the picture of my sewing room one time when I'd done a tidy up. I don't think you can see that cabinet in the room now!

Love your room @KitsyWitsy , thank you for sharing. Had a momentary ironing board envy - I don't iron clothes but a full size board would be really handy when sewing. I've enjoyed knitting this past week; nearly two cones down now and plans for the next pile of yarns.

What a fabulous sewing room you have @KitsyWitsy

@KitsyWitsy wow that is a gorgeous sewing room!

Right, managed to get a couple of bits done today :

🍂 tidied up downstairs and 95% of bedroom
🍂 emptied all bins and put recycling out
🍂 washed dishes
🍂 cooked chicken wings and brought them to 80th birthday party.

Party was nice but Sunday afternoon and evening is my designated rest time and I find it hard to be sociable at the end of a busy week. I definitely had less energy than the birthday girl today! Was glad to slip away after a couple of hours and get back to jigsaw.

What a lovely sewing room @KitsyWitsy. I actually got to do a bit of sewing today, I haven't managed for a month and have missed it.

I am feeling better, done most of my house blessing today just need to do the glass and bedding tomorrow.

Oh, I wrote this post last night and it didn’t post. Sending it anyway and then will update for today.

Sympathy re parent-care @PamelaColmansMustard we had to move DF into a home last year following a catastrophic fall (he was in a rehab unit for 12 weeks but is very paralysed (limited use of one arm, no use of legs or other arm) and their house was completely unsuitable for him to to back to - stairs everywhere, not enough space for hoists etc. He is self-funding so that part hasn’t been too bad, but as I was saying a day or two ago that is one reason I have been doing so much of their admin. Mum is still at home but losing her memory and highly anxious so I do a lot for her too.

Breadmakers - we had a cheap machine pre-DCs but the loaves got stuck in the pan and the paddle got stuck in the loaves so we got rid. Then for a long time the DCs didn’t really eat normal bread, DD still doesn’t, just wraps, pitta bread etc. I started making sourdough in lockdown and still have my starter but it takes so long. DS eats lots of sliced bread now, but we don’t have space for a machine, but I do have a stand mixer to make dough, I am thinking I might try baking some in the air-fryer tomorrow.

Tada!
✅Got up and went to Parkrun - this was only possible because I had put my clothes and bag out the night before, as I overslept.
✅Did some shopping
✅Put my suitcase in the loft from last weekend, got autumn decorations down and put them up with some new ones bought today.
✅Cleared out the salad drawer or the fridge, something had gone rotten at the back of it, bleugh.