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!

Oh I love the drums! A little bit different, but on Friday night at the high school football game (1st one of the season), the marching band drum line did a "drum off" where a couple of them took turns drumming, while the others were in the background. It was awesome and the crowd loved it! It was a small part of half time, since the dance group and cheerleaders were doing the main half time show. I could watch that all day long! And they have so much fun doing it!
I might be a little excited for marching band season!

Thank you Willow cleaning up really is the worst part of hosting a crowd. I was hoping to be more on top of it before people started showing up, but time wasn't on my side. It didn't help that I had a slow start to my day.
Time really is flying too! My baby is almost an adult 😱

Sending well wishes to those of you who are sick, it does seem to be making it's rounds 💐🫖🍯🥃 Hedgehog did you get your hot toddy? I swear by it!

Ta das so far today:
🍁 put away almost all of the handwash dishes (there's only a few things that go in the pantry in the basement and I haven't made it down there yet)
🍁 rotated DW
🍁 fed dogs & gave meds (Coco is now snoring on the couch next to me 🙄)
🍁 1st cup of coffee drank

I'm ready for a nap!
Coco woke me up just before 7am, as per usual, and I just decided to stay up. I'm tired now though. It's almost 8:30am, but I don't want to go back to bed.
We are going to visit ILs where they are camping, so we can get out into nature. I want to do some hiking today, but not sure it'll happen.
DH has to work on his motorcycle as well, although we are both off tomorrow too as it's a holiday here (Labor day).

@HazelNotHungryLC if you like drums, have a look at Angine de Poitrine on Youtube - they're incredible!

Swept around the litter tray this morning, and gave the sink a good shine as well as cleaned the dish rack. And wiped the kitchen windowsill although it wasn't particularly mucky - I cleared it off last time it was the kitchen zone, and have kept it clear - it's the whole width of the room and is a bit hard to reach, but keeping it clear of everything makes it so much easier to keep clean. Bless you Flylady.

Other than that, have made the second sock and sewn it up, so I now have a pair. That's enough effort for one day 😁

This weekends been a bit of a disaster, I try and get the home blessing done on a Sunday but all I have managed is changing the beds. We are having some work on the house this week and my husband dumped a load of stuff in our lounge, I have sorted most of it and put it neatly but that level of mess really made me feel stressed. I did do an online shop this evening instead which did really need doing.

I really want to learn the accordian! But they are expensive so will stick with piano for now. I'm very sporadic at practicing so probably for the best. We don't live in the right kind of housing for drums!

All ok here and ready for the week ahead (kitchen week I think?) Washing away, washing up done, hot spots not too hot.

This week I am planning to dust some of the high kitchen shelves and cupboard tops, which have that sticky oily kitchen grease dust on them. Not sure what I will use - probably just hot soapy water and kitchen spray unless anyone has suggestions!

@HazelNotHungryLC really glad to see you posting, hope you are over whatever it was which was making you feel bleugh. I bet you gave DS a fab birthday, and I’m adding my applause to getting the big clear up done afterwards.

@ExpertlyDecluttering, can your DH claim he is currently single-handedly cleaning the house?! Seriously, glad he’s doing what he can despite his injury.

@GreenWillowAndSnowdrops good luck with the Monday morning back-to-school stuff. Hope the drumming put you in a good place for the return to all that…

@CherryogDog glad you are feeling better too. A country fair sounds just the job to renew your spirit!

@HedgehogNotes sounds like you did exactly the right thing to take today off from flying. Hope the various hot toddys, cat and sofa have done the job.

@PamelaColmansMustard I second your recommendation of Angine de Poitrine. DH is obsessed and introduced me to them.

@Frumpyunicorn having work done is always super stressful with stuff all in the wrong places and random people in and out of the house… hope it’s not going to take too long. Good work trying to reduce your stress a bit by putting things into neater piles, but it seems that hasn’t taken the stress level down as far as you ideally need.

@DillyDeclutter I absolutely swear by hot soapy water for those sorts of kitchen jobs. I like Method washing up liquid, which smells lovely. I also use Pink Paste on stubborn grime, which also gets off ancient bits of sellotape left over from when DC had a phase of sticking random signs to kitchen cabinets <cough> years ago. I know this from success last month!

So, here is the info for Monday 7th September:

Babystep 7: Plan your outfit for the next day.
https://mymerrymessylife.com/flylady-31-baby-steps/7/
This is linked to the Before Bed Routine that I posted a link to the other day. Getting your clothes ready for the next morning will save time and stress at a time when time is often short and stress levels high. Lots of people do the same for their DC clothes too, if they are still littlies.

Daily focus is the Home Bleugh - effectively a quick weekly titivate of every room. Many of us pick whichever day of the week we have the time for this, which will often not be Monday, or spread it through the week. Aim for a quick 10 minutes in each room whizzing the hoover over as much of the floor as is accessible, emptying bins, changing bedsheets if you have time.

And at the start of a new week we have moved into Zone 2: the kitchen!

Monday’s Mission is to clean your hob. Those of you with induction hobs will have to find something else to do (maybe the Home Bleugh tee hee) because I gather they are basically one wipe and you’re done. Everyone else get some hot soapy water and scrub as best you can. When it comes to the knobs, don’t go mad and scrub the numbers off, which is what the people we bought this house from had done when we moved in… 15 minutes max to this mission. You’re not aiming for ‘good as new’, just ‘better than before’.

Sneak Peek of the rest of the week’s missions:

Zone 2: Mission #2 Tuesday
Clean out your cutlery drawer. Where do all those crumbs come from when only clean cutlery gets put away? And what is all that Other Stuff in the odd shaped section in which the bottle opener and chopsticks have been joined all kinds of weird bits and bobs? Anything that shouldn’t be there: out out out it goes.

Zone 2: Mission #3 Wednesday
As it’s anti-procrastination day, get strict with the contents of your fridge. Chuck out anything beyond its use by date, or jars which have been open way longer than is recommended to keep them by. What recipe did you even buy that for anyway??? But in the spirit of anti-procrastination, also get rid of things that may still be in date but you just know in your heart of hearts no one is going to eat. That new salad dressing your DD begged you to buy, and it has a funny aftertaste…whatever, if you aren’t going to use it, get rid of it. You’ll know what you need to put on your shopping list when you can see what you actually have that is usable in your fridge.

Zone 2: Mission #4 Thursday
A quick and easy mission today: tidy your cling film, foil and baking paper drawer. Or wherever you store these. Is there an empty box in there, or do you keep buying foil because it gets taken out for craft projects and then there are a gazillion half-used rolls? Is your cling film impossible to use and actually just brings on rage? Do you have random plastic bags that need to be collected up into one place so they are easily reached when needed? Keep only the things you know you will use and leave the drawer looking lovely so that everything can be found by everyone who might need it.

Zone 2: Mission #5 Friday
The final day in the kitchen! Just spend 5 minutes on a quick sort of all your cleaning supplies under the sink. Again chuck out any item you never use, and make a note of essentials you’ve run out of. Stick them on your shopping list and enjoy the upcoming weekend!

@mixedpeel Same, my DH discovered them and is similarly obsessed, and played me their albums. Want to see them live now, joyous stuff!

Do the daily missions repeat each month, or do they come up again in a year? Eg do you get to clear the cutlery drawer on a regular routine?

I'm jumping up and down with joy (that's a lie, I'm sprawling in bed with a cup of coffee 😅) because I'm already ahead on the kitchen stuff.
Do need to clean the cooker and the fridge.
I'd like a brand new easy to clean cooker. Or a new kitchen.
We didn't go out yesterday, DP now has the bug. Obviously much worse than me 🙃 but I had lots of admin to do so I didn't mind.
Happy flying everyone!

It's a bit random, some come up fairly regularly such as tidying your dressing table and throwing out empties in the bathroom, others, such as the cutlery drawer are less frequent. For me even if I don't do it that month seeing it listed lodges in my brain that it needs doing sometime. There used to be some lists for each zone but I suspect they've gone with the old website, they were called detailed cleaning lists

Morning all, I'm feeling a bit brighter after a much better night's sleep. Still disgustingly snotty though, but hopefully that will pass quickly.

Morning wins
💛 most of the house is still all tidy. DD and I have been very good with putting away things after we've used them 😇
💛 DD made her own pack lunch for school last night so that was one less thing to do this morning
💛 I lifted salmon out of freezer for tea tonight
💛 Actually got to work early this morning

Will do my first attempt at home blessing tonight:

Vacuum
Wipe down areas (including hob)
Empty bins
Change DD's bedding

DD's bedroom is very messy at the moment so I might ask DH to help her tidy it whilst I do the above.

What a pity! I've looked at the new website, but it doesn't seem to have all that much in it, and I couldn't get my head around the app. Thanks to all of you for listing the missions here though.

@DillyDeclutter Same here as regards sporadic practice - was hoping the Flylady self-discipline would spill over into other areas!

Sheets washed, now in the dryer, bed changed. Out later so will have a quick bleurgh wipe round with the duster and some nice oil - I timed this last time and it really did take just five minutes - but I did wipe around the ornaments in the hall, with the idea that when it's that zone, they'll get done properly.

Will certainly do Friday's clear out under the sink mission - I have a tiny bit of Ecover oven cleaner (doesn't work) which I've had for years, so come what may I'm using that up and the spray bottle can go in the recycling. I keep saving spray bottles for some insane reason, and all they do is take up space. Out they can go. I'm on a longer term mission to greatly reduce cleaning products and keep it to a small Zoflora, vinegar and washing up liquid. The kitchen is small enough without filling it with unnecessary crap.

I've deep cleaned a 1/4 of the kitchen, just popping on to recommend HG BBQ cleaner if you've got really greasy areas that dish soap won't budge.
I've got a few of their products and I rate them all.
I've said this before but my kitchen is a nightmare to clean, there's a ridiculous fire surround over the cooker, with bunches of grapes which are impossible to clean.
Then because the mantelpiece bit juts out, there's grooved columns at the end of the cupboards so the doors can open.

Quick cuppa then onto the next section.

Today is normally my day alone, so I often leave housework for today. But, My son is at home with me for 2 reasons. 1, the nursery have a pest problem and have relocated to a room nearby which is not ideal so they've said we can keep kids home and will get a day back/refund...mine is a funded day anyway. Then he had a temperature last night. His armpit temperature last night was 38.4, and gradually went down to 36.2 this morning. He's not ill otherwise, saithe feels weird, legs hurt, then mentioned the room was spinning, but not upset by it, so I'm thinking mild ear infection.. he's ok, loads of energy earlier maybe a little more clingy so I'm not getting much housework done. He wanted me to sit and watch TV with him on the sofa which is hard to resist. He was .awake a bit in the night so I might get him down for a nap, he doesn't regularly nap anymore.

Maybe I'll clean the hob. Mine is a flat, smooth surface electric hob so quite easy to clean, if I wiped it regularly, but some grease may have built up on some parts of it. Before that I'll need to load the dishwasher and clear and wipe the sides.

Tadas:
Put on a towel lol
Tidied up shoes

I’m feeling a bit bleugh today re cleaning.

Ta Das

🧑‍🩰 LOL
🧑‍🩰 Pile of washed clothes sorted although I’m disappointed DC couldn’t be bothered so I had to relent and sort it out so I wouldn’t LMS
🧑‍🩰DW

I feel like there’s suddenly so much to do that I can’t get my head around doing it

@DillyDeclutter I led you astray with talk upthread of Method washing up liquid. I noticed today it is actually Ecover (but I can assure you it does work, unlike @PamelaColmansMustard’s oven cleaner!) The GOAT of washing up liquid is still Fairy, but I suddenly found a few months ago that I couldn’t stand the smell of something that’s in it (not the Fairy smell itself, another ingredient that was lingering in my nostrils), so I looked for an alternative.

And I meant Pink Stuff paste, not just pink paste… posting too late at night obviously.

@PeonyBulb grr at DC’s indolence. It’s easy to say maybe you should’ve just LYS at them, but I totally get how you just want the job done and also don’t want them to have to forced you into a row. It feels like you are really counting down the hours until they are out of your hair, and with good reason. It’s weird when you know it’s not far away but they and their stuff are, right this minute, Still Here.

@Alwaysgrowing how is DS doing? Hope his temp and other symptoms subside quickly as they can at that age. He sounds a cheery soul if he is managing ok with an ear infection. Wonder when nursery will be confident they’ve resolved the pest problem??? Do we think the Kitchen Hamster has relocated to there? I’m intrigued to know if they will fess up to the parents what the issue was. People surely want to know!

I have an aluminium spray bottle which I fill with water and a bit of fairy to clean my hob with and other stuff. I can’t add vinegar as it’s aluminium but once one of my plastic spray bottles is empty I’ll add a mix with vinegar and maybe zoflora for the disinfectant part. Not sure will research.

I use the water / fairy combo for my hob and my solid wood work surfaces.

I like the method and inos rhubarb sprays because they smell really nice which I use daily for sinks and other things

@mixedpeel To be fair to Ecover I did used to like their washing up liquid; the oven cleaner is ok for shining already-clean surfaces but it was useless for getting grease off the door.

@PeonyBulb when I worked in a school kitchen (potwashing) we used Fairy for almost everything :) I now use Aldi's own brand mainly for the price, and the smell isn't too bad - their version of Method is quite nice too.

I only buy Method or ineos when it’s reduced. I find fairy is more concentrated and I tend to buy a large bottle when it’s reduced. I like the pomegranate Fairy.

I work at the hospital. So I know it has rats on site. So I'm guessing rats. They may have said rats at some point, but most talk about 'pests'. And no the nursery isn't open. If it was I was going to send him as he's ok. Once I took him to the drs as he'd had a slightly prolonged temperature and a nasty sounding cough. They checked everything and his ears looked inflamed, everything else fine then so gave him antibiotics. But he never complained of ear pain, or put his hands to his ears or anything. It's just the description spinning room and the having to stop after shaking his head for a 2nd made me think ears, but just mild. He woke me up this morning by whispering he wants medicine and pointing to his tummy, but was better after a breakfast and generally hungry.

Hello everyone, just popped in to cheer you all on. I've been doing a similar housekeeping method for a good while now and I'd like to point out a couple of things if I may?
1- I loved the transition from cleaning to simply maintaining as everything shapes up.
2- The lovely 'on top of things' feeling spills out into other areas of life, and
3- Although I'm older so, although no little ones at home (or big ones to organise!) I do have mobility problems and the sheer relief of keeping up & not wondering what needs doing next is very freeing.
Now if I get a call that my daughter is popping over to visit all I need to do is bake a cake!

Thanks @aLFIESMA

I’m doing lots of little jobs today thanks to @mixedpeeland everyone’s encouragement and their Ta DAs. I feel better now I’ve tackled some small things.

my further Ta Das

🧑‍🩰wiped the kitchen counters
🧑‍🩰cleaned the living room side table and coasters
🧑‍🩰Tidied a few hot spots
🧑‍🩰Swept kitchen floor

@aLFIESMA that was a really encouraging post, thank you so much for giving us a glimpse into the dreamy maintenance future! I can relate to the mobility issues, as I am awaiting a second hip replacement (born with hip dysplasia but didn’t know until early onset osteoarthritis) and the pain, restricted movement and fatigue definitely get in the way! Little and often is going to make the difference for me, and you’ve shown that it really does work.

For @PamelaColmansMustard, I’ve found a detailed cleaning list for the kitchen on the same website that we currently use for the babysteps. As the blogger says, it’s a case of picking one thing off the list each day you’re in that zone and spending 5, 10 or 15 minutes on it: https://mymerrymessylife.com/flylady-zone-2-cleaning-list/

(And the Aldi dupe for Fairy must be good, because when I bought it in my search for an alternative it had the same underlying smell - which might mean that’s the active ingredient!)

@mixedpeel yes, definitely. The fruity washing up liquids aren't too bad, but the Aldi Magnum dark green gunk smells horrible (like Fairy). I can't stand the smell, whatever it is they use.