Onwards into October, Fledglings doing their Flylady thing.

[EffortlessDiscussions]

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 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. We have a lovely comfy naughty corner for just resting in if you want to hang out but haven’t got the energy for the chores.

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 - ironically they will fill your inbox with clutter and they are VERY long. I have taken one for the team but use a junk email address which I set up to use for MN when it went all weird a few years ago. I will check them periodically and report anything interesting / useful. The emails also have a handy Sneak Peek for the week at the weekend so I can list what’s coming for the rest of the week.

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/. Not all of these are actual tasks, the majority are about changing the way you think about yourself and your home, Flylady is about psychology as well as tasks.

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!
Fly Lady
Welcome!
https://www.flylady.net/daily-mission

and finally a big thank you to @mixedpeel for the September thread.

Ok, for the rest of this week we are in Zone 1 The Hall, Porch and dining Room and the missions are as follows

Zone 1: Mission #1 Thursday

Flylady says - Today you are to sweep your front porch area around your front door. Shake out your welcome mats and wipe down your front door. This makes a huge difference in how your home looks. I say - she’s right, and it doesn’t take too long either, winning!

Thursday is also Errand Day - I need to go to the Post Office.

Zone 1: Mission #2 Friday

Flylady says - Let's go into the dining room and get down and dirty with the cobwebs and the dust bunnies. Look up and look down, get the dust off the baseboards and the cobwebs out of the corners in the ceiling. Also light fittings. I say - woohoo, I can use the lovely new wool duster on a stick I bought in Sostrene Grene last week. That shop is bad for my decluttering habits, but sooo nice.

Babystep 1 for Thursday 1st is

Shining Your Sink
https://mymerrymessylife.com/flylady-31-baby-steps/

The idea is that every night after you finish in the kitchen you give the sink a good wipe down so that it greets you in the morning empty and shining like new. I have started doing it in the morning instead, my routine is put away anything left on the drainer overnight, wipe the drainer, wash anything that has appeared in the sink (adult DCs 🙄) and then shine the sink. Whatever works for you.

Thanks for the shiny new thread @EffortlessDiscussions and thanks for running September's @mixedpeel.

Thank you for the September thread mixedpeel even though I ended up quiet at the end of the month.
Thank you for the shiny new October thread ED I plan to post more often (hopefully ta das!).

I'm trying to get over a cold that's not so bad I have to take time off work, but bad enough that I'm having to medicate myself.
On that note, I'm going to sink into the naughty corner, surrounded by cushions and fluffy blankets! I've got my tea with honey I'm sipping on, and Dobby & Coco snuggled up with me.

@EffortlessDiscussionsthanks for the new thread and thanks @mixedpeelfor September

I might join you @HauntingHazelin the naughty corner for a day or 2.

Thanks for the new thread @EffortlessDiscussions and thanks for the September thread @mixedpeel. I am getting by on the bare minimum at the moment, like @HauntingHazel I am ill (with an ear infection) and have also been applying for 2 jobs this week, so just been doing lol and s&s. I did manage to clear out one of my kitchen cupboards. I really want to pull out the sofas and hoover but might wait until Saturday to tackle that.

Naughty corner for me too, woken up with a full-on cold after coughing a bit the last two days. Going to work anyway, it's easy to avoid other people there but might come home once I've finished the essentials.

💐 for all who are full of cold. Hope you all feel better soon.

Thanks @EffortlessDiscussions for new thread!

I've also been on bare minimum last few days. Tuesday was hectic with stuff, then predictably yesterday I crashed out. Hopefully will pick up again today.

Cleaning front door area is definitely do able

💐 and ☕️ for @EffortlessDiscussions @Frumpyunicorn @HauntingHazel and anyone else in need.
I'm drained, but not unwell. I'm getting a lot of reflux and I'm waking up choking/coughing so even less sleep than usual.
I'm going to hoover my stairs and dust the skirting boards and call it a day.
It'll take my mind away from craving cakes and lattes due to lack of sleep!

Thank you @EffortlessDiscussions for the new thread, and @mixedpeel for the September one. I've now aligned my zones with the posts here which is proving helpful - I've wiped my front door (yay!) and as I don't have a dining room, I dealt with the cobwebs and stuff in the hall. Even polished the mirror. One small LOL now in the dryer.

Sat down to do my 1st of the month budget (have a spreadsheet because I love them), looked up and thought the french doors looked smeary after my last go with vinegar some weeks back. Have reused an old disinfectant spray bottle which now has wild rose handwash and water. Used that with a microfibre cloth on the doors and the mirror, looks brilliant and smells great into the bargain.

Yesterday, while this makes no financial sense, I splashed out on a five litre container of washing up liquid. It's cheaper by far to use the little bottles from Aldi but I think this will work better for me. I think of it as a bit of a house blessing gift. Maybe need to get out more...

@PamelaColmansMustard where do you get your handwash from?
I love the smell of rose soap.

TaDa stairwell walls dusted and de-cobwebd, (minor meltdown because I can't find my extendable duster), damp dusted all the woodwork, cleaned all the light switches/ door handles, vacuumed upstairs landing, stairs and all downstairs.
Finally reached the point where I can keep on top of things with doing little and often. It's taken me years to achieve!

Checking in! I have two childrens parties to organise this month alongside normal life.

My cleaners have just announced that they will not be coming in October so I'll have to up my game. They're normally pretty unreliable but this is worse than usual.

Errands run, missions to do later.

@CherryogDog it's Faith in Nature. Not cheap but not ludicrously expensive either and smells great. The nicest one I found was at David Austin Roses at Albrighton but it was £14 for a 300ml bottle!! It stayed on their shelf.

So I had another interview today, I don't know if I mentioned.. oh I think I did. Anyway, I didn't get the questions. but they told me to ask in future and tick the disability box. Anyway, it went awesome! This time they took my passport and said they had other similar roles to offer people who didn't get today's job and I said I would be interested. I answered all the questions this time and had some laughs with them and was overall more relaxed and myself. It was the same people so I did regret wearing the same outfit!

Still not worked on viva.. or house.. I am feeling tired from the interview so just resting. I will do it next.. nothing on agenda tomorrow so it will be viva all day.

Zone 1 was my first zone from last month so it's still in great shape as I did it very thoroughly.. I will give it a whiz over and it should be good.

If I get a job, I will get a cleaner again. Every two weeks maybe. I can only do so much.

I just fell asleep and then someone with my next delivery banged on the door. I hate that.

@KitsyWitsy sounds promising!
@PamelaColmansMustard thanks!
I think I've seen that on Amazon.
I've got the rose hand soap and body liquid soap from Lidl, it's a nice subtle scent (strong scents trigger my migraine/ asthma/ reflux, fab con is banned in my house lol), but think it would be expensive for cleaning.
I've also got a rose water perfume from Aldi, had it for years. Someone said it made me smell like Turkish Delight 😁

Oh well done @KitsyWitsy hope they find aomething for you, that all sounds positive.

@CherryogDog I have to be careful with strong fragrances too, I like light perfume but can easily get a bad headache from some of the more pungent types, definitely no fabric conditioner in this house either, but I like the occasional scented candle or handwash etc and a squirt of light fragrance, usually from places like M&S. A lot of the “proper” ones, Chanel, Lancome etc are way too much for me. There is one strong fragrance that is clearly very popular as I seem to encounter people wearing it everywhere but it makes me heave, I wish I knew what it was but I can hardly ask, “excuse me, I wondered what your perfume was, it is making me feel sick”.

Not much done today, I did manage work, went to the PO at lunchtime to post the PIP form, then to Costco on the way home, so just been putting all the stuff away. Think I am going to get into my PJs, snuggle up on the sofa with some crochet and watch Celebrity Traitors. I will try and remember the front door etc in the morning.

I had a nice time in the pub with friends tonight and have cleaned the kitchen counter tops and washed up after returning and shaping my sourdough after proving it and removing all crumbs elsewhere. I need to move everything in the living room in the next week or so because I’m having floorboards repaired and the walls finally painted although I have no idea what colour. Currently a boring white with one wallpapered wall that’s out of date but all white at the time was too much. It’s a south facing room living room and dining room knocked into one. I don’t want it too dark but want an interesting colour that I can live with for years.

@KitsyWitsy fingers crossed you get a position any position for now. They seem to like you.

@CherryogDog I remember feeling very faint and discombobulated in the John Lewis fragrance zone when my DM took me as a child. I don’t mind those types of areas now but do get headaches still with heady fragrances at times. Last night I was enjoying the clean fresh crisp autumn air in my room through my open window. I love opening my windows in autumn and winter especially when I’m sleeping.

@PamelaColmansMustardi love the smell of Lidl rhubarb hand soap so always stock up.

Oh I also descaled my espresso machine with citric acid today.

@PeonyBulb would green look good in there?

I had a lovely green in my old house front room, and a cornish ice cream sort of yellow in the kitchen diner.
The walls in my house are so wonky that it's impossible to get straight lines around the skirting boards and ceiling so all walls are white except the kitchen which is a yucky bile green colour.

Thanks so much to @EffortlessDiscussions for this new thread, and also for getting me all set up to run the September one.

I chuckled just now as I was reading the thread from the bottom up for some reason, and wondered why @PamelaColmansMustard was suggesting green might be a good look for the inside of an espresso machine…

@KitsyWitsy I’m really pleased for you that you went to the interview. It does feel very much like there’s going to be a role for you there if you want it. Good incentive to promise yourself a cleaner when you start working!

@CherryogDog thanks for the glimpse into the future for me in terms of you having reached the little and often maintenance stage. You are proof that it’s well worth persisting even though it might take a while. What an amazing achievement last month to finally fully sort the kitchen and dining room areas.

@Frumpyunicorn, ear infections are horrible, so you have my sympathies. Hope you got both applications in before the deadlines, and that they prove fruitful. Healing vibes to all the many fledglings who are full of cold at the moment.

Like some others of you, my zone 1 is in reasonable nick after last month, so I used my 15 minutes yesterday to really get to grips with the downstairs toilet. It’s been out of bounds for the past couple of weeks since we discovered a leak from the cistern. We wondered about needing to replace the whole thing, as it’s also a bit unstable when you sit on it (according to DH, I’ve never noticed tbh) and the bit under the water at the bottom had started looking permanently stained. However DH has previously changed the screws on the base with good effect, so we agreed that if we can get it clean it’s worth seeing if we can do the same again to get it stable. And lo, some long marigolds and pink stuff paste and a lot of elbow grease has done the job! In-laws are up for the weekend and DH should be able to change the cistern at least this evening. So a clean, non-leaky but possibly slightly wobbly loo is in operation.

I also beeswaxed all the flat wooden surfaces in the kitchen and living room. These have remained pretty clear since a massive tat removal exercise in August, and made it the work of moments. I used the same duster, slightly infused with the beeswax polish, to quickly dust the banisters and the wooden mouldings on the doors that collect dust. In a break during a wfh meeting I used one of those rubber brushes to get the collected dust and dog hair from the inner corners of the stairs. I hate hoovering the stairs with a passion, so DH does it, but he never uses any of the hoover tools to really get into corners and edges.

Swept utility clear of all the hay and garden debris that collects there. 2 minutes and it looked like a new room.

Washed doormats from entrance hall and utility. Dried beautifully on the line in the bright October sun.

Ooops, day 2 and I forgot to post already
Here is our mission, off to check out babysteps, back in a mo

Zone 1: Mission #2 Friday
Flylady says - Let's go into the dining room and get down and dirty with the cobwebs and the dust bunnies. Look up and look down, get the dust off the baseboards and the cobwebs out of the corners in the ceiling. Also light fittings. I say - woohoo, I can use the lovely new wool duster on a stick I bought in Sostrene Grene last week. That shop is bad for my decluttering habits, but sooo nice.

Ah yes, Get Dressed to Lace-Up Shoes, so you are ready to face the day. Or at least dressed. The idea being that you are psychologically in daytime mode, also able to answer the door, go out to the car, go out. For me contact lenses in is my "ready to face the world" thing

https://mymerrymessylife.com/flylady-31-baby-steps/2/

Here also is a deeper dive into Zone 1 for those who are looking to take things a bit further

https://mymerrymessylife.com/flylady-zone-1-cleaning-list/

@mixedpeel giggling now - maybe all espresso machines should have a green inside 😄Beeswax polish sounds intriguing - I was given tubs of antiquax when I bought various secondhand dressers etc and it's a bit of a job, can I ask what you use? I did suggest to DH that when it's time to polish the furniture we split it between us. He does a better job than me.

Didn't get the job! Oh well. Going to go to uni and work on my viva. I will keep looking. He did say I did loads better yesterday than Tuesday and told me what I should say next time. They have some kind of scoring system and he said I was really close but fell short on that. Bit upsetting. But I'm glad I tried because it was great experience and I am more confident every time I think.

@KitsyWitsy Nice that he gave you encouraging feedback - good to know you were so close. And next time could be the job that's truly meant for you.