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.

Hi, im having a party soon (at home) and i need to do something to make my home more presentable!!!
i do have a weekly cleaner, but she is elderly and i dont want to ask too much of her.
Looking for inspo to declutter, deep clean and make things nicer!
Ive bought a new fridge (such an upgrade!), a new double oven glove (old one was in a real state), some cleaning products. Ready to tackle daily tasks until my party!!

@tostaky is your party deadline in days or weeks? Flylady says you can’t clean clutter, so if you are wanting to get as much of a difference as possible quickly, I reckon you’re best off making sure you do as many declutter sessions as you can.

Flylady methods to have up your sleeve:
🍁2 minute hotspot clear - so even when you think you haven’t got any time, you can surprise yourself by how much you can get sorted in 2 minutes. Several of these a day will mean you make progress
🍁5 minute room rescue. Pick a room. Take a bag for rubbish, a container for recycling, a box for things that belong elsewhere and another box for charity (or sell if that’s your aim). Set a timer for five minutes and swoop round putting as much as you can into the right sections.
🍁27 fling boogie: either in one room or flying round the house, put on some tunes and zoom round finding 27 items to throw/recycle

As you clear the house it will become easier for your cleaner to keep the surfaces clean, and if you then do some of the deep clean stuff yourself, again she should find it easier to keep on top of those areas as you move on to another area.

@KitsyWitsy it really feels like they want you to succeed, job-wise. They clearly see you are capable, just need to get through the interview hurdles.

@PamelaColmansMustard I use this :https://www.lakeland.co.uk/products/stones-beeswax-wooden-furniture-polish-cream-227ml
I have fond memories of a different one they used to do which smelt even more like traditional polish, but I haven’t been able to find it for years. This one is expensive (I’m wondering if it’s been a victim of price hikes as I haven’t bought a new bottle for ages) but a little goes a long way.

Thank you @mixedpeel - I'll have a look. Something that would be a quick fix in between major polishing jobs would be a huge blessing!

Place marking.

@mixedpeel thanks for your advice. The house is not too cluttered and as i said i do have a cleaner but i never deep clean …. If feel like when i deep clean, things look better even though it is hard to say why.
so thats what i want to do: deep clean, bit by bits until my party in 3 weeks time

Ahh, you’re already very well-placed in that case! Once you make a start on the deep cleaning, I reckon you’ll get kind of ‘hooked’ and with three weeks to go you have an achievable deadline for the main areas you want to focus on to be looking pretty darn good,

I did exactly this today and it was a massive help to start clearing the dining area of mainly DD stuff. I had to start somewhere. Some I binned which maybe I shouldn’t have but thought DD probably won’t notice, some I put into shoe boxes or bin bags that I’ll put up in the loft. Some I’ll put into suitcases. I found a dead mouse. Grim. Hopefully the last. But it feels more organised to now move upstairs.

DS has finally moved a lot of his stuff.

I’ve always planned on having a green living room but just never got round to it. I’m thinking F&B Mizzle but don’t want it looking grey. I’m not brave enough to go dark like Oval blue. I quite like Elephants breath but not sure I want beige. Quite like my parents Dulux Timeless but might be too light and white. I want warm not too dark or too white.

DW
LOL
S&S
More sourdough but giving that rest for a bit. So time consuming. But delicious.

Peony re wall colour, what colour furniture do you have? Pictures/ frames/ mirrors? I know you said it's south facing, but it is actually a bright room? Plenty of windows? I searched the colours you have mentioned and I love the look of Mizzle. I do think it would depend on how much light comes into the room, what colour furniture and furnishings you have/ curtains and flooring. Could you get a sample pot and paint a large square on each wall to see how the light changes it?
I love painting and choosing paint colours, so I can get carried away, I'm sorry!

Welcome @tostaky 👋 it sounds like you're fairly on top of things already and just need to do a spring clean (which is always good to do as the seasons change). I would start in the main areas of the house where your party guests will be: living room/ dining room/ kitchen/ bathroom. You may want to wipe down walls, skirting boards and windows, that might make a big enough difference.
Sometimes rearranging furniture, or even just moving around decorative items, can make a big difference to a room.
I must ask though (because I'm the planner in my family), what kind of party is it? Kids party? Adults only? Dinner party? Are there going to be a lot of people in your house? Will you have games? I throw parties for birthdays, Halloween, Christmas, new years eve and they're all different, so plan accordingly.

*Kitsy, sorry to hear you didn't get the job, you do sound a lot more confident after having both interviews (that's how it comes across), the right opportunity hasn't quite shown up yet, but it will at the right time. Practise at interviewing is good and you have taken on board what they have said, and that's definitely a positive!

mixedpeel well done on getting the job clean and hopefully it will also be more stable soon.

ED for me, doing my morning skincare routine and putting a little bit of makeup on is my version of dressed to shoes. Also getting dressed helps! At that point I'm ready to go out, after taming my hair.

I have no ta das for today, I worked all day, then we went to the school for a football game (American football) and we watched DS perform in the marching band. They played half of the show, which sounded so good!
We are always stuck in the student section (which is awful), so next week I'm planning on leaving work early so we can get better seats! They are performing the full show next week.

Tonight we were warned by a couple girls that someone had brought a bucket of flour to throw over people (students), but we left after the half time show and they hadn't done it yet. I'm just hoping they don't get any on the band or their instruments or uniforms.

Tomorrow is the homecoming dance and DS is going with his date. I'm going to have to make a bouquet and boutonniere for it tomorrow. Thankfully DS has a suit for concerts so that's one less expense. But more work for me!

@HauntingHazel What exactly is a home coming dance? I’m glad you swerved the flour but still got to see DS play in the band. I did actually paint a few squares of different green on the back wall ages ago but they all looked too grey or dark apart from one which I like which is a touch darker than mizzle and I prefer mizzle precisely because as you say it’ll go best with my furniture and will change colour according to the sun and lack of.

I just opened the front window and ended up cleaning it because the handle looked grubby and it was a bit dirty in the indentations.

unloaded DW
put some whites in so LOL

Morning everyone 🌄
I cleaned my upstairs bathroom yesterday, half registered that there was less stuff to move to clean the surfaces. Turned out DP had been sleep walking again (hasn't done it for years) and had taken it downstairs and put it on the kitchen top.
@HauntingHazel also glad you missed the flour!

@CherryogDog that’s very random of DP. I suppose he must be stressed about something. I had a dream a couple of nights ago that DS had mopped the kitchen floor leaving it soaking wet and I had to get on my hands and knees to dry it. I was really annoyed in my dream but very relieved when I woke up.

I think I need to buy one of those low long cabinet things to use as storage in my dining area. I forget what they’re called. My memory is shocking these days and I’ve been exhausted the last few days but feel normal today so will get as much done as possible.

@PeonyBulb a sideboard?

@CherryogDog Ha yes a sideboard 🤦‍♀️

@PeonyBulb I used Dulux Putting Green, in the living room and bathroom. Needs doing again, not least because our late cat used wallpaper as a scratching post. Current cat prefers throwing up.

I watched one of those "turn your room into a whimsygoth dark academia dungeon" videos, full of Victorian style knick knacks and fancy picture frames and thought "Oooh, lovely.... but absolute pig to clean !!"

Bathroom S&S plus mopped floor. Not enough for a LOL so haven't bothered.

@PamelaColmansMustard yes I do like that putting green shade but I think it might be too dark. But of course it’ll end up being painted too light once it’s on and I’ll wish it was darker after all

If I repaint the living room I'd definitely go for a darker shade. Doubt it'll happen unless I just paint around the bookcases lol!

@PamelaColmansMustard 😂 at AI of putting green living room

Is yours this dark in Putting Green

@PeonyBulb Giggling my head off at the AI putting green....brilliant! No, it's nowhere near that dark; let me see if I can find a pic of the room. It's been knocked through so the sun shines in on both sides; previously what used to be the back room was dark and dingy.

Hi everyone,
ive done a LOL and ive deep cleaned the top of a cupboard in the kitchen (including TLC for the 3 plants that lived up there. It’s looking more tidy!

@PeonyBulb bit of a crap photo, going up the stairs (it's putting green in the hall too, saved having to decide on colours) - it looks grey here but it's actually a nice warm leafy green. Mid, neither light nor dark.

@PamelaColmansMustard that looks lovely. I really love that shade.

@PeonyBulb this shows it a lot better but it still looks quite cold on photos, much deeper and warmer in real life.