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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Thursday Fly - Come and join in with the ladies on the babysteps

43 replies

TheMadHouse · 20/11/2008 09:20

Morning all

Sorry I am running late today, what can go wrong has gone wrong

do one of Kellys missions This will hedp introduce you to the zones

read why calenders are imporatant in Fly

So today we should be

Morning Routine

  • Get up and get dressed doing your hair and face
  • Looking at your posted reminders in the kitchen and bathroom
  • Reading 2 minutes of reminders
  • Recognizing the negative voices and changing them
  • Put out your Hot Spots for 2 minutes
  • 5 Minute Room Rescue (pick any room in the house) set your timer and go!
  • Mission

Before Bed Routine

  • Keep your sink shining
  • Lay out your clothes for tomorrow
  • Put out your Hot Spot
OP posts:
RubyRioja · 20/11/2008 09:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bella29 · 20/11/2008 09:23

Thank you for that, TMH - you are a star!

Determined to have a better day today, sick animals and children permitting...

Up
dressed
fed
shone sink
dc to school (healthy ones!)
some washing away

To do
mission
washing
change beds
whats for tea?
hoover (time permitting)

Have a great day, everybody

intravenouscoffee · 20/11/2008 09:24

Ah, there are 2 threads. Am confused! Are we all staying on here cos it has the links?

Sorry. Morning all!!

bella29 · 20/11/2008 09:26

So pleased with myself - I have already done the mission (or at least the bathroom part) as I am a tad obsessive about getting new toothpaste etc., as soon as we start to get low.

Will do the other part though

TheMadHouse · 20/11/2008 09:27

OK - my thoughts on today babysteps.

I find the missions great, they tend to be things that get missed and they really do stop the need to spring cleans, as you really keep up with things

Calender - I use an organised mum one with stickers (yes I have become a stationery freak too) and even DH uses it, to mark if he is late home, has an early meeting or whatever.

Inspiration - I have to say that I find inspiration in lots of small things. I find that keeping on top of the housework helps keep my brain feeling better. It is almost asthough a messy house = messy brain for me and I just dont know where to start when that happens.

clemette dont worry, just do the pots and put the washer on and jump right in.

Thursdays mean shopping for me. I take my mum too and the two boys - makes for an eventful and slow shop. Even worse this week as I am visiting tescos rather than online (due to £5 voucher in the sundays)and my mum hasnt even got up yet. I was hoping to manage to get to M&S, but that looks doubtful as I need to get DS1 fed and to Preschool for 12.30

So

Shopping - Aldi, tesco
Drop mum off
Back for lunch
DS1 to Preschool
DS2 nap
Mission
Room resue x2
Ironing and put away
Wrap DH's birthday pressies
Make DH's cards
Pick DS1 from preschool
Play with the boys
Do cards with the boys
Whats for dinner
Evening routine

OP posts:
TheMadHouse · 20/11/2008 09:47

Ruby Thank you for the link regarding the Leapster. DH has been looking into getting a DSlite for DS1, but new ones are due out next year, so we were going to leave it till his birthday in March. So I took it on myself to order the leapster instead. I got it from the Littlewoods site £13.95 delivered and then went on the Marshallward site and got three games for £33.95 so spent £50 and got loadds. I think it will go away till his birthday though.

OP posts:
WhereTheWildThingsWere · 20/11/2008 09:51

Morning all, thanks for the thread TMH, if anyone has a mo please could they do a link to todays mission, as I don't know how to find it.

Morning routine almose done.

To do
Room rescue
Put out rest of laundery
Put nappies away
Hoover upstairs
Wash bathroom floor
Mirrors and switches
Walk dog
Mission (if I find out what it is)
Dinner

Better get cracking.

TheMadHouse · 20/11/2008 09:54

missions Sorry

Off out now back later

OP posts:
intravenouscoffee · 20/11/2008 10:19

Have just remembered that we're away visiting my family this weekend so don't need as much shopping as I thought - hurray!

Good luck at Tesco's Mad. I count shopping a success if I leave the supermarket without actually yelling at anyone

Right, will post a to do list for today just to keep on track.

To Do

Shopping

Zone cleaning:
Wipe base of toilet
Wipe sink pedastal
Descale shower head
Clean bath
Dust ceiling and radiator
Wash floor

Assemble lasagne and put in fridge
Renew library books online
Washing to dry and put away

That should keep me going. Back later.

LavenderTea · 20/11/2008 10:22

Morning all,

Sneaking on here while mum is doing her morning sudoku and cup of tea.
Thank Goodness only 2 days left till she goes to my sisters. Don't get me wrong she is lovely, but she has been here for a week now, and it is taking it's toll on my whole organisation and life if I am honest. sorry mum.

Thanks TMH for the thread and links.

I put an order in yesterday to organised mum for a magnetic organiser and the notebook. Looks fab.Can't wait for them to arrive. Spaces for meal planning and for what to do every day. I think they are really gonna help get my house and life in order.

Okay today so far.

Up and dressed
Bed made
Washing on
tumble dried
Folded
Next load about to go on
Fed and washed up.
Sink shining
ds at nursery
dd napping

To Do
Mission
Room rescue ; my bedroom and lounge
Brush and mop kitchen floor again and 5 minute hotspot on top of tumble dryer and kitchen table!!!
Take out recycling.
Finish and Put laundry away or iron
Prepare dd lunch and bottle and bag to take for and after swimming
Take dd to aqua babes
Have lunch at leisure centre.
Home and sort out dinners
Pick ds up from nursery
Play or do something with ds for an hour
l/o's dinner
Bathtime
Bedtime for lo's
Put adults dinner on
Eat
Dh will do washing up
Put more laundry on and check all is well in kithen after dh washed up... .

Flop with big glass of red wine and knitting.

Do before bedtime routine.
And early to bed so Dh says.....

Dh feeling a bit of extra va va voom in the last few days ... Think he is getting keen to try for next little one to come along. Difficult with mum here but managable if last night was anything to go by

happy Flying girls

LT xx

swanriver · 20/11/2008 10:34

Have done.
rest of dd2 homework
Children school bar sick one.
Dead mouse cleared from kitchen.
Dishwasher unloaded
Kitchen tidied in 10 mins hurrah
Little walk with ds2
Bought coffee
Newspapers

TO DO
Mission comb ds2's hair as he watches telly now.
Mission. What's for supper? Tuna/tom/chilli/veg pasta with grated cheese.
Semolina and blackcurrant jam.
Mission. Tidy and clear my bedroom.
Mission. Write thank you letter and post with ds2 another little walk.

INSPIRATION.
Pick some flowering winter jasmine outside window and put in jam jar on kitchen table.
Do some painting with ds2
Read first chapter of book club book for 2nd Dec. (White Tiger)

P.S. CLEMETTE. you are amazing to do any housework whilst your baby is having growth spurt. You are working hard enough as it is, so stay on the sofa.

wendylanguage · 20/11/2008 11:01

What is all this about growth spurts being hard work? have i missed something here?

Morning all. Thanks for the thread Mad and Ruby. I have a migraine this morning and am fighting it off with migraine pills and water and cups of tea! So haven't managed to do much. Have washed up and shined sink, and done Where's the washing?, then sorted a few bits in the garage out (15 min declutter! need 15 solid days in there), filled up the washing powder from the big one in the garage, likewise cat biscuits and potatoes. Brought a table in I want in the bedroom to put clothes on I have got out the night before! So I have been FLYing after all!

The migraine is from thinking too hard. Here's the source of my anxiety if anyone wants to offer advice.

I am a teacher but haven't worked since August 2007 - I handed my notice in as we relocated from Durham to Yorkshire in December 2007. I worked 2.5 days per week (but as a teacher, that means about 3 - 4 hours per night 3 nights planning and marking, too). I LOVED my job - great school, great kids, great job satisfaction, I was great at it too . I was very sad to leave.

There's the background. When I was a SAHM at first I hated it. Couldn't get my head around not working, low self esteem. Unfortunately I am a perfectionist and as we all know you can't be a perfect mother! So I was on the look out for a part time job (i'm secondary English teacher). Would you believe only 1 has come up between January and September within 15 miles of us ... and it wasn't what I wanted.

But, lately I have got used to being a SAHM and started to see it like I actually chose to do it (which I didn't, really, it was circumstance). Then last week FIL hands me local rag with part time job only 6 miles away, temporary for 2 terms. So now I'm all in a lather about it! I phoned the school, thought it was bound to be unsuitable (e.g. 2 days but spread over 5 days, or no A level, or something) but no, it isn't! the Assistant head phoned me back and I was on the phone for half an hour chatting about the school, what we believed about teaching, and I came off the phone surprisingly buzzing. I know I'd enjoy the teaching once I was into it. My mum has offered to look after DS and DD for 2 days.

BUT the question really is: Do I want to be a SAHM or do I want to work? How can I tell? Do you have any insights? Who here works and enjoys it, and who doesn't? I know it's a personal decision and different for everyone, but it would help to hear everyone's stories.

The other complicating factor is that we want to try for Baby #3 in the New Year. Obviously, working doesn't stop me getting pregnant, I know!

BTW. I know that I am very lucky not to have to work at all, and that some people finanacially need to work.

wendylanguage · 20/11/2008 11:16

Ruby thanks for Leapster info - have ordered one!

RubyRioja · 20/11/2008 11:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bella29 · 20/11/2008 11:18

I am sort of a SAHM - I work from home, for our own business. Having had high pressure jobs in the past, I do consider myself really lucky not to have to get back into all that, plus the travel, childcare, etc. Saying that, I do miss adult company sometimes (probably why I spend way too much time on MN!).

I guess it comes down to you, and the sort of person you are. I miss aspects of my previous career but that's far outweighed by the benefits (for me) of being at home.

HTH

swanriver · 20/11/2008 11:44

If you have got your mum to cover that sounds ideal. Incredibly relieved to have some time to myself after children first started school, catch up on all lost projects make house habitable etc, but within two months launched into voluntary work (I'm not trained as teacher) at school helping set up library, computers, deal with kids etc. Sometimes its seemed too much, but focused my intellect and all things I was good at. Children do keep getting sick though (3 rotating in and out of sickroom) so I'm relieved to be just volunteer, as my mum is not local at all. Its been fantastic having a vaguely professional side to my life, and makes me really value things I enjoy doing at home too.

grouchyoscar · 20/11/2008 11:54

Bye Eck, tis a tad busy here today

Thanks for the thread TMH

Noticed there is a mass of new FLYers here Hello to all you newbies there are some great names and some interesting posts.

Don't worry about 'falling off the FLY wagon' as I have 2 theories

  1. It's dead easy to get back on
  2. I think Kelly is from Stepford.

I have DONE

Up
Down with something (may have been Ed )
Starrt porridge
Empty DW
Put away
Have breakfast
Tidy away
Up and wash
S&S sink
S&S loo
Dress
Take down dampish washing to dry
Take down laundry to wash
Load WM and run
Load TD and run
Encourage Ed to get dressed with promise of another sticker
Clean sink
Demand Ed gets dressed
Have arguement about TV on or off
Get Ed dressed
Bags and coats
Get him to school
Home Clean up catty accident in kitchen (thank heaven I have a stone floor)
Mop floor
Mop front room
Put away car track
Tidy front room
Vac front room rug
Vac Staircase
Put away

Doing well, then I spend 3/4 hr putting up a wooden train track (FLY out of the window) and another surfing hey ho, it's keeping my snout out of the fridge

TO DO

Lunch
Make sandwiches for tomorrow
Collect ED
Do Ed things
Make shopping list for this evening
Go swimming
Go shopping
Bedtime routine

May drop the swimming tonight, AF has arrived and Ed has a very snotty nose, don't think him being out with a wet mop will help him.

Greyskull Ay up you, where in Yorks are you from? I've never lived anywhere other than West Yorks tho DH toyed with the idea of relocating to Chicago (couldn't afford my health insurance TBH) I Know I'd miss it too much.

Better frame myself. I'm sure there are plenty of hotspots to jump on

grouchyoscar · 20/11/2008 12:43

EEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK

Just realised (while 1/2 way through making a batch of Crazy choc cho chip cookies) That I'm due to do reading friends at school

AGGGHHHHH!!!!! PANIC must get there at 1 (ish)

BBL

scattyspice · 20/11/2008 12:47

Hi all.

wendy I work part time (4hrs/day mon-fri, term time only) as a physio on a stroke unit. I also love my job. I hated working when DCs were small as hated the guilt at taking them to nursery (staff nursery at the hospital)and hated not having more time with them. The trouble with physio at the moment is that jobs are thin on the ground, if I'd given up my job I would not have been able to get a new part time job and we couldn't manage long term without my income. I would have enjoyed being a SAHM when they were small as have lots of friends that are doing it (so not too isolated) but I probably would not enjoy it once DCs at school. So really I have the best of both worlds. I do enjoy work, but sometimes feel a bit overloaded I would probably struggle if dh worked longer hrs or away from home.

To do:
DS homework
Hoover and dust
nip to chemist and DVD shop (Kung Fu Panda's out!)

I need to get sorted for Xmas! I realised last night that I have 24 presents left to buy and something planned for every weekend til then!

Bewilderbeast · 20/11/2008 13:08

afternoon all

so far today I have:

resisted the very strong urge to strangle dp
dressed ds
made bed
put all the rubbish that dp left all over the kitchen into a rubbish bag
took ds to nursery
I am currently writing my shopping list in my lunch break

intravenouscoffee · 20/11/2008 13:33

Hi all. Hav edone some flying so will update list.

Wendy If it's a temporary contract for a couple of terms that could surely work out quite well. It's a chance to dip your toe back in, see if you like it and if it works for the whole family whilst not commiting you to a long term thing or having to tell them after a couple of months that you're pregnant and will be off on mat leave. Also gets your name known in the LEA which would be useful if you've not worked there before. You have to do what is right for you but I wouldn't feel that you're 'turning your back' on being a SAHM just because a great opportunity has come up.

To Do

Shopping

Zone cleaning:
Wipe base of toilet done
Wipe sink pedastal done
Descale shower head
Clean bath done
Dust ceiling and radiator
Wash floor

Assemble lasagne and put in fridge
Renew library books online
Washing to dry and put away drying now

Off to do some shopping I think...

grouchyoscar · 20/11/2008 14:46

Wendy I'm a SAHM, circumstantial really as it would cost me as much to pay for childcare as I'd get for working. I've done a lot of vol work in schools and I'm searching for ETA work when the posts appear. Thing is, do I want the pressure of work along with motherhood/housewife/PA/finance manager/caretaker etc etc. We've managed for 5 years with 1 wage (when it arrives ) so do I need to flog myself further.

Sorry, stream of conciousness there

Kirklees is re-jiging secondary education in the north. Maybe there will be some job opps near me cropping up in the near future.

Speaking of my vol work, I got to the school and I should have been there ^yesterday set off home feeling really bad, stupid, useless prepared to hide in a corner under a tarpaulin when my phone rings and can I collect Ed who is hot sweaty, cold clammy! About turn, back to school and Ed is a white shade of grey. So I'm a mum now rather than a tarpaulin. Boiled eggs and soilders requested for tea. Swimming and shopping are off now.

Cookies are great BTW

A copy of wind in the willows has appeared at our house and Ed is rather taken with it...result!

wendylanguage · 20/11/2008 15:41

Thanks for all the thoughts, everyone, it is VERY much appreciated. I think there are too many issues to think of and my brain has overloaded (hence migraine). I am a bit spaced out on codeine and whatever else is in the migraine pills atm so may not make sense!

Doesn't time with your lo's go so quickly. DS has 2 terms left at home and I'm thinking of going back to work in those two terms - think that is playing on my mind more than anything.

BUT like coffee says, it's only temporary. Hopefully we will manage to buy a house in the New Year (fed up of waiting for housing market to settle down one way or the other - sick of everyone saying wait, it will go down more, just want life to go on in our own house instead of the mouldy cold rented one). If we do, it would be great to use my new wage on the improvements needed in the house rather than take it out of savings or whatever and be able to spend some money on a home (bliss! I so miss my own home, and being able to style it!). Actually, I think this is part of the problem: I have nothing to think about other than the kids as I have no home to sort out. We have owned our own home for ten years and i've been so unhappy renting.

grouchy perhaps that's why you had such battles with Ed this morning if he wasn't feeling well (I hate it when I've shouted at DS for something and it turns out he's ill!)

Ruby I have considered tutoring but I've done a bit before and never been too keen on the one on one thing so much, don't know why.

Anyway, need to shop for DD's party on Saturday when she will be 2! She has taken to hitting and pushing little ones lately - like 1 year olds - has anyone else experienced this?

grouchyoscar · 20/11/2008 15:57

*Wendy This morning he was just pushing it as his dad left early so it was big fun really. I think they were worried about the spots that cropped up this aft

AnneOfAvonlea · 20/11/2008 16:01

DD2 has poorly tum. No hosuework here.