starting tomorrow ...accelerated flying for month of August only ....

[Countingthegreyhairs]

Bit of a long-shot but does anyone want to join me for a mutual kick-up-the-bum motivational thread starting tomorrow 1st August?

[then we could join (or re-join for about third time in my case ) main Flying or slatterns thread thereafter ....]

My house is a tip and I want to get it straight again before schools starts on 1st September ...

added to that I have visitors coming to stay at the end of the month too ...

both of these factors are making me feel stressed and the whole house is getting on top of me. Need to declutter, organise, tidy and clean.

Heeellllp, pleaasssee, someone .....

1st today, so yesterday was a trial run, yes?
Or does it mean we can have today off? No, not a good start, I suppose.

Very timely that I posted here yesterday as last evening we had an end of year awards celebration at work. I work bloomin' hard and always give 100% to my job. Everyone gets an award, but I ended up getting the one for the most untidy person! All my hard work, and I am awarded that!!! Oh, I laughed and pretended I thought it was as hilarious as everyone else seemed to think it was, but inside I was screaming!!! DH thought it was hysterical. I cant let on to him how I really feel about it. AIBU??

Anyway into town to gets loads of new cleaning stuff today. Determined now to get the award for the most obsessively tidy person from work next year, so I will start at home, today!!!!- well I'm off to a friends wedding today, but determined to have a sparkling kitchen before I go.

Good luck to everyone.

Due to my ranting and feeling so wound up i forgot to thank you for the non-ironing thread tip. I can't believe this place!! EVERYTHING is on here. I am still looking for the thread where you can hijack a few little elves to come and tidy while I put my feet up with a chilled bottle of rose, though. Anyone found it?????

oh positiveattitudeonly . Well done for putting a brave face on - I can understand how it hurt. I work pt and am really organised there but struggle to keep on top of everything at home.

Weekends are busy here with dc activities. I have washed the bedding (no choice dh spilt tea over it this morning) and done another 2 loads which I have dried and put away.

Taking dd to a swimming party soon so will drop her off and go and do the food shopping.

Small target for today - file bank statements in order.

Hope everyone is ok.

Sorry not to post before now. I've been out for virtually the whole day with dd and not done my tasks . I've been avoiding them. No excuses. I'm not sure I should be running this thread ..... help ....

PositiveA - sorry - being a twonk I thought Friday was 31st so posted prematurely. Today is day 1 and if your sink is shiny you can enjoy the rest of the day!! I'm only piling more tasks on top (theoretically at the moment as it happens) every day because I am so behind ...

Enjoy the wedding and on your behalf about the work award ... surely it is the results that count?

Well done tbni. Sounds like you are having a v. productive day.

Hope everyone else is making better progress than me!!

Hello! Is anyone flying at the weekend?

Here's step 2 (Apologies ....as it involves getting up and dressed in lace-up shoes I am probably posting this a little late!!)

Will post the step for the next day the night before from now on:

flylady.net/pages/bbd2.asp

Actually, while I am at it, I will post tomorrow's baby step here too:

Monday 3rd August

step 3 flylady.net/pages/bbd3.asp

It's what we have already done (shined our sinks and got dressed to shoes etc) and the idea is that we keep doing it every day for rest of month

Good luck!

Sorry, am I being really dim here. What is it about the shoes and shoelaces? Am I missing something? I never wear shoes in the house, what is the idea behind it? Sorry, you are all probably laughing at me now, cos it is a really obvious joke, or something.

I have not told DH that I am doing this, and I was so impressed this morning when he complimented me on a clean, shiny sink! What a boost that gave me.

Now off to sort out washing and de-clutter the dining room dresser top. Oh and all the sheets and towels have just objected to being shoved in a cupboard and door closed for so long everthing (and I mean everything) has just fallen out. That was on the to-do list, but as we cannot get into the bathroom at the moment it needs to be done asap.

Keep smiling! I am very impressed with everyone doing so well. WELL DONE!!!!

hi positive attitude - well done on your sink and thanks for the encouragement -

I am ashamed to say I'm positively NOT doing very well at the moment

hence feeling a bit of a fraud printing out the baby-steps

but - hey - at least I know how difficult motivating oneself can be first hand!!!

the laced shoes thing is a bit contentious. You don't have to do it if you don't want to but I recommend trying it if (like me) you are easily side-tracked and in the habit, for example, of curling up on the sofa and reading the newspapers you are meant to be recycling ....

the official explanation behind it is:
flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Shoes.asp

just adapt it to suit yourself though PA - some people have special indoor shoes - with your 5 dcs I would be surprised if you had a moment to sit down anyway!!

positivea - I so need to sort the towels out, I did the bedding yesterday. I keep looking rather than doing! maybe that should be my task of the day.

Counting - I know what it's like struggling to get motivated; it's why I joined this thread.

Well a strange weekend. ds (ASD) dropped the laptop and dh who works in IT spent the weekend trying to sort it. DS has leaning difficulties (and a serious list of letters after his diagnosis) so we have accidental cover on the laptop as accidents do happen in our house. dh has given up and will call dell today - but we are going away in a couple of weeks and having the laptop with us makes for an easier holiday with ds so fingers crossed it doesnt take too long. Looking at website we will have to send it away!

Yesterday I have quite a productive day and left the kitchen and sitting room respectable before I went to bed. Only problem was it was 10pm before it was done and I will soon get fed up if I can't get more organised.

Deep cleaned cloakroom yesterday - no choice ds smeared a tube of toothpaste over door, sink etc LOL.

Well we were up early - as always. We have walked to the postbox and spent an hour at the park. The dc have had a cooked breakfast and I have got the playmobil out for them so time to tackle the towels dd has just requested water for playmobil eek! LOL

thanks for the encouragement tibni and congrats on your progress... sounds as if you ploughed through a lot yesterday ...

I'm not having a very successful time of it. DD was up in the night (excited about something) but then had collywobbles this morning (turns out it was just this and nothing more serious) but haven't got on as fast as I would like. Excuses, excuses!

Will try and be a bit more determined this afternoon. stepping away from the screen now !!

Well done tbni, sounds as if you are doing really well!

CTGH- I totally understand your struggling! That is me most of the time! Don't give up!

Following the award last week and the entire contents of my cupboard falling out yesterday I feel as if life is really giving me a kick up a very large backside! . I am embarrassed to say that every time I pass the cupboard now I open the door, just to look. (after dreading the times I needed to go into it for the last few years) I also lined all dcs up and got each one to open it and marvel at my tidiness, which they think is incredibly amusing and are betting on how long it will last!!

Realistically this week I am only going to set small goals. We should have been away on holiday, but DD3 has not been well for a year, so we are having to stay here. I feel a bit cheated though if I end up doing housework when I should be lounging on a beach with sun, sea, sand and large amounts of chilled wine and no cooking or cleaning for 10 days!

So goals for the next few days (more realistic timeplan than saying I will do it today, then feeling guilty!) are:-

-clothes washing, clothes washing, clothes washing and more clothes washing - empty wash bins by Saturday!
-Clear ironing pile
-Keep the kitchen tidy and uncluttered.

Back up list, just in case I get a rush of blood to the head:-
-hoover bedrooms
-hoover large lounge

I failed yesterday to declutter the dining room dresser, but that is going to be a big job, so that will be postponed until next week. Other big jobs to be considered sorted over the coming weeks - shoe cupboard (oh no huge huge huge mess!!!!! ) and large dresser in kitchen needs total decluttering and if I can bear it, the dresser cupboards need sorting!

Off out now for some family fun by the sea. Another load of washing in before I go!!
Have agood day, all you lovely ladies.

Hi all

I am a flyer already, but am temporarily in chaos and there is too much to read/ too much history on the other threads to join in now, so I thought I would join this one

I am 38 years old, a single mum who works full time (if you count being on MN as working ...) in the NHS and I have one DS who is 4 years and 6 months old.

I have an 5th September deadline to make my house PERFECT again as that is when au pair arrives, and I am such a perfectionist/ control freak /I give up, lets just say 'houseproud sort of person' that my house being in chaos whilst it is sorted is actually making me cry so I need some support!!!
Main reason for chaos is turning spare room/ study/ dumping ground into bedroom, and all the knock on effects of that, but also that I have let all my good habits slip since I have been feeling so tired and I am sure it is perpetuating!!

So today I will shine sink- I know it will only take 2 or 3 minutes as it is empty, although I will probably do a 20-30 minute bleach soak on it whilst I do some other stuff first, I always dress to shoes the moment I am out of bed so thats easy, but I never did suss out what spending 2 minutes reading your reminders meant so I cant do that!!

I also plan to spend 2 lots of 15 minutes working on my lounge which is full to rafters of toys ready to go in new storage system www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/S89857541 (but is not the pink boxes) as soon as assembly is finished and ex comes round to pick up his old office chair/ babysit DS and I co-opt him into helping me move it into cupboard which should be tomorrow.

I also want to clear out some more of DS' old clothes and get the ironed and folded (towels and stuff) baskets put away

So jobs

1. Shine sink
2. Put away clean washing
3. Put last load on and bring other stuff offline to go in iroing basket
4. 2 * 15 minute stints in lounge
5. 15 mins on pulling out clothes that no longer fit DS
6. Clear DS floor completely taking advantage other other trofast that I spent weekend buying and putting together and get things into trays.

Phew!!!

Hi, Dreamteamgirl. You sound super organised to me! Do you really put your shoes on straight away??? I can't get my head around that one!

tbni, hope you get your laptop sorted out in time.

ctgh - hope you have a better night and feel more refreshed in the morning.

Right, has anyone considered a naturist lifestyle?? Simple step to reduce clothes washing I am thinking! Not sure dcs will co-operate and I certainly have the body to put anyone off. Sorry, am I not taking this seriously enough????

One wash bin empty, another load just going in, then pick up and sort the washing that would not actually fit in the wash bin this morning, it was too full!
Bottle of wine is calling for the evening. No 10pm housework for me I am afraid. I am not that crazy enthusiastic!

Hi positiveattitudeonly
Yes I do put my shoes on straight away, well straight after shower anyway.
Tis pure laziness tho- only so as I dont have to go back upstairs again!! But I have to say being dressed within 15 minutes of being awake is a great incentive to get on with things- and it stops me crawling back into bed for 'just 5 more minutes' or crashing on the sofa in DS' cuddle blankie.

I cant function till I have had shower (although I can easily leave teeth unbrushed till lunch time!! ! ) and so I get up, make a cup of tea, shower and make bed whilst I stand in towel, then dress and drink tea before I head downstairs. It means I am only chasing DS around the house trying to get him dressed not both of us!

The only other thing I am really anal about is making my bed- I need it made so I can heap stuff all over it, and unpack washing and so on, plus I have a GORGEOUS throw and so it looks really per-ity made

1. Shine sink -NOT done boo
2. Put away clean washing part done
3. Put last load on and bring other stuff offline to go in ironing basket -My mum did, when she brought DS back! Hoorah!!
4. 2 15 minute stints in lounge -done* can see lounge floor again
5. 15 mins on pulling out clothes that no longer fit DS -did 5 mins only
6. Clear DS floor completely taking advantage other other trofast that I spent weekend buying and putting together and get things into trays. -OK so completely was pushing it a bit, especially as I was called home early cos he had had an fall and was screaming, and then he didnt go to bed very nicely ....

Considering I only had about 1.5 hours to myself tonight I am quite chuffed with what I achieved

CTGH sorry to hear about your DD last night- mine was like that last night too- stpuid mummmy letting him watching unsuitable films ... Hope you get more sleep tonight- I have been like a zombie all day

TBNI I got my laptop back from dell in under a week so dont lose hope.

Everyone else, hello!

Hello everyone. Yes, I should be in bed and getting the early night that I am insisting everyone else should have [gross hypocrite emoticon].

I'm afraid dd is on the rampage again - she keeps waking up very very hot but no actual temperature - thought I had worn her out with lots of walking today but obviously not - or she is going down with something.

(Have noticed it is a full moon too - hopefully this is not significant!!)

Positively - I like your style!! If we abolish clothes on the grounds of eliminating laundry, can we pls introduce a raw food regime eaten off paper plates too?

Sorry to hear about your dd and your holiday Hope she, and you, manage to get a break soon.

I will take a lesson from your eminently sensible plan and start setting more realistic goals too.

Welcome DreamTeam - wow - a Flylady professional in our midst!! Please can we ask you difficult Flylady questions?? I feel a bit of a fraud posting here (am flying so low currently my wings are scraping on the ground ) Congratulations on ploughing through your list today. [stands back and admires from afar emoticon] We have a similar deadline (start Sept) to get our houses in to shape so hopefully we can motivate one another (not that you seem to need it!!!)

Tommy, BumpyB, Mollie, BestLaid, Raggity and everyone else. How are you all getting on??

Here's step 4 for tomorrow now today (yawn) (Aug 4th):

flylady.net/pages/bbd4.asp

Hello to tibni too of course!!

Hello all,

I am rubbish! So much for good intentions, did very little over the weekend other than recycle the recycling I sorted out on Friday and spent yesterday pottering about a lot but not really achieving much.

Today I have -

• emptied and filled the dishwasher
• put on a load of washing (showing extreme optimism as it's currently v grey here)

Later I hope to -

*sort out the accumulated detritus in living room

• clear the dining room table of all the stuff I've taken out of the pantry

*put a second coat on the pantry walls.

• sort out fridge before Sainsburys get here at noon.

CTGH I always used to laugh at my mum when she swore blind that the full moon affected children's behaviour. I've taken it all back since I started teaching, full moons and high winds have a horrible effect on collective behaviour (not for a moment suggesting there's anything wrong with your DDs behaviour, just that it does seem to affect children)

TIBNI Hope the laptop is back soon, mine's never been away for more than 5 days when being fixed and although that's not Dell I think they do have fast turnaround times.

DTG "5 more minutes" is definitely my downfall in the summer holidays, going to try to stick to working hours today to see if that helps.

Hope everyone has a good day.

Same here Best Laid!! Nothing much achieved over weekend save for a lot of angst and guilt!!

Glad to hear you have "broken through" this morning ... me too (finally!!) You've done loads!! Well done ....!!!!

So far have tidied sitting room, filled dishwasher, cleaned downstairs cloakroom, given the kitchen a once over, sorted laundry and am now trying to decipher instructions for new washing machine.

PS oh don' worry re: she goes loopy in moonlight ... checking for hair growth between her toes

Keep trucking everyone!! (Or start trucking anyway!!)

PS

important announcement

My sink is shiny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Morning

It's the hard drive on the laptop that's dead! They are sending a new one to dh work today and then will call tomorrow and talk him through the install. Being an IT geek I will have to tie him down to stop him messing straight away!

CTGH - hope your dd is feeling better soon. Don't beat yourself up if you don't get as much done as you would like - it's shattering when they are sick.

PAO - I tidied the linen yesterday and then amde everyone admire how neat it looked!

BLP - I am not brave enough to paint with the Dc's about and i always find it takes a lot longer than I anticipate. I was hoping to get some painting done but dh has an extra couple of weeks extension on his contract which is great in this climate.

DTG - understand the 5 mins more, i'm also good on "just a minute more on pc"

Hope everyone has a good day. I have friends around again this afternoon and then dd is bringing 2 mates home after the castle playscheme for tea. So as well as the usual my aim for today is the dining room dresser -which is a total dumping ground!

Hia ll

BLP Very impressed at dishwasher & washing done by 7.45am!! I wasnt even up. And I hope it is the full moon sending my DS loopy!

CTGH Woohoooooooooooo to your shiny sink! Hoorah!!! And wowsers to all you got done that tis awesome. oh and yes, you can ask me hard questions- but I might not know the answers BTW My DS had 3 or 4 nights of night sweats with no temp last week so i wonder if there is something going round. In the end I gave calpol anyway and he settled

TIBNI LMAO @ '1 min more on pc' - so true for me too.
How did the dresser go? Dont forget to limit sorting to 15 mins at a time, more than that is soul destroying and counter productive!! I have to admit to being sad and love making linen closet look fab.

My tip is to fold/ iron the whole set and then put everything, duvet cover, pillow cases, bottom sheet inside one of the patterned pillow covers then turning the top over and stacking them like that- looks so much nicer and it is all in one place, so no pulling whole cupboard apart looking for 2nd pillowcase/ matching bottom sheet etc

Oooh does that make me too uptight for this thread? I do hope not cos I need the daily nudge to complete my to do lists

Todays

1. Sink which I didnt do yesterday
2. Dry last load- will have to be on airer in bath but never mind
3. Put away rest of washing and fold/ sort what my mum did for me
4. 15 mins on sorting out DS' clothes so that I can freecycle outgrown stuff and move the chest of drawers into au pair's room
5. Do some painting or something with DS that doesnt involve me getting uptight and/ or wandering off!! He doesnt get enough attention from me right now
6. Sort all the yummy stationery I bought at tesco's today into useable pile for unfiled banks atements etc
7. Empty dishwasher
8. DRINK SOME WINE

Havent done anything yet as still at work, but leaving in 30 mins.

Hi all.
Full moon theory is a well known fact. When I was a nurse we always hated working nights in casualty when it was a full moon, cos things went slightly crazy! (also psychiatric unit was totally mad then, but I didn't want to write that in case you thought I was being mean to you!)

Bestlaidplans - You are most certainly not rubbish! There is more to life than a tidy house! DCs happiness for one comes way ahead in my books! I think you are very brave for painting with DCs around. When we painted out kitchen and DD3 was about 4 years old, she put hands in the paint then did a frenzy around any wall she could find in the house trying to get the paint off her hands! Lovely mess everywhere! Hope your washing is dry.

My achievement for today is still to have a tidy kitchen and I sat and tackled my very overflowing sock basket. I paired 112 pairs of socks!!! Thats 224 socks!!!! We had got to the point of it being a lucky day if Dcs had a pair of socks on, rather than an odd red one with a green on the other foot! Feeling very smug for 5 minutes! Not a lot else done as holiday mode is on. I agree about paper plates CTGH. Although gravy is not too good. You have to eat real quick or it leaks through! A naturist eating a gravy meal off paper plates might be quite amusing!!! (quick make my mind go elsewhere please!)

HAving a shopping expedition tomorrow so a no housework day for me I am afraid! Keep up the good work. And SMILE Lifes too short to get worried about some dust that will return tomorrow!

Wow - everyone has got on really well!!

Hi Positive - your nickname definitely suits you!! Lovely images you conjour up there too !! Congrats on your sock-fest and enjoy the sales tomorrow ...

Dream time - I am going to adopt your tip for organising bed linen which is very timely as have just bought a linen cupboard ... and you are right about 15 minute chunks of sorting - it gets so dispiriting otherwise. Well done on accomplishing your list (will be joining you at no.8 shortly

tibni - hope you had a good time this afternoon and that computer probs are getting sorted. That's interesting about night sweat bug - dd isn't what I would describe as ill (so no excuses there tbh!!) - but she isn't quite herself either - so could be same thing. Hope you made a bit of progress on your dresser today.

Here's step 5 for tomorrow:

flylady.net/pages/bbd5.asp

Good luck!

That's what makes me so rubbish! No DCs yet, joined mumsnet when trying to conceive. It's only me, DH and the cat making all the mess! I had a miscarriage recently, shortly followed by OFSTED at work (while still trying to sort out the carnage left from having to take a week off) and housework has kind of gone by the by until we are living in the kind of pit that Kim and Aggie make cat's bum faces at. Laundry still in machine as it has chucked it down for most of today.

My living room is now, however, much more presentable and I spent a happy half hour today decanting lentils and flour into kilner jars (sad and pathetic emoticon)

PAO I loathe socks, I swear they hide when I'm not looking, so you are fully entitled to far more than 5 minutes smugness. Enjoy the shopping tomorrow.

Hope everyone's had a good day.

Hello everyone again

POA, crikey, blimey and wow. 224 socks and they all had pairs? Now THAT is impressive. Currently DS wont prefers not to wear matching socks so I dont have that problem, which is just as well as I always have spare random socks- found 4 odd ones down back of sofa recently which explained some of them but not all

Enjoy your shopping and yes, life is too short to let unimportant things get you down- whether it is dust or ironing piles!!

CTGH So chuffed you like the linen tip! Its brilliant to be able to help someone and it is a fabulous idea- adds about 1 minute to putting away but the results and benefits are so big.

BLP I am so sorry to read about your m/c I do hope you are doing ok.
The decanting into jars sounds awesome, I love 'nice' things like that

Just to update my nights progress for my own benefit

1. Sink which I didnt do yesterday DONE Hurrah
2. Dry last load- will have to be on airer in bath but never mind oops forgot this
3. Put away rest of washing and fold/ sort what my mum did for me DONE
4. 15 mins on sorting out DS' clothes so that I can freecycle outgrown stuff and move the chest of drawers into au pair's room Did 5 mins
5. Do some painting or something with DS that doesnt involve me getting uptight and/ or wandering off!! He doesnt get enough attention from me right now DONE we built aliens from k'nex and had a mad, bad crazy bath day, then he asked me what letters were in a load of words so that he could write them (proud icon)
6. Sort all the yummy stationery I bought at tesco's today into useable pile for unfiled banks atements etc errr no not done
7. Empty dishwasher done! -and reloaded
8. DRINK SOME WINE how could I forget this one!! Will take a teeny tenny glass to bed with me to have whilst I read few pages of my new book

Have a good day all, hope you are all starting to make some progree too