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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Fledgling flyers October 2009

516 replies

Countingthegreyhairs · 30/09/2009 18:40

Everyone welcome!

Here you can, for one month:

  • repeat or start baby steps
  • repeat baby steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone
  • reinforce babysteps and do daily missions if you have finished decluttering

As we are coverning more ground, to avoid confusion, I'll be posting links early in the morning on the relevant day.

Good luck!

OP posts:
stepaway · 02/10/2009 10:36

Morning
So far I have

  • done 2 loads laundry and hung it up
  • folded and put away 1 load laundry
  • mopped kitchen floor
- breakfast for everyone & left kitchen tidy
  • made bed

at work now.

have a good Friday everyone

annmar · 02/10/2009 10:41

I've managed to sweep the kitchen floor and shine my sink this morning.

Won't be dressing to my shoes as I hate wearing shoes inside. Will try and make sure I've brushed my hair and put some lip gloss on instead.

I will attempt to tidy and sweep the hall today. Will ignore dining room, hall is more important at the moment.

Will report back when I've achieved something.

hellsbelles · 02/10/2009 10:50

DH actually noticed a difference already! And he is usually totally unobservant about these kind of things.

so...

washing done
kitchen shined
looking marginally less comfort dressed than normal (i.e. spots covered up and matching underwear).

And I was totally anal last night and actually set out the breakfast things and packed as much as I could of DS's lunchbox so this morning it was bliss....coming down to everything set up - so much smoother (I know this isn't a baby step but I've come over all inspired

Also got window cleaner coming today - is that cheating? In my defence we have 4 storeys to the house so it may be a life or death mission if I tackled it myselfl

Romanarama · 02/10/2009 11:07

Positively - yes a SHE is on the website, but I can't find the explanation. It is an acronym for something to do with housework-challenged people I think.

BTW (this am I have cleaned nothing, but bought a Golden Retriever, just to create myself some more dirt!)

annmar · 02/10/2009 11:59

Living room floor now clear and swept. No point cleaning it, DD2 is painting.

Something to eat, then re-shine the sink and tackle the hall.

DH will hopefully be impressed when he gets back from work.

droitwichmum · 02/10/2009 12:48

I was so proud of my sink when I went downstairs this morning. DH thinks I've been possessed!
Got dressed to shoes before my breakfast which actually did help me with my VERY tight schedule in the morning for getting out on time (by 7.30). I was helped by DS (5yo) waking me up at 5.30 though .
So far today:
all dirty dishes in dishwasher and sink clear
washing in one place ready for ironing (probably tomorrow)

To do when I get home tonight:
15 mins declutter in dining room - I WILL find the dining table tonight and probably the dresser as well
quick (5 min) vac of hall (vvv small) and dining room
shine my sink

optimisticmumma · 02/10/2009 13:12

Right lunchtime so:

Today I'm going to:
sort out coats in hall
take coats to drycleaners
hoover decobweb porch done
recycle
wash rugby kit done
strip and wash DD and DS2 beddingdone
make muffins
PAPERWORK.

See you all later...

dreamteamgirl · 02/10/2009 13:28

A SHE is a Side-Tracked Home Executive

Like most Fly accronyms it makes you want to barf, but I think it is aimed at validating being a housewive as a career choice

The only one I really like is C.H.A.O.S- the Cant Have Anyone Over Syndrome, which for me describes my old life perfectly.

OM
DO YOUR PAPERWORK
Is that sufficent reminder? I also get excited about buying cleaning stuff. Very sad isnt it? And I bored my neighbour on the virtues on microfibre cloths.
But then to be fair she came and 'borrowed' (who Borrows a cloth?!) from me 2 days later and has repeatedly told me she agreees it is much better (but not returned it. Not that I want it back... Bla bla blah I am rambling) and bought some of her own

Great work by everyone today. Communal back slaps and all that.

WalktheD I cant believe how excited I am about your DH coming home. Please try and sneak away from him for 5 mins to tell us what he said yeah?

If I have missed any specific q's then ask again please!- Too many posts!

MiniMarmite · 02/10/2009 13:29

LOL Optimistic, I hate paperwork too - which is why it has just taken 5 days for us to declutter our study area! Now we've nearly finished I can see how it will be much easier when paper needs filing to do it as I go along (and then when I need to find something too).

Hellsbelles - your description of your state of dress sounded like you were wearing (matching) bra and knickers and some concealer but nothing else , sorry I know that's not what you meant though!

Well miniminimarmite managed to get rice all over the place at lunch time so I've finally cleaned that up. All sinks are sparkly, washing done and out (well most of it, a few bits to hang up on hangers upstairs when DS wakes) so off to find some door handles to polish...

alexdrake · 02/10/2009 13:49

Hmm, so sink is shined, have had shoes on (some of the time). Washing out, food shopping done, ds1 napping and I'm drinking tea, eating biscuits and on mn...will it be like this every day?

annmar · 02/10/2009 13:56

I have now swept the hall and washed the dishes from lunch.

I may declutter the toy box in the hall.

Can't believe how much I've done today and its only 2 o'clock.

Bigboots · 02/10/2009 14:16

On a bit of a go slow today and spending way too much time looking at what other people are doing . Off for a 50 min whip round before picking up Dc's from school. (Jilly, Jammy and Jelly (chickens) flap a wing at CTGH!) (smile)

Bigboots · 02/10/2009 14:17

Oops - wrong brackets!

paranoiabigdestroyer · 02/10/2009 14:21

Alexdrake I was wondering the same. Getting dressed seems to be a very small baby step!

Not shining my sink until I go to bed.

Do we get the weekend off or do we need to check in tomorrow as well?

Optimisticmama do your paperwork!!!!

I've been to the recycling today. When the estate agent came round yesterday I hid the mountain of empty wine bottles in a dark corner in the back garden

Got a bit of time to kill as the baby is asleep so off to phone the vets so bunnies can get their jabs and then I might have a quick peep in the understairs cupboard. Wish me luck!

dreamteamgirl · 02/10/2009 14:40

Nope you dont get the weekend off from babysteps, although there is no zone cleaning or daily missions. Each step is pretty small tho

hellsbelles · 02/10/2009 14:47

Minimarmite DH would love that! Alas matching underwear is covered up!

paranoiabigdestroyer · 02/10/2009 15:03

dreamteamgirl thank you for that speedy reply - just what I wanted to hear

Bunnies booked in. Understairs cupboard doors are very firmly shut. If they had eyes they would be looking very menacing right now. If they could speak it would be something along the lines of "I'll scream if you even try and come near me!"

positiveattitudeonly · 02/10/2009 15:35

Hi all, just back from work, and procastinating before doing any work here!
DTG - I love those microfibre clothes. Brill arent they! Thanks for the SHE thingy. Yes, CHAOS is a good one and far less "twee" than most of the fat fairy's other ones.

Paperwork - OM
remind me never to tell you lot to give me a kick up the bum about something, unless I really mean it! Nag, nag, nag....

WTD - Have a fantastic weekend with DH. Is he home for a long time, or does he regularly work away? Years ago my DH worked away and I regularly, secretly got a cleaner in the day before he came home. Although I always ended up cleaning before the cleaner came, just so that she didn't think I was as bad as I actually was!

Can I be bothered to get the hoover out? Or is my book calling me? Mmmmmm

elliepac · 02/10/2009 16:14

I, like PA am just back from work, and instead of just getting on with it i decided to come here and read about others getting on with it (OM-PaperworkPaperworkPaperwork , bet you wished you'd never asked us )

WTD I hope you have a fab reunion with DH although am far more interested in his reaction to your house - have a lovely family weekend.

Well done to everyone on another great day. Will report in later in to tell you what i haven't done

annmar · 02/10/2009 16:55

Right, I can now get the lid on the toy box.
Didn't find anything nasty in the box, but did find DD2's coat and a few odd socks. Hopefully now the lid fits, less stray objects will get in.

Glad to hear everyone else has been getting on with things.

I need to shine my sink again, but think I'll wait until later.

optimisticmumma · 02/10/2009 17:51

I have done my paperwork ish...Gawd now I know what my kids feel like when I nag them!

Bigboots - am loving the chickens' names

Have done everything on my list apart from bake muffins ( a step to far I'm thinking) and coats to drycleaners(will do tomorrow)

Have to confess we've just had a dominoes pizza . Am exhausted from flying plus piggy flu recovery.

PAO will you please desist from ( hate that evil-looking emoticon)

optimisticmumma · 02/10/2009 17:53

Am rubbish at doing bold sentences...oh well...

too

havingagiraffe · 02/10/2009 18:50

A Home Executive Oh god that's awful. (that's a barfing emoticon not a jealous one)

Still not really back on track and so much for zone cleaning but as the resident experts would tell me I'm not behind and will just start with the next one.

I am also hankering after cleaning equipment, I guess shopping is shopping. I need a long handled thing to get cobwebs. Can't seem to find one even at the traditional hardware shop.

Well done on your paperwork OM as I haven't been around all day I haven't nagged you and am the 'good cop' around here . Well done to Marmite too - paperwork or 'piles of rubbish' as I call them are my weakness and make up about 3 hotspots.

WTD If your DH does not mention in the first hour how gorgeous the house is looking please belt him on my behalf. Have a lovely weekend. 3 weeks on your own - you trooper. I moaned about 1 day this week

lol at being evil looking I will from now on.

As you can see I've prattled on about anything other than what I have done 'flying' wise today .... mmmmm wonder why? . Didn't even lay clothes out last night for the first time in about 2 weeks - promise to do it tonight.

Oh BTW - gave DS sticks of cucumber and tomato yesterday - don't think he swallowed any but seemed to have fun chewing and spitting it out - blimey it made a mess but was great fun! (expect boring baby-led weaning updates as I am too excited)

Countingthegreyhairs · 02/10/2009 18:51

Helloo fledglings!! [Flaps wings at everyone, particularly fellow low flyers Jilly, Jammy and Jelly ]

Is anyone else ancient enough to remember "I am a feathery owl call Sage"?? Well, that's who (geddit?) I feel like on this thread!!

(To those young enough not to understand the above reference - don't worry - I haven't finally drunk too much gin gone mad - it's a character from the Herb Garden which was my favourite BBC programme as a child.

Anyway, enough of the chat ...

How's it going? Everyone certainly seems to have been pretty active today. Well done!! Start small, maintain, and build up very, very gradually.

I've had a killer of a day at work missing deadlines ... but at least I've come home to a glistening sink and a clear dining room table. Done morning and most of evenign routines but no zone decluttering. Will have concerted effort over w/e to catch up.

Dh travelling and the whole of the rest of the office out until Thursday,so it's only me holding the fort which is why I'm not here posting so often currently.

Must get dd to bed but before I do:

To anyone who is interested, here is the link about SHE:

something to do with the way the Flylady system evolved as I recall

As Dreamteam so rightly says, all the terminology on Flylady is completely barf-tastic ...

Thanks for yet more speedy replies Dreamteam btw

Have a wonderful time WTH with your dh, wishing you red wine and roses and the whole caboodle

LOL AlexDrake and Paranoid - do not get too comfortable, well, only a bit!! The baby-steps start deliberately slowly (and there are a few rest/duvet/failure days built in to the system).

This is a learning process - it takes 27 days to establish a habit apparently - and the Flylady system is designed to keep us focused on spending the least time cleaning by doing it in a very focused way.

The challenge is to keep doing each baby-step each day and to MAINTAIN the progress. Slowly does it - that way we banish "all or nothing" habits/attitudes - and helps eliminate that awful "oh I can't face doing anything because it took me 50 minutes of horrible scrubbing to do x, y, z last time and now I have a huge resistance to it" (if that makes sense). We overcome the resistance by just tackling things 15 mins at a time.

I know the Flylady site itself is wierdly cutesy and irritating - but the underlying principles behind the routines are sound. Sorry for essay !! Enjoy your leisure while you can Honestly, the whole Flylady thing is not that onerous - but doing it EVERY day can be a challenge.

And to the person who asks (sorry - I am all scrolled out!!) for the sake of clarity we are doing baby-steps to coincide with the day/date so yes we will be baby-stepping over the w/e but as someone else said, we won't be doing zone cleaning or missions.

Phew! See you all again soon!!

OP posts:
EverySingleStar · 02/10/2009 19:02

Hello!!! I randomly stumbled across the FlyLady site today and being a very very untidy person got quite excited at all the lists and baby steps and promises of easiness and sparkles

So I'd love to join!! I will need actual proper encouragement though as I am hands down the worst person ever at home-cleaning. I have a cleaner and am still doing this plan if that tells you how messy I am .

But hurrah for new friends who will kick me up the arse encourage gently and get my house sparkly

Oh and for abbreviation purposes I prefer star over ess or every

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