January Fledgling Flyers - The 15 minute mess removal squad

[droitwichmum]

Happy New Year!

This is the place for you if you have made a New Year's Resolution to get on top of the chaos in your home

Here you can do any of the following:

• 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

Here you can find out what it is all about. Try to ignore the cutesy stuff - cute the regulars on here are not! We also take some of the suggestions with a HUGE dose of salt (look out for wearing tie up shoes in the house)

If you decide to register for the e-mail updates from flylady be warned: unless you choose the daily digest only option you will be innundated with e-mails throughout the day. I will post the links you need each day so you don't need to register on the site to join in.

Dive in and mark your place - we start on January 1st!

Morning Mummy - thanks for steps & great round-up last night - morning all!

[SC wanders in bleary-eyed]

Cream crackered!

Another one who didn't make it to bed early last night. Parents evening didn't finish until 10.30pm then dh and I had long discussion about parenting which took us to 1am. Day off today though thank heavens and friend coming to lunch so quite a nice day to come.

Hope you are all OK and eating your greens. I did OK with the 5 a day yesterday (but not the water) pizza and cakes going around office but I managed not to succumb - sat there resolutely with a portion of grapes - so at least that's something!

Will definitely be trying to do mission today. Sock drawer a disaster.

Hope you have a better night tonight Gok and WhereChaos Optimistic - glad you didn't have to extend your garage Hope today not too onerous without TA...

A warm welcome to HattyYellow Sorry, if the chair is wooden then I'm a little stumped. You can't really soak it for long. Would a slightly abrasive cream-based cleaner work with a scouring pad?? NOt sure. Failing all of that - perhaps sand and varnish or paint? A bit extreme I know!!

Ellie so sorry your little 'un is ill - wishing him a speedy recovery

and yours too of course Mmmango

Glad it went well yesterday Pluto Good luck today

HelpwithCleaning some good advice on here [SC takes notes] Hope you got the answers you wanted. Don't hesitate to ask whenever you need more info.

I post on here in the morning to shame myself in to doing the tasks by evening!!

I use old-fashioned dust-pan and brush to clean under table but have wooden floors. Used to use a vinyl splash mat when dd was tiny.

Bravo Neenook - what a good day you have had!!

And well done for going out on a run Feetheart and getting through your entire list!!

MrsDinky - I think our dh's are twins! Dh had huge coffee machine on counter first of all (but we only used it for entertaining) and now he has replaced it with a deep fat fryer of all things!! I think it's time that taht is replaced with a slow cooker as much healthier all round. I do love a good plate of egg and chips though!! Well done with water consumption and eating your 5 a day..-

Well done with your healthy eating today too MissBennett and hope the funeral goes as well as these things can possibly go tomorrow (sorry tired, not expressed v. well but hope you catch my meaning)

How exciting PushmePullyou and hope yr dh has a lovely birthday today and you have a lovely meal ...

Must crack on here so apologies for not replying to everyone individually ...

YESTERDAY
Before work:
Morning routine including washing on and s&s done
Tidy sitting room and hoover done
After work:
French study (2 hrs of future conditional - was torture) done
15 mins X 2 or 3 in master bedroom NOPE
15 mins in home office HA ha HA Ha
Evening routine done
Parents evening done

TODAY:
Morning routine, s&s, washing on done
General tidy up inc. dining room table hotspt
Cook lunch for friend halfdone
Mission + 15 mins x 2 or 3 in master bedroom
Go for power walk!!!
DD haircut
Send 2 work-related e-mails

Have a good day one and all

Sorry DWM I have not "Wandered off". I have been lurking, but struggling with some RL "issues". - Need a name change to beingpositivedoesntworksodontbother

Hope to be back soon - my house sure needs it!!

Hello to everyone.

Morning all,

Had a frank discussion with DH about coffee machines versus slow cookers, DWM good point but we can't keep putting coffee machine in and out of cupboards as it is too tall for them (they all have shelves) and it weighs a ton. We think we can fit the slow cooker somewhere else by relocating the fruitbowl, if that doesn't work he has agreed to take it (CM not SC) to work where he would probably use it more anyway.
SC - my DH does have several brothers, but I don't think you are any of my SILs (that would be spooky wouldn't it?). Maybe they are cousins!? He's got so many of those I wouldn't have a clue.
PA - hope things in RL get sorted and we see you back soon.
DWM - I clicked on the FAQs link you posted yesterday for someone, Fat Fairy is quite uncompromising on the shoes isn't she?

Today

Order logs
Find DSs hat before it snows again
Washing
Tidying (DH did do his bedroom stuff last night)
Investigate buying the slow cooker
I ditched lots of old socks and knickers afew months ago, so not going to bother with todays mission
Maybe hoover upstairs
Investigate camping holidays for summer (thinking of Isle of Wight - PA is it you that lives there?)

See you later

hi everyone.
managed to get through the list yesterday, and dwm no nasty surprises but i think i just rearraged everything again! may try again later in the week, as im sure i dont need everything under there!

list for today-
washing on done
swish and swipe done
breakfast dishes
hang out washing
todays mission
15min declutter in living room
put away dry laundry
15min declutter in bedroom
shine sink

see you all later.

Morning routine done
Washing done
Keep on top of washing up done
Baby steps done
Mission done
Dieticians appointment for littlies
Swept kitchen floor done
Fill in some forms for Nursery done
Do food diary for DC2 done

Morning everyone,

thanks for the thoughts on DS, he is absolutely fine now, in fact was fine for much of yesterday. Not a lot done yesterday but today is another day so list looks like this (all to be done after work)

S/S bathroom
Washing
DW on
make soup for tea
evening routine
list hoover in free ads (brand new and boxed, unwanted gift and no receipt..grrrrrr)

Not a lot of time so have only skim read but pa hope you are ok, pluto glad first day back wasn't too bad. I find it a little like riding a bike, one day back and it's like you've never been away. Welcome back hag and welcome to those who have joined.

Have a good day everyone!

Meant to say, I have wooden Tripp Trapp chairs for DCs, best thing I have found for cleaning off things like dried weetabix is a heavy duty microfibre cloth (Ecloth), soaked in water, soak the crusts with this for a few minutes and then scrub hard.

OK, here's my first list:

MORNING ROUTINE (still very short):
-got up got dressed DONE
-hot spot for 2 mins DONE
-5 mins room rescue (bedroom today) DONE
-babystep for today: 15 mins throwing away rubbish from around the house (still to do)

I also did a mission today (which FlyLady sent as an email yesterday). I cleared one shelf in my wardrobe (which was disaster zone) & it looks much much nicer.

I'm still a bit confused about what to do / what missions to follow so I'm just doing the babysteps (following the FlyLady website), one every day, and the difference I've already seen...you wouldn't believe it!!!

The other thing I wanted to ask: do you guys buy any of the FlyLady cleaning tools or are they not available in the UK? Some of them look really cool (and if I continue with this I might be tempted), have you found good quality alternatives in the UK?

OK - last load washing on thought so
Car washed with bucket and sponge - rinsed with leaky hose done
Icy shower due to not knowing hose leaky done
Finish the ironing thought done
Recycling to the tip done
Pick up more storage boxes done

Having a lunch break then will do
hover up stairs
wash car upolstery
put clothes away
wash newly discover washing molehill
Finish making basket covers.
Return library books and pay fine
Early night -really must tonight as in uni tomo and need to think clearly.

Thanks all for lovely welcome! Mrs Dinky - I actually have e-cloths - will start scrubbing highchair whilst baby is sleeping rather than mindlessly reading active convos on mumsnet!

This thread is great - so motivating!

MrsDinky - Yes its me that lives here! Whoa!! Where are you thnking of staying? I can tell you all the best places. Keep me up to date if you do decide to camp here.

Hi all,

You all seeme to be doing so well.

I am just about keeping my head above water so apologies for not being about much and no individual responses. Ds (ASD) is really struggling at the moment - very up and down with his behaviour and not sleeping (I got 2 hours last night and 3 the night before) tonight I am going to slightly increase his meds - he can have upto 5ml and I only give him 2.5ml

Just about holding the house and work together but realised yesterday that my weight is creeping up. I'm not big as such but my size 10s are getting tight and I gave all my 12's away so I need to sort it.

So i'm still here; just not very sociable

Don't worry about it tibni - it's impressive that you are upright frankly on that little sleep - never mind Flying!! Take it steady.

Yay!! PA - you are back! We missed you!

HelpwithCleaning - they have good cleaning stuff in the Lakeland on-line catalogue - no need to apologise for "only" doing baby-steps - that is GOOD!! (Btw you know MummyD kindly posts the baby-steps here every morning so you don't even need to log in to Flylady site if you don't want to. Each one synchronises with date.)

I think the general idea is that once the baby-steps become more or less automatic, then you can graduate to baby-step + 15-min decluttering in current zone and once thoroughly decluttered, you can go on to maintaining baby-steps + detailed cleaning and missions in current zone. But best if you adapt the system to suit yourself. Does that make sense?

Hey HAG - hope ds getting better - good to see you

Glad your ds IS better Ellie

You never know MrsDinky - it's a small world!

Well done with your productive day WhereChaos

Waiting impatiently to hear details of PushmePullyous Fat Duck dinner ...

TODAY:
Morning routine, s&s, washing on done
General tidy up inc. dining room table hotspt done but now needs doing again!
Cook lunch for friend done - great fun if I say so myself
Mission + 15 mins x 2 or 3 in master bedroom NOT DONE
Go for power walk!!! NO£T DONE
DD haircut NOT DONE
Send 2 work-related e-mails done

Oh dear .....rather a self-indulgent day... a bit of tidying - friend for lunch - then school run/snack/homework/supper/bath/bed routine and the day is over!!!! Help!!

Going to have an early night and start again in earnest tomorrow

Flaps wings at everyone I have missed

G'night

Quick progress check:
Drop sis at station done
Pick up few bits done
hover up stairs done with stairs
wash car upolstery done plus hall with extra fluid.
put clothes away ds' done will do mine in a few mins
wash newly discover washing molehill first load on
Finish making basket covers. CBA - will get round to at some point.
Return library books and pay fine - forgot. will have to do thursday now.

Best bit was spending most of this afternoon making lego. it made me feel more chilled.

Just need to put my clothes away and bedtime routine then am done for the day when i have sorted plans for this weekend. Early night is a possibility.

Oh - I have found this too late. I am moving abroad in less than 5 weeks, renting out my flat & desperately need to de-clutter & get the place in order.Can I jump in with the new babysteps & missions or do I need to go back to the start of the thread & try & catch up on the last few weeks?

Jump on board with the new babysteps. most people just start with the babysteps. i would imagine one of the wise ones might point you in the direction of crisis cleaning for this one but dont worry one of them will be along shortly. in the mean time all the babysteps are here

just jump on board and join in. a timer and 15 minutes are you friend, you'll be surprised.

Evening all,

HWC - haven't tried any fly lady products, haven't really looked, as I assumed the postage would be prohibitive, so not sure what would be equivalent. As for the missions etc, I pick and choose. Some of them are things you might be going to do that week, such as mop kitchen floor, some are those dreadful things you put off indefinitely (clean the cooker hood), just do whatever, they all come round again eventually. Another few weeks won't make much difference to a cooker hood IMO.

Persist with decluttering and babysteps and it will all start falling into place hopefully.

PA - not sure where yet. We had been planning to go to France, but cost is prohibitive, used to have lovely hols on the IOW as children and you still get to go on a ferry, yet you can be there in a couple of hours from here, lovely! So far I have identified a campsite called the Orchard as a possible contender.

WCTR - a lovely vision of you hovering up your stairs from your list.

Tibni - hope this bad patch gets easier soon, you're doing well to even think about Flying on that amount of sleep.

SC - small world indeed, my DH and I come from towns 100 miles apart, yet, he has relatives in the same village as my parents, his best friend knew one of my my best friends at Uni (long before I met DH), so who knows...

Everyone else - hello and nice to read all your posts.

Today:

Order logs - done, and delivered
Find DSs hat before it snows again - done, hopefully no snow now
Washing - done
Tidying (DH did do his bedroom stuff last night) - quite a bit
Investigate buying the slow cooker - not done
Maybe hoover upstairs - done except our room
Investigate camping holidays for summer - not done

Also
water consumption - not too good today
5 a day - 4 so far, glass of Appletise next to computer makes 5
2 carrier bags of stuff to charity shops
Various phone calls made

Did a sort of home blessing hour today, 10 mins each for kitchen and bathroom floors, 10 minutes of dusting and hoovering each of DCS rooms and landing, quite pleased with myself.

Off to learn crochet now, had a sudden urge to make DD a new hat, havig not crocheted since I was about 12.

Night all

Didn't get round to doing a list this morning as just about time to get DC up, fed and out to school on time. Came back to 2 hrs of 'Learning How to do Sage' with DH and have been fit for very little since, REALLY made my brain hurt

Have done:
Morning routine
Make fishcakes and wedges for dinner
15 mins in bedroom - t-shirt drawer rather than underwear drawer as that was in greater need!
Get DD to do 10mins in her room

Will get washing up done and sink shiny then collapse in a heap

Tibni & PA hope RL gets better for you soon.
Tibni - i feel you lack of sleep pain. tis hell. We are on week 3 without sleep meds due to illness. Bedtime is now 10.30pm and i am becoming very grumpy. hope the increased dose gives you a break.

OK update with my list for today (it does help to write all this down):

Morning routine:
-get up get dressed DONE
-2 mins hot spot DONE
-5 mins room rescue DONE

Rest of the day:
-15 mins throwing away stuff DONE
-mission (which was supposed to be for my DS but given that he' 17 months I...eerr, helped him a bit ): clear up all children books from everywhere around the house, & put them back in their place. Sort out which ones we want / which he's outgrown DONE (and very satifying it was too)
-mission (from yesterday): cleared one shelf in my closet
-water consumption, so so, not too bad
-5 a day, at a big green salad at lunch, does that count for 2 a day? That was about it really

Ok - so I have a shiny sink. & a house full of crap . Can I really do it in time?

Yes 15 mins at a time. Put your timmer on for 15 mins and work as hard as you can to sort/clear/tidy/pack etc one corner of one room. You'll be surprised how much you get done. Will see if i can find the crisis cleaning link for you.

here is crisis cleaning I would use its principles to decluttering rather then the cleaning bit but you can get the principle.

Evening ladies.
Just catching up with the thread really and to admit to not doing much flying yet this week - school has been very tiring and trying!!
So today;
morning routine
empty dishwasher
pick up DC from station
Supper
Pick up DS1 from GFs
5 min room rescue of downstairs rooms
Deal with the kitchen bin...

Tibni - you must be going through a particularly difficult time with your DS - I hope he settles again soon and you amnange to get sleep, you too WCRT PA - lovely to see you on this thread again. Hope everything picks up for you too.
Hi HAG and welcome back. Ellie -glad DS is better..
SC - sounds like my kind of day!!At the risk of being thick, Feetheart remind me about Sage??
Quick wave to everyone else on the thread HWC MRSD MrsGok hatty 1981 Sep. if i've missed you don't take it personally I can't scroll up and down anymore [tired emoticon]

See you in the morning for concentrated flying....

Lots to catch up since yesterday.
Went to my mum's last night with DD1. Was good to see her and my brother. Found myself doing sink shining at her house too!!

Today has been mixed - thank you fellow flyers for good wishes. The service was beautiful and very uplifting - really lovely in spite of being a sad occasion. And good to see my friend. Also to spend some time with DD1.

Got home a couple of hours ago. Put some clean washing away and cleaned sink etc. Did the mission at weekend! Not drunk much water but have had lots of tea and sherry And I think I've more or less stuck to my points.

Feeling rather weary as have done a lot of driving yesterday/today so am off to bed now.

See you all tomorrow - hope everyone gets a good night's sleep!