Weekly Flylady Thread 4th September 2017

Valli

What is FLYLADY? Well, it's our version of the US flylady idea - but we work on the principle that housework is not fun, it's boring, can be time-consuming, is often thankless but, unfortunately, necessary. It's here on Old Style to provide the support we all need and to make the whole task easier and quicker. We also accept that, sometimes, life just gets on top of us and we can't keep up, maybe because we're time-poor, not in the best of health and/or we have littlies who need us. We are definitely NOT control freaks aiming for perfection and utterly spotless show-homes.

Welcome to the weekly Flylady Thread. You're more than welcome to join us in the everlasting battle against dust, grime and gibble. The aim of our thread is to make those onerous tasks less daunting, and to support each other - and to make time for the finer things in life!

Right now the thread is looking very quiet...but please do remember we have to abide by MSE rules; each post should, ideally, include some mention of flying.

Thank you Natty for last week's thread.

It is your responsibility to read the forum rules, please follow them on this thread as Flylady has been here a LONG time and is a fabulous support and resource for lots of us. All posts should have some Flylady-related (ooh a compound adjective) content!

The idea is that even if you are really busy you don't need to fall off the wagon!

Every room comes back around next week so please don’t stress about catching up

These lists are only suggestions and not a must do list; you are more than welcome to post and follow your own lists.

Also adding a declutter mission each day will help to gradually clear the clutter and make flying easier.

A few of the basics before we start the week

Hotspots are areas where if one thing gets put there, loads of other things follow!

Daily routines are anything you need to do on a daily basis like washing, swish and swipe kitchen and bathroom, ironing, making beds, vacuuming high traffic areas, making meals etc.

Night-time routines are all things which make getting ready in the morning easier, preparing clothes for the next day, making lunches, swish & swipes of the kitchen and tidying the living room before you go to bed plus personals like shower/brush teeth etc.

Fling Boogie - stick on some loud music, grab a bin bag and whiz around the house finding items that can go out with the rubbish, recycling, for charity shop, basically anything that will stop it cluttering your home.

Swish and swipe/S&S means have a quick wipe over an area such as a sink or toilet to prevent the build up of dirt. This is usually done on a daily basis

HHE/HHC/HHI Half Hour exercise/challenge/ironing ... run around for 30 minutes to the Benny Hill music frantically cleaning exercising or ironing.. other music may be used if you prefer!
WM ~ Washing machine
TD ~ Tumble dryer
SC ~ Slowcooker
BM ~ Breadmaker
DW ~ Dishwasher
SOAADFA ~ Sit on 'bottom' and do 'nothing'
KH/XH/FW ~ Ex-husband and other not so polite versions
DH/DD/DS/DW/DP ~ Dear husband/daughter/son/wife/partner/whatever
OH/SO ~ Other half/significant other
NN ~ nice neighbour
Toxic (friend/mother/sister/whoever) ~ person in your life that seems to exist to make your life miserable
AF ~ Aunt Flo 'time of the month'.. nothing to do with flying but it comes up often.
ETA ~ Edited to add
Gibble ~ miscellaneous crap that appears forever homeless
Dot-to-dot ~ pick a small area (not a whole room) like a chair/coffee/table/shelf/worktop or wherever- thats your first 'dot' - totally clear it - clean it - and only put back what should be there - deal with what you have removed (not just move it somewhere else) then if you have time move on and do the same to another 'dot' -the idea is just like a dot to dot puzzle, you aim to join up all the dots and have a tidy room. The trick is to keep each dot tidy until you get them all joined up! All credit to AnW's Mum for this one
RoD ~ Room of Doom, the one room that feels like it is a permanent pit and cannot be used to its potential!
MAD half hour
- Mad is the abbreviation for Make A Difference.
The idea is that you have a Forth bridge (ie never-ending - or just huge) task but that you work on it in half-hour bursts. This way you know you ARE stooping, and that you won't get it finished but you will make a difference - so it might be clearing out - the garage or shed, or clothes sorting, or weeding - you get the picture - but rather than keep going until you've lost the will to live you do half an hour...but, eventually those half hours will get the job done!

Mr S/A/T/M/L/Al - supermarkets Sainsburys, Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Lidl, Aldi. You get the picture!!

Click here to read Toots wonderful welcome guide

ok Here goes this Week...

Marvellous Monday - Love your lounge

Level 1

Open Windows
Plump cushions
Empty Bins
Remove anything which doesn't belong here
Deal with magazines/newspapers - recycle the old ones
Attend to cut flowers and pot plants

Level 2

Vacuum upholstery inc under seat pads
Dust around everywhere
Make sure logs are in and drying - autumn's looming
Wipe light switches/sockets and places where sticky fingers linger

Level 3

Vacuum/mop floors
Clean Windows
Clean light fittings
Make sure your sitting room/lounge/whatever you call it is ready for the most important people in your life - your family - to relax in.

Extras

Check you have spare light bulbs in because they blow at the most inconvenient time.
get all smoke detectors tested and replace batteries
Make any routine appointments
HHI
And if the kiddiwinks have gone back to school and you have time at home alone, then sit down with a book, and a cuppa, and RELAX for half and hour. If you haven't got any kids relax anyway...if reading's not your bag what about a nice, long UNINTERRUPTED bath...or snooze... you get the idea;)

Triffic Tuesday

Bathroom blitz....

Are you ready Steve?. Uh uh, Andy? Yeah Mick? Okay alright fellas...

Let's goooooooo

Level one

Open windows
Remove rubbish
Take toothglass downstairs for washing
Remove towels

Level 2
Scrub bath/ shower and don't forget screen and taps
Polish taps with mf cloth
Wipe Bath panel
Douse loo in loo cleaner
Scrub out loo
Wipe outside if loo with cloth
Put loo cloth in wm

Level 3
Scrub sink
Wipe/polish any cabinets
Polish sink taps
Vacuum/ mop floor
Put out clean towels

Extras
Remove fly corpses from light fitting
Clean pelmets and skirtinga and any dust traps
Do something nice for those you love - bake a cake...or a batch of Twinks
If today is your first child free day TAKE TIME OUT for youself

Wednesday Wipe day - kitchen dining

Level 1

Open windows
Empty bins
Clear sides, wipe, wipe what lives there and replace
rehome all worktop gibble
Clean table - polish/wipe and chairs, too

Level 2

Wipe down all cupboard and drawer fronts - don't forget handles and tops and bottoms where drips hide and dry - ugh
Dust dining area
Remove gibble from dining room (It's my dump - somebody else must be equally bad)

level 3
Clean and clear floors
wipe sockets, switches skirtings
PUT ALL POTS AWAY

Extras

Clean windows
HHI

Thursday Thrills - Boudoir Beautification

Level 1

Open the windows W-I-D-E
Strip the bed
Remove rubish
Clear floordrobe/chairdrobe/little heaps/big heaps

Level 2
make the bed with FRESH linen (mmmm) and put out clean nightclothes

(even if you get nothing else done)

Clean the window
Dust everywhere

level 3
Vacuum lampshades and dust lightshades/chandeliers (and make sure the chain is still strong;))
Vacuum floor

Extras

HHI
Have a nice, long bath so you slip between your sheets clean, fresh and relaxed...
Check 'emergency stocks' (mine is UHT milk and catfood) are well in date so you don't have to venture out in foul weather
MAD half hour - keep frog munching flyfolk

Friday Fling - get set for the weekend

Either - pick another bedroom and repeat Thursday

OR

get a just-damp cloth, a box and a binbag and spend 15 minutes MAXIMUM in each room tidying, straightening, wiping sticky marks and binning rubbish. Put anything that need washing in the laundry bin. Put of clean handtowels in the
bathrooms and kitchen. Vacuum high-traffic areas. Now your WHOLE HOUSE looks clean!

Extras
re-pressurise boiler
shower or bathe (just me? okay - I have had a 'personal wash' - HATE starting the day withour a shower!)

poohbear59

Thank you for the lists Valli. I love the comment about autumn looming. We had to light our fire today as Autumn tried to pay a visit.

Natty68

Thank you for the list Valli, count me in this week I have to get my rear into gear and get into a routine of cleaning again, and not just on the day the cleaner is here..

I do have a list of my own too, but will post that up tomorrow

Hugs and spoons to everyone xxx

Narc0lepsy

Thanks for lists. I've only got a couple of days to play this week as Wed is an assessor team meeting at uni then it's straight down to my mum in Dorset for a few days so will be pruning her garden. Then on to bil who lives in Hants to help in his garden, returning home with mil who's been staying with him.

Fairly fly-free for me today: did a run (week 8 of c25k for those cheering me on), went to church, went to our dance club"s emerald celebratory dance (our 1st actual dance since we started lessons) then home to watch horse trials we'd recorded.

lynnejk

Evening all

Thank you for last week Natty and Valli for this week

Hope you enjoyed your anniversary celebrations HB
Hugs Valli and hope you won at the bingo

Marvellous Monday - Love your lounge
Open Windows
Plump cushions
Empty Bins
Remove anything which doesn't belong here
Deal with magazines/newspapers - recycle the old ones
Attend to cut flowers and pot plants
Vacuum upholstery inc under seat pads
Dust around everywhere
Make sure logs are in and drying - autumn's looming
Wipe light switches/sockets and places where sticky fingers linger
Vacuum/mop floors
Clean Windows
Clean light fittings
Make sure your sitting room/lounge/whatever you call it is ready for the most important people in your life - your family - to relax in.
Extras
Check you have spare light bulbs in because they blow at the most inconvenient time.
get all smoke detectors tested and replace batteries
Make any routine appointments
HHI
And if the kiddiewinks have gone back to school and you have time at home alone, then sit down with a book, and a cuppa, and RELAX for half and hour. If you haven't got any kids relax anyway...if reading's not your bag what about a nice, long UNINTERRUPTED bath...or snooze... you get the idea.

Hope you all have a lovely Monday
Lx

Fayolle

Thank you for last week Natty and Valli for this week. I'm in please. School back on Wednesday so normal service soon to be resumed.

Big ((hugs)) Valli. I don't think it gets easier, it just gets somehow manageable. X

Mudbath

Thank you for the threads Natty and Valli...hugely appreciated.

I'm in until Wednesday and then go away for a few days.

My list is...

Lounge

Open Windows
Plump cushions
Remove anything which doesn't belong here
Deal with magazines/newspapers - recycle the old ones
Vacuum upholstery inc under seat pads
Dust around everywhere
Wipe light switches/sockets and places where sticky fingers linger
Vacuum/mop floors
Clean Windows
Clean light fittings
Make sure your sitting room/lounge/whatever you call it is ready for the most important people in your life - your family - to relax in.

pigpen

Monday for me goes... tear house apart looking for Pixies uniform bits I cannot find! And that is all.

Dizzy_Imp

I'm back and raring to go!
The kids go back to school today and Tiny is doing 9-3 at preschool now!!!
DH has gone back to work after a "lovely" two weeks off :j

Coffee and cake this morning with a fellow [STRIKE]escapee[/STRIKE] mum then the start of some serious sorting, flinging, cleaning, exercising, dieting and wood chopping.

I've missed you gals xxx

Big squashy hugs and snogs all round (especially Valli).

Busy_granny

Thank you for the list.Lounge is perfect for me as I've got my book club meeting tomorrow,and we sit in the lounge.Will try to do all the levels.

atypicalblonde

Thanks so much for the lists ladies I am in xx

Woohoo back to school! Of course that meant the kids had a lie in and I had to drag them out of bed to get dressed :rotfl:

Two hours paid stuff then home to crack on. I'm glad it's the living room, my windows are covered in hand prints! And I can most definitely sit down with a brew in peace for half an hour (or maybe even an hour )

Right, off to scoff brekkie then begin the usual teeth/shoes/coats nagging. Back later xx