Weekly Flylady Thread 6th November 2017

Natty68

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 Valli for last week's [URL=”https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5735892[/URL]

Please follow the forum rules 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!

Monday - Living Room, Hall and Stairs
Level One...
Vacuum floors and sofas
Level Two...
Dusting, even if around everything
Remove clutter making sure stairs especially are safe
Clean TV, other electricals and cabinets
Water any thirsty plants, wipe their poor neglected leaves!!
Level Three...
Wipe light switches, sockets (make sure they are not switched on!!) and banister
Clean any other glass like mirrors, pictures etc
Tidy shoes, coats and bags .. wash any that need washing in preparation for cold weather!! See if there are any that don't fit, past their best or just plain uncomfy which could leave the house!
Put up linings or winter curtains to keep out those draughts.
Extra Mission:

• If you are wanting to take part in the flylady christmas card swap please PM me your details!! .. Mse name, name and address .
• Paperwork clearance.. spend 15 minutes minimum sorting through those piles of paper.
• Vacuum under furniture you can manage to move without hurting yourself
• Clean a window or two.
• Binbag dance.. Get a binbag.. fill it and bin it!!!
• Ring someone you love, just to tell them you love them!!
• Clean light fittings, skirtings even the ones behind furniture. Clean fire-surrounds. Wipe sofa's down.
• MAD half hour..is there anything that you need to do a.s.a.p.

Tantalising Tuesday - Kitchen and Dining Room
Level One
Clean Floors
Level Two..
Clear and wipe kitchen surfaces
Sort fridge bringing what needs using soon to the front, clean out any spills or new mutations in there!
Wipe dining table.. (clean table cloth if necessary)
Level Three...
Dust any extra furniture in dining area, checking for cobwebs on way round
Wipe and replace all those small appliances.. kettle, toaster etc
Clean the windows in here!
Clean cupboard door fronts and fronts of appliances .. don't forget those kick boards..
Check those washing machine filters and drawers for ickiness!! Tumble dryer and dishwasher filters need to be done too!!
Extra Mission

• MAD half hour..what needs doing?
• Wipe window sills and clean windows in these rooms
• Wipe down any tiles and shine those taps.. a toothbrush is great for cleaning away the gunk!
• 30 minutes ironing.
• Clean oven if you didn't do it last week
• Hike through the freezer and make a list of what you have, especially as Christmas is getting closer and you will need the space for all those lovely goodies
• Get in a manky cupboard. Give it all GOOD scrub out before placing the things you need to use soon at the front, throw out everything you don’t want/need. If no messy cupboard do a food inventory!! Feel free to get carried away and do more cupboards!!!

Wild Wednesday - those frightening kids rooms and spare rooms
Level One...
Vacuum the floor, even if it's just where you can see
Spend at least half an hour doing something for yourself!!!!! paint your nails, make an appointment to have your hair done, a lovely soak in the bath.. whatever you feel like!!
Level Two...
Clear away anything that isn't in it's place, clothes, toys, books etc
Dusting.. all those shelves and flat fluffy surfaces!! Don’t forget the light shade
Level Three...
Strip beds, turn and vacuum mattresses!! and replace with fresh linen .. check if duvets need freshening up too!!
Sort through a cupboard/chest of drawers and get the clothes out which are no longer wearable, too small or out of season!
Wipe any sticky marks off walls and doors
Extras...

• Wash a set of curtains, nets, duvet or throw
• Wipe the radiators, skirtings and window & door frames!
• 30 minutes ironing.. you love me & you know it!
• Grab a binbag and fill it with stuff to leave the house.. rubbish or charity shop or to donate to a friend!
• Sort the book shelves.. and toy boxes.. what can be flung? we are making room for those lovely new things Santa will be bringing soon if we are all being good boys and girls!!.. So get rid of all the things that are no longer required! Just keep flinging, just keep flinging!!
• MAD half hour.... How about finding something that needs doing for Christmas..

Thrilling Thursday - Master Bedroom & Landing
Level One...
Check fire alarms are working
Remove and wash bed linen.
Level Two...
Dust surfaces & make sure no cobwebs..
Vacuum mattress before replacing with fresh linen.. do you need that winter duvet yet?
15 minutes floordrobe clearance
Level Two...
Vacuum floors in bedroom and on landing
Sort one area of clothes or linen storage making sure only what should be in there is, anything that's had it's day or doesn't belong there is removed
Clear a hotspot., or spend 15 minutes clearing one.
Extra tasks..

• 27 fling boogie time, time for that midweek fling, go on grab a bag and clear that clutter
• Put away those summer clothes from someones cupboard and get out the winter woollies.. don’t store anything that is past its best! Make a list of things you need to buy!!
• Clean windows in these rooms
• Check house for places where draughts are getting in.. doors, windows etc and see if there are ways to stop it!
• Clean out that airing cupboard!!!!!! get rid of those things you don't need.. use dead towels as cleaning cloths etc.. be ruthless!!!! you REALLY don't need that 'thing' you've saved for 10 years.. 'just in case' If you did this last week.. you can do the under the stairs cupboard!!

Freaky Friday- Bathroom and Study/Pc Area
Level One...
Clean floors in these rooms
Level Two...
Clean baths, toilets and sinks
Clear any clutter from desk
Dust PC and desk and wipe off those cup rings!!
Wipe keyboard, house phone, sockets, switches and mouse etc
Level Three...
Wash your bathroom mats, nets, clean blind/curtains etc
Wipe down tiles in bathroom..
Delete 10 links in your favourites which you no longer use or are dead!
Clean shower screen/curtain if you have one/if required
Clear a mega hotspot!.. shred it.. and fling it.. or just burn it! .. Does anyone have a pulper to make logs from their old papers??
Extra mission:

• Wipe the skirtings, door and window frames in these rooms
• Check through those bottles.. what can be flung/decanted/?
• Clean the radiators and woodwork in these rooms
• Get those uniforms, games kits, coats and things in the wash which you will need on Monday
• Scrub down the dirty marks on the walls in these rooms, and any dirty marks on the walls. When did you last clean 'under the rim'? Get a mirror and check it out.. how gross??? Wash any chair covers/throws/blinds etc. When did you last replace the bath sponges & toothbrushes??
• MAD half hour....
  

FRIDAY EXTRA - Don't forget your ME time this weekend, even if it's just a nice relaxing bath. Go on you deserve it.

Natty68

:santa2::santa2::santa2: November Challenge

Who's up for a month of decluttering, ebaying, donating and general making space (and hopefully some spare cash) before those presents arrive?

Pledge now how much space you will have cleared before 2nd week of December starts......

Pigpen pledges to remove 20 bags to stuff before Christmas
Dizzy Imp pledges to fling all useless and unwanted gibble
Lynnejk pledges to sort out the last, rather large box of paper that came out of the big cupboard
Ionafan pledges to recycle/take to CS or resell items
donnajt pledges to clear space the size of youngests room
Honey Bear’s pledge is to turn out every single drawer and cupboard in the house (other than OH's personal ones) one at a time
Fayolle is pledging
Yorkshirelass pledges to continure with decluttering any cupboards that need doing.
Natty not ebaying or anything, but I pledge to clear my humungous ironing piles once and for all.

If I've missed anyone please yell, highlight yourself in red so I can see it

ionafan

If you want to take part in the :xmassmile Flylady Secret Santa :xmassmile please PM me your details.

pigpen

oooh a November challenge.. I may be up for that.. I reckon we will be getting around 15 binbags of shhhhhhhtuff for christmas.. so .. I want 20 out.. I want to have less rather than more after christmas.

Secret Santa.. I would LOVE to but not sure the finances will allow.. hhmmmm... meh.. count me in.. I can create something magical I'm sure.

I need filler and tile adhesive! .. busy week! I need sleep from that small girl!!

Dizzy_Imp

Hello all :wave:

I will be flying like a daemon in the house this week in preparation for moving back in this month.

This will happen.

I therefore accept the challenge to fling all useless and/or unwanted gibble I come across during November. I estimate it will fill an eight cubic yard sized skip, at least twice over.

Bring. It. On.

lynnejk

Evening

I'm here this week and thank you Valli and Natty for the weekly listies

Good luck Dizzy with your massive clear-up and getting there for December

LameWolf wrote: »

........
Please can I ask for some super Flylady vibes for Mr LW? He's going to call the health centre place again tomorrow to see if he can at least find out an idea of how long he'll have to wait to see the Consultant.
I am out of my mind with worry.

Sending get-an-answer vibes for Mr LW and less-worrying vibes for you LW, together with some squishy hugs.

November challenge
I have been de-cluttering all year and now all my cupboards etc do actually have some space in them. However, now it is definite that we will be working abroad next year, I'm going to f-l-i-n-g everything that doesn't warrant car or storage space. Don't know if I'll be there by mid-December, though I'll do my best and probably use some of my MADs

Surprisingly it's not been too bad for fireworks here. Think some of it might be the cost of them and also they seem to have been spread out over the three nights.

Hope you all have a lovely Monday
Hugs, sticks and spoons all round as needed
Lx

ionafan

Another [STRIKE]one[/STRIKE] three here glad that the fireworks are over - at least until Christmas/New Year. Rosie has spent the last three evenings hiding behind the sofa, but she has slept through most of the noise. This is a massive improvement on my last dog who ripped up the hall carpet and tried to dig his way out under the quarry tiles, poor thing (even the pheromone diffuser didn't help much). I realised he was going profoundly deaf when one year he no longer reacted to the fireworks...

I will join in the November challenge and already have a few items waiting to go to the CS and others to sell or recycle.

Tomorrow, among other things, I need to
- buy baking parchment which I forgot to get today, doooooooooohhhh!
- bake some more brownies and muesli bars for college on Tuesday
- wash my jacket
- do some more work on my essay
- take Rosie for a long walk before her training class
- do the coffee at the Old Wives' meeting

(((Hugs))) spoons and sticks to all in need, especially LW and Fayolle and family.
Froddy, it's another week nearer the end of term
x

atypicalblonde

Thanks so much for the lists ladies I am in .

I’ve sent you my details Iona thank you for organising xx

I’m away today so will be fully back in the fly zone tomorrow. I have loads of stuff to take to cash 4 clothes, which will clear a good chunk of the garage space! Will post properly this evening or tomorrow morning, got an odd day ahead, have lovely days all xx

donnajt

Hi YorkshireLass - I think when I worked full time (14 years ago) i was much more organised, I used to come home from work on a Friday put DD to bed then blitz the house - going to bed about 3am, so that I could enjoy weekend with family.

I do have a daily routine (not all of it gets done depending on my health), I s&s downstairs toilet, kitchen and tidy everywhere, then kind of go whereever my energy takes me, so if back is bad and getting up and down stairs is bad, i will concentrate on living room, sometimes just setting a 10 min timer for a quick clean before i need to go rest

thank you so helpful - yes i know what you mean about kids - told mine that after preparing a mammoth roast (preparing veg kills my arms/shoulders) i would appreciate them washing up - well it never got done, DD watched xfactor with me and i reminded her it needed doing, she went and did the easy stuff and has left the rest so i have ignored it and when we get back from hospital today, the kids will be WUPUPA or they wont get fed today #badmum lol

donnajt

Natty68 wrote: »

:santa2::santa2::santa2: November Challenge

Who's up for a month of decluttering, ebaying, donating and general making space (and hopefully some spare cash) before those presents arrive?

Pledge now how much space you will have cleared before 2nd week of December starts......

Yes definitely Natty xxxx no idea of size so going to say size of youngest's bedroom!

donnajt

Natty thank you for today's list - sure you read my mind, front door is on hit list so going to include that oo

LameWolf positive vibes, love and best wishes to you and your husband