Weekly Flylady Thread 20th 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 thread.

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:

Manic Monday - Kitchen and Dining Room/Area
Level One
Empty out the fridge, replace what is inside after wiping it out, making sure what is needed first is at the front
Level Two
Wipe down surfaces
Clean floors in these rooms
Wipe kitchen cupboard fronts and kickboards
Wipe down fronts of major appliances (cooker, fridge, freezer etc)
Level Three
Dust any extra furniture in dining area, checking for cobwebs on way round
Wipe & replace small appliances.. kettle, toaster etc (wipe under too, especially the toaster!)
Clean the oven if you missed it last week or it needs it
MAD half hour ~ Have you got Christmas Cards to buy?

Extras...

• Wipe window sills and clean windows in these rooms
• Clean the dish drainer, make sure you clean under it too
• Clen any 'medium' size appliances, bread makers, slow cookers etc
• Clean out and organize one drawer, more if you like
• Check the freezer, see what needs using up

LAST CALL FOR THE CHRISTMAS CARD SWAP..IT'S STILL NOT TOO LATE TO JOIN IN, SO PLEASE PM ME BEFORE TOMORROW EVENING, 20.11.2017, IF YOU WANT TO JOIN.

Tuesday - Lovely Living Rooms and Safe Stairs
Level One
Vacuum floors in these areas, even if around clutter
Clear anything from the stairs!
Level Two
Move things so you can vacuum under them
Vacuum and wipe (if needed) sofas
Dust any areas below eye level
Level Three
Dust anything above eye level (if safe to do so)
Clear anything that shouldn't be where it is, should the magazines really be on the floor?
MAD half hour

Extra tasks if you want to do more

• Clean windows in these areas, check curtains/nets/blinds while you are there, do they need a clean?
• Check you have your Christmas card list done, if it's not done at least spend 10 minutes on it
• Spend 15 minutes sorting paperwork, dealing with anything urgent NOW
• 27 Fling Boogie, you know the routine, grab a bag and clear that clutter!
• Clean out the vacuum cleaner, empty the bag/bucket, clean filters if they are washable MAKE SURE YOU DON'T PUT THEM BACK UNTIL THEY ARE DRY!

Wednesday - Master Bedrooms and Landings
Level One
Remove floordrobe, make sure all clothes are put away neatly
Level Two
Strip bed linen and wash, replace with clean linen
Vacuum floors in these areas
Level Three
Vacuum mattress
Clean tops of drawers

Extra mission tasks, as always if you fancy an extra challenge try one or more of these

• Clean windows in these areas
• Check through drawers, anything that should have been thrown out ages ago?
• Cobweb removal upstairs, go on grab a duster and swipe them down
• Clean a set of curtains, nets or blinds
• Clean light fittings and light switches in any room, more than one if you like

Thrilling Thursday - Study/PC area and Bathrooms

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
Wipe down tiles in bathroom
Delete 10 links in your favourites which you no longer use or don't work
Clean shower screen/curtain if you have one/if required

Extra tasks list, as usual choose one or more

• Clear a hotspot, if it's bad at least spend 10 minutes on it
• Deep clean mission - Clean where your Christmas tree and any other decorations are going
• Check house for places where draughts are getting in such as doors, windows etc and see if there are ways to stop it
• HHI
• Contact anyone you don't have address for for Christmas cards

Flipping Friday!! - those frightening kids rooms and spare rooms
Level One
Vacuum the floor, even if it's just where you can see
Level Two
Clear away anything that isn't in it's place, clothes, toys, books etc
Dusting.. all those shelves and flat surfaces!! Don’t forget the light shade and curtain pole!!
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

Extra Task List

• HHI
• Wipe the radiators, skirtings and window & door frames in one room, any room
• Sort the childrens toys, even if it's for 15 minutes.. what can you get rid of? What is broken or outgrown? Time to make room for Christmas
• Grab a binbag and fill it with stuff to leave the house.. rubbish or charity shop or to donate to a friend

Natty68

:santa2::santa2::santa2: November/December 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 of 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 to clear the unwanted gibble from the drawers and wardrobe in the spare room
Yorkshirelass pledges to continure with decluttering any cupboards that need doing.
Mrs- moneypenny pledges to clear as much clutter as she can
Narco pledges tol clear her office so there are no loose unfilled pieces of paper. Also to go through all assessment resources and get rid of obsolete tests.
Lover of Lycra pledges to fling all useless and unwanted gibble from the RoD
Froddington pledges to clear the hallway of all gibble
ffp pledges to gather up all the stuff people have given me that I can't make use of and give it someone who can.
JoJo pledges to get bathrooms, kitchen, living room and bedroom all looking spick and span with not one thing out of place by the time Himself is back for Christmas.
Donna pledges to declutter every dark dingy corner of my house
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

[Deleted User]

Would it be ok if I joined the Fly Lady weekly thread? I am almost at the end of a massive decluttering and now I'm ready to start Flying....well in some rooms anyway the spare room/office is my RoD.

There isn't much of November left but I pledge to fling all useless and unwanted gibble from the RoD. I need to do it because my mum will be visiting next month and because the mess annoys me.

Natty68

Of course you can join in with us Lover of Lycra, welcome to the thread. And I will add you to the pledge list

Narc0lepsy

Narco will clear her office so there are no loose unfilled pieces of paper. She will go through all assessment resources and get rid of obsolete tests.

pigpen

Thank you... I'm up to 17 bags gone and 9 empty boxes out of the loft!

Valli

I'm in

I've done REALLY well today - three rooms cleaned, washing dried, maidenful of ironing done, socks sorted - pile no longer teetering - rabbit hutch cleaned and car cleaned.

I have also logged 40 PTA cheques ready to pay into the bank, plus notes. I dare not do any more - that's taken 4 paying in slips already. I plan to 'nip' after work tomorrow.

Natty68

pigpen wrote: »

Thank you... I'm up to 17 bags gone and 9 empty boxes out of the loft!

Wow that's a major achievement Piggers, you won't have anything left at this rate..

Valli wrote: »

I'm in

I've done REALLY well today - three rooms cleaned, washing dried, maidenful of ironing done, socks sorted - pile no longer teetering - rabbit hutch cleaned and car cleaned.

I have also logged 40 PTA cheques ready to pay into the bank, plus notes. I dare not do any more - that's taken 4 paying in slips already. I plan to 'nip' after work tomorrow.

Wow Valli you're doing really well.

You are putting me to shame, I haven't done anything apart from wash all the bedding that was lingering around in the laundery basket Although it might have had something to do with the fact I was running out of bedding to put on the bed this evening..lol

pigpen

Natty, I truly will.. my house is so full of rubbish it is unreal. We took another mountain out of the loft so we can put OH's 6 huge boxes of comics up there never to see the light again.

Fayolle

I'm in.

Fayolle pledges to clear the unwanted gibble from the drawers and wardrobe in the spare room. Another bag turned out today! If nobody wanted the stuff, just why has it been on the top of the chest of drawers for the past couple of years, for goodness sake?! Should I ever get the spare room sorted, I have boxes and boxes in the loft to get started on...

((Hugs)) to Dancemum.

I'll be awol tomorrow as it's FiL's funeral. It's going to be a tough day.

dancemum

Most of DH' s boxes of comics went mouldy so left the premises a few years ago.

I'm in again. Thank you for the threads/lists they are much appreciated X

Pots washed

Bathroom cleaned

dancemum pledge is to investigate recycling 2 old PCs that are in my walk in wardrobe, hopefully fling them by December