Weekly Flylady Thread 11th December 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.

[/B] Thank you Natty 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...

Marvellous Monday - Lounge and any key reception rooms

Level 1

Fling any carp
Clear ash from fires - take it OUTSIDE for safety
Wipe or vacuum upholstery
Plump cushions
With a just-damp cloth wipe light switches, handles and sockets

Level 2

Dust and polish all furniture
De-web (especially if you have a real tree!)

Level 3

Dust skirtings
Vacuum, sweep or mop floor

Extras

Check all smoke alarms are fully-functional
Make sure you know where your keys are to get out if you need to - and make sure any overnight guests know too - especially, if like mine, all your doors are key-locked.
Check when your bins are to be emptied over the next few weeks - if you haven't had a planner your council website should have this information
Make sure emergency gear is in car - including shoes or boots you can walk in if you need to
make sure you have spare batteries and light bulbs
HHI
MAD half hour - post what you do!

Triffic Tuesday - clean your retreat - bedroom

Level 1

Strip bed
Allow to air
Turn mattress if (a)necessary (b)you have assistance or (c) the power of a female gladiator like Gladiators off telly
Remake bed

level 2
Clear floordrobe and chairdrobe
Wipe condensation off window
Vacuum, sweep or mop floor

Level 3
Dust all sides and shelves
With a just damp cloth wipe all your lotion and potion bottles, hairdryers (especially if you use product while blow drying) etc. and put all perfumes away in a drawer. Take it from a former lab. tech.
Polish mirrors

Extras

How are you doing with your Christmas challenge?
HHI
MAD half hour
Have a lovely Tuesday x

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
Christmas challenge
MAD half hour
S&S bathroom

Thursday Thrills - Bathrooms, cloakrooms and en suites

Level 1
Open the window
Take toothmugs etc down to be washed
Scrub the loo insides and out
Wipe handles and pull switches - don't forget the loo roll holder

Level 2
Scrub out bath and shower
Shine splashbacks
Polish taps
Polish shower screens

Level 3
Scrub basin and taps
Wipe cabinets and cupboard
Mop floor
Empty bin
Extras

S&S kitchen
HHI
MAD half hour
Christmas Challenge

Freaky Friday

Kids Rooms/Spare Oom/Study...

Pick the worst one if you've time

Level 1[/B]

Clear sills
Clean windows
Dust/vacuum drapes/blinds
Strip any beds
Fill a binbag

Level 2

Dust everywhere
remake beds
wips sockets, switches and door handles

Level 3

Dust and wipe skirtings (vacuum them is they are very dusty)
Sweep/mop/vacuum floors

Extras
HHI - keep on top of it
Make two and freeze one - double up on a recipe today and freeze half for a lazy day/a busy day
MAD half hour

Valli

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 continue with decluttering any cupboards that need doing.
Mrs- moneypenny pledges to clear as much clutter as she can
Narco pledges to clear her office so there are no loose unfiled 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 [STRIKE]I [/STRIKE]Natty can see it

:snow_laug:snow_laug:snow_laug

At Natty's request, this is continuing just in case you haven't quite managed it yet.

My pledge ( a bit late FWIW but it will be a VERY useful habit if I can acquire it) is to prep my work bags the NIGHT BEFORE including my lunch

[Deleted User]

Good evening all. :hello:

Just a flying (boom boom) visit from me today. My mum made it up to Aberdeen safely yesterday and I finally started my Christmas shopping today. We even managed to get some last minute tickets to the panto, Jimmy Osmond in Aladdin at HMT.

More Christmas shopping tomorrow so probably very little will get done in the way of cleaning. One thing I must do tomorrow is return my Sky Q box to Sky since I am no longer with them.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

mrs-moneypenny

Thanks for the lists natty and Valli I'll be in again this week.
Have almost completed the writing of the cards and had a wrapping session this afternoon.
Most of the deccys are now up just have a few more to put up.
Another CS run was done over the weekend so a bit more gone.
PO run also done I have another one to do next Saturday and that should be it.
Need to deliver all the local hand deliverable cards and decide on the presents for the christingle

Quick warning make sure you turn your key in the doors when you are at home, a friend of mine had someone nip in and take her handbag from the kitchen while she was in another room. Don't let the scumbags take what's yours!

In work tomorrow morning but will catch up with the lists in the afternoon.

Hugs and good wishes to all who need them and I hope you are all well. X

YORKSHIRELASS

I am in and I have managed to sort a cupboard today! Big car load of rubbish to tip and at last I took all the unwanted clothes to CS. DH has been storing some wood for possible kindling and firewood so he has sorted through it and we got rid of some that was no good for burning on the fire. Feels so good to have a clear out.

Most of Christmas pressies wrapped and sorted.

I have a plan. This week I am going to try really hard to finish what I am doing every night at 8pm and relax (may run to 8.30pm if I have to). The idea is no work or housework after that time. Not sure if its possible but I will give it a go.

Have made a list of jobs to do, packed lunches done, gym bag ready to go in the morning. Stewing beef prepped for slow cooker.

Narc0lepsy

Thanks for the lists.
Have been really pleased with how much report-writing I've managed to do in my 'home alone' time.....but disgusted and a bit disheartened that there were more than I thought. 2 more. How I mis-counted I've no idea. Still nothing else more to be done than keep plodding on - but I'd so hoped to finish them by the end of tomorrow and start enjoying Christmas preparations.

Lots of big thumps now as snow keeps falling in large amounts off the roof. Had an email saying uni is closed tomorrow - not that I was due there until Tues so I'll just have to see what's in store. Weatherman says that what fell today will be frozen solid all night and tomorrow, so I've cancelled my clubbercise booking as I could think of more productive uses of time and I've no ambition to slither round the gym car park in my relatively new car. Just got a private assessment at 1pm.

Done a load more cards today.
Tidied kitchen after a fashion.
Ditto bedroom.
Will do lounge when I've had another half hour of report writing and need a break.

pigpen

hey.. ta much.. back tomoz xx

Dizzy_Imp

Good morning all! More snow here and all the schools are closed so a day of snowball fights beckons...actually a friend has invited the boys over to play, so if I can get out of my driveway and into the road, we may pop over there.

We put the Christmas tree up in the house last night. Looks like Santa has sneezed over it as there is nothing stylish about the mish-mash of baubles and home-made treasures, but the boys love it. Binned two sets of faulty lights as I'm never going to actually fix them, which felt satisfying.

I did put my Grandad's treasured coloured lights round a window, so they can be seen from outside. Ah, I miss him...

Having a quick cuppa before cracking on. Will try to get to the PO to send my Secret Santa pressie today but not sure how long it will take to arrive at it's destination...let's hope the Posties all have snow shoes.

Love 'n hugs xxxx

atypicalblonde

I'm in Ladies, will report back properly later xx

donnajt

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

I am in and I have managed to sort a cupboard today! Big car load of rubbish to tip and at last I took all the unwanted clothes to CS.

Most of Christmas pressies wrapped and sorted.

I have a plan.

Well done Yorkshirelass - I hate wrapping presents, hoping to get started later in week .... I need to write my plan - I have a list !!!

Narc0lepsy wrote: »

Thanks for the lists.
Have been really pleased with how much report-writing I've managed to do in my 'home alone' time.....but disgusted and a bit disheartened that there were more than I thought. 2 more. How I mis-counted I've no idea. Still nothing else more to be done than keep plodding on - but I'd so hoped to finish them by the end of tomorrow and start enjoying Christmas preparations.

Well done - focus on what you have done not what you haven't

Dizzy_Imp wrote: »

Binned two sets of faulty lights as I'm never going to actually fix them, which felt satisfying.

I did put my Grandad's treasured coloured lights round a window, so they can be seen from outside. Ah, I miss him...

Why do we all find faulty lights when we get decs out so annoying - love that you have your Grandad's lights - that's so lovely and a great way of including him in your christmas

donnajt

Managed to multi-quote but forgot to type own message

Stayed up super-late ironing to get head start only to be worken super-early by DS throwing up

Big list written but first point of call .... bath and hairwash before I go dog sitting for Nana this morning

thank you Natty and Valli for our lovely lists xxx