Weekly Flylady Thread 11th February 2019

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!


Please do remember we have to abide by MSE rules; each post should, ideally, include some mention of flying.

Thank you to Valli for last week's thread

THESE LISTS ARE ONLY SUGGESTIONS AND NOT A MUST DO LIST, YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOME TO POST AND FOLLOW YOUR OWN.

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

Hotspotsare 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'
WUDUPA ~ Washed up, dried up, put away
WUALTD ~ Washed up and left to dry
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!

Some of our abbreviations: DH- dear husband, OH- other half, KH/CF- affectionate term for ex husband or partner DS/DD- dear son/daughter, DGC- dear grandchild, WM- washing machine, DW- dishwasher, LR/DR- living/dining room, RoD- room of doom, Mr S/A/T/M/L/Al- supermarkets Sainsburys, Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Lidl, Aldi. You get the picture!

Any more questions I bet are answered in the wonderful welcome guide which was produced by our much loved Toots


Monday ~ Kitchen and Dining Mess
Level One...
Sweep, vacuum and mop floors
Declutter and wipe worksurfaces
Oven and hob cleaning week... and it is level one so none of you can get out of it..
Level Two...
Wipe table replacing cloth if necessary..
Clear out a cupboard.. the larder unit if yyou jave one or just the general messiness of cupboard.. the one where you stuff all things useless.
Wipe and replace small appliances.. Clean one thoroughly!
Level Three...
Wipe units and large appliances.. don't forget kickboards!
Wipe the tops of the wall units.. lining them with old wallpaper or newspaper keeps them clean!
Dejunk window sills, dust blinds and wash windows!
Extras

• Wash light shades and clean bulbs
• Clean out the smelly fridge
• Sort out and restock baking cupboards
• Wash the vacuum cleaner innards and filters.. do not reassemble until completely dry!!

Tuesday ~ Living/Family/Reception room
Level One...
Declutter and vacuum floor!
Wipe sticky grubby marks from sofas
Level Two...
Wipe sticky grubby marks from walls and paintwork
Vacuum nuder furniture you can safely move.. we have bit of a baby boom on at the moment so please all be careful!!!
Wash any smelly soft furnishings (this may include pets and OH's)
Level Three...
Clear and wipe firesurround..
Decant all the miscellaneous papers and bits into a box
Polish any glass.. screens, pictures, ornaments mirrors etc
Don't forget to do your decluttering for today - you choose where
Extras

• Wipe and water any plants
• Vacuum fluff from the fire and behind the radiator
• Sort through the box of miscellaneous belongings
• Binbag dance

Wednesday ~ Master bedroom
Level One...
Strip, wash and replace the bedding.. leave the mattress and duvet to air!
Declutter the floor.. and vacuum it!
Level Two...
Put away all the shoes and clothes and bags and belts and ties lying around!
Wash the curtains/nets and clean the window before rehanging them!
Dust away the webs and fluff
Level Three...
Sort through a box of stuff... I have about a million to do!
If it hasn't been done in a while vacuum and turn the mattress
Tidy up a cupboard of clothing
Don't forget to do your decluttering for today - you choose where
Extras

• Sort some stuff to ebay ..
• HHI
• Wash any coats needed to be clean for school after half term!
• If any children are due shoe checks/opticians/dentists today is the day to sort these out!

Thursday ~ Bathroom, hall, stairs and landing!
Level One...
Declutter and vacuum/mop floors
Sort coats, bags, shoes and dead umbrellas!.. Get rid of any that are no longer needed.
Level Two...
Clean the bath, sinks, blah blah.. you know the list! don't forget the back of the toilet.. that gets gross.. and under the icky rim!
Empty out and clean a cupboard.. put back the necessaries neat and tidy!
Wash doormats, bathmats and shower curtains
Level Three...
Tidy the towel cupboard.. any manky towels can be donated to the PDSA or dog rescue.. they always need them!.. and blankets etc
Wipe the doors in the hallway and wash any curtains
Wipe radiators.. front and back!
Replace any dead sponges/toothbrushes!
Don't forget to do your decluttering for today - you choose where
Extras

• Binbag dance
• HH doing something you want to do.. reading or whatever.
• Check where the car papers are and see when MOT/insurance/tax are due and put them in a file safely!! Mine is due this weekend!!.. Ditto house insurance papers!
• Clean out the upstairs bins.

Friday ~ Chimps rooms!/Spare rooms..
Level One...
Strip, wash and replace with clean, any bedding
Spend half an hour doing something that makes you happy.. and I do NOT want details!! Or else you get mine with full colour graphics and that won't be pretty !
Level Two...
Rope children in and declutter the floors and quickly vacuum them
Straighten cupboards of clothing/shoes
Make sure school stuff is ready for next week.. inc. homework done!
Level Three...
Tidy up a bookcase or a toy box.. or just a box of junk!
Wash any smelly curtains and wash windows
Clean out any pongy pets
Don't forget to do your decluttering for today - you choose where
Extras

• Go spend some time with your little people.. or big people.. or friends!!!!
• Binbag dance
• HHI
• Spend weekend slobbing!

Jazee

Thanks, I'm in.

MadamMim2013

Thankooo..
I will be in for this week.. need to get on top of a few areas & kick a threatening black dog up the arrse..:o

Valli

I'm in inasmuch as I'll be keeping up with dailies. Tuesday I am going to see an art exhibition - da Vinci no less.
Tomorrow morning I'm working *kerching*

roundtuit

I'm in. Thank you

Rxx

ionafan

Thank you Natty. I have safeguarding training all morning tomorrow, but I will do what I can after lunch.

I thought I had got rid of a lot of paperwork this weekend, but now even more has appeared on the spare bed

Narc0lepsy

Thanks for lists, I'm flitting about as usual.
This morning I woke up to find one of my knees was enormous. Not painful or anything, just looks like a tennis ball so I'm guessing housemaid's knee, but why? I don't remember kneeling down much lately, my run yesterday was uneventful with no slipping, pain etc and I don't have any injury which could have got infected. Baffling. Maybe it's come out in sympathy with my shoulder. I went for a walk this afternoon partly to test it but mainly because I've been catching up with report writing and had only taken 602 steps by 3pm so felt in need of some fresh air. No pain on the walk.

- One report finished and emailed.
- Another ready to be checked and emailed tomorrow morning.
- Dances practised with Mr N today as we go to Blackpool on Friday!
- Various bits of research done regarding Blackpool as we haven't been before; have spotted a live band we like the sound of for Sunday eve.
- Have cancelled gym classes tomorrow mainly because of the knee but also to give time to clear the work decks before I go away; I've got some training to deliver on Wed (already prepared) and an assessment on Wed pm so if I can finish the remaining 2 reports I'll be happy.
- My car was meant to be collected and serviced yesterday; I had an email confirming it but nobody turned up. When I rang, I was told they don't do servicing every Sat and they never do collections on a Sat. We had words. Manager is ringing back tomorrow, hopefully to grovel and organise servicing before the trip 'up north'.

House is looking fairly good for the start/end of the week - apart from my study which has a lot of filing outstanding.

White_musk

I have a teeny tiny bungalow and I live alone but my DD and DGD have recently moved five minutes away, we spend quite a bit of time together even though we all have busy lives.

I have majorly decluttered so have no real excuse as I should be able to clean top to bottom daily in a couple of hours. The problem is, I don't. I have a very bad germ phobia, so the wet room is cleaned thoroughly every day and things like the bin is emptied daily and disinfected. It's other jobs where I need some accountability.

Sorry for the novel but I think it's better to fully explain why I would like to join you all. I need my bum kicked and to have to admit if I don't do the jobs I should.

Thank you for the lists, I have to go out in the morning, I have no excuses in the afternoon.

Jazee

Welcome Whitemusk. Morning all.

I'm up early as I have three appointments today and need to have done the dailies and walked the dogs before I leave at 8.15.

Natty - I may not get to clean the oven as I always do the list from bottom up.

Have a great day everyone.

atypicalblonde

Morning all

After I posted yesterday I went all shivery and achey. Thankfully DH was here so I went to bed. I managed a small amount of dinner, watched some TV then went back to bed, don't think I moved all night.

Working today and tomorrow then off until 25th :j I am going on a course in between but that's offsite and doesn't feel like work.

Haven't done any flying this morning, too tired. I think I'll just do the basics until Wednesday.

Have lovely days all x

wishingthemortgaheaway

Ill be cheering you on this week. Away for work until friday and then at friends over the weekend. Next week will likely be a busy week for me in terms of flying!
Have a good week everyone.