Weekly Flylady Thread 19th August 2019

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!
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.
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- that’s 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 Kapers/Dining Room

Level 1

Clear sides and wipe down
Replace what lives there, wiping as you go
Empty bin and clean it out too
Wipe sill, sockets, door handles and switches
Clear and clean sink and accessories - don't forget those out-of-sight places - under plugs and under draining racks
Clean/polish table - wipe mats/change cloth
Check fruit and wash bowl
Throw away your manky dish cloth or sponge and replace with a new one!

Level 2

Wipe down all cupboard and drawer fronts, not forgetting handles and tops and bottom as well as fronts!
Clean hob - thoroughly. Wash all detachable parts too.
Sort fridge and wipe seals; weave stuff that needs using up into your meal plan
Dust dining area/room
Descale kettle if needed
Clear WM and DW filters

Level 3

Clean oven - don't forget lamp covers - remove them and wash them if you can
Sweep/mop/vacuum floor
Wipe out or wash out whiffy bins
Clean windows - and wipe the frames inside and out as far as you can

Extras
HHI
Don't forget to post any cards - remember next Monday is a BH in England and Wales
Mad Half Hour
Binbag dance

Terrific Tuesday Bathroom Blitz

Level 1

Shine the sink
Clean the loo inside and out - scrub that rim
Slug some bleach down
Wipe the light pull switch (and any other pull switches)
Empty the bin

Level 2

Clear the bath and clean it completely - check plughole is hair/gunk free
Clear the shower cubicle/screen
Fling towels, cleaning cloths and bathmats in the WM - on a HOT wash.

Level 3

Wash the windows
Scrub the floor
Replace the towels
Wash out the toothbrush holder
Clean any extractor fans/vents
Wipe down any units
Polish all taps with a fluffy cloth

Extras

S&S kitchen
MAD half hour
HHI

Wednesday HUMP DAY - the boudoir. Your space to re-charge and re-energise

Level 1

Open windows w-i-d-e
Strip bed
Allow to air
Remake bed

level 2
Clear flooLdrobe and chairdrobe
Clean windows
Vacuum, sweep or mop floor
Empty bin
Put as much stuff as you can away - clear the clutter

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. The sun/heat will damage the contents.
Rinse the cloth and wipe sockets and switches
Polish mirrors

Extras
S&S kitchen
S&S bathroom
HHI


Thursday Thrills - those neglected or high-traffic areas

Halls, stairs, landing, porch


Level 1

Clear out the clutter
Whack the mats against a wall
Clean windows and mirrors

Level 2

Dust all horizontal surfaces
Wipe banisters, light switches and sticky finger traps
Sort shoes - assign shoe-cleaning duty to shoe owners. Do any need repairing? Throwing?

Level 3

Check high places and dark corners for webs
Open the door and clean/wipe the frame.
Sweep, mop and vacuum the floor - whichever's best for your flooring

Extras

Assign a child to pocket checking - make sure nothing unpleasant is being harboured - throw any tissues. Do any coats need washing or cleaning?
Give kiddies a bin bag - to fill from their OWN room
Find a frog and start to nibble it and/or MAD half hour
S&S bathroom and kitchen


Friday Flourish Living room

Level 1

Open windows
Empty out any rubbish
Clear and clean coffee table/side tables
Rehome anything which is out of place
Wipe coasters
Deal with any flowers/water & wipe plants

Level 2

Dust and polish any wooden furniture or just dust
Check corners for cobwebs/spiders and remove
Dust skirting boards
Wipe handles/sockets/switches
Dust electricals

Level 3

Lift chair/sofa cushions and vacuum under them
Wipe leather furniture/vacuum sofas
Dust skirting boards/dado rails etc
Sweep/mop/vacuum floor

extras
clean windows in lounge
HHI
Binbag fling - grab a bin bag, run around the house and fill it with gibble and CHUCK IT OUT
S&S kitchen
S&S bathroom

roundtuit

I'm in - thank you

Small daily actions will be completed.

Hope everyone has a good week
Rxx

[Deleted User]

I'm in thank you ladies xx

I have just decluttered four chocolate biscuits...

Kitchen put to bed and washing sorted
See you in the morning xx

Smallholding77

Count me in too please Aiming for L2 for tomorrow

wishingthemortgaheaway

Evening all:
I REALLY need to be in this week. As stated on the previous thread I have an epic to do list for the start of the week. Broken down into 3 sub lists:

Sunday evening
unpack holiday leftovers food
Banking and accounts
Dry washing taken down
Sort Pickle's swimming bag
Display birthday & anniversary cards
Pay birthday cheques in via App
Tidy up from tea
Take cat sitter's thank you pressie round
Clear up evidence of expelled furball
Deal with post

All completed wooohoooo

Monday's list
Wash all washing one load in and timer set to finish as we get up in the morning
Hang all wet washing up
Put all dry washing away
Take Pickle swimming (4pm lesson)
Recycling out
Unpack all holiday stuff
Prep for work on Tuesday
Tidy living room
Tidy dining room
Tidy kitchen
Tidy hall, stairs & landing
Tidy bathroom
Tidy Pickle's bedroom
Tidy our bedroom
Tidy Loft office
Meal plan
Food shop - make it cheap!
Wash swimming stuff
Contact plumber re: shower

At some point this week
Repack swimming bag
Sweep front yard & do its usual tidy routine
Big bags of rubbish to tip
Old office chair to tip
Find a home (cellar?) for the pushchair Pickle is officially out of the pushchair now
Tidy, sweep & sort back yard
Clear out my car? cant remember what state I've left it in

Pack up and post wellies to friend
Write a list for joiner
Contact joiner
Buy bedroom wallpaper
Choose living room & dining room colours
House insurance renewal? if renewal documents arrive from current provider
Get shredder back from friend
Shredding
Test reel to reel tape machine


I know things will be added - but this is the start.

Fayolle

Thank you for the threads, and yes please. Definitely. Maybe. But I’ll do my best.
2 lots of 2 hour stints at the allotment today means that meal plans now need to be rejigged and so does the freezer.
Lists will be written.

Eyebright

Morning,

Please can I join in? I'm returning to the forums after a long hiatus with my tail between my legs! Debt to tackle and my house needs decluttering and getting back on top of. This seems like the place to sort out the latter!

Just getting sorted for work, and in 10 mins need to get the toddler up and ready for nursery. So I'll do what I can from the lists when I get home around 6pm. I did actually do quite a lot in the kitchen yesterday, so that will help today.

Also need to parcel up a few bits I sold on FB last night, ready to post on Tuesday when I'm off.

Have a good day everyone!

Valli

Morning all.
Just woken up so popped a washload on, now back in bed with a coffee.

As well as today's list I have a eBay sale to post.

See you later x

Fayolle

Morning.

Welcome, Eyebright.

DW emptied.
HHI done.
Airing cupboard sorted.
Dinner decided upon.

Off to work now so I’ll catch you later.

juliejim

Morning All

Well I don't even know where to start this morning! Obviously, the original plan was my BR as the kitchen was being done but now it's not...

Everywhere is a mess and covered in dust!

I've got a wash ready to go on the line and the second sink is full of water and zoflora so I can use it as a drainer. Then at least I can wash a few dishes before I have to dry them and put them away instead of one at a time!

I had brought a spare piece of lino from my M&D's to see if it would fit in the hall but we needed something down on the kitchen floor just until the proper flooring goes down as it was still sticky. DH said this piece in the shed, I said yes the wood effect one. Next thing I know he's cut it in half and put it down. It's only the new stuff that I was going to put down in the bathroom!! He says that was the only piece in there!

Anyway, I suppose I'd better get the washing on the line and walk the dog.

Have a good day all

Hugs

Jue

wishingthemortgaheaway

Morning. Continuing my epic to do list from 'up thread' (will update properly later)

Welcome Eyebright - have a good day at work.

Grrr to Lino & husbands Ju.

Round - hope you have a good day & week at work. Keep your head high MM can't win.

Everyone else - have you all got sunshine to get the washing pegged out? I have wooohooooo