Weekly Flylady Thread 14th September 2020

Valli

Welcome to the weekly Flylady Thread.

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.

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 content! (i.e. it should be on-topic)
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 former Flylady 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 stopping, 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!
Frog (or other amphibian) ~ google 'eat that frog'
Spoons ~ google 'but you don't look sick' and/or 'The Spoon Theory'.

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
Marvellous Monday - Kitchen and Dining Room

Level 1
Open some windows for some fresh air (and warm too, apparently)
Wash up, dry up and put away (or remove all pots to DW) 
Clear sides and wipe down - wipe small appliances and caddies etc.  Don't forget the splashbacks or tiles!
Replace what lives there, wiping as you go
Empty bin and clean it out too - put it outside to dry in the sunshine, if you can.
Clear and clean sink and accessories - don't forget those out-of-sight places - under plugs and under draining racks - and shine those taps - or clean them!
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!  Put out a new hand towel and a new tea towel too
Good slug of bleach down pluholes and in overflows
Clean cruet, salt and pepper, wipe any sauce bottles that are used on the table

Level 2

Wipe down all cupboard and drawer fronts inside and out, not forgetting handles and tops and bottom as well as fronts!
Clean hob
Clean microwave
Sort fridge and wipe seals; weave stuff that needs using up into your meal plan; update shopping list as appropriate
Wash and wipe fridge shelves and baskets.
Dust dining area/room
Descale kettle if needed
Clean WM , TD and DW filters; remove WM detergent drawer and wash it out.
Wiipe inside of washer drawer and DW door

Level 3

Pick a cupboard or a drawer; empty it, clean it out and put back its contents tidily or sort through herbs and spice jars.  They do go off!  Fling anything OOD or grey instead of green.  Don't buy nrew until you need to.  If you are a geek with a spreadsheet of spices make sure you update your list. (I am and I did)
Sweep/mop/vacuum floor
Clean chairs (and highchairs) - don't forget under the seats where sticky fingers linger.
Clean windows in both rooms.
Go round the whole house wiping door handles, light switches and banisters - we WILL be germ-free!  Rember external handles and letterbox flaps.

EXTRAS

HHI
S&S bathroom
Paperwork/admin up to date
Meal plan for the week. - cook a double sized meal and freeze one for a CBA day - fish pie, cottage pie...something complete!  Do you need to update your freezer inventory?Twinkly Tuesday Bathrooms, cloak rooms and en suites

Level 1
Open window
Remove towels and fling in WM
Scrub Loo inside and out, slug wome bleach or descaler down afterwards

Level 3
Clean out baths and/or showers
Clean shower heads and hoses
Clean handbasins

Level 3
sweep and mop or vacuum floor as appropriate
clean windows
polish mirrors
dust and polish where necessary

Extras
Clean out cabinets 
make sure you have soap
HHI
S&S kithchen

Wonderful Wednesday

kids room/spare room 

level 1
strip bed (if necessary) and leave to air
open windows
clear floordrobe/chair drobe
use long duster and roll rouns top of walls for webs and light fittings

level 2
remake bed
dust sills, shelves and furniture
empty bins

level 3
clean windows
Dust skirtings
see to floor mop or vacuum
extras
wipe all handles, banisters, switches and other touch points
HHI
s&s bathroom
s&s kitchen

thrilling ThursdayThe Lounge, Hallway, stairs and landing

level 1

deal with flowers and pot plants
empty bins/ashtrays
clear gibble
plump cushions
wipe sofas with leather wipes or vacuum - look for all those dust-catching crevices

level 2
clean windows 
vacuum floors - and use an edging tool to get into all the nooks and crannies

level 3
dust all round - don't forget sills and skirtings
Wipe door handles, banisters, light switches and sockets - and the bits of the door where people hold to close it
Check for cobwebs and eliminate!
Clean lightshades and lampshades; check all lighting is functioning as it should
stand in the doorway and look back into the room - is it clean?

extras
S&s kitchen
s&s bathroom
HHI

Friday Flourish -  the boudoir,

level 1
strip bed
open window
clear floordrobe, chairdrobe etc
empty bin

level 2
vacuum headboard
dust bedframe
flip mattress if it's not been turned for a while and you can or you have help
remake bed, plump cushions, straighten throws
Clean window
remove as much clutter as poss - we are aiming to close WAC due to massively falling numbers - a restful room = a restful night (we hope)

level 3
dust everywhere
vacuum, sweep or mop floor as appropriate 

extras
s&s bathroon
s&s kitchen
HHI (if you have any - evil laugh as I don't!)

[Deleted User]

I'm in, thanks so much for the lists.

Feeling very out of sorts tonight. A bit meh and anxious. This continued uncertainty, new rules, the impact this will have on people's mental well-being - meh.

Anyway tomorrow is a new day and who knows what will go on in my crazy high school. Sleep well all xx

Jazee

Thanks Valli, I'm in.

SGT

Thanks Valli, I’m back in again! 😁 I really must try harder! 😁
Overnight oats prepared for the morning! 

Fayolle

Thank you Valli for this week and Natty for last week x
Level one doesn’t even start to touch the mess that is my kitchen - fruit fly influx anyone? I will try my best to keep up, honest. 

ionafan

Thanks Valli, I will do what I can.  I still need to finish 7m of hemming.

I survived hosting the Zoom meeting this afternoon, but the sunshine and lack of curtains in the study caused all sorts of problems with glare.  I ended up stealing the net curtain from DH's bedroom and fitting it to the curtain rail with safety pins!  I think I have just enough room to fit a net rod behind my new curtains: if so, I may have to fit some voiles in order to cope with  the daytime Zooming which is happening more frequently now, but I want to be able to pull them back out of sight when there's no sun.  Anyone got any advice on the best type to counteract glare, please?

pigpen

TY for Fred... just trotting to my nest so will update my week tomorrow..

Dot is growing up.. she has acorns... and she won't stop blooming poking them!! but it hurts *poke poke poke*... stop fluffing poking it!! She is going to drive me mad.. 2 children dropped into puberty months apart.. I may have to develop bad habits over this.. *cry*

roundtuit

WAC membership fully endorsed. Also fully paid up member of Weird Dreams Society (WDS). 

Woken from the dream and scared in real life by a noise outside. Eventually woke up enough to recognize the noise  - it was an owl!!!! 

I will fly today but not yet. Two loads of washing dried outside yesterday. 

I hope you are all asleep and having lovely dreams.

Rxx

kazwookie

Morning

I'm in

Wm today

Bed to do

Hoovering to do

Lawn to cut

Car to hoover out

Thanks for the thread

BadCat18

Morning 
 

Thanks for the thread x
WAC here too, back to work today and brain is already whirring about what I will find when I log on... 

yesterday I did some batch cooking so now we have 4 nights worth of suppers (at least) in the freezer, the kitchen needed a scrub after that lot anyway so I spent some time on it yesterday evening.... felt good to go to bed leaving it all sparkly and also means that most of the jobs on today’s list are already ticked off... yay!

WM is loaded and will start shortly on the timer, I’m going to get ready for the day and then will peg it out before starting work. I have a zoom meeting this evening so other flying might be limited to the dailies.

Have a good one all xx

mooomin

Morning all

As ever, I'm doing a pick and mix of the list today!

Level 1
Open some windows for some fresh air (and warm too, apparently)
Wash up, dry up and put away (or remove all pots to DW) 
Check fruit and wash bowl

Level 2

Wipe down all cupboard and drawer fronts inside and out, not forgetting handles and tops and bottom as well as fronts!
Sort fridge and wipe seals; weave stuff that needs using up into your meal plan; update shopping list as appropriate
Wash and wipe fridge shelves and baskets.

Level 3

Sort through herbs and spice jars.  
Go round the whole house wiping door handles, light switches and banisters 

EXTRAS

Meal plan for the week.
Do you need to update your freezer inventory?

My extras

Empty washing basket and get it all out on the line.
Clear the spare bed - it's for snoozing, not storing.

If I get all that done I'll be very impressed - it is Monday, after all