Weekly Flylady Thread 28th 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 
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 plugholes 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.
Wipe inside of washer drawer and DW door paying particular attention to manky crevices

Level 3

Sort out the plastic storage - does everything have a lid?
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!  Remember external handles and letterbox flaps.

EXTRAS

HHI
S&S bathroom
Paperwork/admin up to date - month end looms
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
check stocks - soap, loo rolls etc
HHI
S&S kitchen
check flowers and add water if necessary (5 vases here!)
Tip run

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
Start thinking about winter prep - have you an outside pipe/tap which needs frost protection?

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
Wipe all door handles and switches

Friday Flourish - Hall, stairs, landing, lobby, porch...whatever gunky passageway needs some TLC

Level 1

Clean windows - this includes wiping frames and sills

Bang mats outside

Take a feather dusty to all those nooks and crannies and tickle out those eight legged fiends

Put as much as you can away out of sight - if necessary fling old coats

Polish any wooden balustrades or bannisters

Wipe sticky door plates and handles

Dust everywhere

Clean light shades

Check outside lights are working

Dust skirtings

Vacuum, sweep or mop floors as appropriate

Wash down doors - inside and out

Polish door furniture

Clean icky cat flaps

Extras

Bin bag dance...you know you want to

S&S kitchen

S&S bathroom

HHI

Spend that me time on you!

Fayolle

oohhh early in...it won’t last... thank you for the lists, this week and last. Not sure where I’d be right now without the lists and the wonderful flyladies x
Busy / stressful week ahead- A level mocks, so who knows what importance they might have come next year.
But right now I’m winding down in preparation, pack up done, kitchen tidied, cuppa in hand. 

pigpen

TY for Fred.. I will build a list tomorrow starting with a B&Q trip!

Narc0lepsy

Thanks for list-writers.
Thanks Fayolle for kale advice; I thought it would probably be ok but didn't want to risk losing it as I have so much! Freezing spinach seems to be my current major occupation, it seems to grow back in a day!
Today I seem to have done pretty much 3 things: go to church, go for a run and finish off the 4 masks I started when BIL was here. I'm so carp at sewing - masks are so easy yet something always goes wrong.
Actually I did manage some washing up and to ring my mum. And pick some tomatoes, but that counts as a daily now.
Booked a carvery meal for Wed as I have a half price voucher and I'll have been to uni.
Tomorrow I have a Zoom training webinar followed by a Zoom coffee with a friend.    Then, sometime after lunch, the local plumber/boiler/etc men will come and give a verdict on whether they can install the reconditioned range. Fingers crossed
Tues I have swimming booked, then Mr N and I are shopping for items to put in Christmas charity boxes which have to go to my Mum's via my brother on Thursday.  Brother arrives Tuesday.
Wed is my first day back at uni - student has a Hemel Hempstead address so I'm rather grateful she isn't from a Covid-ridden town. Poor thing is training to be a physio - wonder how they will do the hands-on lessons.
Thursday I'm meeting my 1:1 student.
Friday swimming.
So in between that lot there is quite a lot of admin, organisation and flying needed - although it must be said that Mr N did a lot of flying today.  Have a good week everyone.

ionafan

Thank you, Valli.  I will aim to do Level 1 tomorrow, then move some more books back into the study.  I have a Zoom meeting at 2, then Rosie's walk, then tea, then another Zoom at 7.30.  I shall be goggle-eyed by bedtime.

I followed my list for today, but the chance of zzz after lunch disappeared as we were invited to DS1 & Co for a cuppa and a slice of DGD1's birthday cake, for which we all sat out in the glorious sunshine - their patio is a wonderful sun trap   After our evening meal I sat down on the sofa and promptly dozed off!

Here's hoping that the WAC will stay empty tomorrow morning xx

skint_breeder_5

Morning. I have missed you all, its been a crazy few weeks.  Sorry for being missing in action. I have had issues with my heating and plumbing and then my cooker packed up (I've had it since 2004 and it hasn't been insured for the last 4 years as they stopped making spares for it, so it has lasted well). So it's been enough to keep clean and fed this past few weeks. Over the course of the next few weeks, everything should be fixed. Hot water  running pipes, warm house and hot food.
New cooker arrives tomorrow but I have to wait a few days for it to be connected as I am getting a freebie from a sparky friend, rather than pay £70 install on top. And finish packing the house up ready for floorboards to be lifted to sort out the heating and send DFF1, 2, 3 and 4 on enforced holibobs until everything is sorted. 
So I will be trying to keep pace with everyone and catch up on Fred when I can..hugs, sticks and spoons x

kazwookie

Morning

WAC member here

Cat fed

Thanks for the lists

YORKSHIRELASS

Morning all

Thanks for lists, exercise class done, off for a shower now, working from home mainly today but I do have to go out on a brief site visit.  Felt restless, grumpy and out of sorts yesterday but today is a new day and I am determined to stop fretting about things outside my control.  Going to make chilli for tea, both veggie and meat options, and I must pick up dogs prescriptions from vets.  Busy day!

roundtuit

Morning xx

Power cut here preceded by a bang so who knows when I'll get my brew   

Rxx 

[Deleted User]

Morning all,

Quick one from me, dreading work today, hugs to all. Thanks for the lists I need them. Have good days all xx

Mademoiselle

Morning,  Thanks for lists and motivation

Bed made, clothes picked up
Doctors appointent 
Chemist 
Shopping 
HHI 

Having breakfast now and then will put a load of laundry on.  Other jobs for today including vacuuming everywhere and lesson planning for this week.  I MUST LESSON PLAN TODAY.

Hugs to all that need or want, have a good day