Weekly Flylady Thread 17th May 2021

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.

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 Valli 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’

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

Here goes this week:

Measly Monday - Living room, hall, stairs and porch!
Level One
Declutter ALL the floors!!
Clean out the fire.. make sure it is cool.. if it needs a service/chimney swept get that sorted
Level Two
Vacuum/sweep all the floors.. stairs too!
Vacuum/sweep under furniture you can safely move!
Vacuum sofas
Level Three
Polish any glass.. pictures/mirrors etc
Wash any soft furnishings that need it
Wipe down ALL the paintwork!
Extras

• Wipe and water plants
• Dust all the electricals... carefully... We don't want any burnt or singed flybodies.
• Binbag dance
• HHI

Tuesday - kitchen and dining mess

Level One
Clear and wipe work surfaces
Wipe and replace small appliances
Level Two
Empty cutlery drawer.. wash cutlery tray and replace everything neatly.. get rid of all the odds and sods that shouldn't be in there..
Wipe the front of the units, kickboards and the large appliances
Sweep and mop the floor
Level Three
Wipe dining table and replace cloth if needed
Clean out the fridge
De-web and fluff the room
Extras

• Wash the windows
• Wipe down paintwork/sideboards/units in dining room
• Clean filters and detergent dispensers
• HHI

Wonderful Wednesday - childrens/spare rooms (this can be a second reception room or another room but do try to complete something!)

Level One

Strip and remake beds

Declutter floor!

Level Two

Fill a box with junk from the floor and sort it to its rightful place!

Collect all the laundry from upstairs

Wash any curtains/cushions/duvet covers etc that are needy

Level Three

Sort through a cupboard of clothing

Wash the windows

Deweb and dust and wipe any grotty bits!

Extras

• Binbag dance
• Reshuffle any shelves
• Wipe down any pc's/game consoles etc in these rooms
• Polish ALL the mirrors in the house!!

Thursday Thrills - Bathroom and Study..
Level One
Declutter the floors
wipe down sofas and seats
Level Two
Dejunk the desk and wipe off the gunge
Vacuum/mop floors
Scrub the bath, sinks, toilets, showers and tiles etc
Level Three
Wash the windows
Empty out a cupboard clean it out and put back only the bits you need to keep
Defrag the pc and delete 50 useless emails

Extras

• Collect all the laundry from upstairs
• HHI
• Change any lightbulb you have been leaving..
• Sort out the coats and bags and shoes..

Finally Friday - Master bedroom and Landing

Level One

Strip and wash bedding!

Clear some floordrobe

Level Two

Clear landing floor.. or sort a hotspot out there!!

Wash windows

Vacuum floors

Level Three

Sort out shoes and coats and bags! etc

Binbag dance
HHI

Extras

• Reorder and tidy a chest of drawers.. if there is anything to get rid of.. DO IT!!
• List 5 things to sell..
• Dust and deweb
• Make sure those smoke alarms are working!!! (do not set fire to anything.. just press the button!!)

roundtuit

I'm in. Thank you for the lists xx
Rxx

Fayolle

Uh-oh. Nearly first in, that won’t end well. Thank you for the lists, last week and this week, Valli and Natty.
I will do my best. Meal planning now for the week. DD has announced that she will be going back to vegetarian (but maybe not shellfish…) from “some time” next week. I am planning in the fish finger sandwich option with my own salad cream so that I can join in the flylady party with Round and Pigpen 😉.

[Deleted User]

Thank you for the lists ladies.

I’m in as much as I can be in between working full time this week, the usual kids after school merry go round of football and swimming, and really trying to get the BD off my chest. Haven’t been in a good place; in an ideal world I need some time off but it’s just not an option. Half term in a fortnight. I am taking my anxiety meds more than normal and more than once considered getting a doctor phone appointment to get signed off sick for a while. 

I haven’t told anyone in RL I feel like this, no one really to tell who I trust with these feelings.

Moan over. I’m going to bed sleep well all x

BadCat18

Ooh fishfinger sandwich, yummy, can I have mine with tomato ketchup please?

thanks for the list, I will do my best to be in around the paid stuff, I’m tired tonight after a busy but quite productive day, will be off to bed soon and hoping to stay out of the WAC.

take care x

ionafan

Thank you, Natty and Valli.  I shall be flying this week, but possibly from my own lists. 
DH has WUALTD, so my first job early tomorrow morning will be putting away the clean pots.
I've never eaten a fish finger in a sandwich, but I have eaten them with salad cream and enjoyed them - haven't had any for years, though, as they're not on the SW approved list
Is the parrot male or female, or just not saying?  Might have to get him/her some flying goggles...
(((Hugs))) spoons and sticks to all in need - especially asb xx   
Hope everyone has a good (or at least better) week xx

pigpen

I am so tired!!! My arms still hurt.. I have to hold my cup of tea with 2 hands it is so painful, I cannot lift the kettle and cooking dinner was very slow going.

I have bathed 3 smelly girls though.. Pixie complains I scrub her hair too hard then says her scalp feels all tingly and shiny once it is all brushed and dried.. she is so weird lol. Dot had a scream because she was cold after her bath so she snuggled in her dressing gown in DS1's bed and watched tv for a bit.. she was soon warm.

DS2 just came in and asked if I binned the old stinking beanbag, I said yes, I walked in the room while you were sitting in there and took from right in front of you .. haha.. honestly, it was gross! It must have had all manner of bacterial colonies on it.

Dot seems to have left her lunch box at school so she has the spare.. she will not be happy in the morning.

Iona.. sometimes we all need a little of what we love. come eat FF sammiches with us.. we insist!! You can have salad with it to appease the SW demons.

Tomorrow.. another email to send, or I might do it now.. I will do it now..
Washing shuffle, I need to get Boogs and DS2's out before it grows legs.
DW
Vacuuming I might not be able to do, it depends on my arms and how dysfunctional they are feeling..
I need to fill up the black bins so that shouldn't be too difficult in this bear pit.
I have a few ebeast parcels to get together and post and a form for the sensory processing assessment which they wanted back from school before easter but the senco gave to OH on Friday night pickup.. She has probably been watching for him to go alone because I think I terrify her lol.

I really need to do what I can in the living room though, it is pretty dire, I couldn't let anyone in it that's a certainty.. but I have spent most of the last week running about like a nutter and just not had time to do anything in there.

Measly Monday - Living room, hall, stairs and porch!
Level One
Declutter ALL the floors!!
Level Two ~ vacuuming all depends on my arms which are still hurting..
Vacuum/sweep all the floors.. stairs too!
Vacuum/sweep under furniture you can safely move!
Vacuum sofas
Level Three
Wipe down ALL the paintwork! ~I can't even SEE the paintwork.. lol.
Extras

Wipe and water plants ~I can't reach ~ Delegated

Dust all the electricals

Binbag dance ~ My aim for today is to fill 2 wheelie bins which are a little less than half full each.. they will be FULL for binday tomorrow!

I'm not sure what I can manage from the list but I can delegate a few bits and all the gibble will be scraped into a pile for the owners to remove.. the rest gets binned and I will see where I am up to then.

Lionels photos from Wednesday.. He had a wonderful time. DD1 made the lion on his cake and the vegan chocolate cake (He has a lot of allergies, eggs being the worst and milk and tomatoes and citrus fruit.. he is a nightmare!)

[Deleted User]

Morning,

Haven’t joined in for ages but I’m in this week

Hope everyone has a great Monday.

Pmo2
x

BadCat18

Morning all

About to start paid stuff here as have early meeting. Will catch up on thread and flying later...

have a good day x

ionafan

pigpen said:

Iona.. sometimes we all need a little of what we love. come eat FF sammiches with us.. we insist!! You can have salad with it to appease the SW demons.
Lionels photos from Wednesday.. He had a wonderful time. DD1 made the lion on his cake and the vegan chocolate cake (He has a lot of allergies, eggs being the worst and milk and tomatoes and citrus fruit.. he is a nightmare!)

I'm never averse to trying new tastes, pigpen - that's how I got to be the shape I am!  I get fed up with plain salad, but I love fish fingers.  Count me in!
Lionel has such a cheeky face   You can see how much he's enjoying himself!
One froggy job got finished before I fell into bed last night and the letter just needs to be posted today.  There are plenty more where that came from.  DH has to go to a fasting blood test at 9.50 so I must remind him to get up soon: he always takes twice as long to get ready as he leaves himself time for, and he will need my help with his dressing and the dreaded stocking.
My other plans for the day include taking photos and posting on Freecycle, so that I can tidy the RoD.
(((Hugs))) spoons sticks and love to all xx

roundtuit

Morning xx 
I can't help smiling every morning when I wake up to floor in my bedroom.  
I'm up, I've made my bed,  and I'm supping my first brew.  I've brought down 3 Leaving cards, which I'll be keeping - in a small box with other special cards so I know where they are; and a pair of knickers with no elastic - rag bag. 

Hope everyone has a good week. 
Rxx