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Hello Forumites! However well-intentioned, for the safety of other users we ask that you refrain from seeking or offering medical advice. This includes recommendations for medicines, procedures or over-the-counter remedies. Posts or threads found to be in breach of this rule will be removed.Weekly Flylady Thread 31st May 2021



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 and Pigpen 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:
Monday ~ HAVE
THE DAY OFF AND DO SOMETHING FUN WITH YOUR LOVED ONES!!!
It is bank holiday
Do your dailies
Tackle a frog or 5
And spend the rest of the day doing nice things with your family!
Level One
Declutter and vacuum/mop the floor
Pile up all the hotspot into one mountain and pend 15 minutes sorting through it!
Level Two
Dust and deweb
Wash soft furnishings that need doing.. throws, curtains, blinds, nets.. whatevers..
Tidy up a cupboard/drawer or other storage vessel
Level Three
Wash stinky pet bedding/clean tanks etc
Wipe doors and skirtings and paintwork
Binbag dance
Extras
- Start your ascent of Mount Ironmore - aim to reach base camp today!
- Arrange services on fires/boilers etc..
- Scrub and demould doorseals! Don't forget the ones in the WM
- Tidy the top of the fridge/freezer
- Empty and wash out bins!
- Get those final bits sorted for back to school next week.
Level Three
- HHI
- Wash windows
- Wipe paintwork
- Catch up on a job you've been putting off... phonecalls, filing etc..
- Start thinking about pack lunches or dinner money, are the lunchboxes clean and where have you put them?
- IRONING IRONING and More ironing - or fold diligently and PUT IT AWAY!
Thursday ~ pick a room...
Level One
Declutter and vacuum/mop the floor
Clear window sills
Level Two
Dust and deweb
Scrub down kitchen units/table
Tidy up a cupboard/drawer or other storage
vessel
Level Three
Clean filters and door seals on
relevant appliances
Wipe doors and skirtings and paintwork
Binbag dance
Extras
- Wash windows
- Sort out having chimneys swept/boilers serviced etc ready for winter
- Organise car tax/MOT/insurance papers, household insurances extended warranties.. make sure everything is up to date and filed appropriately!
- HHI.. or HH-something else if you don't have any ironing!!!!
- Collect tea towels and table cloths for washing
- Put out fresh tea towels..
- Empty and wash out bins
- Wash windows
- Wipe doors and paintwork
- Wash any stinky pet beds.. or the pets themselves if you wish
Declutter Challenge 2025
DH declutter challenge award 🏅⭐️
Comments
-
TY for Fred..
Just sorted food for OH and washing.. x
LB moment 10/06 Debt Free date 6/6/14Hope to be debt free until the day I dieMortgage-free Wannabee (05/08/30)6/6/14 £72,454.65 (5.65% int.)08/12/2023 £33602.00 (4.81% int.)9 -
Thank you for the lists xx
Love to all
RxxIT ONLY TAKES SMALL DAILY ACTIONSFOR MAGIC TO HAPPENRosemary Ikpeme10 -
Thank you Natty for the new thread...level 1 for me I feel.
And huge thanks to Piggers for stepping in last week.
Don't put it DOWN; put it AWAY"I would like more sisters, that the taking out of one, might not leave such stillness" Emily DickinsonJanice 1964-2016
Thank you Honey Bear12 -
Thank you Natty. If you don't mind, I'll save that list for Tuesday as I shall be flying at DS2's tomorrow. I'm so glad I have almost finished sorting the Treasurer's files: this is going to be a busy week.
Glad to hear you're on the mend, Valli. Take things slowly.
Enormous (((hugs))) to Fayolle and family xxx
This evening I have mown the lawn (closely supervised by Rosie) and disposed of the cuttings in the green bin, watered my desiccated plants (the few that came up/survived), made a chicken casserole for DS2 (yes, I know casseroles are for winter and it's likely to be hot tomorrow, but it was the easiest thing for me to cook and for him to eat, and - to make life easier - there is enough for our evening meal as well), and started a list of things I need to take with me. I might even take a couple of boxes of my neglected ancestors along for the ride, in the hope of having a free hour in which to sort the papers into chronological order!
DH has already taken himself off to bed. Having caught up with zzz this afternoon, I am not quite ready to crash yet. I have washing to sort and 3 or 4 books to put away first. I've achieved more than I expected today
Why are there fireworks tonight? Rosie is very scared and curled up close to my feet under the desk. Awwww, she's relaxing now, so hopefully that's the end of them. G'night all x
10 -
Thank you. Just… thank you xx
I’ll do my best, you never know I might even make level 1 x9 -
Valli.. it was my pleasure to torture every one for a few days..
.. They loved it I'm sure! You take it steady this week.. and the next few too!!
I have made a start on this knitting though.. the pattern was weir so I have adapted it to make it quicker to knit up.. it is going to take an age I''m sure. lolI'm definitely going to be feeling it tomorrow with all this lifting and shifting and stuff.
LB moment 10/06 Debt Free date 6/6/14Hope to be debt free until the day I dieMortgage-free Wannabee (05/08/30)6/6/14 £72,454.65 (5.65% int.)08/12/2023 £33602.00 (4.81% int.)8 -
Evening all x
Thanks for the lists x
spent a few hours in dancepops’d garage with DH. We have cleared a path down the middle so I can get an idea what we are dealing with. More books for crying out loud. Obviously the thousands in the house weren’t enough. I found several coats which the mice had burrowed nests in to. Didn’t see any rodents but found evidence. 2 mountains piled in the back garden and a car full taken to the skip. Found a commode which needs to be returned so I cleaned that.
Back at dancetowers I have washed the fence/ gate and outside of the shed as they were annoying me. Washed a Ben 1 0 scooter ready to tip or donate. Watered my seedlings. Found a deceased duckling by the conservatory so plant pottedit for DH to deal with, he has done so.
DH has ironed
We went a walk intending to have a pub meal outside but we chickened out as it look busy and noisy so we returned home and booked a rare takeaway.10 -
Woke up early, v. hot & sweaty. Good job it's a double bed as I still have a dry pillow to use! Fireworks here too, Ionafan...no clue why.
started a new baby cardigan last night - hadn't read or done anything which required concentration for a week so another sign I'm improving. Put throws in WM.
Goingto exit WAC now, I hope.
Don't put it DOWN; put it AWAY"I would like more sisters, that the taking out of one, might not leave such stillness" Emily DickinsonJanice 1964-2016
Thank you Honey Bear10 -
Morning all
Slept well, up early to pay some bills and shuffle some money around. Back is aching, been overdoing it a bit I guess, 80 miles on the bike in just over a week, plus other exercise.
Taking Mum to the coast today, we are heading for a big country park with plenty of parking and will do a little walk then try and find somewhere that isnt too busy for lunch.
Not much flying will be done here today. Enjoy your bank holiday Monday for those lucky enough to get a day off x12 -
Morning xx
I siept yayyy. On the down side, I went to bed with a headache and I've woken up with it. I don't know if it's my eye or my sinuses, either way I'll be taking parrots to dull it.
I'm up, my bed is made, I've changed the towels in the bathroom and set WM swishing. First brew is going down nicely. I'm going to visit a friend and her chickens this morning. Covid restrictions have suited me rather too much and I need to venture out and 'people' a little. Friends are asking when we can meet up and I'm thinking 'can't we just text and make occasional phone calls like we've been doing?' Anti-social Annie, that's me.
I dreamed that the chippy let people in to make an old style queue - you know, when strangers stood next to each other and breathed each other's air! I was horrified. Even my subconscious is covid aware 🥴
Have a lovely day
RxxIT ONLY TAKES SMALL DAILY ACTIONSFOR MAGIC TO HAPPENRosemary Ikpeme11
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