Weekly Flylady Thread 6th September 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 to Valli for last week's thread.

THESE LISTS ARE ONLY SUGGESTIONS AND NOT A MUST DO LIST, YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOME TO POST AND FOLLOW YOUR OWN.
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'
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!

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


Monday Mayhem ~ Living Room, Hall and Stairs
Level One..
Vacuum through the living room, hall and stairs
Level Two...
Dusting, even if around everything
Remove clutter making sure stairs especially are safe
Clean windows and all glass.. including the tv screen
Clear the mantel and only put back the items which are supposed to be there.. and that doesn't include letters, keys or other treasure!
Level Three...
Wipe and water plants
Put all your hotspots in one pile and work your way through it..
Vacuum under furniture you can manage to move without hurting yourself.
Extra Mission: Pick one or more of the following tasks –

• Have a bit of a tidy in the cupboard under the stairs.
• Wipe down any paintwork that needs it.
• Binbag dance.. Get a binbag.. fill it and bin it!!!
• Wash any cushions, throws or curtains that need it.. Do you need your winter curtains up yet?

Tuesday Bluesdays~ Kitchen and Dining Room
Level One...
Clear and wipe kitchen surfaces
Level Two...
Sweep and mop floors
Sort & clean the fridge

Wipe dining table..put a nice vase of flowers on it to make it look pretty!!!
Level Three...
Dust any extra furniture in dining area, checking for cobwebs on way round.
Wipe all your small appliances..toaster, kettle etc..
Wipe & declutter all the windows sills in these areas!!
Clean cupboard door fronts and fronts of appliances .. don't forget those kick boards..
Wipe door handles..
Check those washing machine filters and drawers for ickiness!! Tumble dryer, cooker hood and dishwasher filters need to be done too!!
Extra Mission : help yourself

• Wipe down the hob and oven, go on you know you want to!!!!
• Wipe down any tiles and shine those taps.. a toothbrush is great for cleaning away the gunk!
• 32 fling boogie.
• GO! buy yourself a treat.. you deserve it!
• Empty the bin.. wash it out.. and make it smell SWEET

Wednesday warts ~ Bathroom and Study/Pc Area
Level One...
Clean floors in these rooms
Level Two...
Clean baths, toilets, don't forget the outside! and sinks.. shine the taps with a toothbrush
Clear any clutter from desk
Polish the monitor drag out the pc case and dust the top and back!
Wipe keyboard, house phone, sockets, switches and mouse etc
Level Three...
Wash your bathroom mats, nets, clean blind/curtains etc
Wipe down tiles in bathroom.. defragment your pc while doing this.
Empty and clean out all the upstairs bins!
Clean shower screen/curtain if you have one/if required
Pull out the pc desk and clean BEHIND AND UNDER it!!!!!!

Extra mission: Take your pick!

• Wipe the skirtings, door and window frames in these rooms
• Fling all those empty bottles and tubes
• Replace any sponges, flannels, toiletries that need it
• Clean the outside of all cupboards in the bathroom

Thursday Throwout!!- Master Bedroom & Landing
Level One...
Check fire alarms are working.. mine needs a new battery... I didn't think it was working until it alarmed at me the other day!
Remove and wash bed linen and duvet covers.
Fling open the window and let in the rain/sunnyness
Level Two...
Dust surfaces & make sure no cobwebs..
Vacuum & turn mattress before replacing with fresh linen..
Air the duvet
15 minutes floordrobe clearance
Level Three...
Vacuum floors in bedroom and on landing
Sort through a cupboard and fling everything that is dead
Clear a hotspot.. or spend 15 minutes clearing one.
Extra tasks list, as usual choose one or more

• 32 fling boogie time, go on grab a bag and clear that clutter
• Clean all paintwork on the landing
• Clean windows in these rooms
• Clear out your spare linen.. all those holey sheets, manky duvet covers and stained pillow cases.. FLING!

Friday Frenzy ~ those frightening kids rooms and spare rooms
Level One...
Clear away anything that isn't in it's place, clothes, toys, books etc
Make an appointment for some ME-time.. hairdressers? manicure? night out with friends? .. whatever just do it!
Level Two..
Vacuum the floor
Dusting.. all those shelves and flat fluffy surfaces!! Don’t forget the light shade and curtain pole!!!
Strip beds, turn and vacuum mattresses!! and replace with fresh linen .. check if duvets need freshening up too!!
Level Three....
Clean 2 windows
Sort through a cupboard/chest of drawers and get the clothes out which are no longer wearable, too small or out of season!
Wipe any sticky marks off walls and doors
Extra Task List

• Find 5 things to ebay/freecycle
• Wipe the radiators, skirtings and window & door frames!
• Binbag dance!!! grab a binbag and fill it with stuff to leave the house.. rubbish or charity shop or to donate to a friend!

pigpen

TY for Fred.. I have a million things to do this week...

Still have uniforms to sort.

pack up bags to sort

food to buy

Pixies shoes to check

Oh and 3 mattresses to buy

a million thing to sell.

I am so fed up of no one helping..

Valli

I will be flying on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

I have shredded Dil's stuff (which she wanted shredding) and have washed and ironed today.

ionafan

Thank you for the new thread, Natty.  I will do what I can this week.

Lovely to have you back with us, Jojo.  I cannot imagine how you can cope with 2½ jobs and train somebody at the same time!  I'm sorry your diet has become even more restricted, but very pleased that your symptoms have improved significantly

I almost had a full meltdown this morning (and felt worse than at any other time during the pandemic), all over a monthly event that I was supposed to be starting up again next week, but my boss has told me in no uncertain terms not to start it again in the present circumstances, so I have calmed down again.  I had spent 3 days last week trying to prepare, and I have saved my notes in case they might come in useful one day.  Because of the change of plan, I can now cross several things off my planned to-do list for this week, but there will still be plenty to keep me occupied between flying stints - and I must not forget that I have an eye check at the local outpatients-only horse piddle tomorrow at 2.00.

I'm going to bed earlier than usual in the hopes of making an early start tomorrow.  Hope everyone has a good week x

BadCat18

Hi all

Joining you all again if I may? Hectic times here since I last posted, have been following along and am sending hugs to those in need x

I am in the WAC again, hoping I am alone but will just plump the cushions in case.

back to paid stuff tomorrow (today…) after a week off, DH is still off so he has a list for this week LOL, typically the weather is going to be warm and sunny now that I am going back… just my luck! I will be starting a new job (same company) as I’ve been promoted, it’s all rather scary and probably the reason for me being in the WAC, will be a dual role for a couple of weeks while I handover all my current workload to colleagues, one of whom is brand new and is probably already feeling overwhelmed with it all!

House looking pretty good so need to keep to the routines to stay on top of it, thanks for the lists to help with that x

In other news, mission slinky is back on, I’ve rejoined SW as I feel that I need the accountability of a weekly weigh in… 5 lbs down so far, (many, many more to go but trying not to think too much about that!) been going for a long walk daily to help with both weight loss and to ensure I get out of the house, must try and keep up with that when back at work…

bye for now, will be back again at a more reasonable hour xx

[Deleted User]

Morning all

Lovely to see you Blackcat, I think of you often. I’m guessing you work for some sort of large corporation - please take care of YOU as well, you can’t pour from an empty cup xx

Piggers - as ever I am happy to help just say the word and we’re on a train xx

I have woken with a sore head and foggy eyes. Once I have done the school run, I need to get some bits of food and walk the dog. I have unloaded the DW, also the doormat is crying out for a wash as it’s filthy so I’ll stick that in shortly.

I’ll check back in later xxxx

roundtuit

Morning all xx

Thank you for the lists Natty and Valli xx

Big hug to iona xx And piggers xx And kaz xx And YL xx And asb xx And BadCat xx Group hug 🤗 to start the day  / week ❤

I'm back to Mondays off.  Yayy. So hoping to get back into a routine. There are so many good ideas in my head- if only I could translate thoughts into deeds. Less screen time. More exercise. Do a bit every day. You've heard most of it before 🙄

Round 1
Breakfast & brew 2
LFT
Shower & wash hair
Get dressed
Feed the birds
Put out the recycling 
Take clean washing up
Put airer away
Strip bed and wash bedding
Coffee

Good to see you Jojo Xx

Love to all 
Rxx

Fayolle

Morning all,
Thank you for the lists. Yet again I’ll be trying, but it’s another topsy turvy with work days swapped to fit appointments. Hospital today with DD. She had another crisis breakdown at the weekend, which breaks my heart. How do you tell an 18 year old to cope with it and that it will all be fine, when you don’t know that it will be?
This evening a friend has last minute asked me out to a rather posh restaurant for a charity event. I’m not sure it’s wise and of course now I just want to huddle in a ball on the sofa, but I have said yes. Glad rags will need to be assembled out of whatever I can rustle up in the wardrobe. Hmmm this may not be a posh look!
The wm is of course on this morning. I cleared the ironing pile yesterday 😇. I need to water the gh and garden veg as it is so dry everywhere, and I cba last night. 

Lovely to see you back, BadCat and Jojo.
Take care all xx

Jazee

Morning all.  Coping vibes going out to all that need them.
Dog walk and bedding changed so far this morning.  Better get moving, I've a lot to get through today.

[Deleted User]

Dog walked as part of school run. Flew round Aldi and stuck to my £12.50 budget by adding up as I went. Cuppa and pancake time now xx

roundtuit

Round 1 completed except for coffee. I'm so hot that I don't fancy a hot drink at the moment. 

Round 2
WUDUPA a bowl of pots
Send LFT result to work 
Put away bag 1 - birthday presents
Put away bag 2 - birthday presents 
Peg out WM load 1
Set WM load 2 swishing

Hugs to Fayolle and DD xx One day at a time my lovelies 🐷🐷

Rxx