Weekly Flylady Thread 7th February 2022

Natty68

Welcome to the weekly Flylady Thread.

We often see new flyers (gents welcome!) around this time of year so please don't worry if you feel you cannot keep up.  Similarly if your house has been neglected it won't be turned around in a day - but if you stay you will get into some good habits which do help!  Happy flying.

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'
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

Here Goes This week...

Marvellous Monday Mayhem! ~ Living Room, Hall and Stairs
Level 1
Vacuum through the living room, hall and stairs
Most important of todays tasks.. HH-knitting or whatever delightful creative pass time you choose!
Level 2
Dusting, even if around everything
Remove clutter making sure stairs especially are safe
Clean windows and all glass.. including the tv screen
Pounce upon the piles of coats and shoes and fling the ones that are no longer worn/needed/fit/wearable
Level 3
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 –

• Filing.. find a pile and file it
• Wipe down any paintwork that needs it.
• Binbag dance.. Get a binbag.. fill it and bin it!!!
• HHI

Terrific Tuesday - Kitchen and Dining Room
Level One
Clear and wipe kitchen surfaces
And have you half hour crafting or whatever relaxing thing you love to do!
Replace all your dead lightbulbs!
Level Two
Sweep and mop floors
Clean the hob
Wipe dining table.. (clean table cloth if necessary)
Level Three
Dust any extra furniture in dining area, checking for cobwebs on way round
Wipe and replace all those small appliances.. kettle, toaster etc
Wipe all the windows in these areas!!
Clean cupboard door fronts and fronts of appliances .. don't forget those kick boards..
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

• Muck out the fridge.. use up all those bits that are on the verge of getting themselves out of the fridge and biting you!.. or just eat them... nomnomnom
• Empty the medicine cabinet.. throw out everything manky/out of date (some medicines are actually poisonous after a certain length of time!!.. AB's being one of them!!) and restock.. all those coughs and snots that are flying around you must have depleted your stock, sore throats and wheezes... go on.. shoo...........
• 34 fling boogie..
• Empty the kitchen bin.. wash it out.. and make it smell SWEET
• Empty the medicine cabinet.. throw out everything manky/out of date (some medicines are actually poisonous after a certain length of time!!.. AB's being one of them!!) and restock.. all those coughs and snots that are flying around you must have depleted your stock, sore throats and wheezes... go on.. shoo...........

Wonderful Wednesday wishy-washy-wipe!- Master Bedroom & Landing

Level 1
Check fire alarms are working.. 
Clear a cluttered area in your room.. or spend at least 15 minutes doing it
Fling open the window and let in the freezing cold wetness.. even if just for half an hour..
Dont forget you very important HH-craft/knitting/you time!
Level 2
Remove and wash bed linen and duvet covers.
Dust surfaces & make sure no cobwebs..
Vacuum & turn mattress before replacing with fresh linen..
15 minutes floordrobe clearance
Level 3
Vacuum floors in bedroom and on landing
Sort through a cupboard and fling everything that is dead
Air the duvet
Extra tasks list, as usual choose one or more

• 31 fling boogie time, go on grab a bag and clear that clutter
• Clean the sticky hand prints off the wall ALL the way up the stairs! (apologies to those with more than 2 floors!)
• Clean windows in these rooms
• Sort your own shoe and bag collection.

Thursday Thrills- Bathroom and Study/Pc Area

Level One
Clean floors in these rooms
Spend that half hour crafting, knitting, cross-stitch.. whatever thing makes you happy!
Level Two
Clean baths, toilets, don't forget the outside! and sinks.. shine the taps with a toothbrush
Clear any clutter from desk
Dust PC and desk and wipe off those cup rings!!
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
Collect all the dirty laundry

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
• Empty out the bathroom cabinet.. clean it.. fling what you don't need and stash the rest in a beautiful manner.. colour ordered so you have a cupboard rainbow..
• Have you sorted your valentine things for your lovey-dovey one?

Friday Flyday- those frightening kids rooms and spare rooms
Level One

Clear away anything that isn't in it's place, clothes, toys, books etc
Spend at least half an hour doing something for yourself!!!!! paint your nails, make an appointment to have your hair done, a lovely soak in the bath.. whatever you feel like!!
If you have half term next week.. get the uniforms and coats washed quick!!.. no stress next Sunday!
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!! Wash the curtains!
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!.. If you've not worn it this winter.. get rid!
Wipe any sticky marks off walls and doors
Extra Task List

• Open a drawer you haven't actually looked in for weeks and deal with whatever treasures you find within!.. What is the most random thing you found?
• Wipe the radiators, skirtings and window & door frames!
• HHI
• End of week fling!! grab a binbag and fill it with stuff to leave the house.. rubbish or charity shop or to donate to a friend!

BadCat18

Evening

thanks for the lists, back today after a short break away. Bags unpacked, quick menu plan and food shop done, wm x 1 run and on the airer. Long hot bath for me and going to be an early night as I’m pooped.

back to work tomorrow but I will fly where I can.

hugs xx

jimali

Thankyou for the thread. I’m a re-joiner, used to be on here as JillD and have dabbled occasionally but my house is in need of some attention so here I am again! I’m going to roughly follow the room order but try not to stress about it.

My list for tomorrow is:
- empty DW
- tidy kitchen
- drop DS2 to college
- go for a run
- wash DS2 clothes
- put away 5 loads laundry
- wash bath towels
- dry bath towels
- make sure DD does school test
- book DS2 covid jab
- unpack suitcase from October!!!
- dust hall, stairs, front room
- hoover hall, stairs, front room
- declutter hall
- declutter front room
- sort filing pile in kitchen
- file paperwork
- go to hosp appt about gall bladder

pigpen

TY for Fred.. I am no doubt mad busy and achieve very little.

Welcome back Jimali.. How are the no doubt not-so-smalls doing?

OH has his first live customer services call on Tuesday.. I think we should all ring until we get through to him then give him hell haha... actually I offered to go sit in silence and hold his hand for it if he wants me to.

Right.. off to finish the body of this cardigan and crack on with sleeves..

jimali

Hi piggers, not so smallies are now 18, 17, and 14. All 3 have various mental health issues, it’s certainly still keeping me on my toes! Hope all of yours are ok

Valli

I will pop in and say hi.  Unlikely that any actual flying will happen unless DD does some.  

Dizzy_Imp

I'm in....flappy listlessly from my deathbed...

pigpen

jimali said:

Hi piggers, not so smallies are now 18, 17, and 14. All 3 have various mental health issues, it’s certainly still keeping me on my toes! Hope all of yours are ok

Ah the mental health of these young people is a huge worry.. I have one recovering from a full breakdown and several others with issues of varying degrees.. The whole autistic spectrum lives in my house but physically everyone is well.. I take that as a win. It is absolutely not a nice time to be a young person the world got a whole lot smaller, a whole lot nastier and nothing is ever forgotten.. it is just not nice.

Moomin collected from her boyfriends.

OH finding uniforms and I am finding out what is on the menu for tomorrow before doing pack ups.. every third Monday is pizza day and they stay hot dinners..

[Deleted User]

Morning lovelies

Happy new week to you all.

Natty - I’ve been thinking of you, how is everything going? X

I have lots to do today so really need to shift my bum. It is getting lighter in the mornings now which does make it easier. 

I’ll pop back in later to report progress. Hugs all round xx

YORKSHIRELASS

Morning all

I am in, slow start for me today, working 11am to 8pm ish so I will bank some hours for later in the week.  Sitting here in gym clothes with dressing gown over the top wasting time instead of getting on with my exercise.  

Fretting about DS2 a little.  He got the train into York yesterday to meet up with DS1 and some friends for a few drinks.  I always worry about him getting himself back to his student house on his own when he has had been drinking.  I sent him a message last night but he hasnt been on FB for 12 hours, which isnt that unusual, but I would just like to know he is OK.  He should be at work today so will text him in a bit.

LR does need attention, will try to do that before I go in to work.  Might hang some washing out too.  Best get myself moving.

roundtuit

Morning xx

I'm up and dressed. My bed is made and first brew supped. I've also done a laundry shuffle. My aim is to have the airer cleared and put away by tonight. Otherwise it's hanging around for the rest of the week. 

Man is coming to service the gas boiler some time between 8am and 1 pm. I only had to move one box and the (boxed) Christmas tree to provide access to the boiler cupboard. That's progress 😇

To Do Today List 
Let the boiler man in (and out 😉)
Feed the birds 
Put out the recycling 
WUDUPA 
Laundry shuffle x ?
Write shopping list 
Pay rent
Buy glue stick
Shop
LFT 

P and S are calling for coffee this morning as usual. 

Brew 2 and breakfast first.  Hope everyone has a good week. 
Hugs
Rxx