Weekly Flylady Thread 10 April 2023

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, rammel, 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

Bank Holiday Monday

S&S kitchen
s&S bathroom 
spend at least 30 minutes doing something you love and/or pampering yourself.  A nap, incidentally, counts as pampering too!  Read a book, gentle gardening, going for a walk, watching tv, listening to music, whatever.  Today is a day to “stand and stare”.
 

Tuesday - back at the flying!

Kitchen and dining room

Level 1

clear any pots, dry and put away
clean sink, draining rack etc
clear window sill, wipe frame and clean windows
clear worktops, wipe them and tiles/solashbacks
wipe what lives there and put back
wipe chairs/high chairs including out of sigh areas where sticky fingers go

level two
empty fridge, wash shelves and salad boxes etc
throw anything that is unusable
weave leftovers etc into meal plan
wipe out fridge and seals and return contents tidily
clear table in DR and clean it
replace cloth or wipe mats

level 3
wipe down all cupboards etc
sweep, mop or vacuum floor in both rooms


extras
s&s bathroom
hhi


Wednesday…your bedroom

level 1

open the window to le5 in some fresh spring sunshine
strip the bed
clear the floor/chairdrobe

.evel 2

wipe windowsill and frame
clean window
vacuum/dust headboard etc
remake bed

level 3
dust all round
sweep/mop floor

extras
s&s kitchen 
s&s bathroom


Thursday - Bathrooms, cloakrooms, en suites

Level 1

Open the windows
Empty the bins
Wipe sill and frame
clean windows - and any mirrors while you’re at it
wash out toothglases etc

Level 2

Remove all detritus, lotions, sponges etc from bath and/or shower
Spray with cleaner of choice
After 5 minutes rub down and rinse, using a bathroom sponge
Empty and wipe any shelves then wipe whatever you’re putting back as you go.
polish chrome towel rails 


Level 3
Clean loo outside and in - scrub under rim
Scrub basin
Clean crevices round taps
replace towels, mats and facecloths with nice clean ones
liberally bleach loo, drains and overflows 
 

extras
s&s kitchen

Friday - a little of what you fancy - pick and choose and remember (for we are cunning) a tidy house LOOKS clean!  Allocate tasks to smaller flyers!

• Open a few windows while (if) it's sunny and let in the fresh air
• Straighten the living room - plump cushions, wipe coffee table, empty bins 
• Run the vacuum cleaner round the furniture
• Clean any window that hasn't been cleaned for a while
• Straighten up the hallway - if you can shift stuff - excellent
• bash doormats against an outside wall
• water plants, sort through cut flowers and put any that are looking wilted in the compost bin
• Wash a whiffy pet blanket - or a cruddy shower curtain - and stick on the line in the breeze
• S&S kitchen
• S&S bathroom
• Make a dent in the ironing pile
• Make sure smaller flyers know where bookbags/PE bags and kits and school bags are for Monday
• Get school uniform ready for Monday
• Open the front door and wipe the frame - especially at the bottom where dust and debris gets trapped
• Check smoke detectors
• Get ahead for next week and mealplan 
• Phone a friend for a natter
• binbag dance
• polish school shoes 

pigpen

ty for Fred.. I am alive and anything beyond that right now is a bonus.. nothing interesting going on.. it's just me.

Fayolle

Whoops, first in. Thank you for the thread.  Now a stand and stare day I can do. Thank you x

Narc0lepsy

thanks for thread.
Another lovely day here so walked to church. Thankfully the flowers hadn't wilted overnight.
Made up the flower arrangement to take round to our neighbour who gives us eggs.  Took it round.
Did a whole load in the greenhouse and garden.
Sorted out some photos.
Caught up with some phone calls.
Ate too much chocolate. 

Fayolle

Morning all.
Narc0, I meant to say, lovely flowers. A friend bought me a pot of lilies in a very similar colour a couple of weeks ago. My challenge is to keep them flowering, and keep the bulb for next year, which I hadn’t realised was a thing.
I’m staring at the rain outside. Looks like my allotment work is finished for the week, and still no potatoes planted. Looking at the forecast, the week ahead is pretty rubbish too. 

Waiting for DH to shift himself into and out of the bathroom, then I’ll give it a s&s. He has WU this morning after dinner was a bit late last night, and him washing up was the deal. I have DUPA. Wm is on. This is probably the most flying that I have done all weekend.
I hope you are all ok x. Hope the grandbeast puts an appearance in soon, Piggers. x

kazmeister

Thanks for the thread Valli. Hope you are all doing well.

Today is a bit of a non starter. Spent far too long on my 30 minutes doing what I love, laying in bed wasting time. 

The weather is awful so I don’t intend even going outside so am going to grab a coffee then head up to work on the bedroom as so far today have only managed to line the fruit and veg drawers, had 2 cuppas and a hot cross bun. Oh and I did empty the DW which is an improvement as frequently t gets to the point where someone is going where’s the ….

Jazee

Hello.  Thanks for the list.
What a grey day, lots of rain, hail, thunder and lightning but I did manage a walk with Poppet.
Also today I've done dailies, a bit of hoovering and one wash load.  We've been to the shop for a few bits and I went to the salon for a bit of pampering.

It's now read a book day while the lamb cooks for our dinner later.

kazwookie

Thank you for the lists.

It is chucking it down here.

I have

Stripped and remade the bed.

Gathered all the wash up into a heap.

Cleaned the kitchen

Hoovered half the house

Been got food.

Fallen to sleep, while watching SUP2C.

Had a very quick walk and chat to NND over the fence, between the rain.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

Our original plan was to go cycling today.  I checked the forecast at 7am and realised that we had to get up and go out immediately before it rained, or just ditch the idea.  Making a brew and taking it back to bed was more appealing.

We have been to a local market which was a bit of a washout, then called at both Li@l and Mr Ts and stuck to the list.  I have put a load of washing on because it is starting to pile up, I might make some soup in a bit for lunches.

But for now I am sitting watching the rain and doing nothing much.  Trying not to think about the paid stuff tomorrow.

kazmeister

Have hoovered under the clothes rails I think there are about 17’ of them collecting fluff and put back the wrapping paper boxes that have been out since the holiday season 😚. Have tidied the boot and shoe heap into the relevant storage boxes. Sorted out a crate of clothes that are too small and packed away in the hope I will lose weight so they fit again as some still have labels on, realistically I won’t. Have sorted out a drawer full of belts and chucked old ones or ones that will never be worn. Sorted out the drawers of tights, socks, swimsuits and flung what is no longer any good or unlikely to be worn again. It still looks like a whirlwind has gone through with the mess that’s left but I have faith in that it is progressing towards calm.

Valli

got to my appointment in steel city in about 20 minutes!   

stopped off for coffee and cake on the way home.

had a nap