Weekly Flylady Thread 29th May 2023

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:

Monday ~ HAVE THE DAY OFF AND DO SOMETHING FUN WITH YOUR LOVED ONES!!!

It is bank holiday (though not in Scotland I believe?)
Do your dailies
Tackle a frog or 5
And spend the rest of the day doing nice things with your family!

Tuesday ~ pick a room...
Level One
Declutter and vacuum/mop the floor
Pile up all the hotspot into one mountain and spend 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.

Wednesday ~ Bedroom and Landing
Level One
Strip and wash the bedding, remake bed before bedtime!
Declutter the floor and vacuum it! See if you can find a bit of floor you've not seen in a while!
Level Two
Binbag dance
Sort a box of junk/cupboard/drawer
Dust and deweb
Level Three
Wash any curtains/nets/pillows etc that are in need
Tidy up the shoes and clothes that are scattered about
Tidy the linen cupboard

Extras

• HHI
• Wash windows
• Wipe paintwork
• Catch up on a job you've been putting off... phonecalls, filing etc..
• End of the month looms - get June's cards ready
• 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
• Organise car tax/MOT/insurance papers, household insurances extended warrantie.. 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..

Friday ~ Study and Bathroom
Level One
Spend half an hour doing something for yourself! Coffee with a friend, hair appointment... whatever
Declutter the floors!
Level Two
Vacuum/mop floors
Wash the bathmats/shower curtains or anything else that needs it
Scrub the fixtures! polish the mirrors and taps
Level Three
Clean and sort a cupboard or shelf and recycle all those empties
Declutter 50 unwanted emails and 5 links from your favourites.
Wipe over the desk and any chairs that are in these rooms

Extras

• Empty and wash out bins
• Wash windows
• Wipe doors and paintwork
• Wash any stinky pet beds.. or the pets themselves if you wish

 

ionafan

Thank you Natty x

Today I have been working in the garden, planting out tomato, pepper and bedding plants, as well as making progress at the computer with an admin frog.

Tomorrow I hope to do more of the same.  It would be good if I could finish all the planting, and even better if I could declutter the frog too.

The rest of the week is looking very girly!  DGD1+2 are coming to stay from 3pm Tuesday to 8pm Wednesday, and on Thursday I am taking out my 10yo goddaughter and her 8yo sister while K (their mum) goes to a GP appointment *and* a horse piddle post-op check-up.  It's my friend L's 70th birthday on Friday and we're invited to her party on Saturday.

I hope everyone manages to put their feet up at some point during the week xxx

pigpen

TY for Fred.. I hope you are both fine and sparkly

I'm.. about.. OH is just reattaching the front room doors one of the girls just ragged off its hinges.. Dinner is being snaffled.. they were at cinema earlier so late dinner.

Loads of washing run through the WM and another load just airing in the TD so I can fold and put it away.. I still have the bed to remake but I will trot up shortly with OH and get it done then .. I am not getting up there at 2am and having to make it then.

DW on yet another run, a few bits of shopping put away from Saturday.

I am knitting a frog while waiting for my 3rd extra ball of poncho wool to come.. for 5 rows.. I have a shawl to finish too but it is superchunky on 8mm needles and it is heavy and I don't like knitting it.. so of course I ordered wool for another one.. I can't remember if I bought grey or purple.. this one is dark grey.

Sides wiped in the kitchen.

Valli

having a nightmare with my knitting as the sleeve has a pattern in involving ssk and wool round needle and now i’m at the raglan i can’t keep the pattern correct so i’m going to type out the full rows (6 pattern rows on R/S) and cross out the stitches at each end when i decrease.  

im currently taking it back.  stitch by stitch.

thanks for the new thread.  

I wish i could pop round to Piggers for advice,  

pigpen

Valli said:

I wish i could pop round to Piggers for advice,  

You are very welcome any time, all of you are..

Bed remade.

Another load airing

2 loads to go out in the morning.

Jazee

Morning all.  Thanks for the thread Natty.  Today is achievable.

 I hope you get your knitting sorted Valli.

We got back last night from a couple of days away catching up with family.  It was lovely.  Fortunately I am almost fully recovered now, just a bit of a cough.

Today, I do need to check banking as we spent a lot this weekend and I need to do some gardening but everything will be at a leisurely pace.

Have a great day everyone.

Fayolle

Morning all,
Thank you for the thread. Still trying to catch up.
Busy weekend, with 8 people round for dinner last night. DH is on washing up duties this morning, as I have spent most of my weekend prepping and cooking. Still it all went ok, not a particularly late night, and I sorted all the leftovers out before I went to bed. Meals for the week are in the fridge somewhere, albeit possibly with strange combinations. 

This morning I am planning on playing catch up at the allotment, but whether that is allotment catch up or sneaking zzzzz catch up quietly in a corner remains yet to be seen. DD is coming home for a flying visit, so DH is playing taxi to the station. Today is all about bossing him into action 😉.
Have a lovely day all, back later x

Jazee

Me again.

So far I have looked at our weekend spending and amazingly only £150 spent including petrol for a 400 mile round trip.  I think it has something to do with the restaurant yesterday practically giving us our food for almost nothing as we had a long wait.  We hadn't complained though, we were all quite happy to wait in the sunshine and expected delays on a bank holiday.  They wouldn't even add the drinks back on to the bill when I offered.

Anyway, I washed the breakfast dishes, had a bath (ooh I am so burnt from the sun - DH has gone out to buy after sun cream), unpacked my weekend bag and have the first of three wash loads in the machine.

Just sitting down for a cuppa and will have an early lunch.  Poppet is still supposed to be resting but also seems fully recovered so I'll take her for a very short walk when it's cooler later.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

We have had a rather lovely weekend away camping and hiking over the North York Moors, so not too far from home.  I feel very rested but I am definitely not looking forward to the paid stuff tomorrow.

The sun has been lovely but it has definitely been cooler up North this weekend, I did manage to get down to a t-shirt for while on Saturday but I am back in a sweatshirt and gilet today.  

Flying has been minimal, although I have washed one load and put it out.  I need to plan my week.

kazmeister

Thanks Natty for the list and Valli for last week!

Early start went all to plan and had a really good run down to the airport. Proud of myself for driving on my own as first time I've driven there. Not such a great journey on the way back. DD had fiddled with my phone trying to get the directions to speak on google maps and had touched something which meant the route wasn't facing the way I needed to go and I was getting frustrated as it wouldn't take me the way back that I came and had to come back via Peterborough rather than Cambridge which seemed so much further and took longer. Might be because there was more traffic on the road but also as I took a wrong turn, apparently when it said take first exit it didn't mean the first exit but the second, and then another which was exit onto the A412 which I was ok its that one but it was the A412 going the wrong way but we got back in one piece. DD very kindly brought home lots of American snacks for me which was lovely but I have been so good all last week as not a sweet, piece of chocolate or biscuit passed my lips which was tough for me as I crave sweet stuff and I wanted to carry that on  but dont want to be rude when she has been so kind.

Had a kip on the sofa for a couple of hours and have been trying to meal plan using up bits and pieces from the fridge and freezer since. Although tonight's dinner is done, I haven't got very far with planning the rest of the week.

Kitchen has been cleaned (toasting sesame seeds in too hot a pan makes them spit everywhere!) and I have sorted the cupboard in the utility that keeps the plastic tubs and flung those that are spoilt, stained split or cant find a lid to fit.

Am back at the paid stuff tomorrow and no sneaking home at lunchtime this week so it wont be a late night.

Valli

very productive day in Villa Valli.  I have…
ignored my knitting (i dreamt about it…i need to think about how i’m going to keep to the pattern and i have the beginnings of a plan)
had a shower
cleaned out the rabbits
washed my car and checked fluid levels windscreen washer bottle topped up.
washed DDs windscreen as a bird had left a mark
strimmed the patio and driveway and swept up grass cuttings, weeds and detritis from the roof repair (took a long time)
mowed the lawn after strumming edges
put clean sawdust etc in hutch
pulled some weeds out of front garden
emptied DW
had another shower as was dirty and damp
cleared all the ironing
been to coop for milk and freezer filler offer

garden looks much better as does block paving down side of house.  builders did sweep up after themselves but the weeds meant some was missed/trapped