Weekly Flylady Thread 26th June 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.

Welcome to the weekly Flylady Thread. 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.

Thanks to Valli for last week’s thread.

Every room comes back around next week so please don’t stress about catching up

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'
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

Ok here goes this week!

Mad Monday ~ Living room of Lushiousness and Hallway of Happiness
Level One
Open the windows and turn on some music - something that you can sing along to loudly while working.
Wipe and water the plants.
Declutter the chairs, floor and fireplace.
Level Two
Clean any glass, pictures, windows and mirrors - make them sparkle sparkle!!!
Find 10 things to get rid of ... no men/women/children/pets!!!
Dust or polish furniture.
Level Three
Vacuum floors and under furniture - don't hurt yourself, and if pregnant/injured/unable then ask someone nicely to do this for you..
Check for cobwebs and get rid..
Wipe down the inside of the front door and windows - make these shine..
Spend 15mins tackling a hotspot!

Extras

• Wash any nets that need doing

• Wash windows

• Have an isolation childrens party & tidy up afterwards!!

• Wash any throws/cushions/dog beds that need cleaning

• Groom the pets, also deflea any that need doing.

Tootling Tuesday ~ Kitchen of Klutter and Dining room of Despair!
Level One..
Open the windows and let in the light
Clear and wipe the worksurfaces & table
Level Two..
Wipe the little appliances and put them back in their homes
Wipe over the cupboards and large appliances
Clean out drawers and filters on the big appliances and the kettle!
Level Three
Sweep and mop the floor
Shine the grotty windows, make them sparkle and let in the light!
Drag everything out of the junk cupboard.. wipe it out and put back the bits you are keeping.. Get rid of the things you will never need or use!!

Extras

• HHI

• Fill a bag for charity shop

• Deweb the downstairs of the house!!

• Scrub down the woodwork.. skirtings, door frames etc

Wonderful Wednesday - Bedroom of Duvet-nia & Landing of Loveliness
Level One..
Open the window and air the room
Strip off smelly bedding and feed it to the washing machine..
Level Two..
Vacuum the mattress and air the duvet
Remake bed with the clean bedding
Put the floordrobe in the wardrobe
Find 10 things to get rid of!
Level Three!!
Vacuum the landing and bedroom.. starting at the bottom of the stairs!!!!
Remove anything that should be elsewhere.. your bedroom is NOT a shed!!
Remove some dust bunnies and wipe over the light shades

Extras

• Wash any curtains that need doing

• Binbag dance

• Clean the windows

• 15 minutes sort out of the landing gibble.. see if you can find something to rehome!

Therapeutic Thursday - Bathroom of Bubblovia and Sparkling Study
Level One..
Clear the floors of clutter
Open the windows and air the rooms
Level Two..
Clean/vacuum the floors
Shine the bath,toilet and basins etc
Twinkle the tiles
Level Three..
Get rid of those nasty germs off the telephone, keyboard, mouse, monitor, sockets and switches.
Declutter the pc desk
Make the mirrors sparkle in these rooms..

Extras

• HHI

• HHG.. if you have nice weather pot up any plants that need redoing, get rid of some of those nasty weeds.

• Fill the bath with lovely warm bubbles.. and get in it!!!!!! enjoy!!!!!!!

• 15 minutes filing

Frivolous Friday - The Land of 'Spare Oom' and the neighbouring
Land of Child Grot
Level One..
Open the windows and collect the smelly laundry!
Strip the beds that need doing
Spend half an hour doing something for yourself!!!!! even if it is just sitting out in the gloaming with
a cuppa.
Level Two….
Find the floor.. books on shelves, toys in boxes, games in cases and restacked.
Vacuum new found floor
Wipe windows, pc's, screens etc
Have you got Father Day cards all bought? If not the shops are open all weekend!!
Level Three..
Wipe away any sticky messes and grub-spots
Make sure the drawers are all orderly.. nothing dangling out!
Drag the junk out from under the bed and put it in its proper places!

Extras

• Find something to freecycle.. you could even fill a box of junk to car boot
• Find something to ebay
• Find something to send to charity shop
• Find something to give to someone you know
• Get rid of them then!!! lol
• Spend time with loved ones

Jazee

Thanks Natty.  I probably won't be in tomorrow as I'm still toddler sitting so it will depend on nap times.

pigpen

TY for Fred..

I have no idea whether I am coming or going this week.. I have Dot at secndary school on Tuesday morning.. and a dance rehearsale 5-8 on Thursday while Squeak is at cello 5:40 in the opposite direction.. a nail appointment at some point and about 200 calls and texts from the outlaws.. 5 parcels to post.. and a house which resembles council tip!

ionafan

Thank you Natty x  I shall try to groom Rosie more frequently this week, though she is still not losing a huge amount of her undercoat and (unlike me) seems to cope easily with the heat.

I flew at church this morning:
- took about 100 blank greetings cards with me and distributed about 30 after the service; left the rest on the table at the back for people to help themselves to
- tidied up the children's corner, sorted toys and story books, threw out old colouring books and old/unwanted story books
- brought home a set of animal jigsaws which I have now marked on the reverse with the name of the animal and total number of pieces in each picture
I've also done WMx1, had afternoon zzz, walked Rosie, cooked tea and phoned DS2.

Tomorrow I need to do a few jobs in the garden, if the weather allows.

Hope everyone has a good week xxx

Valli

Good morning all

well i’ve just spent 15 minutes of my vertical half hour sorting paperwork, shredding where necessary and popping the rest into the office recycling box.

Paid stuff today so not sure how much actual flying will be done.

Handed over a ‘beautiful’ (her word not mine) baby cardigan over to Grandma yesterday; baby not due for another 4 weeks so that, in itself, was an achievement.  I’ve also finished the ‘body’ of the cot blanket so it’s on to the border.  Not sure what’s happening with this one, and i’m undecided whether to knit a white border or a pale yellow one ‘for fancy’.

Jazee

Morning all.  DGD2 is napping so I'll give Poppet a bit of attention.  So far today dailies and dog walk are done.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

Quiet around here today.  Tricky day at the paid stuff.  Anxiety is through the roof and it's getting me down, it feels like I have to find things to worry about when in reality things arent too bad.  This will pass.

No flying done unless you count cooking a meal and clearing up again.  Cooler and showery today but its been quite nice at work.

pigpen

We have captured a cat.. a stray cat.. he is white... mine are all (mostly) black..my clothes are black.. we all wear black.. why the heck did we collect a white cat???

Asparklierblonde

Angry with the world today. Why oh why do men have to make life SO much blinking harder than it needs to be??? And be some darned awkward?? 

I may fly tomorrow x

pigpen

Asparklierblonde said:

Angry with the world today. Why oh why do men have to make life SO much blinking harder than it needs to be??? And be some darned awkward?? 

I may fly tomorrow x

To make life as hard as possible for us... and their second brain is in charge.. There is the odd rare one..

Fayolle

Thank you for the thread.
Monday… Find 10 things to get rid of. Tuesday… Get rid of the things you will never need or use. DH’s chances aren‘t looking good! He is channelling his inner prima donna this evening, on the grounds that he has “been at work all day”. Coo-eee, so have I. And I do for 4, sometimes 5 days every week. Not just the odd day in the office, which obviously deserves way more attention. Well, he can prima donna alone. 

Dinner done, kitchen tidied. Yes, YL, that is definitely flying, as often it seems to be all that I achieve.
Another pile of washing sorted for the morning. Tomorrow’s flying is already set up to start on the right foot.