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 Flyladyrelated (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 ad dpost 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!!
Ok here goes this week
Manic Monday – Living Room, Landing and Stairs
Level One
Open windows and let the air in..
Quick window clean, get rid of finger marks
Level Two
Dust everything
Clean mirrors
Vacuum
Wash cushion covers
Wash sofa covers if removable
Level Three
Wash throws and pet bedding
Wipe the phone
Vacuum under sofa cushions
Mop/sweep hard floors if applicable
Extras
- Wipe light switches, sockets (make sure they are
not switched on
- Sort through your handbag and fling all those
ancient bus tickets and receipts.. don’t forget your purse too!!!
- One load of washing
- Paperwork clearance.. spend 15 minutes minimum
sorting through those piles of paper.
- Vacuum under furniture you can manage to move
without hurting yourself
- Have a shoe and jacket cull!!
- Go through lurking piles of paper and throw!
- Wash the front door and doorstep
Tuesday
Thrills ~ Kitchen and Dining Room
Level
One...
Clean
floors
Level
Two...
Clear
and wipe kitchen surfaces
Sort
fridge bringing what needs using soon to the front, clean out any spills or
manky stuff in there!!
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
Clean
cupboard door fronts and fronts of appliances .. don't forget those kick
boards..
Extras..
- One
load of washing
- Empty
bin and make it smell nice
- Wipe
window sills and clean windows in these rooms
- Clear
and wipe the tops of the wall units!!
- Clean
oven if you didn't do it last week
- 30
minutes ironing.
Wednesday Whiles ~ Master Bedroom & Landing
Level One...
Check fire alarms are working
Remove and wash bed linen.
Level Two..
Dust surfaces & make sure no cobwebs..
Vacuum mattress before replacing with fresh linen
15 minutes floordrobe clearance
Level Three...
Vacuum floors in bedroom and on landing
Sort one area of clothes or linen storage making sure
only what should be in there is, anything that's had it's day or doesn't belong
there is removed
Clear out one 'hotspot' drawer/box
Extras..
- 27 fling boogie time, time for that midweek
fling, go on grab a bag and clear that clutter
- Put away those summer clothes from someones
cupboard and get out the winter woollies.. don’t store anything that is past
its best! Make a list of things you need to buy!!
- Clean windows in these rooms
- Check house for places where draughts are
getting in.. doors, windows etc and see if there are ways to stop it!
Thursday Tinkles ~ Bathroom and Study/Pc Area
Level One...
Clean floors in these rooms (even if it is around the
clutter)
Level Two...
Clean baths, toilets and sinks
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...
Clear clutter from floor
Wipe down tiles in bathroom.. defragment the pc while
doing this, if you do the
disc cleanup as well it clear all the cookies and temporary files too. Yes it is a thing to defrag, it helps laptops/tablets/phones!!!!!
Clean shower screen/curtain if you have one/if required
Clean the brushes/dust box/filters on the vacuum
cleaner!!!! .. make sure they are completely dry before using it though.. I
don’t want anyone electrocuted!!
Extras…
- Wipe the skirtings, door and window frames in
these rooms
- Wash your bathroom mats, nets, clean
blind/curtains etc
- Sort a wardrobe or part of, a drawer or set of
drawers making sure it has what needs to be in it and any 'extras' are put
where they should be
- Give the pc desk a right good clean! Pull out
the case, defluff and degrot it all!!
Friday Frills ~ those frightening Friday kids rooms
and spare rooms
Level One...
Vacuum the floor, even if it's just where you can see
Level Two...
Clear away anything that isn't in it's place, clothes,
toys, books etc
Dusting.. all those shelves and flat fluffy surfaces!!
Don’t forget the light shade and curtain pole!!!
Level Three...
Strip beds and replace with fresh linen .. check if
duvets need freshening up too
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
Extras…
- Wash a set of curtains, nets, duvet or throw
- Time for the Friday Flylady Fling, in the toy
box!!!! aim for 27.. if no toy box you’ll have to choose another area
Janice 1964-2016
