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Weekly Flylady Thread 11th December 2023

Natty68
Natty68 Posts: 3,434 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
edited 14 December 2023 pm31 8:53PM in Old style MoneySaving
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

Monday - bathroom, study and other grotty places!

Level One
Clean the loo and the bath and the shower and the basins!
Defragment PC and run spyware scans while scrubbing
Level Two
Wash windows
Clean curtains/blinds etc
Declutter floors
Level Three
Wash bathmats/shower curtain and furry bog hats
Replace any sponges/flannels/toothbrushes etc that need it
throw out any empty bottles.. decant dribbles into fuller bottles

Extras

  • Finalise those last minute presents you have to buy..
  • Post all the cards you need to post
  • Wrap all the presents for family/friends
  • Finalise shopping orders/lists for your christmas food shop.. remember shops are only closed for one day!!!!

Tuesday - living room, hallway, stairs
Level one
Clear the floor of clutter
Tidy the baubles and lights on the tree
Level two
Vacuum the stairs and hallway and living room
Wipe and water plants
Wash the windows
Level three
Wipe the sofas and wash any skanky soft furnishings
Sort coats, shoes and bags
Wipe the paintwork in the hallway and up the stairs.


Extras

  • Check the smoke alarms
  • Fill a binbag for charity shop
  • Finalise your christmas menu and shopping list
  • Defluff and deweb these rooms
Wednesday - kitchen and dining room
Level one
Sweep and mop the floor
Remove all kitchen/dining room hotspots into an empty box
Level Two
Wipe the work surfaces
Wipe out the fridge and meal plan using up what’s in there
15 minutes wiping anything that is grubby
Level three
Clean the kitchen sink
Empty and clean out your bins
Polish the table

Extras
  • DW/MW filters and drawers – do you have enough powder/salt etc to last over Christmas?
  • Put away appliances not being used to make space for Christmas cooking
  • Finalise those last minute presents you have to buy..
  • Post all the cards you need to post
  • Wrap all the presents for family/friends
  • Finalise shopping orders/lists for your christmas food shop.. remember shops are only closed for two days!!!!


Thursday - Master messroom! and landing
Level one
Strip the bedding and get it washed!
30 minutes floordrobe/junk clearing!!
Level Two
Vacuum the mattress, landing and floor
Remake the bed
Clean the windows
Level Three
Wash any curtains/etc that are in need
Wipe down all the furry paintwork
Fill a binbag for charity shop or the bin!

Extras

  • HHI
  • Collect all the dirty laundry from upstairs
  • Clean out any pets/wash pet bedding
  • Binbag dance.
  • Write your Christmas cards that need posting
  • Do you need to get any presents online?
  • Have you enough black sacks/recycling bags for the big day?

Friday -finale!
Level One
S&S the kitchen and bathroom
Change and dirty bedding that needs it!
Level Two
Vacuum through the rooms that need it
Wash any grimy windows
Collect any stinky laundry from about the place
Level Three
Clean the oven and hob
Clean out the fridge
Clear out a grotty cupboard!
Extras

  • Final final shopping lists
  • Update remaining present lists
  • Wrap remaining presents
  • Deliver presents that you need to before christmas
  • Stick all your cards up

Mortgage Free as of 20.9.17
Declutter challenge 2023, 2024 🏅 🏅⭐️⭐️
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