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Weekly Flylady Thread 5th February 2024

Welcome to the weekly Flylady Thread.

We often see new flyers (gents welcome!) around this time of year so please don't worry if you feel you cannot keep up.  Similarly if your house has been neglected it won't be turned around in a day - but if you stay you will get into some good habits which do help!  Happy flying.


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'
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

Here Goes This week...

Monday Madness- Bathroom and Study/Pc Area

Level One
Clean floors in these rooms
Level Two
Clean baths, toilets, don't forget under the rim! 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
Wash your bathroom mats, nets, clean blind/curtains etc
Wipe down tiles in bathroom.. defragment your pc while doing this.
Empty and clean out all the upstairs bins! (the proper bins not the rooms that look like bins!)
Clean shower screen/curtain if you have one/if required
Clear a mega hotspot!.. shred it.. and fling it.. or just burn it!
Extra mission: Pick whichever you want to attempt:

  • Wipe the skirtings, door and window frames in these rooms
  • Wipe down the doors and frames in these rooms.
  • clean the radiators in these rooms
  • Fling all those empty bottles and tubes
  • Replace sponges/flannels/toothbrushes that are in need

Terrible Tuesday - Kitchen and Dining Room
Level One
Clear and wipe kitchen surfaces
Level Two
Sweep and mop floors
Sort fridge bringing what needs using soon to the front, clean out any spills or grots 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 fridge and see what needs using first (why do I have 4 jars of cranberry sauce in mine?)
Clean cupboard door fronts and fronts of appliances .. don't forget those kick boards..
Check those washing machine filters and drawers for ickiness!! Tumble dryer and dishwasher filters need to be done too!!
Extra Mission
Choose one or more of:

  • Wipe window sills and clean windows in these rooms
  • Wipe down any tiles and shine those taps.. a toothbrush is great for cleaning away the gunk!
  • Clean oven if it really needs it.. or just do the hob.. mines gross.. you need to shame me into cleaning it!
  • HHI .. bit of a catch up!!
  • Write an inventory of your cupboards contents and what needs using first
  • Empty the cutlery drawer.. clean it out, wash the cutlery tray, chuck those baby spoons you don't use any more.. how many medicine spoons do you actually need? get rid of everything you don't use and make the drawer look nice again!

Weird Wednesday - Living Room, Hall and Stairs
Level 1
Vacuum floors and sofas, inc. under furnitutre if you can move it without rupturing your usher!
Level 2
Dusting, even if around everything
Remove clutter making sure stairs especially are safe
Clean TV, other electricals and cabinets
Water any thirsty plants, wipe their poor neglected leaves!!
Level 3
Wipe light switches, sockets (make sure they are not switched on!!) and banister
Clean any other glass like mirrors, pictures etc
Tidy shoes, coats and bags .. Are there any that need rehoming?
Sort the magazine heap, books and papers that have found there way in here and need to go back out!
Extra Mission:
Pick one or more of the following tasks –

  • Paperwork clearance.. spend 15 minutes minimum sorting through those piles of paper.
  • Clear and declutter that there mantelpiece!!
  • Clean a window or two.
  • Binbag dance.. Get a binbag, crank up the volume.. strut that stuff, sing loudly and out of tune and off key, fill the binbag and bin it!!!
  • HHI.. another mound gone!

Thrilling Thursday - Master Bedroom & Landing
Level 1
Check fire alarms are working
Remove and wash bed linen and duvet covers.
Level 2
Dust surfaces & make sure no cobwebs..
Vacuum & turn mattress before replacing with fresh linen..
Air the duvet
15 minutes floordrobe clearance
Wipe doors down!
Level 3
Vacuum floors in bedroom and on landing
Have a sort and tidy in the linen cupboard/airing cupboard while searching for your clean sheets.. is it pretty in here again?
Clear a hotspot.. or spend 15 minutes clearing one.
Extra tasks list, as usual choose one or more

  • 42 fling boogie time, go on grab a bag and clear that clutter
  • Half hour finding and pairing up all those stray odd socks.. Fling the holey ones and send the ones that don't fit to nursery or school.. they always need spares and the big ones can be used to make puppets.. or just recycle them!!
  • Clean windows in these rooms
  • Wipe the bed frame it is amazing how fluffy they get!

Fearsome Friday- those frightening kids rooms and spare rooms
Level One
Vacuum the floor, even if it's just where you can see
Spend at least half an hour doing something for yourself!!!!! paint your nails, make an appointment to have your hair done, a lovely soak in the bath.. whatever you feel like!!  D 
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, turn and vacuum mattresses!! and replace with fresh linen .. check if duvets & pillows 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
Extra Task List

  • Wash a set of curtains, nets, duvet or throw
  • Wipe the radiators, skirtings and window & door frames!
  • Friday fling!! grab a binbag and fill it with stuff to leave the house.. rubbish or charity shop or to donate to a friend!
  • Get rid of one binbag/box of toys that are no longer needed or are broken and do some battery replacing!
  • Put all the pc game discs, ps2 discs, cd's etc back in their correct cases!

FRIDAY EXTRA - Don't forget your ME time this weekend, even if it's just a nice relaxing bath or going to the pub with Pigpen!! go on you deserve it


Mortgage Free as of 20.9.17
Declutter challenge 2023, 2024 🏅 🏅⭐️⭐️
Declutter Challenge 2025
DH declutter challenge award 🏅⭐️
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