Weekly Flylady Thread 29th April 2024

Natty68

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

Ok here goes this week:

Monday - Kitchen and dining room

Level One
Clear and wipe worksurfaces
Scrub down the front of units and large appliances
Level Two
Wipe and replace small appliances
Clean oven and hob
HHI
Level Three
Wipe the table and chairs... clean cloth if necessary
Sweep and mop the floor
Degunge the fridge!
Extras

• Thoroughly clean the food cupboard
• Run the WM's and DW's through a clean cycle
• Clean all the filters and door seals etc
• Scrub down the radiators and/or paintwork!

Terrible Tuesday ~ Master bedroom and Landing
Level One
Strip the bedding and get it washed.. air the duvet
Mattress vacuumed, turned and vacuumed other side and redress bed
Level Two
Deal with the floordrobe
Wash the windows
Wipe all the doors and frames upstairs
Level Three
Vacuum floors
Tidy a cupboard/chest of drawers
Dust and deweb.. inc bed frame!!
Extras

• Binbag dance
• Binbag for charity
• Sort out your own shoes and bags.. can any be rehomed?
• Wipe hand rails on stairs

Wednesday Wonders ~ Cruddy Study & Bathrooms
Level One
Declutter floors!
Mop/vacuum/sweep floors
Level Two
Scrub tiles while running a defrag
Clean the bath, basins, shower trays and loo's
Degrot the desk and dust and polish computers/laptops
Level Three
Wash windows
Wash bath mats/shower curtains etc
Collect all the laundry from upstairs

Extras

• Empty and wash out bins
• Wipe all the sofas/chairs in these rooms
• Wipe paintwork in these rooms
• Clear and wipe a shelf or two

Thursdays are Thrilling!! - Living pit, hallway, stairs!!
Level One
Declutter the floors!
Vacuum/mop floors & stairs!
Level Two
Wash the windows and the front door.. inside and out!
Vacuum under the furniture you can safely move!
Clean the sofas
Level Three
Declutter the inside of a cupboard or drawer!
Wipe all the paintwork!
Dust mantle and polish all the trinkets upon it.. and get all the junk off it!
Extras

• Wipe and water the plants
• Clean out the pets
• Wash any smelly soft furnishings
• Get a pile of filing done!!

Friday is Funky! - childrens rooms! ~ spare rooms or just attack a neglected room!!
Level One
Strip and wash any bedding that need it
Make half an hour appointment or you time!! you deserve it.. nails done, hair appointment.
Level Two
Declutter the floor.. inc under the beds and units
Vacuum floors
Dust and deweb the whole room
Wipe away sticky marks
Level Three
Wash windows
Straighten up a chest of drawers or wardrobe
Binbag dance!
Extras

• Catch up on necessary phone calls inc making those much needed appointments
• Ring someone you've not spoken to in a while..
• Delete some of those old contacts and texts off your mobile phone!!
• HHI

ionafan

Thank you Natty x  I'll do what I can this week.  My 15 min gardening earlier has left me with severe pain in my shoulder and knee.  Hoping for a decent night's sleep (with the help of my meds) and improvement tomorrow, preferably with a bit of sunshine and warmth.

Happy New Job to Mr Pigpen for tomorrow.  Did the work boots arrive in time?

Wishing everyone a good and productive week xxx

pigpen

TY for Fred Natty

Iona.. yes they came yesterday, he bought comfy insoles for them today but they will suffice for a bit. He is really anxious but I think he will love it. I really hope he loves it!

New routine for the girls so tomorrow will be stressful.

Fayolle.. 48 hour rule for vomming.. .. it's for everyones health not just yours! Hope yuo feel better though. nothing worse..

Packups and bed for us.

Thomas has decided he is not sad any more and is eating me out of house and home!

Narc0lepsy

Fayolle hope you feel better soon.
Thank you to list writers.

Today was mainly church and gardening.
I've just been sorting out how to get onto Teams for tomorrow's meeting about tricky student - I mostly use Zoom so a few things have changed. Also practised logging into my online test resources as I haven't needed to do that since I was back assessing face to face post-pandemic.   I seem to have amassed too many email addresses/accounts/passwords but all seem to be needed for different things, which is a nuisance.
Just going to do a bit more of the report so I'm as prepared as possible.

pigpen

Went to do pack ups.. the hob isn't working so no boiled egg for Squeak.. repair booked for Wednesday..

Can you boil eggs in the air fryer I wonder?? *trots off to google*

pigpen

apparently you can.. 150'c for 13-15 minutes... if you never hear from me again I blew up the street!

Asparklierblonde

Morning all

Thank you for the lists xx

Fayolle please please stay at home today xx 
Iona I hope you got some sleep and that the pain has eased x

Piggers - good luck to DH for today!! xx

Pouring with rain, windy and cold. The heating is on and the fire lit. Absolutely ridiculous at this time of year. Busy but good week ahead, started doing lots of overdue DIY with my uncle at the weekend so will continue sanding and prepping etc as the week goes on.

Have fab days all xx

roundtuit

pigpen said:

apparently you can.. 150'c for 13-15 minutes... if you never hear from me again I blew up the street!

Oh piggers, that made me laugh. Did it work? Thinking about Mr piggers this morning. Hope he has a great first day. Xx

Thank you to Valli and Natty for trying to keep / keeping us on track 😘

Fayolle - Dr R is adding waggy finger to the general consensus that you stay at home today! Hope you're feeling better today. xx

iona - I hope you're feeling better today too xx

Group hug? 🤗 I do miss that dodgy emoji!

So. A new week. Monday morning weigh in shows that I've lost another 2.5 lbs. 💃💃

I'm up, made my bed, and supped my first brew. P & S are calling for coffee this morning- and they can take the bag of books back to P's sister. All read thankyou very much. This afternoon I'm going over to see H and meet her new puppy, Mia. 😍

I need bananas and crisps so may just fall into Mr C00p on my way home from H's. 

I need to change an appointment for the electrician to come and sort out my outside light. I said I'm only available on a Monday. So they made the appointment on a Wednesday afternoon 🤔. Let's try again.

Brew 2 and breakfast next.

Hope you have a good week, my lovelies.
Rxx

Valli

Morning all

Hope Mr Piggers has a good first day at his new job and that the boots don’t rub.

Yesterday started off wet, cold and miserable.  But it brightened up later so the washing was pegged out, dried and ironed.

Off to the paid stuff today.  Need to go in and remove the wet floor signs which I left after mopping on Saturday.  

Ooh…my arm is less sore…

pigpen

roundtuit said:

pigpen said:

apparently you can.. 150'c for 13-15 minutes... if you never hear from me again I blew up the street!

Oh piggers, that made me laugh. Did it work? Thinking about Mr piggers this morning. Hope he has a great first day. Xx

YES!! I will cook them for less time next time as it felt a bit rubbery but yes you can!

I AM IN THE HOUSE, UNSUPERVISED..... this is never safe, I get up to all manner of crazy shizzle!

ooohhhhh I'm so excited.. *waits for the next line...*

Knitting? Flinging?

I do have laundry to hang out.. and a DW to run.. I might go mad and do sarnies for tomorrows pack-up.. make it a new routine that I do them earlier in the day to see if it makes life easier. Move all the V!nted stuff out of the kitchen!!!!!!! It is likely to land on the landing but it MUST be out of the kitchen before I have a breakdown!

Monday - Kitchen and dining room

Level One
Clear and wipe worksurfaces
Scrub down the front of units and large appliances
Level Two
Wipe and replace small appliances
Clean oven and hob
Level Three
Wipe the table and chairs...
Sweep and mop the floor
Extras

• Scrub down the radiators and/or paintwork!

Fayolle

I don’t like to disappoint Piggers..”and I just can’t hide it”🤣.  I hope Mr P has a good first day.
Thank you for the thread, Natty and Valli. I’ll make my usual attempt and hope that it’s enough to get by.
Thank you for your well wishes. I ended up in A&E last night for a couple of hours. Lots of blood involved, sorry if tmi. Anyhoo, felt a fraud by the time that I came out, but am off sick today. Apart from a bit of cramping, things are settling down 🤞. Apart from a couple of days off for CV after which I worked from home for the isolation period, that is my sick record for 10 years, so not too shabby.
S’pose I ought to get showered and dressed.
I might gently flutter a bit later on, going to get the towels into the wm, as it has finally stopped raining for a bit.
Have a lovely day all, especially Pigpen left to her own devices x