Weekly Flylady Thread 24th June 2024

Natty68

Welcome to the weekly Flylady Thread.

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:

Musty Monday ~ Kitchen and Dining Room
Level One...
Sweep and mop the floor
Clear and wipe worksurfaces
Level Two...
Sort fridge bringing what needs using soon to the front, clean out any spills or grots in there!
Wipe dining table.. and check the underside.. (clean table cloth if necessary)
Wipe and replace all those small appliances.. kettle, toaster etc
Level Three...
Dust any extra furniture in dining area, checking for cobwebs on way round… lightshades need doing!
Sort your drawer of large cutlery things.. slotted spoons, spatulas.. clean out the drawer, flin the things you don't need/use and make it all neat and tidy!
Clean cupboard door fronts and fronts of appliances
Clean oven if you didn't do it last week

Extras

• Wipe window sills and clean windows in these rooms
• Thoroughly clean a cupboard or the drawers!
• Put WM's/DW's on a 'clean' cycle.. make sure those doorseals and filters are clear.. soda crystals and white vinegar get rid of unpleasant smells and germs
• 30 minutes ironing!!!
• Wipe the inside of the unit doors
• Empty the pan cupboard!! Sort those oven trays, tighten handles on pans.

Tantalising Tuesday ~ Living Room, Hall and Stairs
Level One...
Vacuum floors and sofas
Level Two...
Dusting, even if around everything
Remove clutter, making sure stairs especially are safe
Clean TV, other electricals and cabinets
Level Three...
Wipe light switches, sockets (make sure they are not switched on!!) and banister
Clean any other glass like mirrors, pictures etc
Change any dead lightbulbs!

Extras:

• Paperwork clearance.. spend 15 minutes minimum sorting through those piles of paper
• Vacuum under furniture you can manage to move without hurting yourself. 
• Clean a window or two.
• Get yourself a bag or box, go around collecting things that are not in the place they should be, then put them back where they should be, or better still give them to their owners to put away themselves

Humpday Wednesday ~ Master Bedroom & Landing
Level One...
Check fire alarms are working
Remove and wash bed linen and duvet covers.
Fling open the window and let in the summer!
Level Two...
Dust surfaces & make sure no cobwebs.. (make sure to do the bed base..!)
Using a flour sieve, shake bicarbonate of soda evenly all over the mattress. Leave for a few hours and then hoover it all off. {It will lift any nasty smells or odours}
Vacuum mattress before replacing with fresh linen
Level Three...
Vacuum floors in bedroom and on landing
15 minutes floordrobe clearance
Clean lightshade, and remove dead insects...
Extras...

• Wipe down lightswitches
• 37 fling boogie time, time for that midweek fling, go on grab a bag and clear that clutter
• Sort through someone's wardrobe.. what can you fling?
• Clean windows in these rooms
• Clear a hotspot.. or spend 15 minutes clearing one.
• Clear a box of clutter from the landing
• Make any necessary phone calls
• Replace any dead lightbulbs with ones that work
• Sort out your airing cupboard if you have finished all your jobs

Tantalising Thursday ~ Bathroom and Study/Pc Area
Level One...
Clear floors of guff and stuff
Wipe down tiles in bathroom.. defragment your pc/laptop while doing this.
Clear any clutter from desk
Dust PC and desk and wipe off those cup rings!! (baby wipes are fantastic for this!!)
Level Two...
Wipe keyboard, house phone and mouse (these usually have more germs on than your toilet so important)..
Wash your bathroom mats, nets, clean blind/curtains, shower curtains etc
Empty and clean out all the upstairs bins!
Collect all the dirty laundry
Level Three...
Clean baths, toilets, don't forget the outside! and sinks
Clean shower screen/curtain/bath mats 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
• Wipe down 2 doors.. room doors.. both sides
• 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 and anything no longer needed is "rehomed".
• Fling all those empty bottles and tubes
• Replace any sponges, flannels, toiletries that need it

Fandabidozy Friday ~Childrens rooms and spare rooms
Level One...
Clear the floor
Vacuum the floor, even if it's just where you can see
Deweb and fluff the room
Level Two...
Clear away anything that isn't in it's place, clothes, toys, books etc
Drag the stuff from under the beds and place it in it's proper homes!
Dusting.. all those shelves and flat fluffy surfaces!! Don’t forget the light shade!!
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 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!
• 30 minutes ironing
• Clean any tv's, pc's playstations in the room
• 15 minutes filing!
• Spend at least half an hour doing something just for yourself.. a nice bath, a manicure.. just your time! Make that appointment to have your hair done!!

Jazee

Thanks for the list Natty.  I'm off work all week , going away Wednesday, but should achieve some flying tomorrow and Tuesday.

Did not achieve much today.  Had a lovely family day out at a music festival.

See you all in the morning.

kazwookie

I'm in thank you for the lists.

Went to village fete, great fun, drive into the field car park, got stuck up to the axles in mud, OH gets out and goes to find someone to help, he comes back in man and large van who is a car mechanic, great, attached tow rope to my car, and pulls, he then gets stuck in mud, !!!! so OH plus the van bloke go off, and come back with 2 men, who are locals and they go ' oh you are in the boggy bit'   why the fck was it not either fenced off, so a sign put up to warn folk, so off go the 2 men, they come back with a big serious style tractor off the local farm, 1st they pull out the large van and get him out of the way, then they pull my car out backwards eventually. So grateful to them.  My car is knee deep in mud, off to cqr wash tomorrow.

Did village ommunity singing, watched a very serious tug of war, it seems local pubs / cricket clubs / rugby club / local farms reps were at stake,   did wandering around various stalls, and generally had a good time.

Cloth_of_Gold

The only flying today was a S&S in the kitchen. Next week it sounds as if it's going to be too hot to do flying - what a shame. I hope to be able to watch some of the tennis from Eastbourne (on the BBC, not in Eastbourne )

Tomorrow A has an appointment with the consultant dermatologist. His skin condition, whilst improved, is still not right and it would be good if we could get a proper diagnosis and, hopefully, a cure.

Sleep well everyone.

pigpen

TY for Fred.

My kitchen electrics have gone pop and I have no idea what is causing the issue. I have a suspicion it is the boiler ignition because it went off when running a bath for Twinkle.. but it could be anything, literally anything.. no power in the bedrooms.. my fridge and freezer were off and are currently running from an extension lead and Boogs computer is on a 10m extension running downstairs from the bedroom.. I sleep with a light on.. I can't sleep in the dark.. OH's PC power supply, drive belt on the mower and both strimmers need repairs.. I am stressed to the point of tears.. I have so many C's and F's today

school stuff sorted.. I need to speak to my mother bout the nail appointments on tuesday and see if we can swap so I can torture myself with Twinkles sports day in the afternoon..

Monday.. Electrician hopefully.. dance for pixie. Tesc0 delivery at some point in the evening.
Tuesday nails and sports day

Wednesday.. swimming.. and my mother will no doubt demand I go to the pub when I just want to sleep!

Thursday.. cello and dentist .. Pixies residential.. but we have to pick her up at 4:15.. take her and Twinkle to the dance rehearsal and then pick them up at 8pm and take Pixie back..

Friday I am not moving from my bed!
Saturday .. 1 at musical theatre at 10:30 and 2 at dance rehearsal in the opposite direction also at 10:30..
Sunday.. 2x dance shows.. drop off at 10:30 and pick up at 8:15..

I have thrown out 32 jars of jam, 5 boxes of vanilla iced coffee and 2 tins of red kidney beans.. and performed surgery on the back of the larder unit because for some reason the huge fridge freezer was tightly plugged in behind there when there was another socket cm's from the lead.. very odd..

roundtuit

Morning all xx 

I'm up, made my bed, put clean towels in the bathroom,  set WM swishing with towels and tea towels,  got weighed,  completed Wordle and Connections (easy today), and I'm supping my first brew. First brew made with my new kettle, which is noisy! Water tastes funny so I'm going to fill, boil, and pour away the water a couple more times to try and get rid of that. And make myself a new brew with my trusty old kettle- which has developed a leak. Well, it developed a leak months ago actually,  but I have had it 17 years. £9.99 it cost. My new kettle cost much more than that and I suspect won't last half as long. More style than longevity? We'll see. It's a lovely colour if nothing else. I'm old. I'm talking about kettle's 🤦

I drew blood this morning. Its OK, I don't need bail money, it was my own blood. Ouchie. Fingernail on left hand caught finger on right hand when scooping up used towels in bathroom. Had to put a plaster on to avoid dripping on things. I guess I'll live though.

I've lost 2 more pounds this week. Woot woot. 💃 💃

Kitchen sink and draining board actually look less shiny than they did before I started. But they're clear of what little clutter was left on there so it's still a win.

Right. Brew 2 and breakfast next. Then

Round 1
Get dressed 
Feed the birds 
Fill the birdbath *
Put out the recycling 
Peg out towels and tea towels 

* I need to make it level before filling it. Tried yesterday but it's still lopsided.

P & S will be calling for coffee some time this morning. 

Hope everyone has a good week. Love to all.
Rxx

Jazee

Morning all.  Beautiful day.

 I got up early with an alarm so I'm showered dressed, Poppet has has a walk, recycling is out, greenhouse and garden watered and I'm on second cuppa and breakfast now.  Made the mistake of stepping on the scales this morning....eek.

Once I've washed breakfast dishes I plan to catch up on admin, hoover through before it gets too hot then start on today's list. Planning a tip run this afternoon but I've a feeling DH will say it's too hot and I do need his help with it.

Have a great fantastic wonderful day everyone.

Valli

morning all.  lol at the cow hoof vids…me too.  The Hoof Guy?

Im with CoG… Waaay too hot to clean…or even move.  I really, really, really don’t do heat.  It will be curtains closed in Villa Valli all day.

Nany thanks for the list…

Neither Dw (no where near full) or WM (cba) ran last night.  Work today.  It’ll be cool there, then a swim.

Front of jumper knitted on one side, half way up the other V.  

pigpen

Hayfever really bad today... I'm tripling the medication.. my eyeballs are gross and my snoot too.

Dot was a turd this morning.. she has gone to school in odd shoes and only half brushed.. it was not worth the fight.

Pixie (5ft 4 and ladies size 10) was after going to school in Twinkles age 7-8 shorts!! more drama..
Squeak missed the bus...

We have started the day/week well....

roundtuit

roundtuit said:

Round 1
Get dressed ✅
Feed the birds ✅
Fill the birdbath *✅
Put out the recycling ✅
Peg out towels and tea towels ✅

* I need to make it level before filling it. Tried yesterday but it's still lopsided.✅ level now

P & S will be calling for coffee some time this morning. 

Ooo twot already 🥵

Valli - I started with the Hoof GP and then Nate the Hoof Guy started to appear too. Something very satisfying about watching their videos.

Going to read a couple of chapters of my book. Then I'll set the timer for QH MAD in LR and report back to say what I've achieved. 

Stay hydrated folks.

Rxx

Jazee

Hoovering and admin done.  Spent half hour knitting. Just upping hydration, will then join Round with QH in LR.