Weekly Flylady Thread 30th December 2024

Valli

Welcome to the weekly Flylady Thread.
Welcome to the last thread of 2024 and the first thread of 2025.

Happy New Year

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 Natty for last week's 

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
OOD - out of date
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- that’s 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 former Flylady 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 stopping, 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!
Frog (or other amphibian) ~ google 'eat that frog'
Spoons ~ google 'but you don't look sick' and/or 'The Spoon Theory'.

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

Manic Monday

Kitchen/dining room

Level 1

Clear sides and wipe down - wipe small appliances
Replace what lives there, wiping as you go
Empty bin and clean it out too
Wipe sill, sockets, door handles and switches
Clear and clean sink and accessories - don't forget those out-of-sight places - under plugs and under draining racks
Clean/polish table - wipe mats/change cloth
Check fruit and wash bowl
Throw away your manky dish cloth or sponge and replace with a new one!

Level 2

Wipe down all cupboard and drawer fronts, not forgetting handles and tops and bottom as well as fronts!
Clean hob
Clean microwave and/or air fryer
Sort fridge and wipe seals; weave stuff that needs using up into your meal plan.  Check running temperature.  Ensure air can circulate.
Dust dining area/room
Descale kettle if needed
Clear WM. TD and DW filters

Level 3

Pick a cupboard or a drawer; empty it, clean it out and put back its contents tidily
Sweep/mop/vacuum floor
Clean windows

Extras

Sort through xmas cards received - note changes of address; changes of names etc and update list for next year.  
Get the diary out and updated
Month end (year end) looms - update financial spreadsheets, budgets and targets


Tuesday … last day of 2024.  Enlist help of all residents

Ensure all beds made
Open windows for fresh air
S&s kitchen, bathroom and en suites
HHI  - or longer
spend 15 minutes MAX in any room…empty bins, tidy, straighten, clear floordrobes run vac round. If there is anyone to help give them a task eg run round with vacuum, bin bag dances, but please don’t stress…. 

and get the fizz in the fridge

Happy New Year to you all.

And we take the memories of other flyers with us, our lovely Toots, immortalised in the Toots list, MS Diva, Cycling Yorkie and Mummy’s Little Boy. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

WEDNESDAY 1st January 2025

No list 

Thursday - Pick and choose as necessary or appropriate or in order of importance

S&S kitchen
S&S bathroom
Bin bag dance
Open windows to ventilate and blow out lurgies
Strip guest beds and get bedding on line
Ensre school bags PE kits etc are ready to go
Locate school uniform and ensure is ready to go, likewise lunchboxes, water bottles etc
Runvacuum round, 
Straighten rooms - 5 minutes tidying and a vacuumed floor makessuch a difference
Meal plan to use up xmas leftovers
Ifno guest beds strip bed and wash bedding

Friday.  anything from Thursday not yet done
Writeyour Toots list

send valium…or prozac…

Jazee

Thanks for the list Valli.

 I may get some flying done tomorrow although we're looking after DGD2 in the morning.

ionafan

Thank you, Valli.  I will join in this week as and when I can.

xxx

Narc0lepsy

thanks for lists.
Flying today comprised more tidying pre-BIL arriving.
Went to church.
Decided against making the hazardous gf veggie sausage rolls but made carrot and coriander soup instead, much easier and it worked well with the wonky cheese straws.   Ginger and orange pudding, as per the cover of the Mr T magazine was popular and I did it in the slow cooker.
Minimal flying tomorrow as Mr N, BIL and I are going to London for the day.

Cloth_of_Gold

Thanks for all the good wishes in the previous thrread. I manages to get all the wrapping done (apart from the presents for friends who are coming on New Year's Eve, but there was no urgency there) but got to bed very late. The only service I could have gone to, practically, on Christmas Day was the 08.30 but I was just too tired so for the first time in many years I didn't go. The lunch went fine - I'd made it easy for myself by not having actually to prepare much (e.g. I bought ready-to-cook roast potatoes and made bread sauce) which was good.

A went to the fracture clinic on Christmas Eve and they offeren him either an above-the-elbow cast (greater chance of healing but more restricted mobility in the meantime) or a below-the-elbow cast, which might not work and would then require an operation. His mobility is so bad anyway he decided not to ahve the above-elbow one as it would have made things too difficult. The hospital transport teams were great and we didn't have to wait long to be seen once we got there. The only delay was waiting for the transport to go home, which took nearly 90 mins, but they told us that would be the case. He goes back at the end of January for a review.

My back is quite a bit better but my leg seems worse. It's intermittently painful, a bit stiff when I try to bend it, and I have now got a bit of a swelling on my shin, just below the knee. If it doesn't clear up soon I'll make an appointment to see the GP. I already have a chronic right knee injury from an accident over 10 years ago so I hope I haven't done any further permanent damage.

I haven't had time to read all but a few of the posts but I hope that everyone had a good Christmas. I did read about your anxiety @YORKSHIRELASS so I hope that you managed to get through Christmas without too many worries.

Jazee

Morning all.  Good to hear from you CoG.

Up early so I'm going to do the last thing on the list first.....financial spreadsheet......again.  DH has already gone shopping to top up bread and milk and suchlike.

Have a great day everyone.

Edited to add wordle in five, strands with one hint.  Financial spreadsheet put to test as it's payday for DH tomorrow.  I can breathe...it appears my new planning will work until at least April when the bills go up.

Fayolle

Morning all,
Thank you for the lists x. I have no valid excuses, so have to be in. Like Jazee, I may be starting with the extras and working my way up.
Yesterday’s flying was mainly pulling apart my knitting of the last couple of days. Grrr, but at least I have fathomed out where I went wrong.
DD is going back to uni city this evening. I’m not sure how enthusiastic she is, but NYE is always a bit difficult here and she wants to be out of the way I think. She may yet boomerang back for a couple of days before the start of term.
I have a cake to make to take on our visit to DsiL and BiL. DH is supposed to be trundling to the village shop to get bread, but hasn’t yet emerged….

roundtuit

Morning everyone xx 

Well. I know tis 30th Dec because tis DS's birthday. But I'm obviously not convinced tis Monday because I just found myself searching Valli's post for Tuesday's list Hmmm. 🤪

I'm up, made my bed, compiled a montage of photos to put on FB wishing DS a happy birthday, and supped my first brew. 

My phone was playing up so I've not accessed the nyt puzzles yet. I'll do that now. Plus get dressed. Plus savour brew two. 

R xx

YORKSHIRELASS

Morning all

Fayolle DS2 can't decide where he wants to be for NYE and his birthday on 2nd Jan.  I can't work out whether that is because he feels guilty about leaving us or he isn't bothered about going back.  It's a 90 minute journey each way, and I am not brave enough to do the drive, so it would be helpful if he would decide so we could make a plan.

Thanks for thinking about me CofG, the anxiety isn't too bad today, I am trying very hard to not let it overwhelm me x

We are planning a trip out when DS gets up.  I might run the hoover around, the floors definitely need doing. 

Jazee

Still working my way up the list.  Calendars are up to date, Christmas cards received have been sorted through and a new year card made and written to a friend.  Just need to post it.  I have also done dailies and taken Poppet for a lovely long walk in the sunshine.

Having a cuppa now then will hoover through if DGD2 still hasn't arrived.

MinnieMousesMummy

Morning all,

My list for today
Go to a meeting with the estate agent regarding the house move that didn't go ahead. 
HHpaperwork
Wipe down kitchen sides
Empty the kitchen bin and clean it out
Check fruit and wash the bowl
Take the dog for a long walk
Discuss with DH how to make the spare room into an office
Schedule credit card payments (aiming to get them clear in 2025)
Go to the shop for a couple of last minutes food items needed for tomorrow night
Sort work bag for next week (once it's done then I don't need to think about it until I'm back at work)
Iron work clothes for next week

I think that is everything that I need to get done today. I hope everyone has a lovely Monday.