Weekly Flylady Thread 6th January 2025

Natty68

FIRST FULL THREAD OF
2025

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.

Thank you, Valli, for last week's 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.

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.

It is your responsibility to read the forum rules, please follow them on this thread as Flylady has been here a LONG time and is a fabulous support and resource for lots of us.

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 asier.
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- 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 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

Monday ~ Bathroom Mayhem..
Level One...

PLEASE STAY SAFE AND WARM  IN THE SNOW, THOSE THAT HAVE IT.
Clean the sinks, baths, toilets, showers etc
Declutter the manky bathroom floor
Level Two...
Wash the window and clear the sill
Fling out all the empties from the bathroom
Wipe the mouldy bits away
Level Three..
Scrub down the tiles.. defrag the pc while you do this!.. or virus scan or spyware scan
Wash/vacuum the floor
Wash the shower curtain/screen, curtains/blinds etc
Extras

• Empty and clean out the bin
• Polish the mirrors
• Declutter the desk.. make it shine!
• Delete 50 unwanted emails from your inbox!

Tuesday ~ Kitchen Tinklings
Level One...

STAY SAFE AND WARM IN THE SNOW/FLOODS/COLD THOSE THAT ARE AFFECTED
Clear and wipe kitchen worksurfaces
Sweep the floor!
Level Two...
Mop the floor
Wipe the table and dining chairs
Muck out the fridge
Level Three..
Empty under the sink cupboard.. give it a wipe out and put back neatly the things you NEED.. get rid of or rehome the rest!
Throw out any chipped mugs.. the porous pottery harbours bacteria.. YUK!!
S&S over all the unit fronts and appliances!
Extras

• Wash the windows and sills
• Clean out the microwave
• Fill a binbag with rubbish and get rid!
• Catch up on important phone calls... if you do it now you have time to chase the follow up calls later in the week!

Wishy-Washy Wednesday ~ Luscious Living Room, Hallway and Stairs
Level One...
Declutter the living room , hallway and stairs
Clear and tidy the mantle
Level Two...
Vacuum the cleared floors and up the stairs.. under furniture if you can move it safely!
Sort through coats and shoes and bag
Wipe and water neglected plants
Level Three…
Check smoke alarms.. change any batteries that need doing
Wipe the paintwork
Dust the flat surfaces
Extras

• Make an appointment for some ME-time.. go get your hair done, half an hour shopping, coffee with a friend..
• Wash the windows in these rooms
• Clean out your handbag!.. and/or college/work bag
• Wash any soft furnishings that are in need!

Thursday - Master bedsty & landing
Level One...
Strip the bedsheets and wash them!
Clear Floordrobe..
Level Two..
Vacuum the floor you can see in the bedroom and on the landing!
Fill a binbag with stuff you no longer need and get rid!
15 minutes filing
Level Three...
Wash any soft furnishing that need it
HH doing something that NEEDS doing..study, ironing, exercise.. GO!
Empty any bins and take any laundry to the wash basket
Extras

• Wash dirty windows
• Dust away all the cobwebs and dust
• Wipe all the upstairs doors! .. both sides!!
• Straighten the linen cupboard!

Friday - Spare rooms and kiddies rooms
Level One.
Stay safe in the snowy freezy cold weather

Strip the bedsheets and wash them!
15 minutes floordrobe clearance
Level Two...
Vacuum the floor you can see
Fill a binbag with stuff you no longer need and get rid!
HHI .. catch up!!
Level Three...
Wash any curtains/blinds that are in need
Drag all the tat from under the bed and put it in its rightful places
Straighten books shelves/games etc
Extras

• Wash dirty windows
• Dust away all the cobwebs and dust
• Wipe the paintwork and grubby sticky hand prints
• Dust shelves and light fittings etc

redofromstart

Thank you Natty for the new thread, I am very much in.  

Narc0lepsy

thanks for the new thread.  Today has  been reasonably productive.
- wudupa, wiped and cleared surfaces on long side of the kitchen. Gave sink a really good clean.  
- gave en suite a really good clean.
- took all Christmas decorations down, which I found thoroughly depressing......
- however then went to the 4pm Epiphany church service so more carols and the church is still decorated. That settled me, being a nice finish to the festive season......although i did listen to one final play of my favourite metal Christmas carol cover!!

MadamMim2013

Fankoooo muchly for the new thread Natty..

Definitely need to give the bathroom a good scrub, has had usual s/s yet it does need a bit of a deep clean.. 

Goodintentions

Thank you for the lists Natty. I will try my best! 
It is back to work this week. I am glad I took the extra 2 days last week. I usually go back after NY, but decided not to this year.
But I don't work on Mondays so I will attack the bathroom 👍
We probably need to do a meal plan/food shop. I have found a SW group that meets on a Monday, so I will shuffle along there tomorrow. That will affect the meal plan/food shop...... Although I have booked a family meal out for Sunday which won't help! 😂
DH & I went for a brisk walk along the seafront this afternoon, so at least I have done my steps today. Dinner has been cooked & eaten. DW stacked. 
Have a good week everyone!

Fayolle

Thank you, Natty. I’m in. Bathroom deep clean is now on my Tomorrow List.
DW clean done today - I didn’t even know this dw had a Clean program😳. Meal plan done, this evening’s meal was a Mezze platter - leftovers by a fancy name! 

Jazee

Thanks for the list Natty.

Flying will be limited tomorrow as DGD2 is here but I will catch up on Tuesday.

Valli

Thanks for the list… I need to be in.

DD is skiing so i can please myself this week.  Doing a jigsaw this afternoon was not part of my plan…and when Janice was having chemo etc she would do jigsaws and i would join in so mixed feelings there.  Anyway it wasn’t completely wasted… I have a 250 piece jigsaw which I now know to be 247 pieces.  Might still put it in the jigsaw library with a warning sticker.  But the cards are down, Lots of sorting done so that’s good.  

Ironed some damp stuff which is finishing off on hangers/ maiden.  Snow steadily melting but we have VERY wet, slippy slush. Yuk. 

twinklie

Eek - proper back to reality this week.

Im going to attempt to start flying again. But have also created myself a list of additional tasks for the week. I’ve altered the list to just think about the things that need doing - some others I may have done whilst off already. 

Flylady tasks for Monday

Level One...

Clean the sinks, baths, toilets, showers etc 

Declutter the manky bathroom floor ✅

Level Two...
Wash the window and clear the sill ✅
Fling out all the empties from the bathroom
Wipe the mouldy bits away 

Extras

Polish the mirrors ✅

Declutter the counter top.. make it shine!

Additional weekly tasks.

1. List at least 5 things on Vinted.
2. Post the 3 things that have sold. ✅
3. Tidy and rearrange the boys bedroom. 
4. Sort the playroom so the cross trainer can be used by the end of the year.  

5. Help the kids sort their Pokémon cards. 

6. Plan allotment for this year. I’ve scrapped the allotment visit due to the weather - so removed it from my list. 

7. Clean the extractor fan filters properly (did a little clean last week but they need a proper scrub). 

8. Tidy my office space. Going to do this as part of my return to work on Monday. ✅

9. Tidy the hallway. Started.

10. Meal plan for next week. 

roundtuit

Morning all. A very wet morning here with a lot of standing water and cars aquaplaning off local roads (source: Humberside Police). So go steady whatever the weather where you are.

Pops and Babs are at Leeds/Bradford Airport. Flight should have gone at 6.30 am, but is currently scheduled for 10.40 am 🤞

I got weighed. I'm 3 stones and 2 lbs lighter than I was on 8th January 2024...and I've enjoyed every mouthful of festive fare. I've set myself a target of 10 lbs off by 31st March.

I'm up, made my bed, taken my meds, turned over the calendars,  completed Strands with no hints,  completed Wordle in three,  completed Connections with one life lost, and supped my first brew.

Plans for today include:
Visit friendly village garage to ask about repairs to my car 🤦‍♀️. (Uncle's car is not damaged thank goodness. Current thinking is that I didn't reverse into his car but into the shipping container that he was parked next to. No. I don't know how I managed to do that either)
Mammogram appointment at 13.12pm

Lovely phone calls received from DS and from P checking I was OK as the events on Saturday had unnerved me. DS would have visited but saw the state of the roads (snow) and (correctly) decided I'd be happier if he phoned. Thank you for your kind words on the thread too 😘

To Do Today List 
Brew 2
Get dressed
Feed the birds 
Put out the recycling 
Laundry shuffle 
DUPA pots that were LTD yesterday 
Wash plastics for recycling 
Wash pan that I forgot about yesterday 
Recycle plastics 
P & S calling for coffee 

Shower 
Get changed 
Mammogram appointment 

Visit Mr Al 

Take Christmas tree (in box) upstairs 

Have a good day.
Rxx

sexymouse

Morning all,

Thank you for the list Natty.

No work for me today. Fingers crossed for some during the rest of the week.

So far, I've scrubbed the bathroom sink and left the cleaning products to do their thing on the toilet. Tried to clean the bathroom freestanding mirror, and have decided that it needs replacing, as not only is it rusty (have tried cleaning this off), but the back fibreboard has disintegrated after all of the years of getting wet. Just researched and looks like John Lewis have one for £8 which doesn't look to bad, so think I'll make a trip there today. I wanted to look at their sheets anyway and see if any of the ones I want have gone into the sale.

Will finish the loo cleaning, have breakfast and do the puzzles, and then I will be off.

Hugs to all who want or need them, and good luck for the mammogram Roundtuit.

x