Weekly Flylady Thread 27 January 2025

Valli

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.

Thank you Natty 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 (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 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- 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

ok Here goes this Week...

Monday 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
Stop putting it off & clean that blooming oven eltee
Clean microwave
Sort fridge and wipe seals; weave stuff that needs using up into your meal plan
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, discarding anything lying unused.  Do you really need a melon baller/butter curler/42 tea towels/a box of half burnt birthday candles?
Sweep/mop/vacuum floor
Clean windows

Extras

Month end looms … time to check budget, update spreadsheets/accounts
Cards for February? 
HHI
S&S bathroom
Toots list update - can you start chipping away at a big task?
(Eltee - your big task is to clean the oven!)
Pick a recipe book you've yet to use and select a recipe to weave into your mealplan - or get rid of the recipe book - if you don't use it it's just a dust trap!

Another Tuesday morning

Bathrooms, cloak rooms and en suites

Level 1
Open window
Remove towels and facecloths and fling in WM
Scrub Loo inside and out, slop  bleach or descaler down afterwards

Level 2
Clean out baths and/or showers
De-fuzz plugholes
Clean shower heads and hoses
Clean handbasins
Wipe plugs - especially underneath!

Level 3
sweep and mop or vacuum floor as appropriate
clean windows
polish mirrors
dust and polish where necessary

Extras

HHI
S&S kitchen

Wednesday - hump day
Living room, hall, stairs and landing

Level 1
Open lots of windows and let that fresh air in while beds are airing
Deal with cut flowers and pot plants - top up water/wipe leaves/remove drooping or dead blooms
Wash out vases
Empty bins/ashtrays
Clear gibble
Plump and straighten cushions
Wipe sofas with leather wipes or vacuum - look for all those dust-catching crevices.  Lift seat cushions if you can and vacuum underneath
Wipe/dust coffee tables and leave tidy
Sort newspapers/magazines

Level 2
Clean windows and mirrors 
Vacuum floors - and use an edging tool to get into all the nooks and crannies - and stairs!
Move furniture to vacuum under it if you can.
Clean doormats

Level 3
Dust all round - don't forget sills, skirting boards, tops of curtain rails and/or battens and top and frame of door.
Wipe door handles, banisters, light switches and sockets - and the bits of the door where people hold to open/close it.
Check for cobwebs and eliminate!
Clean lightshades and lampshades; check all lighting is functioning as it should - vacuum fabric shades; wash glass shades 
Wipe lightbulbs (if cold)
Dust pictures/paintings on walls - and dust behind them too!
Stand in the doorway and look back into the room - is it clean?

Extras
S&s kitchen
s&s bathroom
HHI

IF you have a coloured, composite door (mine's blue) and the colour is fading and the door is looking a bit past its best then car plastic restorer can bring it up beautifully - wait for a dry day, get a microfibre cloth - rub on then polish off - I used this (even though advised for black plastic) and my door looks new again - was recommended by my painter/decorator guy!  Obviously if you try this do a test in a part of the door that's not on show (too much)

Thursday  - The Boudoir

level 1

open windows
strip bed
clear floordrobe and chairdrobe
empty bin

level 2
make bed with fresh bedding
clean bedside tables
vacuum/sweep/mop floor

level 3
clean windows
dust all round
Use a damp cloth to wipe lotions and potions ~ think about discarding any that have been sitting around for a long time.  Once they’ve been opened they deteriorate.  

extras
S&S bathroom
S&S kitchen

Use some of those lotions and potions - take a break with face cream, hand cream etc and put your feet up!

Friday On My Mind

Kids room/spare room 

Level 1

strip bed (if necessary) and leave to air
open windows
clear floordrobe/chair drobe
use long duster and roll rouns top of walls for webs and light fittings

Level 2

remake bed
dust sills, shelves and furniture
empty bins

 Level 3

clean windows
Dust skirtings
see to floor - mop or vacuum as appropriate

extras

HHI
s&s bathroom
s&s kitchen
last day of the month - take meter readings

Narc0lepsy

Welcome to a new week and thanks for the lists. May actually try and stick to it this week, although we still have a lot of boxes and bags to unpack and find homes for.  Long-term plan is to redesign what has been my home office for years; while I will still do some lesson prep for voluntary work, it is going to be a bit less office and a bit more hobby. Maybe. 

ionafan

Thanks Valli.  I'm in as usual.  I know that I only have a very small pile of teatowels now ( about 6 in all, and they take up just a quarter of a small drawer in a narrow 4-drawer unit) but I probably have an unnecessarily large number (10?) of dish cloths of a type that I don't like, so I might cull them instead.

Eltee, don't stop reading at the first mention of your name in Monday's list!

Thanks for suggesting that I give wise advice, round - I'm not 100% sure, though it is said that wisdom comes with age, so I might qualify  

Fayolle, how did you ever find time to go to work? 

Narc0, do make time for a rest this week - you've been driving yourself very hard x

I have spent a productive weekend at home but not done a lot of flying.  In my defence I did hoover the LR floor this morning, thanks to Rosie, and I skived off church for the second week running because I am still coughing quite a lot and would annoy everyone.  Instead I had time to play with the ancestors and fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge of them.  We had strong winds and persistent rain for most of today, but it stopped long enough for me to walk Rosie briefly just before it got dark.  Now the heavy rain associated with Storm Herminia has reached us and is likely to continue well into tomorrow - hoping Dizzy will be OK as the big river will doubtless flood again. 

Here's wishing everyone the best possible week with safe journeys, a peaceful workplace and a warm home xxx

MinnieMousesMummy

Morning, An earlier start from me today as back to work and I've got a few tasks on my list. 

My list for today
Attend uni lectures
Do paid stuff
Take the cat to the vet appointment
Contact the dog trainer (dog showed some problem behaviour when at the kennels so I want to get it addressed before it becomes a bigger problem)
Take the dog for a long walk
Month end.... time to check budget, update spreadsheet/accounts
HH sorting through diary (new year resolution was to be more organised)
Wash up the dishes, dry and put away
Phone the electric company regarding priority services, as we should be on it but seemed forgotten over the weekend when the power was off. 
Move furniture around the master bedroom
Build the new bed and make the bed (we have been sleeping on the sofa for the past week so will be good to get this task done)
Move clothes from old wardrobes into the new wardrobe
Dust the living room
Hoover the living room
HHI
Do uni prep for tomorrow.

I think that is everything that I need to focus on today, Hope everyone has a lovely Monday. 

roundtuit

Morning all xx 

I'm in, in my usual haphazard fashion. Thankyou Valli and Natty for keeping the thread running. 

Monday morning weigh in revealed that I've lost two pounds this week. Hope it hasn't headed down south Fayolle.😬

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 no lives lost and supped a brew.

High anxiety as I'm at the dentist's for a check up this morning. It's one of those molehills that get me every time. Mountains I can handle. Molehills not so much. 🤯

To Do Today List 

Breakfast 
Get dressed 
Feed the birds 
Put out the recycling 
Laundry shuffle 
WUDUPA 

Dentist's appointment 10.20 am
Drop off bag of books at cs 
Buy new underwear 

Come home 
Decompress 

Have a good day.
Rxx

Fayolle

Loving the lists, Valli. Especially the Extras 😉. I’m in.
I was pretty ruthless in what I allowed back into cupboards and drawers when we had the kitchen done 18 months ago. The tiny utility room is something else though. Just might be where I stashed all the kitchen overflow…walks off humming nonchalantly…
Today we are finally getting a new front door fitted. Yes, the door that was identified as needing doing when we moved in….19 years ago. At least the wind and rain from yesterday evening is having a break atm, so they can crack on with a relative calm day. 

Iona - I do miss the routine of work and the mental challenge. Although some of the mental challenges that were being thrown my way were one step too far last year, and I know nothing has changed, so it was the right decision. I just need to find my new routine, which is the bit I’m struggling with, I know not helped by the fact it is January.
Thanks for the generous offer, Round, but I managed to duck and STS, not sure how.
Have a good day everyone. Off to find the sugar for the workmen…

eltee2

Thanks Valli - I'll have to do it now 😬

Am also doing a couple of WM & TD as it hasn't started 🌧......... yet

DS is back, not seen him yet so don't know if he'll be here long enough to undo my hard work.  Oh well, at least he won't be getting the black bag of rubbish back out of the dustbin 🤞🙄

kazwookie

Morning

Thank you for the thread.

Done general stuff so far today, did 2 hours of cleaning yesterday, so that will do for now.

Fayolle you will find a routine, it took me a while as I didn't know I was going to retire until 6 weeks before I decided enough was enough. So my mind never really spent too much time thinking about it. You will find what suits you, but be kind to yourself.

The builder is back next door, and is gonig to ment the wall my side that he damaged, I really don't care what he does to the Neighbour's side, but he has loads of concrete, so what ever he is doing will last.!!!

Large bin back in

Cats out side

Shopping list made

HM curry for dinner tonight.

ionafan

I hope you have decluttered your dental appointment with no need of further action, round x

I have spent nearly an hour cleaning in the kitchen:
- normal S&S
- cleaned inside MW to the best of my (limited) ability - DH never wipes up porridge overflows, so the gunge lands in the turntable gutter, and when I try to scrape it off (even after boiling up water and lemon juice in the MW to loosen the dried-on gunge) it brings a layer of paint off with it.  Oh well, the MW is probably due for replacing, as I bought it in 2015
- cleaned hob, main oven and air fryer to my own satisfaction
- loaded and started DW, including main oven shelves and microwave turntable glass
I am working from HB's principle that "Better is good enough."

I have also folded all DH's clean washing and given it to him to put away. 
K rang and we chatted for 30 minutes about W's school work (she's in year 6) - fortunately I had made a coffee just before she called me
And I have booked lunch out on Friday at the arboretum for DH's birthday

I have still got a long list of bits and bobs to accomplish this week, so must plod on.  Ancestors, keep out of my way, please - I'll return to your shenanigans later!

xxx

Slinky

So far today I've cleaned the downstairs shower as planned last week. Towels have gone through the wash and are flapping on the line. Keeping an eye on the weather as there is rain in the forecast this afternoon. Just waiting on a loaf finishing in the breadmaker. First time I've used spelt flour so will be interesting to see how it comes out. It was looking a bit wet at first so I added in a bit more flour, hope this has worked.

Kitchen bins washed and drying outside. LItter tray emptied.

I walked into town to the library to give back a library card I found dropped in the street yesterday and bought some toilet rolls.

Right, off to the kitchen to do some stuff on today's list, and have a look at the bread.

roundtuit

roundtuit said:

To Do Today List 

Breakfast ✅ 
Get dressed ✅
Feed the birds ✅
Put out the recycling ✅
Laundry shuffle ✅
WUDUPA 

Dentist's appointment 10.20 am ✅*
Drop off bag of books at cs ✅
Buy new underwear ✅

Come home ✅
Decompress - WIP

* what a nightmare of a morning! Drove into town early as previous Mondays there have been roadworks and traffic hold ups. All clear, so parked in big car park and walked to the dentist's, dropping the bag of books off at cs en route. Arrived at dentist's at 10.10 for 10.20 appointment. No problem. And waited. And waited. And waited. ....Finally the patient before me emerged. And I waited. And waited. The waiting room is long and narrow; at one point it was very busy and noisy and my escape route to the door was blocked by people....breathe.... And finally at 11.15 the dentist's assistant came to me, apologised, said my dentist had been called away to an emergency, and did I want to see a different dentist today, or rebook with my dentist. Rebook. Go to receptionist: my dentist is not taking any appointments. Did I want to ring in March? No I didn't. Would I be happy to see a different dentist at 10.45? ...yes I would but as it's now gone 11 how is that possible? She moved me across on her screen and sent me to the upstairs waiting room - which was heaving, until 1 patient with three mates decided they couldn't wait any longer and went down to rebook. Finally my name was shouted at 11.25. I fist pumped the air. Lovely chap thoroughly examined my teeth, tongue, cheeks and neck - that was a new one! And I paid and was out at 11.33. Parking ran out at 12, so I quickly nipped into B's and bought myself some new knickers. Then drove home, (paid my rent and bought a sandwich en route,) to find that my NN's nail client was parked across my drive 🙄. Again.

And I'm now decompressing like a balloon that's been blown up and then let go. 

And I have a headache. 

Rxx

One question. How can a dentist be called away to an emergency? Any ideas.

Coffee is needed. Join me? I'll just nip out and move my car first.

Rxx