Weekly Flylady Thread 28th April 2025

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- 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 and dining room
Level One..
Clear and wipe work surfaces
Open the windows and let in the spring!
Level Two...
Sweep and Mop the floor
Clean the icky filters and drawers from DW's, WM's etc
Wipe the cupboard fronts, all the appliances and all those manky corners!!
Level Three...
Wipe the table, replace cloth if needed
Empty and clean out the fridge.. including the drain hole bit at the back..
Clean oven/hob
Pick a cupboard and empty and clean it out and replace only what you wish to keep!
Extras

• 32 fling boogie!
• HHI .. I really need to do this!!!!!!
• Clean the grill pan.. if you line it with tin foil it is much easier to do next time!!
• Clean windows and sills

Mad Tuesday ~ Living room, Hallway, Stairs
Level One...
Get rid of any cobwebs that have moved in...
Remove clutter from floors, chairs and fireplace
Open the windows and let in some fresh air
Level Two..
Vacuum floors and sofas
Wipe and water neglected plants
Dust those flat fluffy surfaces
Level Three...
Vacuum under the furniture you can move
Clean windows, pictures, mirrors etc.
Change any lightbulbs that need doing!
Vacuum hall and stairs.. all the way up to the top!!!!!
Extras

• Wipe woodwork in the hall and stairs & wipe front door.. inside and out!
• HHI...
• Wash any nets/curtains that need cleaning.. put up fresh ones!
• Clean out your handbag.. how many receipts??
• 15 minutes filing

Valli

Cleaned kitchen which was grim, much of the house has been ‘left’ due to decorator being here and sanding, but now that phase is over (I hope) I am reclaiming my home.  5 raggy orchids have gone in compost bin.  
Mum. isited, she was quite perky until she went to the loo then she fell asleep so I came away.  She is losing the ability to walk, I think she can no longer walk unaided. Two carers took her.  This, Dd tells me, is down to the vascular dementia.  She asked for stepdad but if I take him every time I go she will focus on him and barely acknowledge me.   

Lots of washing dried.  Pots and also rhubarb and blackcurrants watered as there’ll be no fruit to harvest if I don’t.

ionafan

Thanks for the new thread, Natty - I hope you are feeling a little better x

Valli, I am sorry to hear that your mum is deteriorating so quickly.  Thinking of you all xx

First thing on my list for tomorrow is to phone for an annual eye check-up with the optician.  No problems, and I hope it stays that way!

I admit to not having done any gardening after I took Rosie for a brisk walk this afternoon.  Instead I SOFA and slept for 2.5 hours - and I'm still tired now.  Hopefully tomorrow...  DH has to be out of the house by 9am for a meeting on the heritage railway, so I shall get an earlier-than-usual start too.

Jazee

Morning all.  Thanks for the list.

Up early as there's no alarm like a dog being sick. Yuk.

Wordle in six, connections with no lives lost, strands with no hints.

 I have no real plans today so will potter and report back later.  I may get a head start on usual Tuesday admin.

Have a great day everyone.

Valli

Morning all.  To be honest, Ionafan if a quick deterioration means the end is imminent that’s probably for the best, because watching this once bright, vibrant woman reduced to this dependent person with no joy in her life is agony and breaks my heart.

WM and Dw run.  Up early to take Dad to hospital for blood test.  Then work.

Hope it’s a good day for you all.

roundtuit

Good morning my lovelies xx

I'm up, made my bed, taken my meds, turned over the calendars (it's payday woot woot), got weighed (lost a pound woot woot), completed Strands with no hints,  completed Wordle in four, completed Connections with no lives lost,  and I'm supping a brew. 

To Do Today List 

Brew 2 
Get dressed 
Feed the birds 
Put out the recycling 
P & S calling for coffee 
WUDUPA 
Visit Mr Al
Pay rent 
Pay C. Tax

Then we'll see which way the winds blowing. Not literally. QH something upstairs? QH something downstairs? QH in the back garden aka jungle? Not front garden - bluetits very busy in and out of the birdhouse....babies? 

Have a good day.
Rxx

Valli

That man!  Wasn't the hospital.  Was GP.  As I found out en route when he wondered why we were driving in the wrong direction.

Honey_Bear

Strands with no hints, all four lines on Connections but with three lives lost and Wordle in five.

I've dusted and vacuumed the worst areas.  It's been a fun but exhausting few weeks which are now, finally, over and I've polished off most of the laundry over the weekend but I've run out of drying space.  I'll dangle the white load in between various vacant bits but the last load will have to wait until I have some serious line space available in the yard.  The yard itself looks as though a bomb has hit it because nearly all the plants in their massive pots have been moved down there while the sundeck was being titivated and there are a couple of areas I can't deal with until they're properly dry.  Slightly rotted wood in the shade doesn't dry out very fast.  We need this week of sun and hot weather to finish off those bits before I can deal with them.

Must prep supper and then deal with a few thank you notes that are seriously overdue before I decide on which jobs need doing.  I may finish my tax return and send it off.  That would be good.

Jazee

Me again.  Quite a productive morning.  

Dailies
Dog walk
cleaned fireplace 
admin
dusted flat surfaces in bedroom 
cleaned all windowsills and stuff on them
listed lots of items for sale online 
hoovered through
put weed killer where needed in gardens

WUDUPA

Fayolle

I meant to post when it was still morning. As ever, I missed that slot. Thank you for the lists x
Up early, builders arrived, utility room and corridor are so nearly there, if only the electrician would put in an appearance. No point in cleaning the kitchen until they are done, as I like to tell myself.
I did a couple of hours at the allotment first thing. The small patch of overgrowth (is that a word 🤔) has been cleared. Then it was too hot, so I came home, bagged a Mr M slot for Thursday, and got distracted. Lunch time, reset, and start again.

roundtuit

roundtuit said:

To Do Today List 

Brew 2 ✅ 
Get dressed ✅
Feed the birds ✅
Put out the recycling ✅
P & S calling for coffee ✅
WUDUPA 
Visit Mr Al ✅
Pay rent ✅
Pay C. Tax ✅

Groceries have all been put away. Changed back into my scruffs. 

Rxx