Weekly Flylady Thread 26th May 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

Ok here goes this week!

Bank Holiday Monday Pic'n'mix
A simple list to start the week...

S&S kitchen
S&S bathroom
5 - 15 minute room straightening (if more than one room needs your Flylady touch just do 5 minutes in each.

Whatever the room...Stand at the door and look critically at the room -Spend no more than 15 minutes in there and do any of the following that is appropriate or relevant
Open the window for fresh air
Neatly draw back curtains/blinds
Plump cushions and replace
Fold any throws and hang neatly
Empty bins
Vacuum centre of floor
Tidy any piles on coffee/lamp/occasional tables
Put newspapers/magazines away/in recycling
Re-home gibble
Make beds
Pile any coasters neatly

And a new month looms...sometime this week...

Add any cards you need to shopping lists
Check over the Toots list - anything need adding/deleting make sure you know who has appointments for what and when - synchronise calendars and diaries. When is school sports day? When does exams finish, for those that have teenagers taking them.

MAD half hour - Make a Difference
Decide on a project and break it down into half hour chunks...NO LONGER than that. You are to find a timer and do the task for half an hour then stop...
The whole project could be clearing out kitchen cupboards and drawers, for example - or clearing out the linen cupboard, or gardening. But those MAD half hours will make a difference - in manageable chunks and, fingers crossed, you won't lose your enthusiasm for the whole task. My MADS will be half-an-hour in the garden if fine or emptying, wiping out and sorting 

Twinkling Tuesday ~ Living room, hall and stairs!
Level One
Declutter and vacuum!
Spend half an hour doing something for yourself! .. make yourself a hair appointment or something!
Level Two
Wipe sofas
Wash windows
Dust and deweb!.. don't forget anything that is sooty!!!
Level Three
Wash any soft furnishings that need doing
Vacuum right the way up the stairs!
Sort through coats n bags n shoes etc
Extras

• Sort through a handbag
• Sort through a cupboard or drawer of junk
• 29 fling boogie...
• HHI
• Peg out some washing
• MAD half hour - put an alarm on your phone and spend half-an-hour on a bigger project eg paperwork clearance, gardening (weeding), kitchen drawer-and-cupboard sorting, sorting out your linen/airing cupboard BUT ONLY FOR HALF AN HOUR. You can come back to it another day - the idea is that you will see a difference but you won't lose all hope by ploughing on until completion. So this could be something off your Toots list.
• And, finally, it's school hols. Schedule in some me time - hair or nail appointment perhaps?

Wacky Wednesday ~ Master bedroom and landing
Level One
Strip and wash the bedding
Clear the floordrobe
Level Two
Wash the windows
Clear the landing of gibble
Check those smoke alarms!
Level Three
Dust and deweb
Wipe any grotty paintwork and furniture
Vacuum the floors.. and the mattress before remaking the bed
Extras

• Binbag dance
• HHI
• 15 minutes filing
• Fill a binbag of stuff for charity shop!!

Thrilling Thursday - Bathroom and study!!

Level one

Clear and declutter the desk of doom!! lol

Declutter the floors and sofas!

Level Two

Vacuum floors

Dust the fluff away

Wipe over the sofas/chairs/desk etc

Level Three

Scrub the bath, shower, basins and loos

Scrub down the tiles

Wash any bath mats, shower curtains etc that are in need

Extras

• Clean the windows and mirrors
• Delete 50 unwanted emails!
• Defrag the pc/laptops etc... Keeps your computer running smoothly 😉
• Clean out the vacuum cleaner.. wash the filters etc make sure all are dry before rebuilding!

ionafan

Thank you Natty - count me in this week x

After taking Rosie for her walk, I managed another hour hour in the garden, so I've nearly finished potting up and planting out everything.  Whatever I don't get done tomorrow can be finished off on Tuesday or Thursday, when I'm expecting J the gardener.

I remembered to swap my turn on a church rota with a friend, as of course I'd been put down for duty on one of our holiday weeks!  And I collected my shopping order.

The final concert of 'The Piano' was excellent - so much talent!  Memo to self: if it ever comes to the big city near us, I must make an effort to go.

Have a great Bank Holiday, and I hope everyone gets some sunshine xxx

Valli

This SHOULD be the day he decorator finally finishes.  Next week I have new carpets and flooring (having hard flooring in the hall) and my sofas delivered.

Lotsof bitty jobs to do.  I’m hungry, too so I’ll not be lounging in bed for long.

eltee2

Morning all

I'm in!  

MAD 🐸 beware!

El

Fayolle

Morning all,
Thank you for the list, I’m in again.
Today’s contribution to frogs and flying - I have cleaned the cooker hood and thoroughly cleaned the hob. I also cleaned a kitchen window whilst I was in the zone. I may have peaked now, although I am considering doing some baking later.
STS again on the weekly weigh in.  Maybe the scales are stuck 🤔

Valli

All cardboard folded and shoved into a box in the shed so that it doesn't get wet before bin day on Thursday.  3 bags of 'home' clothes put in car ready to go *fling* and a binbag dance danced.  Stuff homed. Pie wrapped and frozen. These are the 'bitty' jobs to which I referred earlier. 
WUALTD too

Little admin task completed (sorry for the delay @kazwookie)

kazwookie

Valli, thank you very kind, xxx

Thanks for the thread.

Cleaned whole house

2 WM on whirly, I think some of it is dry, so I'll get it in

Bins done

Kitchen done

Cats fed

Hoover bagless thingy cleaned

All sorts of other small cleaning jobs done......boring hate them, but they are done for now.

Walking all done for today to target.

Shopping done and away.

Some how I've upset OH, when he was talking and repeating himself, so I went off to keep cleaning, he is now in a huff with me, He has gone to big city to 'dob in' an idiot who over took him on double white solid lines while he was out up north biking a week ago, he has a video off his bike cam, showing the car, white lines, car reg, hopefully when he gets back he will be in a better mood. It seems our local police station has gone on to part time hours or something similar.

Right

Plants some plants

Inspect lawns and see if they need a high cut just to even them up.

Water roses

Edit:- OH now back from big city, and it seems even the main police station there is closed, and you use the big yellow phone near the door!!! OH is now muttering.....

Honey_Bear

I don't think the police have the manpower to keep all the stations open any more which is a shame.

Belovéd bought me a pretty mini greenhouse for my birthday which was about six weeks ago when things were hectic.  Now that they've calmed down and he's caught up we unpacked it over the weekend to put it together.  It's wood and perspex and the wood hasn't been treated. 

*sigh*

I've spent nearly four hours masking it and putting woood preservative on the first side of most of the pieces but I doubt I'll have the wherewithall to do either a second coat or turn everything over to do the first coat on the other side.  This is going to be days of work. 

I Belovéd a lot but this is a lot of work that I hadn't planned on having to do.

In other Flying news I've had a productive chat with a neighbour, another productive chat with the chap who mowes the communal scrap of grass (it's too scruffy to call it a lawn, but it is mostly green) about reseeding the bald patches yet again, done some washing up, tidied up and watered a few things.  That's as much as I can manage today.

eltee2

eltee2 said:

Morning all

I'm in!  

MAD 🐸 beware! ✔️

El

Woo hoo!  The bedroom frog-box is no more, it has ceased to exist.   Been putting it off for ages - took about 15 mins to sort, store, sling & something-else-beginning-with-s

✔️✔️S&S kitchen & bathroom
✔️tidied bedroom (including 🐸)
✔️windows opened (& closed again)
✔️bed aired & remade

Valli

Bank a/c updated; diary updated.  Lamp ordered for LR (through quidco - every little helps and all that) v. expensive but form John Lewis - get me.
Stuff removed from spare bed but there is more to shift.  Former colleague came over with flowers and a card; two of them are coming to the funeral (mum cleaned for one of them until sis was ill) so they have been invited to the wake.

ionafan

It has been raining here, so I didn't get round to planting up the pots.  This morning I went through about half a dozen curtain fabric websites and discovered that, on an otherwise rather expensive site, one good quality pattern that I'd previously seen elsewhere at prices ranging from £18.50 to £30 per metre had suddenly been dropped to £6.30/m because they only had an 11m remnant left.  I checked my sums very carefully (twice!) and realised that - even allowing for the half pattern drop - I needed less than 10m for my very wide bedroom window.  Of course at that price I bought the whole piece, so I will have enough to make a small tablecloth for my early-morning-tea station or some cushion covers, should I ever want any in my bedroom (unlikely) - or I can donate them to the next church sale.  Very pleased with my MSE bargain!  Now, of course, I've just got to find time to make everything...

We had an early lunch, I gave Rosie a short walk down the lane while DH was washing up, then off we all went to an NGS Open Garden about 25 miles away.  It wasn't large or posh, but a real cottage garden with lots of plants stuffed into odd corners and chickens and ducks in a pen at the far end (that was the most interesting bit for Rosie, seeing as there were no bacon sandwiches or sausages to be had).  It only rained a few drops while we were there, but it  poured all the way home, so I hope my water butts are filling up again.

W is coming for a sleepover tonight: her bed is made up and ready.  Tomorrow I shall probably enlist her help in building wigwams for the runner beans and potting up the tomatoes, or baking if it's wet.  K and M are coming for lunch, then we plan to go out for the afternoon to one of our nearby NT properties where there is a playground and lots of space to run around, as well as a house with interesting contents.  This was M's choice, so she'd better not put on a mardy face, or she won't get any ice cream/hot chocolate/cake (delete according to the prevailing weather conditions).

Will be back when I can xxx