Weekly Flylady Thread 25 August 2025

Valli

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 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 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

Bank Holiday Monday (England and Wales)

S&S Kitchen
S&S bathroom(s)

Have a restful Bank Holiday!l

Tuesday….

Go all round the house and clean every window and mirror

Clear the hall
dust 
sweep
mop

bash all mats

S&s kitchen
s&s bathroom

ionafan

Thank you Valli x - I think I should be able to complete tomorrow's list before we g to DGD2's birthday party (you'll probably still be baking birthday cakes for your grandchildren when they are teenagers, Jazee!)

Today I have
- been to church
- filled my car's petrol tank
- dopped off another bag full of Stuff at the CS [fer-ling!!]
- decided that quilting rulers are expensive and unnecessary, but succumbed to buying some roll-out icing which was on special offer
- got Wordle in 4, Strands with no hints and Connections with no loss of life
- deadheaded the indoor geraniums
- walked Rosie up to the Covert and back
- done some cross stitch
- watched a bit of television
- decided in the first 3 minutes that William the Conqueror is not for me, though DH is glued to it.

Back to the curtains tomorrow morning (after completing the list, of course).

Early bed for me tonight - I'm shattered.  Hope everyone has a good week xxx

Narc0lepsy

Unlike me to be early, but I missed the last few days with family staying and visiting.   All went well with pre-visitor flying, cooking etc; meals were praised and we started today going out for a lovely breakfast with DB and SIL to see them on their way.
One load washing done.
Spent much of today washing, cutting and freezing plums as SIL brought 15kg of her neighbour's plums for us - all fresh off the tree, not windfalls. Not a single maggot and all de-stoned easily. Have frozen loads, Mr N has found a recipe for plum gin so has frozen that portion and I've given bags away to neighbours. 
Rest of the time sleeping to recover from visitors!
Did a bit of drumming to see if my shoulder would cope - no pain or pins & needles while drumming, which is a relief.
Then gathered together what I need for tomorrow's Zumbathon..........map, list of groups (2 rooms, 5 instructors, 4hrs worth of dancing), chocolate, lots of water, dried dates and apricots.         See you all tomorrow assuming I survive. 

YORKSHIRELASS

Morning all

Yesterday I was grumpy and out of sorts all day.  We had planned on a day out but DH has had a dodgy tummy and didn't want to do much.  I slept badly the night before, and we had made vague plans for going out in the evening with DS and GF, which didn't happen.  We went for a short walk but it was hot and sticky and I wasn't in the mood. 

I had to remind myself that I could choose to be miserable or just be thankful that I had some time at home with no pressure to do anything much and enjoy it!

Today we have a new freezer being delivered.  I have decided that certain areas of our house are starting to accumulate clutter, so I want to make a plan to address that.  I have also had another go at my wardrobe, I have massively culled my clothes so I have set a Vint@d budget and so far made about 15 purchases, things that I know I will wear.

Hope everyone gets to enjoy the Bank Holiday, the sun is shining here already. 

roundtuit

Morning all xx 

The sun is shining here too. I stepped outside earlier and it felt quite autumnal, but I expect it'll soon warm up and be summer again. Sigh. I'm very much an autumn hygge person 😊.

I completed Strands with two hints- should have worked it out 🤦‍♀️, completed Wordle in five,  completed Connections with no lives lost, and I'm supping my first brew. 

I might sit with YL and make plans to address the 1000001 things clamouring for my attention. Turn each one into a goal and break it down into bitesize pieces. Ready to begin on my New Year's Day- 1st September.

I've ordered the last of the birthday cards that I need between now and February .... no birthdays in September or October,  then a plethora from November to January. And I've ordered the 'special' Christmas cards that I need. That's a start.

Brew 2 is required. Join me? Or are you enjoying a lie in? 

Rxx

Honey_Bear

Thanks for the thread Natty and Valli.  Today's listie should be about do-able, but I can't guarantee even that.

Changed our bed yesterday because Belovéd bought me breakfast in bed and I managed to drop some of my boiled egg on the duvet.

Despite my best efforts to resist I'm like an addict regarding TGTG and have (at least) two collections today. 

That was a lovely read ShortBird about Post Buses.  I knew about them and should have realised they were a thing of the past but it was a fab bit of nostalgia.  

Scottish holiday planning continues.  I'm delighted with what I've found so far; couldn't have made any more progress without the Rough Guide and a lot of t'internet sleuthing.  I'll be working on Speyside today - Belovéd is a single malt fan. A relatively new bus service sounds interesting and helpful.

MinnieMousesMummy

Morning all, 

I've not posted for the last couple of days as its been very hectic with not much flying getting done. Friday I was at uni all day so not much else was done. Saturday I attended one of the big horse shows in Scotland, so that was a fun family day out. Yesterday I took DS to his drama rehearsal, done another boot sale (didn't make much or even declutter much) and took DD to her horse riding lesson. 

My list for today
Go to the stables and check on the horse
Deal with the glaziers who are coming to replace a window (the seal has worn so draughty) this morning
Do required work for uni
Do paid stuff
Check banking and direct debits
Empty the living room bin
Make a start on sorting the diary out for next month (hard to believe it's almost the end of August already)
Take DD to the stables so she can do required tasks with her horse
Get fuel in the car for tomorrow

I think that is everything that I need to tackle today. I hope everyone has a lovely Monday/week. Hugs to those who want/need them. 

Fayolle

Morning all,
Thank you for the thread, as ever. I will try to complete today’s but I know that DD is planning on baking later so the kitchen s&s may be futile.
I am with Round - enjoyed the second brew, am also definitely an autumn person, and start my new year on September 1st. Spooky, or what.
I had a restless night last night, finally dropped off around 4am, so am channeling all my grumpiness this morning, along with a thick head. The wm has just finished, so I will go outside (twot already, another reason to be grumpy🙄) and see if fresh air helps. 

Yesterday I had a mammoth fruit prepping session - plum jam, cinnamon plum compote, plum crumble (do you see the theme here), apple and blackberries, and a quiche (not fruit, but the oven was on). Today will be veg day - beans feature heavily - when I can get my derrière into action. Allotment picking and watering will be this evening.
Have a good day all x

Jazee

Morning all.  Thanks for the list.

Had an impromptu visit from DDil and children yesterday so didn't fly other than basics.

Today the dailies are done but we also had to go back to vet. Poppet has a sore paw.  Just having something to eat so I'll do some puzzling.  I need to pack up an online sale ready to post tomorrow and some other odd jobs.

Pollybear

Afternoon all.  Very warm here and breezy.  I've dried three washloads in record time, trying to get on top of things before the weather turns changeable.

Otherwise not much else.   We went for a walk and coffee this morning and I've done the usual cooking and clearing up.  

Hope everyone's OK x

Jazee

Parcel ready to post.  I've done some shredding, lifted the beetroot in the garden which went straight in the compost bin, updated calendar ready for September and made the four cards we need for the month.  Also made a plum crumble.