Weekly Flylady Thread 1st September 2025

Natty68

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 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 (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, reparing 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- thats 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 Mayhem - Living Room, Hall and Stairs
Level One...
Vacuum through the living room, hall and stairs
Level Two..
Dusting, even if around everything
Remove clutter making sure stairs especially are safe
Clean windows and all glass.. including the tv screen
Clear the mantel/shelves and only put back the items which are supposed to be there.. and that doesn't include letters, keys or other treasure!
Level Three..
Wipe and water plants
Put all your hotspots in one pile and work your way through it..
Vacuum under furniture you can manage to move without hurting yourself
Extra Mission: Pick one or more of the following tasks –

• Have a bit of a tidy in the cupboard under the stairs.
• Wipe down any paintwork that needs it.
• Binbag dance.. Get a binbag.. fill it and bin it!!!
• Wash any cushions, throws or curtains that need it.. 
• Any last minute shopping for those with kiddies going back to school Wednesday?. Make a list of what you need so that you don't forget anything at the last minute

Tuesday Trauma - Kitchen and Dining Room
Level One...
Clear and wipe kitchen surfaces
Level Two..
Sweep and mop floors
Clean the fridge.. get rid of all those furry things growing in corners!
Wipe dining table.. (clean table cloth if necessary)
Level Three...
Dust any extra furniture in dining area, checking for cobwebs on way round
Wipe and replace all those small appliances.. kettle, microwave etc
Clean cupboard door fronts and fronts of appliances .. don't forget those kick boards..
Clean out your mankiest kitchen cupboard..
Extra Mission : help yourself

• Run the WM through 'clean cycle'.. hottish wash with a splosh of vinegar, soda crystals bleach.. whatever you fancy just clear those pipes of gunge!
• Last minute checks to see if you have everything for your little ones going back/starting school
• Wipe down any tiles and shine those taps.. a toothbrush is great for cleaning away the gunk!
• 31 fling boogie..
• Wipe over the oven and hob - you know you want to ...
• Empty the bin.. wash it out.. and make it smell SWEET
• Sort through your cookery books/magazines. Are there any that you don’t need that are just taking up space? Rehome them to the local charity shop...

Wednesday wobbles- Bathroom and Study/Pc Area
Level One..
Clean floors in these rooms
Level Two...
Clean baths, toilets, don't forget the outside! and sinks.. shine the taps with a toothbrush
Clear any clutter from desk
Dust PC and desk and wipe off those cup rings!!
Wipe keyboard, house phone, sockets, switches and mouse etc
Level Three..
Clean those extractor fans
Wash your bathroom mats, nets, clean blind/curtains etc
Scrub down tiles in bathroom.. defragment your pc while doing this.
Empty and clean out all the upstairs bins!
Clean shower screen/curtain if you have one/if required
Collect all the dirty laundry
Extra mission: Take your pick!

• Take “first day of school” photo – if your little darlings are back at school today!
• Wipe the skirtings, door and window frames in these rooms
• Fling all those empty bottles and tubes
• Replace any sponges, flannels, toiletries that need it
• Make a long list of those bodies you need to purchase Christmas gifts for!!.. 114 days lol

Valli

actually Monday might well be possible, though I am going to visit my sister and am taking hundreds of photos.  In a bag, not with a camera.  
Ive put stuff to recycle, stuff in bin, I am sending stuff to cousin (with the unusual surname) who is in touch with another cousin (same surname) who’s working on a family tree.  I also plan to get in touch with a museum in the North West as they might be interested in some stuff

My great aunt died in 1987.  Her sister kept lots of her stuff.  She died in2004 whereupon mum hoarded it all.  Now is the time to rationalise the stuff. 

What I did find was a postcard of a north Devon town where sis (see sig) is remembered with a bench looking out to sea.  It was our first visit there so that was a lovely memory.  

Some of this stuff is 100 or more years old.

Wahing line dried.  clouds looked ominous but no rain 

3 Ebay sales.  2 are big so that’s excellent.  

Jazee

Morning all.  Thanks for the list.

DD is visiting today with her two so flying may be limited but I'll try my best.  Really pleased with what I achieved at the weekend though.

Have a great day everyone.

roundtuit

Morning all xx 

Happy New Year 🥳. A new year, a new month, and, joy of joys, its a Monday, so new week too. My cup runneth over 😊

I'm up, made my bed, turned over the calendars,  taken my meds, and I'm supping my first brew. 

Plans today include lunch with L (if she's well enough), visit Mr Al, P & S calling for coffee, 

roundtuit

Page playing up. Wouldn't let me continue 🤷‍♀️.

Have a good day.
Rxx

ionafan

Happy New Year to all who are celebrating - especially round ‘cos it’s her birthday xxx

ionafan

Thank you Natty for starting us off for another week of Flying.  I did a quick clean through yesterday afternoon and also picked over, stoned and cooked the huge bag-for-life-full of golden plums that the Churchwarden picked off the tree in our churchyard.  I shall make jam to sell at the Christmas Fabre, but for today the cooked fruit is safely stored in coffee jars in the fridge.

roundtuit

ionafan said:

Happy New Year to all who are celebrating - especially round ‘cos it’s her birthday xxx

Thank you iona xx It is indeed birthday to me 🥳. I really appreciate being born on the 1st of the month. It keeps things orderly. 

Completed Strands with no hints,  completed Wordle in three,  only managed two lines on Connections. Toast eaten and two brews supped.

L has informed me that she is well so lunch is on. I guess I'll get dressed and do the dailies....

Rxx

roundtuit

September Challenge 

1st. I've cut off all the dead leaves and dead flower heads on my indoor plants. They look better. Whether they'll live or not is another matter altogether. 

Rxx

Fayolle

Morning all,
Thank you for the lists, and Happy, happy birthday to Round 🎂🥳. Oh and rabbits, rabbits, rabbits🐇🐇🐇, and happy new year to me and other likeminded flyladies / gents.
Off to a flying start..groan 🤣…dw emptied, wm on its second swishing, dry washing folded, airing cupboard sorted, duster is in hand. I am out with DD later to run some errands before she leaves on her travels tomorrow night. Eek. 
I am still trying to figure out the September Challenge in my head. It doesn’t help that my sieve brain can’t remember what was discussed previously… decluttering? MADs? The trouble is that I have so much choice that procrastination becomes my fallout position. Off to peruse the situation whilst wielding the duster in the LR.

Valli

Morning all

popped into the paid stuff to drop of the table I borrowed for the car boot sale *fling* and the ink I picked up on a free site for our printer *fling* and to print of 4 labels for ebay sales *fling and kerching*.

In my car I have a photobook her husband made of my sister (see sig) including, to my horror, photos of her in hospitals etc.  Middle sis says she'll have it *fling* and 4 jars of jam *fling* and various birthday cards *stamp money saving* and loads of photos from the box I have just done.  Box also had stuff going back 100 years so I'm sorting that and distributing appropriately.  Or binning.  I wrote a list of all the stuff I am taking to my sister's otherwise I would have forgotten something.  

I have binned stuff and put stuff in recycling and gor the last of the car boot sale stuff out of the car.

Now I'm going to be a lady that lunches but first


Happy Birthday Round and many happy returns of the day.