Weekly Flylady Thread 17 November 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


Marvellous Monday - Kitchen and Dining Room

Level 1
Open some windows for some fresh air and a through draught.
Wash up, dry up and put away (or remove all pots to DW) 
Clear sides and wipe down - wipe small appliances and caddies etc.  Don't forget the splashbacks or tiles!
Replace what lives there, wiping as you go
Empty bin and clean it out too - put it outside to freshen up and dry, if it isn't raining.
Clear and clean sink and accessories - don't forget those out-of-sight places - under plugs and under draining racks - and shine those taps - or clean them!
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!  Put out a new hand towel and a new tea towel too
Good slug of bleach (or your preferred draincleaner) down plugholes and in overflows
Clean cruet, salt and pepper, wipe any sauce bottles that are used on the table

Level 2

Wipe down all cupboard and drawer fronts inside and out, not forgetting handles and tops and bottom as well as fronts!
Clean hob
Clean microwave
Sort fridge and wipe seals; weave stuff that needs using up into your meal plan; update shopping list as appropriate
Wash and wipe fridge shelves and baskets.
Dust dining area/room
Descale kettle if needed
Clean WM , TD and DW filters; remove WM detergent drawer and wash it out.
Wipe inside of washer drawer and DW door paying particular attention to manky crevices

Level 3

Sweep/mop/vacuum floor
Clean chairs (and highchairs) - don't forget under the seats where sticky fingers linger.
Clean windows in both rooms.


EXTRAS

HHI
S&S bathroom
Meal plan for the week - and plan to cook a double sized meal and freeze one for a CBA/busy day - fish pie, cottage pie or a nice wintry, warming casserole or stew...something complete!  Do you need to update your freezer inventory and/or use up and make space?  I used my emergency cottage pie so need to replace it.
Check your meds - will you need any over Christmas and the New Year?  If so get your prescription request in or make a note in your diary.  Check your favourite OTC meds are in date too.
Check your lightbulb and/or battery stock is ok - no one wants a dark house or redundant remote!
Posting abroad?  Last posting dates are looming 

Tuesday a twist to the list - Master bedroom (because mine has been a repository for DR stuff and now needs reclaiming)

Level 1 

Strip bed - and leave to air for as long as you can
Open windows - in more than one room to freshen and blow through)
Clear floordrobe/chairdrobe
Empty Bin (see extras and kill 2 birds😉)

Level 2

Dust/vacuum headboard and/or bedframe
Flip mattress if you are able to and if necessary
Remake bed
Check all lighting is fully functional - dust bulbs for extra brightness)
Wipe sockets, switches and wires, dust plugs.

Level 3

Dust and wipe - all flat surfaces and sticky pots (lotions and potions) and electricals - hairdryers etc can get yucky quickly
vacuum hairdryer air inlet
Polish mirrors - while you're at it you may as well clean the windows
Vacuum/sweep/mop floor

Extras
S&S kitchen
S&S bathroomr
Write some Christmas cards 😉
Bin bag dance

Jazee

Morning all.  Thanks for the list Valli.

Will be just the dailies today as I'm going to see a Xmas display at a stately home.

Have a great day everyone.

roundtuit

Morning all xx 

🎵 Here we go again. Happy as can be. All good friends, and jolly good company🎵 That's what Pops used to sing to us when we were little. I think the actual word in the song is 'pals' but Pops defo sang 'friends'.

Thank you to Natty and Valli for keeping the thread running. And to all of you for being my much loved Flylady friends. 🥰

It's my last day at home before I go back to work tomorrow. The house should be spotless. It isn't. But I've pretty much done my Christmas shopping which was my priority this week. 

I've just re-read Toots welcome guide for inspiration and motivation. 😍

My bed is made. That's always a good start. Joey has fresh seed and water. I'm ready for a second brew and then I'll:

Get dressed 
Feed the birds 
Put out the recycling 
Laundry shuffle 
Write December's birthday cards 
Check emails 

Back to baby steps.

Love to all
Rxx

MinnieMousesMummy

Morning all, Thank you @Valli for the new thread

My list for today
Phone the doc to try and get an appointment
Go into placement
Spend 2 hours on uni work
Do freelance work that is in the diary for today
Take the dog for a long walk (or get DD to do it if I'm not feeling well enough)
Fill the DW and switch it on
Update cv as found a job that I really want to apply for
Apply for job that I'm interested in (I might be under qualified but I'm keen)
Check V account and deal with anything needed
Check banking and update dds
Take DD to the stables so she can check on and feed her pony
Empty kitchen bin and clean it out too - put it outside to freshen up and dry, if it isn't raining.
Write festive cards that need to be posted early and check dates. 

I think that is everything that I need to do today. I hope everyone has a lovely Monday. 

roundtuit

roundtuit said:

Get dressed ✔
Feed the birds ✔
Put out the recycling ✔
Laundry shuffle ✔
Write December's birthday cards ✔
Check emails ✔

I've also FUPA the airer and unwrapped my 2026 calendar. 

Next:

Put C's address on envelope 
Clear coffee table 
P & S calling for coffee 
Dust tv stand 
QH MAD in LR 

Rxx

ionafan

Morning all.

Just wrote a long post and then lost it,  grrr!  Can't spare the time to re-write it now, so I will just say that everywhere looks reasonably clean and tidy - enough to tide us over until tomorrow, when I hope to regain my Flying wings.  Today's priority is a food shop, as I've run down a lot of my stocks recently.

Hope everyone has a good week xxx

Fayolle

Morning all,
Thank you for the lists. As I am procrastinating over the admin pile, I have managed to be a bit productive. DR and LR dusted and vacuumed, clean washing folded, wm x 2 done, wm drawer scrubbed, kitchen bin emptied. Amazing how far procrastination will get you.
Other things on my list for today - make soup, block a shawl that I have finished for DSiL’s Christmas present, do a seed inventory so that I can get my order in, sort through the cs bag on the landing so that it can leave the house on Wednesday. 
Other things that should be on my list for today - freezer inventory, oh and the admin. How could I forget 🙄.
Kettle has just boiled if anyone cares for a cuppa

Valli

I have removed the shades from the light fitting in the DR, they are washed and drying.  Kitchen and DR are dusty, particularly the kitchen but I'm very happy as it's dry and bright so I have windows open and I can put kitchen mats outside out of the way while I clean.  I love cleaning when it's bright outside!

DW emptied and washing on line.

Came on to lappy to book my swim (don't actually need to book but it means I can just pass through the barrier using my card as opposed to queuing at the reception desk) so I thought I'd check up on you all!

Honey_Bear

Wren walked, blackbirds fed and the minging pumpkins someone had dumped close by where I feed them removed, bird feeders topped up, carpet loaded into the car for Belovéd to drop off at the tip later, breakfast scoffed, a bit of gibble rehomed (dot-to-dotting), Flying jobs that need to be done this week listed so Belovéd knows what I would appreciate him doing, banking problem pre-empted because my lovely bank texts me if they think there's going to be a problem later.  Which there would have been, but it would also have been their mistake, not mine.  

I've now realised:

- there are a couple of things that need to go via the post office which I should have done while I was out so that means another trip outside,

- an urgent email to think about and reply to because I've delayed replying for 48 hours and that won't be okay if I leave it any longer and I don't actually want to make any decisions about it today but needs must, 

- I need to confess to Belovéd that the lovely winter woolly hat he gave me two years ago that has really confusing instructions not only felted the bobble but also shrank the whole thing so that has to go, and then, after I've done those things 

- I can get on with what I need to do to progress things.

Pollybear

Lovely sunny day today with a beautiful blue sky but it's pretty chilly.   But I have washing out that actually seems to be drying!

Dusted and vacuumed through downstairs.   We've been out for petrol, new bathroom plugs, a walk and coffee in Waitrose.   Then DH felt poorly so he went to the car while I paid for a couple of things and we came home.  He hasn't been out for about 10 days so I think it was just a bit tiring.

Nearly time to cook now.  Hope everyone's OK x

wendywitch

Pollybear, where did you get your plugs from? I brought new ones but they still leak.

I finally finished shredding all my old paperwork/car paperwork yesterday.
Today I don't have my Grandson as my Son in law ish booked a weekend away for the family for DD1s 30th which is tomorrow. 
DD2 and I have done my parents food shop this morning which really killed me. I've done something to my lower back and am in alot of pain. I'd planned to do so much today as I don't have the boy but my back just won't take it. I'm so annoyed.