Weekly Flylady Thread 9 February 2026

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

Manic Monday -  The Lounge, Hallway, stairs and landing

Level 1

f it's not too grim open some windows for some fresh air

Deal with cut flowers and pot plants - top up water/wipe leaves/remove drooping or dead blooms

Empty bins/ashtrays

If you have a woodburner/real fire attend to that first - and lay fire for lighting

Clear gibble

Plump and straighten cushions

Wipe sofas with leather wipes or vacuum - look for all those dust-catching crevices.  Lift seat cushions if you can and vacuum underneath

Wipe/dust coffee tables and leave tidy

Level 2

Clean windows and mirrors 

Vacuum floors - and use an edging tool to get into all the nooks and crannies - and stairs!

Clean doormats

Level 3

Dust all round - don't forget sills, skirting boards, tops of curtain rails and/or battens and top and frame of door.

Wipe door handles, banisters, light switches and sockets - and the bits of the door where people hold to close it.

Check for cobwebs and eliminate!

Clean lightshades and lampshades; check all lighting is functioning as it should - vacuum fabric shades; wash glass shades 

Wipe lightbulbs (if cold)

Dust pictures/paintings on walls - and dust behind them too!

Stand in the doorway and look back into the room - is it clean?

Extras

S&s kitchen

s&s bathroom

HHI

Tuesday - Kitchen and Dining room/area

Level 1

Open some windows (not just in the kitchen!) for some fresh air 

Check fruit bowl - add to washing up if necessary!  Throw anything really fluffy in the compost bin (except kiwis - they're supposed to be fluffy)

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!  Is it time the tea/coffee/sugar caddies were washed out?

Put AWAY as much as you can - do ALL those small appliances NEED to be on show?

Empty bin and clean it out too

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!

Glug some bleach down the plugholes and overflows.

Clean/polish table - wipe mats/change cloth - don't forget the legs and places where sticky fingers can reach.

Clean chairs/stools/high chairs - and don't forget legs and rails!

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

Clean cruet, salt and pepper, wipe any sauce bottles that are used on the table.  Waxy dribbles are fine on candle-stuffed Chianti bottles but we don't want to see dried sauce and ketchup, thank you very much.

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 shelves etc and check running temperature.  Wash out salad boxes etc.  

Dust dining area/room

Descale kettle

Clean WM, TD and DW filters; remove WM detergent drawer and wash it out.

Wipe inside of washer and DW door paying particular attention to manky crevices

Level 3

Choose a drawer, shelf or cupboard for special attention.  Empty, clean out, replace what is needed or useful and fling what is unused and/or out of date or chipped and cracked.

Sweep/mop/vacuum floor

Clean windows in both rooms.  You could also wipe frames & sills inside and out!

EXTRAS

HHI

S&S bathroom 

WET WEDNESDAY - ALL BATHROOM-TYPE ROOMS

Level 1

Open window

Remove towels and fling in WM on a HOT wash…kills germs and does the WM good

Scrub Loo inside and out, slug some bleach or descaler down afterwards.  Pay special attention to under the rim.

Level 2

Clean out baths and/or showers

Clean shower heads and hoses

Clean handbasins including taps - don't forget the out of sight bits!

Level 3

sweep and mop or vacuum floor as appropriate

clean windows

polish mirrors

dust and polish where necessary

Chuck any lurking potions that are not being used/are old

Clean light pull

Extras

HHI

S&S kitchen

Thursday Thrills

the boudoir

level 1 

Strip the bed and leave to air

clear floordrobe chairdrobe etc

make bed

level 2

clean windows and morrors

sweep, vacuum or mop floor

level 3 

poke that duster into every nook and cranny

extras

hhi

s&s bathroom 

s&s kitchen

Friday ~ those frightening kids rooms and spare rooms


Level One
Clear away anything that isn't in it's place, clothes, toys, books etc
Make an appointment for some ME-time.. hairdressers? manicure? night out with friends? .. whatever just do it!


Level Two
Vacuum the floor
Dusting.. all those shelves and flat fluffy surfaces!! Don’t forget the light shade and curtain pole!!!


Strip beds, turn and vacuum mattresses!! and replace with fresh linen .. check if duvets need freshening up too!!


Level Three


Clean 2 windows


Make a start on sorting out the summer stuff to out away/get rid of
Wipe any sticky marks off walls and doors


Extras


• 15 minutes in the garden.. preparation for summer, planting, weeding or just enjoying!
• Wipe the radiators, skirtings and window & door frames!
• HHI
• Friday fling!! Grab a binbag and fill it with stuff to leave the house.. rubbish or charity shop or to donate to a friend!

Jazee

Thanks for the list. Happy new week everyone.

Grandchildren day today but I'll do the basics.

MadamMim2013

Thankoooo Valli for this weeks lists 📝

I will attempt as much as possible, the body may/may not cooperate.. I can only 🤞🏼 and go with it!

Do need to go and grab some groceries, waiting for school/work run traffic to ease before I leave..

Everything here is soggy and grey, feel desperately sorry for those who have been flooded/deluged with water it’s so heartbreaking. Have seen many locally to us who are under imminent threat of it again and it devastated their community when it happened a few years ago, what’s more shocking is those who should help have pretty much refused to.. 😡

ionafan

Thank you Valli for the list x

Having had a manic weekend, I have decided to have a quiet Monday. I've eaten breakfast with DH, S&S'd the kitchen, PUPA in the LR, DR and utility, and left my bed open to air with the window open. I've also sorted out the cake recipes that are ready for filing v. those that need holes punched first. Most of the leftover cakes were dealt with yesterday evening, sliced and stacked in bags or boxes in the freezer in the utility, and L the dog walker has kindly taken a large ice cream carton filled with vegan chocolate cupcakes off my hands. I might be able to pass a few more slices on to the Old Wives this evening.#

I'm off to have my shower (!), then I shall make another cuppa and settle down to some admin jobs at my desk. Lunch is half made - I just need to add some extra veggies to yesterday's leftover soup, to make it enough for the two of us - and our evening meal will have to be early as I have my annual review at the GP surgery this evening, followed immediately by the Old Wives' Group. This week we're living off hm ready meals out of the freezer ☺️

Wishing everyone a good week xxx

eltee2

Afternoon all

So far today...

✔️Opened windows

✔️Aired & remade bed

✔️✔️✔️WM x3

✔️Some line drying in progress

TD1✔️ with TD2 in progress

✔️Exercises

✔️90 mins gardening

✔️DW1 I had a big batch-cook session yesterday, am a very messy cook and used nearly all pots & pans! So later will be DW2 and WUDUPA excess

Now...

Coffee

Lunch

Later...

S&S kitchen

S&S bathroom

DW2

Important jobs for February

Quotes for tree work - remind OH

El

MinnieMousesMummy

Afternoon all, I'm still not feeling too well, but I'm determined to push on and get things done. Thank you for the new thread.

My list for today

• Do paid stuff
• Attend uni lectures
• Do some work on uni assignment
• Laundry x3 loads
• Empty the kitchen bin
• Take DD to the stables so she can feed and check on her pony.

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

Fayolle

Afternoon all,

Thank you for the lists. My beginning of the week effort has been all levels in the LR, as per the list. Downhill from here for the rest of the week, I fear. Downstairs toilet cleaned. Random windows and other downstair glass surfaces cleaned. Towels and cleaning cloths washed then dried in the td. HHI. Bread is brewing, I will make a cake later (just the one, not up to Iona’s mammoth cake making!), all that with a quiche plus dinner should fill the oven nicely.

I also finished my library book. Nothing like a plot twist and a looming return deadline to spur me on.

Pollybear

Afternoon all. One washload done and mostly dry, just three things waiting for the heating to come back on later. Just normal dailies done this morning but DH's bedside lamp died and a new bulb didn't fix it so I persuaded him we could get a new one. In the end we got two, the other lamp was ancient and dented, so I had a new one in the living room, the one from there went upstairs and he had the other new one on his table. Looks much better. No-one else will see it but there's no reason we can't have them ;)

Hope everyone's OK x

eltee2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81877000#Comment_81877000

✔️WM & TD finished, line drying stuff now hanging in garage. ✔️FUPA has taken place for the dried laundry.

✔️S&S bathroom done, will do kitchen after tea has been decluttered.

✔️reminded OH to get tree quotes.

I don't like the new editing either, especially not being able to 'quote' then delete the bits I don't want 😠

Blackcats

I struggled to get going today after I'd been to my dancercise class.

Eventually I did of flurry of little tasks - cleaned the skirtings and window ledges in the lounge and polished the furniture. Newspapers removed from the shelf under the coffee table. Puzzle sections saved and rest of the newspaper is in the appropriate recycling container.
sock drawer tidied and long-term odd socks have left the premises. washing put away and 2 more work notebooks shredded. I also located our re-used annually Valentine's Day card - the spirit of romance eh? 😍

Jazee

Morning all. Up early on my day off as Poppet insisted.

I have dance exercise later but apart from that no excuse not to fly today. Yesterday I did dailies, hoovered through and went to soft play.

Have a great day everyone.