Weekly Flylady Thread 02nd March 2026

Natty68

WELCOME TO SPRING

I thought I'd do the lists a little different this week to enable more of us to feel we had achieved something and with spring approaching; each day will give you some basic flying, some deep cleaning choices and some decluttering choices. As ever feel free to pick and mix what needs doing for you according to your ability and time.

Thank you, Valli, for last week's 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.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.It is your responsibility to read the forum rules, please follow them on this thread as Flylady has been here a LONG time and is a fabulous support and resource for lots of us.

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 asier.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 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 we go!

Mystical Monday ~ Kitchen and Dining Room

Basic Flying...
Sweep and mop the floor
Wipe the worktops, removing everything that shouldn't be there
Sweep and mop the floor
Wipe the inside of the fridge and see what needs using up
Deep Cleaning...
Scrub manky marks off walls and tiles
Run appliances through a clean cycle.. clean filters, drawers and doorseals first!
Empty and wash out bins
Clean out the freezer.. defrost if necessary otherwise just emptied and sorted.. scrub those door seals!
Decluttering...
Empty and clean out food cupboards.. make inventory so you know what you don't need to buy!!
Clean out the cupboard with the pet food/miscellaneous items!

Twinkling Tuesday ~ Living Rooms, Reception Rooms, Hallway and Stairs

Basic Flying…
Declutter and vacuum floorsHoover stairsTidy magazine rackCheck smoke alarms
Deep Cleaning…Wash any soft furnishings and plump cushions and fluff up throws
Vacuum sofa and chair cushions, including underneath them.
Clean smelly pets and their bedding
Dust and deweb
Polish electricals, glass and any unit tops.
Decluttering...Tidy coats, bags and shoes
Update finances spreadsheets
Catch up on any important phonecalls and make any upcoming appointments.

Wishful Wednesday ~ Master bedroom and Landing
Basic Flying
Strip, wash and replace the bedding
Hoover floor in bedroom and on landing
Do your pillows need replacing?
Deep Cleaning
Empty and wash out all bins upstairs
Binbag dance
Dust surfaces and make sure no cobwebs
Wash windows and turn mattress before replacing with bedlinen
Decluttering
Sort one area of clothes or linen storage, make sure only what should be in there is. Anything that has had it’s day or doesn’t belong there remove it.
Sort through a bag or box of stuff you’ve not looked at in months.
I am certain there will be stuff in there that you don’t need – I know I have some.
15 minutes floordrobe clearing..
Binbag dance!!

Thrilling Thursday ~ Bathroom, WC and Study
Basic Flying...
Polish taps so that they shine..
Sling shower curtain/bathmats in the wash and scrub down the slimy tiles!
Vacuum/mop floors in these rooms!
Deep Cleaning...
Scrub the bath/shower/basins/toilets/bidets etc.. don't forget the outside of the loo and under the scanky rim.. it gets naaaaaasty under there!!.. oh, and don't forget the top of the cistern!
Sling shower curtain/bathmats in the wash and scrub down the slimy tiles!
Replace bathmats/shower curtains/sponges and toothbrushes that are manky
Decluttering...
Clear and wipe window sills and frames and make the blinds/curtains nice and clean
Clean out the toiletries cupboard and put back the stuff you use.. and fling the stuff you don't!
Do any necessary decanting so you have fewer almost empties!
Declutter and wipe the desk.. do any filing you find on there!
Set pc/laptop to declutter cache and defrag..
Sort all empties to recycling and make a note of anything you need to restock

Flying Friday ~ Everything Else
Flying Basics...
Hoover floors in childrens rooms
Empty any bins that have been missed
Strip some neglected sticky bedding
Dust anything you've missed during the week
Deep Cleaning...
Wipe paintwork in a room you haven't done in a while
Hoover any carpet you haven't done
Clean front and backs of 2 radiators
Wipe light switches
Decluttering...
Sort through a box of toys/junk
Sort through a drawer or cupboard
Straighten a bookcase..the books not the actual bookcase!!
End of week fling!! grab a binbag and fill it with stuff to leave the house.. rubbish or charity shop or to donate to a friend!

Valli

Nice list Natty…thanks.

hope you feel better soon

1 ebay sale…ferling!

ionafan

Thank you Natty. Sorry to hear that you're still unwell - I hope you'll be feeling better soon xx

I took two large bags of gibble to the CS on my way home from church this morning, and in doing so decluttered my car. The floor on the driver's side is still wet, though. We had a lot of rain last night. I keep mopping it up, so today, with some difficulty, I managed to open the bonnet and tried to check whether the drain pipes from below the windscreen down into the front wheel arches are clogged with leaves, but I can't see all the way down.

While DH was off at his wargaming this afternoon, Rosie and I drove out to the forest and had a pleasant walk followed by a spot of refreshment in the café: a sausage for her and - since the sun was shining and it was pleasantly warm - an ice cream for me. It's gone chilly again tonight, though.

Tomorrow I want to put the new hoover thingy through its paces and make sure that the spare bed is cleared, ready for DD if she's coming here on Tuesday. She hasn't phoned this evening so I have no idea what her plans are!

Here's hoping everyone has a good week xxx

Narc0lepsy

thanks for the list. Owing to having a lunch guest today, we had a fairly good fly beforehand so I feel a bit ahead. Rather a sleepless night as, while visiting our friend in hospital (not the terminally ill friend), we discovered that her daughter was on her way over from Australia to visit - so we rashly offered to pick her up from Heathrow this morning. After establishing that she had thankfully booked via Singapore and not Dubai, all we could do was message her to offer a lift (her Mum had thought she might get a cab which was about £95!!!!!) either from H'row or - if she got a train - from the nearly local station (local one replaced by buses owing to engineering). We got home at about 11pm after an excellent concert (Opera Locos) and began tracking her flight. Eek, it was due at about 6am. So as a consequence, I hardly slept at all and Mr N rather patchily as we were so worried about missing any communications and/or sleeping through the alarm. Mr N got up at 5.15 which turned out to be unnecessary as the flight took longer. Happily, she messaged at 6.30am to say the train was fine - so we went back and got a bit more sleep before picking her up. In the chaos, I almost forgot to book my gym class for next week so I got into one but the other was fully booked by 7.30.

Spent pre-church hour chopping veg and making crumble topping.

Managed to stay awake during church, spurred on by being my turn to read (my beloved Isaiah).

Zipped home smartish and continued making lunch. Guest enjoyed it (so dd we). All cleared away, DW on, other stuff wudupa.

Began booking our Northumberland trip which involved copious comparisons between TopCashBack, Booking.com, Hotels.com and blue light card. I think it mostly worked well except the first night when I couldn't see where to put in the Blue Light code so I have emailed the hotel with the code in the hope they will refund. So far £45 has been put into TCB so that was worth doing - we were spurred out of our laziness by a 15% offer which expired at midnight!

Did a bit more knitting….shiny glove is looking good!

roundtuit

Morning all xx

A new week awaits us. DB and DSil are in the air over France on their way to Spain. The iv antibiotics and fluids (together with Flylady magic - I'm convinced it's a thing) worked their magic on Pops and he went from death's door on Saturday to sat up and chatting yesterday. Talk about an emotional roller coaster- the past two weeks have been beyond bumpy!

My next hospital appointment is on 10th March - so apart from sorting out a lift (parking is almost impossible there) I can forget that this week.

And breathe....

I'm up, made my bed, got weighed (oh boy. Stress = nomnomnom = 😱), turned over the calendars, taken my meds, and made a brew.

Plan for today includes P & S calling for coffee this morning, me visiting Mr Al this afternoon, the dailies, plus HHAdmin. Let's try to find which way is up, and forward shall we.

Thank you again for all your support and kind messages. Healing vibes going out to the poorlies. Much love and posivibes to you all.

Anyone ready for a second brew?

Rxx

roundtuit

I'm dressed, opened windows upstairs to let some fresh air in, stripped my bed and bedding is now swishing.

I fed the birds (2 woodpigeons and a jackdaw now pootling about on the front lawn), and put out the recycling.

Laundry shuffle done which has cleared the airer.

Rxx

Natty68

Round so glad Pops is improving, it must be such a relief for you now.

I'm so happy I actually managed to get some sleep last night. After 6 weeks of intermittent sleeping, interspersed with coughing and throwing up, I slept right through till 7am.

Finally the heavy dose steroids have kicked in. If they hadn't kicked in it would have been hospital. I should've gone to the Drs sooner, although maybe it needed to get this far before it could get fixed.

I think I'm actually seeing the end of this exasperation, as the Dr described it, or in layman's terms very very serious asthma attack. It did worry me as I couldn't get my breath sometimes. I got very worried..and scared!!

I've got some washing going around the machine, hopefully I can catch up. Bed has been made and pies out to defrost for tea tonight 😊

Valli

Good news re Pops Round - and Natty hope you continue to improve - asthma can be a scary thing.

Got washing on the line so that's me happy. Ebay sale packaged; I'll drop it off en route to swimming.

WUALTD

roundtuit

Washing pegged out.

Windows now closed as the air is a bit too fresh. 🥶

Overwhelm threatening. Always happens when I start to relax after a time of stress. Then postman brought a letter to say the rent is going up nearly £6 a week from next month.😳. Not received the notifications re C Tax and water rates increases yet. Breathe, Round, breathe.

If you want me I'll be under a rock. Jibbering 🥴

Rxx

Fayolle

Thank you for the list, Natty. My kind of list. Sorry to hear that you have been so poorly. Hopefully you are on the mend. That goes for Pops too, Round, Don’t struggle alone - I have cleared a space under the DR table for you to jibber there with me for company 😊.

This morning I “lost” a couple of hours at the allotment, doing a bit of non strenuous weeding. Birdsong, sunshine, a bee, and a clump of violets, which made it so spring like. I picked the last of the cavolo nero, that is now bagged up in the fridge. When I got back, I cracked on with the Basics level in the kitchen, dining room and utility. Dw is now running, 2 loads have been through the wm and hung outside in the sun. My next job is to redo my freezer inventory. So much has been crossed off that I’m not sure where I am with it. Then meal plan and book Mr M slot for later in the week.

Honey_Bear

Another load of soggy cat pee towels through the w/m, pegged out and brought back in a few hours later when the semi-expected drizzle materialised. It's all now finishing drying in the kitchen. I included all the dusters in the load, and they're so old they didn't bleed yellow into the towels. Most of them were my mothers and I don't think she ever threw any out. The only time I ever saw her with a duster in her hand was when she bought them. After that they were someone else's concern.

Paintwork in both letting rooms mostly washed; I need to get a step ladder in both rooms to finish off the top of the sash windows but I've done the landing and stairs outside those rooms so I'm not fussed about not finishing it all in one hit. It took an hour and that's enough for one day. Unfortunately I found quite a lot of evidence of damp where I was hoping not to see any, but on reflection it's been such a ringing wet few months it doesn't surprised me some of it has made its way in. I've revved up the radiator in the room with the biggest problem.

And the plumber came to fix the shower room heated towel rack / radiator, so that's a job that needed doing ticked off. I'm getting there.