Weekly Flylady Thread 16th March 2026

Natty68

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!

Mondays are Marvellous!! - Kitchen and Dining Area

Basic Flying
Sweep and mop the floor
Wipe the table
Wipe any drawers that are grotty and cluttered
S&S the hob & oven
Wipe the units and large appliances
Deep Cleaning
Degunk the fridge, bringing near to date food to the front to be used in your delicious meals this week :D
Deweb and polish
Run WM's and DW's through a clean cycle.. don't forget to scrub out the drawers and filters.
Decluttering or Gardening
Declutter and wipe the worksurfaces
Wash the windows and sills
Clear out a cupboard of junk!
Wash any curtains/table cloths that need it
Do any roses/shrubs need deadheading..
Does the garden need it's first, or even second, cut of the season??

Twinkly Tuesday - Living room, hall, stairs and porch!

Basic Flying
Clear the mantle of junk
Vacuum/sweep all the floors.. stairs too!
Vacuum/sweep under furniture you can safely move!
Vacuum sofas
Wipe and water plants
Deep Cleaning
Binbag dance
Wipe down front door
Wipe down ALL the paintwork!
Dust all the electricals.. carefully.. don't want any frazzled flybodies
Decluttering or GardeningDeclutter ALL the floors!!
HHI
Wipe clean your washing line/whirly gig
Turn over your vegetable plot/bedding areas
Make sure your flower pots/seed trays are nice and clean..

Wiggly Wednesday- Master bedroom and landing!

Flying Basics
Clear the floors and vacuum them!
Strip and wash the bedding
Quick one.. check those smoke alarms!
Clear the floordrobe
Deep Cleaning
Deweb and dust
Empty and wash out all the bins!!Air the duvet.. if nice hang it out on the line for a blow!Sort through a hotspot
Wash windows
Decluttering or Gardening
Organise your toiletries and make-up stash
Half hour... FILING...I know I'm mean..
Spring clean sheds/storage containers
Wash and clean garden toolsSort through a cupboard.. make it neat and tidy
36 fling boogie!! .. GO

Thursday Thrills - Bathroom and Study..

Flying Basics
Declutter the floors
Wipe down sofas and seats
Defrag the pc/laptop and delete 50 useless emails
Collect all the laundry from upstairs
Deep Cleaning
Change any lightbulb you have been leaving..
Dejunk the desk and wipe off the gunge
Vacuum/mop floors
Scrub the bath, sinks, toilets, showers and tiles etc
Sort out the coats and bags and shoes..
Decluttering or Gardening
Wash the windows
Empty out a cupboard clean it out and put back only the bits you need to keep
HHI
Spend an hour or so browsing through seed catalogues
Make a list of all the plants/seeds you want/need to buy

Friday is Funky! - childrens rooms! ~ spare rooms or just attack a neglected room!!

Flying Basics
Strip and wash any bedding that need it
Make half an hour appointment or you time!! you deserve it.. nails done, hair appointment.
Vacuum floors
Catch up on necessary phone calls inc making those much needed appointments
Ring someone you've not spoken to in a while..
HHI
Deep Cleaning
Wash windows
Dust and deweb the whole room
Wipe away sticky marks
Binbag dance!
Decluttering
Declutter the floor.. inc under the beds and units
Straighten up a chest of drawers or wardrobe
Delete some of those old contacts and texts off your mobile phone!!

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

Thanks Natty.

I am in, Monday and Tuesday are going to be tricky at the paid stuff but I will be super calm and chilled, well I will do my best.

Washing and ironing done, kitchen tidied, veggie shepherds pie made to have for tea at work tomorrow. To do list written, I must book DHs car in for MOT and collect a parcel. Off to bed soon.

Narc0lepsy

thanks for the list. Tomorrow is catching up day as I've been away at the weekend. Fortunately my journeys to DB on Saturday am, Mum this morning then home this evening went fairly well although I'm shattered. I actually had a 15min sleep in the M3 service area where I stopped to break the journey with a coffee. Mum was rather taken with my 'shiny' gloves so I guess she's going to be next on the list to receive some. I had a message from A to say that M loved the gloves which arrived to her safely via her son. My Mum was in fairly good form - enjoyed cards and flowers from DB and I, had a bit of a chat, I stayed for lunch and we shared a table with a new resident and her family.

The only flying I've done is unpack since getting home, and a bit more knitting.

Honey_Bear

A friend, whose son is in prison, had an unutterably horrible Mothering Sunday last year and was so distressed by it that she talked about it. She's a great mum but her (adopted) son has been battling demons for a long time. Prison is where he belongs for the moment and is the safest possible place for him. I gave her a bunch of flowers yesterday and she joined us for supper tonight and we talked about being a mother, losing mothers, and the difficulty of Mothering Sunday. I hope she never, ever has to go through another bad or sad Mothering Sunday again. I hope those who don't find today comfortable are through it and out the other side in one piece.

As for me, who is not a mother, I've cleaned the shower room to within an inch of its life, sorted out a few anomolies here and there and put both letting rooms to rights ready for our arrivals tomorrow. I'm hoping this week flows smoothly.

roundtuit

Morning all xx

Just read HB's signature and 💡 that's why setting the timer for even 5 minutes and making a start whether I want to or not leads to resetting the timer for another 5 minutes, then another. And why breaking everything down into bite size pieces and saying 'I'm just going to take the first step' leads, eventually, to completion. Action first. Right. Got it.

I'm up, made my bed, taken my meds, turned over the calendars, completed the nyt puzzles, got weighed, and supped my first brew.

Hmmm I weigh exactly the same as I did two weeks ago. And I should weigh more by rights 🤫. So either the stress of the last two weeks burned the calories off, or my overactive thyroid has ramped up, or walking to DB's twice a day for a week to feed the cats made a difference. 🤷‍♀️. Whatever the reason I now need to embrace Slinky wholeheartedly as I've noticed I get breathless very easily again. As I said last week, budgeting will help reduce the calories.

💡 don't wait til I feel like going for a walk. And start with a short walk. Baby steps.

🤦‍♀️

Now let me have a look at the list. Thank you Natty and Valli for keeping the thread going.

Have a good week

Rxx

Valli

Morning everyone.

Need to reset the kitchen after yesterday's sunday dinner, cooked by DD 😁

Fayolle

Morning all,

Thank you for the list, Natty. Thank you to Natty and to Valli for keeping the lists going. I for one really appreciate the work and effort that goes into this.

The kitchen is not too bad. I sorted through the fridge yesterday and made a meal plan. Tick. Towels and cleaning cloths are on a hot wash right now. Obviously I could clean the oven or the hob. Maybe later. Whistles nonchalently. In recompense I have dusted the dining room. I also did the living room just because I was holding the duster. I also weighed in this morning, with another STS. I am banking on better weather and exercise at the allotment to help give me the push that I obviously need.

Currently debating whether to take DD’s car out for a spin. I don’t want to, but it needs to move at some point.

Honey_Bear

You are absolutely right Round. I find I tend to put off doing things because they're just too much for me to take on, but I now absolutely know that even five minutes or Just One Thing really does make the place look better, and it always surprises me to find that once I start I really don't mind carrying on for a bit longer than I'd intended.

We had two things repaired recently - a towel rail/radiator in the shower room and my computer. Both had further faults that we couldn't fix and had to call the chaps out again. Both chaps turned up, fixed the problem and didn't charge us. I really like having great people who help us when things go wrong.

My lovely theatre digs chaps have arrived after a covid-induced hiatus when they had to stay in hotels while the company was on tour. They've now arrived and gone out for lunch and will then go into work to set up the theatre. It's just so nice to see them again.

I decided in the end that the crumpled duvet cover, which was clean, really wouldn't do so I swapped it over for a slightly less crumpled one, and then washed down some paintwork that needed it. Wren bounces her kong down the stairs to dislodge the contents which spatters dog food over the front door paintwork. It's now sparkly.

MinnieMousesMummy

Afternoon all, it's a rather wet day here today. Thank you for the new list.

My list for today

• Do paid stuff (covering in kennels, mucking out some stables and dealing with admin for clients)
• Attend uni lecture
• Load the DW and switch on
• Spend an hour on the next assignment for uni
• Check banking and update dds spreadsheet
• Take DD to the stables so she can feed her pony and check it (DD still has the cast on her wrist, but she is trying to start using it)

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

Valli

I have cleared the DR table and wiped the mats; table is still extended - I can't work it on my own; bizarrely the Vallikids can…I must watch…I know the theory of it and I am very pleased with it; just need to develop this skill (I could do the display one in the shop…)

Listed another item on ebay - a jumper I bought with the intention of slimming into and never did so it is BNWT - I might as well have the space and ££.

I've been to outswim cancer and worked out that the issue of the person who's organised the WhatsApp group for us - needs to have internet access to do so; so had to wait until he got home.

DD is out tonight so my car is on the drive. I need petrol; must top up tomorrow; also need to fetch a new sack of rabbit food.

Blackcats

thank you for the lists.

Today I've de-scaled the kettle before it gets itself scaly and put the washing machine on a hot wash to give it a clean. Also washed the fruit bowl and rescued a pear from being squashed and ruined (I rescued it by eating it 🤷‍♀️)

I've had a first attempt at organising the big drawer of detritus. How do storage tubs and their lids get separated? Probably the same way as odd socks?

Quickly swooshed round the bathroom sink and taps.

I will clean the kitchen floor after DH has finished cooking our dinner.