Weekly Flylady Thread w/c May 4th 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!

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 - Bank Holiday 

S&S kitchen
S&S bathroom
Take off for the day, read a book - why not look for a never-tried recipe in one of your cookbooks? Or knit, or sew, or craft or do a jigsaw, watch a film or the snooker or have a long bubbly soak, or potter in the garden/greenhouse or go for a walk...BUT WHATEVER YOU DO ENJOY IT

Back to the grind Tuesday…a Flylady's work is never done

Kitchen and Dining room

LEVEL 1

Empty all bins - recycling and rubbish and wash them out

Clear work surfaces, wiping what lives there

Clean windows - glass, sill and frame

Clear and clean sink and taps

LEVEL 2

Wipe all worktops, splashbacks and hob

Wipe drawer and door fronts including handles

Wipe table

LEVEL 3

Dust/wipe chairs

Sweep/mop/vacuum floors

Extras

hhi - especially those of you home from holidays, however brief

S&S bathroom

If you've loads of time clean out fridge and wash shelves etc - ideally do this prior to level 1 - you know it makes sense!

Wipy Wednesday - bathrooms, en suites, etc

Level 1

Open windows for fresh air

Empty bins

Cear sills and shelves and wipe.

Clean windows

Wash shower curtain

Clean bath and/or shower

Level 2

Clean toilet outside and in, don't forget behind it, connected pipes and under cistern if accessible

Empty cabinets and clean. Discard anything thats been opened longer than the label says it should last.

Discard last years suncreams or use as body lotion or chill in fridge to use as soothing aftersun.

Level 3

Clean basin

Swap towels and washcloths

Polish towel rail

Sweep and mop floor

Extras

S&S kitchen

HHI

Thursday - living room, hall, stairs and landing

Level 1

Open lots of windows and let that fresh air in while beds are airing

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

Wash out vases

Empty bins/ashtrays

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/side/lamp tables and leave tidy

Sort newspapers/magazines

Level 2

Clean windows and mirrors 

Clean doormats

Dust all round

Level 3

Vacuum/sweep/mop floors

Extras

S& bathroom

S&S kitchen

hhi

roundtuit

Morning all xx

Thank you to Natty and Valli for the lists x

Wishing everyone a peaceful Bank Holiday Monday 😘

Rxx

MadamMim2013

Morning everyone 👋🏼

A humongous squish for you @roundtuit.. was wondering (& hoping) all was ok, sad things have been uber stressful for you and that your family didn’t respect your wishes.. 🤬

That kind of thing is why I have a chosen familam (some of whom are related, but mostly not 😉)

Have been reading along but lacking in energy, motivation or sanity to post..

Lots going on in various spaces, that’s taking up most of my time currently & I’m too 😵‍💫 then to do much else!
B12 in short supply.. hormones playing hide n seek & my patience with the world (& myself) has also scarpered!🫨🫣

Here’s hoping for a calm and productive week for all 🤞🏼🤗💗

roundtuit

😵💫 pretty much applied here too at times @MadamMim2013 Thank you for the humongous squish. I think my energy, motivation, and sanity, are holidaying somewhere with yours. Let's hope they all return fully refreshed 😉

Amongst the chaos of life in 2026 there have been moments for reflection and lessons learned. 'I get knocked down, but I get up again' 😉

I'm up, made my bed, taken my meds, turned over the calendars, completed Strands with no hints, completed Wordle in four, only managed one line in Connections, eaten breakfast, got dressed, and supped two brews.

To Do Next

Feed the birds

Put out the recycling

HH Admin

Oh and I've finally binned ood salad, ood cheese, and a manky pear, that have been staring at me from the fridge and the fruit bowl. 👀

Love to all

Rxx

Pollybear

Morning all. Sending best wishes to Round and Iona in the hope things improve.

I cleaned the bathroom and toilet this morning then dusted, polished and vacuumed through downstairs. One washload done and draped round because we've had some rain and it still looks unsettled. Dehumidifiers on. Taken DD1's dog out twice so far. We'll be out again this afternoon.

Bank Holidays always feel like another Sunday to me and I hate Sundays.

Hope everyone else is OK x

roundtuit

Feed the birds ✔

Put out the recycling ✔

HH Admin

P and S called for coffee and a catch up. P left with a pair of shoes that are too small for Pops. Fer-ling 😊

Rxx

Blackcats

I like the look of today's lists - will definitely pick some nice things to do from that selection.

I'm sewing up a granny square blanket for DGD so I'll aim to do a row of that. I need to keep persevering with this month's book group choice which is interesting but certainly not uplifting.

We got back from our long weekend break on the IoW a couple of hours ago and are now unpacked. We did some washing yesterday and that was dried and folded before we came home so it was easy to put away in its correct places.

I will check through the fridge and fruit bowl as it's bin day tomorrow so anything that needs to be binned can go. Fingers crossed there isn't very much.

wendywitch

Afternoon,

I have felt much the same as MadamMim2013 (sorry I still can't get the hang of highlighting on my phone). I haven't read any of last week's thread so have no idea what you've all been up to.

I'm still having trouble with DD2. She's wasting money on things she doesn't need to "make herself happy" when she should really be using spare money on bills and towards whatever is going to happen at the beginning of June when she loses her flat. If I try to say anything she gets on the defensive shall we say. One of the reasons I don't want her back here.

An old friend of mine has moved back into the area and came round for coffee yesterday. It's amazing how much S/S you can get done with the threat of someone coming round!

Yesterday I cleaned both the WM & DW. Did a load in the DW, unloaded and half filled after dinner. I also did a dark wash, half in the TD and half on the airer. S/S the kitchen and bathroom and a quick tidy round the LR and a quick hoover.

Didn't sleep very well last night and it wasn't due to the cats for a change. So I've been on an extra go slow this morning. I went to see my parents, to show my mum a website I found for some wool, so I ended up ordering that for her and a new rotary washing line as my dad broke the last 2 they've had! I've told both of them that my dad is band from touching it! That should be delivered on Wednesday 🤞

I'm now going to watch a bit of telly and do some of my knitting before dinner.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

Back from a lovely weekend away camping, two loads of washing done, everything tidied away and our folding camper hoovered and tidied.

Been to see DS1 and GFs new house, they have bought a little cottage which is lovely but very compact. They are currently renting a 3 bed house so need to declutter. I have been roped in to help clean carpets and I think we will be helping them move next weekend.

Paid stuff tomorrow, I think it will be an early night.

Narc0lepsy

I managed to do all 3hrs of the charity Zumbathon this morning so am shattered!

Mr N manfully did a whole load of flying; we have church group meeting at our house tomorrow eve then friend staying overnight Wed (plus another friend joining us for dinner).

I made some lentil brownies which use no flour and taste like proper brownies, so that is half the church cooking done. I'll probably make a lemon and caraway seed cake tomorrow after work (or before swimming if I get up early enough) then they will have a choice and I can freeze the rest for a fortnight's time when we are hosting again.

Checked greenhouse, sowed peas and French beans.

Did final-ish tidying up in kitchen and lounge.

weenancyinAmerica

@Narc0lepsy - Is there a recipe available for the lentil brownies that you can share? Sounds interesting, especially if they taste like real brownies.