Weekly Flylady Thread 31st August 2026

Blackcats

we are away for a few days but we left our house tidy, hoovered, beds made, washing up put away etc so it will be a pleasure to come home too.

ionafan

Evening all, and slothful greetings to the snuggle It's the end of another week and we are already well into September - it's amazing how fast time passes, and how little I seem to achieve each day.

Yesterday I made tomato and chilli jam and it is Very Good - sweet and sour, with a bit of a kick. It was only a small batch, and I had just enough of the tiny jam jars to pot it all up, but unfortunately about half the lids have not popped - I shall have to put red labels on them and tell anyone who buys one to keep it in the fridge and eat it asap. We decluttered most of one pot between us at lunchtime today on sourdough bread with Brie [nom-nom].

I also washed my bedding yesterday and managed to re-make the bed before I fell into it. Today I have done WMx2 and still need to hang it up in the bathroom to dry.

This morning was spent preparing prayers for church tomorrow - a family service (not a problem) on our patronal festival (not a problem) which happens to be held to coincide with the date of a church festival which I personally find somewhat irrelevant. I found it quite difficult to balance what is important in my faith with what our vicar wants to celebrate, but I hope I have achieved a compromise which satisfies everyone - it just took longer to finish than I had planned for.

At breakfast time I very sadly decluttered a favourite mug which was decorated with a transfer of DGS2's beautiful painting of a reindeer - the handle fell off, and it was clear that the upper joint had been cracked for some time, so I was lucky that it wasn't full when it broke completely. I sent a picture of the breakage to DD and she has kindly said they will get me another for my birthday. Instead of replacing like with like, she offered to use DGS2's painting of an orangutan with her baby which he given her for her big birthday last Sunday, but to me there is a strong resemblance to DH, and I'm afraid I couldn't cope with two of him at breakfast time!

DH and I took Rosie out for a walk on the big hill near the NT Rock Houses this afternoon and discovered a new, non-NT coffee van on land leased from the NT which offers several types of vegan cakes / pasties / milk / etc. Rosie enjoyed meeting another Romanian rescue dog and sharing his treats, while DH and I enjoyed sharing two portions of different cakes between us. I find that vegan cakes often have a lot of sugar in them, and these were no exceptions, but they were well made and nicely moist, so I "persevered." However, the iced coffee which we had ordered came with a syrup which we hadn't asked for, and I couldn't cope with that as well, so DH had to finish off mine. He didn't complain! We drove home via the village High Street where there was a scarecrow competition and lots of families enjoying the sunshine and spotting all the different displays in the shops and gardens.

Glad to hear that you are feeling a bit better today, HB. Your description of the conversation where you couldn't hear what the other person was saying made me laugh!

That sounds like the sort of house I prefer to come home to after a holiday, Blackcats. Enjoy your break!

I'll see you all on next week's thread xxx

Valli

Tomato and chilli jam sounds yum. Recipe/link to recipe if you would be so kind Ionafan?

All ironing done, though wm loaded with a Voldemort wash (dark load) 🤣

tip of house s-l-o-w-l-y being organised. Jam orders on sheet of paper on clipboard. Really do need to actively shift some jam out of the house.

ionafan

Easy tomato chilli jam - goes well with cheese.

I am decluttering jam out to church this morning, but will probably pick up more plums in return 😀

xxx

leftatthetrafficlights

I've done nothing other than the basics since Wednesday! 🤦‍♀️ I had my grandbaby on Wednesday, went to the city Thursday, had a 'decompression' day Friday and spent yesterday picking elderberries, making casserole and making bread! 🙄

On the plus side, I have cleaned up after myself all the time, any job that takes less than 5 minutes to do I have done immediately and I have cleaned up after others so that everything looks reasonable 😉

Today I will do the basics and then spend much of the day picking damsons and making damson jelly and elderberry cordial - from tomorrow, I'll be a daily flylady (sloth like of course!) next week 😁

@Honey_Bear - your 'I almost feel inspired enough to carry on decluttering, but I've calmed myself down.' comment had me in stitches!! 😂😂😂

@Blackcats - I use Bio-d all purpose sanitiser on everything! I have used it for years. Previously I used to make my own cleaning products - vinegar, bicarb and a bit of washing up liquid (and will do again) but I had ordered a large quantity of the bio-d stuff when I was working a lot (no-one else in my house would make the cleaning stuff, so I had the bio-d in case they run out) and they sent a concentrated version that I'm still working through!! 🙄😂). I use pink stuff cream on my tile grout and their glass cleaner on mirrors, glass tables and windows. I also have a collection of mould and mildew stuff from hg as well as their limescale remover (no extractor fans in the bathroom or kitchen and very hard water area) which I use as required but I try to avoid. I use hm loo blocks mainly but have run out so dh is buying cistern blocks at the moment (I need to make some next week). My biggest shame is that I use bleach 🫣 it's a horrendous product to use environmentally and I am going to move away from it again once the cats have gone but, at the moment, I can't cope with the thought of not bleaching all the surfaces in the house! 😳 I use microfibre cloths (glass and silver stuff) and jay-cloths (wet stuff like surfaces). I have a selection of 'deep' cleaning stuff too - isopropyl alcohol for glass ceiling lights, bicarb of soda for carpets etc - it's a lot at the moment but I'm planning on reducing it as much as possible once life gets back to normal! I'm with you on the coming home to a clean house - it's such a pleasure when you're exhausted! Hope you have a lovely time away 😁

@Narc0lepsy - I am so envious of your sloth encounter!! 🥰😍❤️ they are just adorable and very clued up as to the important things in life! 😉😂

@Valli - loving your jam making efforts! I'm about to embark on my jam and cordial making missions - but not at your level! - I do love preserving! 😁

@ionafan - that tomato chilli jam sounds lovely! I think I shall make that with the rest of our tomatoes when they have ripened 🤔

Right, I need a chamomile tea - see you next week!! 😁

Blackcats

thank you for your cleaning products info @Honey_Bear and @leftatthetrafficlights

It's interesting to read what others do. I think I'm going to use up the various spray cleaners I have and then have one spray that is used for bathroom and kitchen. My brother swears by bar keepers friend but I'm refraining from. Using that until the 3 sprays I have on the go currently. I've been using multi surface wipes for the kitchen table but when they've run out I'll just spray and wipe with a j cloth. I need to sort out my many cleaning cloths when we get back from holiday but now I'm going for an ice cream on the beach 🏝️

Valli

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