Weekly Flylady Thread 14th September 2026

Natty68

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.

Thank you Valli 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 (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 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- thats 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 goes this week!

Monday Minging & Flinging- Bathroom and Study/Pc Area
Level One...
Clear floors of guff and stuff
Level Two...
Clean baths, toilets, don't forget the outside! and sinks. Make them sparkle, sparkle!!!!
Clear any clutter from desk
Dust PC and desk and wipe off those cup rings!!
Wipe keyboard, house phone, sockets, switches and mouse etc
Level Three...
Wash your bathroom mats, nets, clean blind/curtains, shower curtains etc
Wipe down tiles in bathroom.. defragment your pc while doing this.
Empty and clean out all the upstairs bins!
Hoover/Sweep and mop and deslop the floors in these rooms.
Collect all the dirty laundry
Extra mission: Take your pick!

• Wipe the skirtings, door and window frames in these rooms
• Empty the cupboard and clean it out.. colour ordered bottles inside!
• Fling all those empty bottles and tubes, do you really need that empty shower gel bottle?
• If you have a shelf.. empty and clean it
• Grab yourself a toothbrush and scrub the manky bits between the tiles

Twinkling Tuesday ~ Bouncing Bedroom
Level One..
Clear the floor of anything that doesn't belong there..
Hoover the floor
Empty any bins
Level Two..
Strip the bed and remake with fresh clean bedding
Dust surfaces
Polish mirrors and any other shiny surfaces...
Level Three...
Turn and vacuum mattress - do NOT do it if you are unable to or pregnant..get a nice partner/hubby/child to do it for you.
Sort through the wardrobe - is there anything that you don't need or can be rehomed.
Clean the light switches
Extra challenge:

• Clear one drawer in the dressing table/chest of drawers
• Clean the window - make it sparkle in the sunshine
• Clear and clean the windowsill
• HHI

Whimsical Wednesday ~ Barnacled Bathroom
Level One...
Empty bins
Clear all empty bottles/toothpaste tubes etc.. Do we really need to keep that empty box of q-tips.
Change flannels/sponges
Level Two..
Clean sink and bath
Shine the taps, don't forget to get underneath the taps with a toothbrush.
Clear floor of any stuff that shouldn't be there - towels if they are dirty should be in the laundry bin.
Level Three...
Hoover/mop floor
Clear out the medicine cabinet - if you have any out of date medicine make sure it's bagged up properly and either bin it securely or take to the nearest chemist for disposal.
Replace those manky towels for lovely fresh towels.
Clean windowsill
Last minute checks to see if you have everything for your little ones going back/starting school
Extra challenge:

• Clean windows
• Wash curtains
• HHI

MinnieMousesMummy

Morning all, Please count me in for this week, although it will be a busy week as I start my new course.

My list for today

• Feed the animals and walk the dog
• Get the kids off to school
• Do paid stuff
• Deal with Mr T order delivery
• Do uni work
• Unload the DW and put the dishes away
• Sort dishes and load the DW
• HHI
• Collect the kids from school
• Take DD to the stables so she can feed her ponies
• Feed the animals and walk the dog
• Take DS to his drama group, I'm on duty to assist tonight

I think that is everything for today. I hope everyone has a lovely Monday.

roundtuit

Morning all xx

Pegged out washing in the sun and gentle breeze. Fluffy white clouds hover in a blue sky. Glorious morning. WM is now swishing towels and tea towels.

And breathe... xx

Serendipity this morning. I decided to get dressed before coming down to make a brew. I'd just sat down with said brew and the window cleaner arrived. No mad dash to throw on clothes required. 🙂

I've made my bed, taken my meds, turned over the calendars, fed the birds, filled the birdbath and the hedgehog's dish, and put out the recycling. Oh, and I put away that pots that had been WULTD at the weekend.

P & S will be calling for a coffee this morning. And I've made a note to pay the car insurance today, then that can be forgotten for another year.

Love to all

Rxx

Valli

Towels on the line. Runny damson jam reboiled. Am working on the bedroom 'cos it's grim. BF having breast surgery today - same op as me for the same reason.

Honey_Bear

I hope your BF's experience is good, all the way through Valli.

I think I did a bit more this weekend than was actually good for me. I've made the superking, realised that because of the architecture and the weather a wall got mouldy down there but it should be okay from here on in. This house was not designed for the kind of summer heat we had. I put away a huge number of things, moved some stuff downstairs to the dining room so that it's ready to go to the CS, Scrapstore and tip when we've got the car back, did a stocktake of the freezer and planned this week's meals around the contents, cleaned out the cutlery drawer and planned two weeks of cleaning because we have friends coming to stay and two lodgers around the same time and the place needs to be ready for them. Result: my right ankle, which I must have injured more than I realised when I fell over was swollen and huge last night, so I'm taking it easier today, but there are things I want to get done. At present I'm knitting two lasagnes from 250ml of passata, a veggie spag bol, a box of cooked brown lentils, and four 250ml boxes of h/m bechamel sauce and a 250ml box of cheese sauce. I need to get it done really quickly to get one of them back in the freezer asap, while the various combinations still have ice crystals in them.

After that I'll progress the superking and double (I can't face washing down all the paintwork today) and make a few phone calls, turn out a drawer or two in the kitchen and then call it a day.

wendywitch

Afternoon,

I have been doing bits and pieces during previous weeks but not posting.

Things are still a bit stressful. Dad's still in the care home but Mum has been told he'll be coming home at the month. We're not sure what Dad's been told but he keeps packing a carrier to come home.

Still have the stress of DD2 and her money and housing problems. With all this happening I've been poorly myself with lots of auras/mini seizures. I've tried to make contact with the epilepsy nurse to see if my medication needs looking at again but had to leave an answerphone message.

This morning I went to my parents, fed the birds (wild ones my Dad like to feed) and had a quick chat with Mum.

Came home, unloaded and put away the stuff in the DW and reloaded with odd and ends. Checked the washing on the airer, not quite dry yet.

In the bathroom I've opened the window, cleaned the tiles, bath and sink. Treated the limescale round the plug hole in the basin. While the spray was working on that I cleaned the shelf and window sill.

All towels, bath mat etc were washed yesterday with the bedding.

I finally disposed of all the boxes of smellies, lotions and potions that have been previous gifts and that have been living on top of the cupboard for goodness knows how long. I did have good intentions to try using them but I have to be careful what I use on my skin. I feel I deserve a gold star for finally doing it but I did keep 2 of the tins that some of the bottles came in. In my defence one was a Cath Kidston one and you must know how pretty they are! So maybe just a silver star?

After washing all the bottles out for the recycling I had a bit of lunch, a coffee and an episode of Monkey Life. I'm now going back to my parents to wash up the yucky bowls so they'll dry before it's the birds dinner time.

Just put some loo cleaner down so it can work it's magic while I'm out and found I'd trapped DCat2 in the front bedroom with the wash bins. I thought he was out with the other one. I'm now getting the evil eye.

Hopefully I'll remember to come back to say what I've done later.

TTFN

roundtuit

P & S have been and gone. Towels and tea towels have been pegged out. I've paid the car insurance. 🧘‍♀️ Ommmmm

I realised I'd not eaten anything yet today so made myself some cheese on toast for lunch.

More serendipity. I thought the selfset buddleia growing from under the back fence, and lifting said fence which belongs to the people at the bottom of the garden 🤦‍♀️, was on my side of the fence and I needed to address the issue. The buddleia has gone. It must have been growing through from their side and they've got rid of it. They've left the concrete pad on my side of the fence swept and clear. Ahhh. That's one job less for the gardener. 🙂

To Do Today List:

• Clean out Sassy's cage
• Bring in washing, when dry
• FUPA
• WUDUPA
• Put fan away

Love and healing vibes to all

Rxx

Fayolle

Afternoon all,

Thank you for the lists. I had it in my head that the hob was going to get its long overdue and much promised clean today, so I stayed with the kitchen and utility room. Hob is now sparkling, splashback cleaned, ditto coffee machine, an oven shelf and the cupboard doors. Floors swept, Mr M order placed for Thursday, 2 loads of washing done. Due to intermittent drizzle, the washing is draped indoors. I am now contemplating whether to shift myself to the allotment for an hour (with my raincoat in case it rains again) to see about getting some more potatoes dug. I am not an afternoon girl - it’s all downhill after 1pm. I might have to contemplate a bit more.

Valli

Well done on the Gulty Gift cull Wendywitch Such things are a burden - they need dusting, storing, they clutter up spaces and they make it harder to clean. You have kept what gives you pleasure; that's fine.

Cleaning bedroom, damson jam reboiled, off out tonight to the theatre which were were quite prepared to cancel if we were needed for post-surgery support.

Been swimming. I need to rediscover the Valli who could clean a room properly in half an hour and not the one who takes procrastination to the next level.

Blackcats

a funny sort of a day today. I had a call at 9 re-scheduling a medical appointment for tomorrow instead of Thursday (because of staff availability rather than urgency of medical need) and it's made me discombobulated all day.

I have dusted the bedroom, hall stairs and landing. MrBC seems intent on leaving a different bit of the weekend's newspapers on every surface in most rooms 🙃

Listed and sold an item on vin ted so another item leaving the house plus a bag of items from the garage ready for the charity shop.

I'm going to do a freezer inventory now before sitting down with my crochet and the remote control.

Pollybear

Evening all. This morning I did a wash load which I hokey cokeyed all day. Cleaned the bathroom and toilet, Dusted, polished and vacuumed through downstairs.

Then we went out for a walk and a coffee. Got a bit of shopping for DD2 and delivered that when we got home. This afternoon the washing finally dried about 5pm so I got that in and put it away.

Tomorrow I have to take DGD4 to school and pick her up again in the afternoon but nothing planned in between. Hope we do something because the days go so long otherwise and soon enough the weather will be too bad to go far.

Hope everyone's OK x