Weekly Flylady Thread 9th November 2026

Natty68

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!

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 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!

Some of our abbreviations:
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
KH/CF- affectionate term for ex husband or partner 
DGC- dear grandchild,
WM- washing machine,
DW- dishwasher,
LR/DR- living/dining room,
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 ~ Bathroom and Study/Pc Area
Level One...
Clean floors in these rooms
Clean baths, toilets and sinks
Level Two...
Clear any clutter from desk and file the necessary bits and shred the rest!
Pull out PC desk and declutter/vacuum behind it, making it all pretty and clean..
Descale shower head!
Dust wipe and vacuum keyboard! Polish screens!
Level Three...
Wipe down tiles and mirrors
Clean shower screen/curtain.bath mats etc if required
Sort towels and dispose of raggedy ones

Extras

• HHI!!
• Tidy airing cupboard!
• Binbag dance!
• Wipe any chairs/sofas in these areas

Tuesday ~ Kitchen and Dining room
Level One...
Declutter and mop/vacuum floor
Clear and wipe work surfaces
Level Two...
Wipe units and large appliances
Give one small appliance a good clean!
Wipe out the fridge and get rid of anything gross and slide the stuff that needs using now into your meal plan
Level Three...
Wipe the table, replace the cloth if needed and dust and deweb!
Wash windows and any other glass.
Clean through the cupboard full of crockery.. throw out any chipped plates/mugs etc
Extras

• Clean the oven and hob
• Wipe down all the paintwork
• Clean blinds and light fittings
• Dust and deweb
• If you want a christmas supermarket delivery, keep an eye out for the delivery dates opening up online.
• You could make a start on christmas baking and freeze bits.. once your freezer is free from frozen frost that is!!!

Wednesday - living area, hall and stairs
Level One...
Declutter all these areas
Vacuum these areas
Level Two...
Wipe/vacuum sofas
Wash windows
Dust.. inc electrical appliances
Level.Three...
Wash any soft furnishings in need
Binbag dance
Tidy coats/shoes bags etc
Extras

• Spend half an hour doing something for yourself
• HHI
• Wipe and water plants
• Wipe down all the paintwork in these areas

Thursday - Master bedroom & landing
Level One...
Strip and wash bedding
vacuum mattress and replace clean sheets
Level Two...
Wash windows
HHC on the landing
floordrobe clearance in the bedroom
Level Three...
Sort out your present stash.. just over a month to go now!!.. Do you have enough paper?
Vacuum floors in bedroom and on landing
Dust and wipe any paintwork
Extras

• Make a start on writing those christmas cards and sort stamps for those to be posted - it doesn't hurt to be early,,
• Buy any cards that you need, if you haven't got enough or have none in at all.
• HHI
• Binbag dance

Have you all signed up for the Christmas Card Swap this year? Don't forget it you want to then send me pm with your details… :)

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

I am in, it's going to be a tricky week. The paid stuff is going to be very busy and I have a problem with a member of staff to navigate. On Saturday we are hosting a family gathering for 11, with family staying here both Friday and Saturday night. It's my MILs birthday tomorrow so I need to call and see her, I have a Amazon parcel arriving that has to be signed for by me, I have a Vinted parcel to collect and I need to pick up my prescription.

I feel slightly panicked by it all. Deep breaths. I think an early night would be wise.

MadamMim2013

Thanks Natty.. Will be in as much as possible this week as want to get ahead before we have a couple days away.. ☺️

@Valli.. Thankoo, he has added them to his “to watch” list 🤣

ionafan

Thank you for the new thread, Natty x. I'm pleased it's upstairs tomorrow - I want to get the house properly clean by Wednesday, when DGD1+2 will be coming again (though not staying overnight) and I like to start at the top and work my way down.

It was pleasantly mild and almost sunny when I got home from church. After lunch, about 2pm, DH went out to his wargames club, and I sat down with a cup of coffee, fully intending to rest only for as long as it took me to drink it - but of course I fell asleep and didn't wake until 4pm, so I didn't really get anything else done apart from cooking tea.

Tomorrow morning I will do as much off the list as I can. After lunch there is a National Trust Group meeting that I want to go to, and in the evening the Old Wives are meeting to make Christmas floral decorations. Why is it that all my social events happen in the same week?

Hope everyone has a good one xxx

SandyShores

Ooh goody, bathroom and study/PC area. We are currently decorating the spare room with the PC area so it's a big tick there. I also part-cleaned the bathrooms over the weekend - used the drain weasel and got the jif out - the shower tray hasn't looked so clean since new.

I'll be finishing the decorating tomorrow and plan to sort all the clutter before moving only the relevant bits back in.

Valli

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82196603#Comment_82196603

watched one today where they used DNA information to build a 'picture' of a suspect - phenotyping. Astounding!

Rabbits fed. Milk brought in - slugs LOVE milk bottles but I've learned to flick them off now…milk is delivered around 8pm - probably a good thing given my front is south facing,

CC paid; bank account spreadsheet now not so far behind.

MinnieMousesMummy

Morning all, Thank you for the new thread, please count me in.

My list for today

• Feed the animals and walk the dog
• Get the kids off to school
• Do paid stuff (5 clients, invoices, admin, social media)
• Do required uni work
• HHI
• Clean out the litter tray
• Check banking and dds
• Make a start on festive food list
• Spend an hour organising the planner
• Take DD to the stables so she can feed her ponies
• Feed the animals and walk the dog

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

Fayolle

Morning all,

Thank you for the list. I will do better. I fell off the wagon last week, distracted by putting the newly renovated DR back to rights and various other engagements. Plus procrastination is my strong point. Yesterday however I did clean the oven. Ta da, a big tick towards the day when the kitchen hits the list. DH is responsible for cleaning the office - it’s his Treasures that clutter the room so I refuse to clean there and find that a shut door works remarkably well. I have s&s the bathroom and cleaned the downstairs toilet. The landing has had a half hearted vacuum clean now that the DR clutter has moved. There is still more clutter in the garage but the intention is to be ruthless. That’s my intention anyway, whether DH agrees or not will be seen.

Other jobs for today include potting up the last of the geraniums in to the gh, and taking up curtain hems in the DR now that the curtains have had time to drop. Neither jobs are grabbing me right now, so if anyone cares to join me for coffee and bourbons, I will stick the kettle on.

Slinky

Slinks in………. I've committed to a study on Prolific about difficult tasks you need assistance with, so of course cleaning is one of them for me. I've tried via Flylady for more years than I care to remember to get the hang of it.

It would of course be Bathroom cleaning on Monday….I knew it would before even opening up the thread! My least favourite area. OH is off to volunteer for a couple of hours shortly, so I'll give it a go.

Wish me luck!

ionafan

I've just made coffee, Fayolle. Have you scoffed all the bourbons? - if so, I will have to resort to Rich Tea.

I have cleaned most of the bathroom, which included putting the fern and the money plant in the bath for a shower. Now I find that I can't lift the money plant back up onto the shoulder-height window sill because of my increasingly useless right arm, so I've told DH that once he's showered and dressed he will have to come upstairs to help me for a couple of minutes. I've folded all his clean laundry so payment is due.

Rosie is out with L, having a nice long walk, so she will sleep happily all afternoon.

When I read my emails this morning I realised that the NT Group meeting is on Wednesday afternoon, which suits me better. Sometimes I forget to check the date when I enter events in my phone diary, which seems to have a mind of its own.

Now that I've drunk my coffee and cleared a few bits off my desk, I'll tackle my bedroom, to include giving 2 more plants a shower (which is why I hadn't cleaned the bath at the same time as the rest of the bathroom).

Happy Flying xxx

Valli

I have pegged out washing, cleaned the box which lives in the car and which was full of soil because I wombled a roll of turf from the building site (with permission), pushed the box of empty, folded cardboard moving boxes upstairs (though at one point I did think I might have made a mistake as I was below it and it seemed to have got stuck and as it was (a) big and (b) heavy, I had visions of us both going back where we had come from and far less elegantly, WUALTD, packed the bag for the CS which is close to swimming and can be dropped off afterwards (I drive right by it so 2 birds and all that, messaged my ill friend who is MUCH MUCH better now (poor MH sucks - I think she had what used to be called a nervous breakdown) and I am seeing bigger gaps between the dots so wooty wooty woot woot for that. Time to get ready and go swimming