Weekly Flylady Thread 21st January 2019

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.

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 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 (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

Hotspotsare 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'
WUDUPA ~ Washed up, dried up, put away
WUALTD ~ Washed up and left to dry
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!

Some of our abbreviations: DH- dear husband, OH- other half, KH/CF- affectionate term for ex husband or partner DS/DD- dear son/daughter, DGC- dear grandchild, WM- washing machine, DW- dishwasher, LR/DR- living/dining room, RoD- room of doom, 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


Manic Monday - Kitchen Kapers/Dining Room

Level 1

Clear sides and wipe down
Replace what lives there, wiping as you go
Empty bin
Wipe sill, sockets, door handles and switches
Clear and clean sink and accessories
Clean/polish table - wipe mats/change cloth

Level 2
Wipe down all cupboard and drawer fronts, not forgetting handles
Clean hob
Sort fridge and wipe seals; weave stuff that needs using up into your meal plan
If you have a self-defrosting fridge make sure drainage homes are clean and clear. Check fridge temperature too. We don't want any nasty bugs
Dust dining area/room

Level 3
Clean oven
Sweep/mop/vacuum floor
make sure your meal plan includes making space in the freezer.
Clean windows


extras
MAD half hour
HHI
S&S bathroom


Tuesday Twinkles

Level 1

Fling open the windows
Clear the bins, remove empties
Flush the loo and squirt something down it (I use cream cleaner)
Fling the towels in the WM

Level 2

Clear lotions and potions from around bath and scrub inside and out.
Prod a brush down the plughole to remove the ratty tails
Polish the taps
Slug of bleach down the drain
Scrub the loo inside and out - and bleach it

Level 3
Scrub the sink
Polish the taps
Dust sills and shelves
Wipe anywhere fingers linger with a clean cloth or an anti-bac wipe
Mop the floor
Polish mirrors

Extras
Clear out a cupboard, drawer or shelf
Scrub tiles
Clean windows
Make a note of when car insurance is due, count back three weeks and make a note to look for quotes then!

Wednesday - HUMP DAY - get set for the weekend

Pick and choose...

S&S kitchen
S&S bathroom

HALLWAY/STAIRS/LANDING

Clear floor
clean windows/door glass
Dust any wood
Clean door mats
Sweep/mop/vacuum floor
Dust/wipe lighting
Vacuum stairs


Living room

Clear any rubbish
Deal with flowers/plants
Tidy coffee/lamp tables
plump cushions
dust as much as you can/want
clean flooring



Thursday - your day, your room, your little oasis of calm

Level 1

Clear the floordrobe
Remove rubbish
Strip bed
Clean windows (and open them is you're brave/hardy!)
Dust/vacuum headboard

Level 2
Remake bed
Dust bedside tables
Dust any other furniture

Level 3
sweep/mop/vacuum floor
Polish any mirrors
dust anything on the walls

Extras
S&S kitchen
S&S bathroom
HHI

Friday flourish

Kids Room

Level 1 [/B]

Clear the floordrobe
Remove rubbish
Strip bed
Clean windows (and open them is you're brave/hardy!)
Dust/vacuum headboard

Level 2
Remake bed
Dust bedside tables
Dust any other furniture
Check all electricals are safe to use

Level 3
sweep/mop/vacuum floor
Polish any mirrors
dust anything on the walls
Tidy the toybox

Extras
S&S kitchen
S&S bathroom
HHI