Weekly Flylady Thread 16th July 2018

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!!!8217;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!

Magical Monday ~ Kookin Kitchen
Level One..
Clean floors
Shine the sink and taps making them sparkle..
Level Two..
Clear and wipe kitchen surfaces
Clean cupboard door fronts and the front of appliances
Sort fridge bringing what needs using soon to the front
Level Three...
Wipe window sills, clean any marks off windows if required
Wash the washer drawer out if it's gunky
Clean OVEN yes I know you all hate that one wonder how many choose it!
Extras

• Clean inside of fridge
• Clear one hotspot
• Water the pots/newly planted stuff in your garden. Don't forget those house plants either
• Take a duster and wipe around the tops of your door frames !!!8211; as many as you can manage in 5 minutes..

Twinkling Tuesday ~ Luscious Living Room and Delectable Dining Room
Level One
Vacuum floors and sofas
Level Two..
Clear the table and put a clean cloth or a nice vase of fresh flowers on it.
Dusting, even if around everything
Remove clutter making sure stairs especially are safe
Clean TV, other electricals and cabinets
Level Three...
Clean any other glass like mirrors etc
Tidy shoes, coats and bags
Vacuum under furniture (only if you won't hurt yourself doing it, and yes that does includes all you pregnant ones too, don't want any injuries)
Extras:

• Pick one or more of the following tasks !!!8211;
• Clear one hotspot
• Clear one shelf, dust and replace items after giving them a wipe over
• Clean any other glass in these rooms, mirrors, picture frames etc
• Clean windows in these rooms

Wishful Wednesday ~ Mystical Master Bedroom & Limpid Landing
Level One..
Remove bed linen and wash, replace with fresh linen
Level Two..
Check fire alarms are working
Vacuum floor in bedroom and on landing
Sort out your makeup and toiletries if you didn't do this last week..
Level Three....
Dust surfaces & make sure no cobwebs about
Vacuum mattress before replacing with fresh linen
Eat a frog!
Extras

• 27 fling boogie time, time for that midweek fling, go on grab a bag and clear that clutter
• Clean windows in these rooms
• Sort one drawer, making sure only what should be in there is, anything that's had it's day or doesn't belong there is removed
• Wipe tops of door frames, even if just what you can do in 5 minutes

Thrifty Thursday ~ Barnacled Bathroom and Studious Study/Pc Area
Level One..
Clean floors in these rooms (even if it is around the clutter)
Level Two..
Clean bath, toilet and sink ~ let's have twinkling taps.
Clear any clutter from desk
Dust PC and desk
Wipe keyboard and mouse (these usually have more germs on than your toilet so important)
Change bath mat and towels.
Level Three..
Clear clutter from floor
Wipe down tiles in bathroom
Clean shower screen/curtain if you have one/if required
Extra:

• Clean tops of wardrobes
• Delete 50 emails
• Sort out computer bookmarks and delete any that you don't need/require/haven't looked at in 5 months.
• Sort a wardrobe or part of, a drawer or set of drawers making sure it has what needs to be in it and any 'extras' are put where they should be.
• Clean window
• HHI
• Clean pet toys/children toys

It's Finally Friday ~ Those terrible kids rooms and spare rooms
Level One..
Clear away anything that isn't in it's place, clothes, toys, books etc
Spend at least half an hour doing something for yourself!!!!! paint your nails, make an appointment to have your hair done, a lovely soak in the bath.. whatever you feel like!!
Level Two..
Put anything back in it's place that isn't where it should be
Dusting.. all those shelves and flat fluffy surfaces!! Don’t forget the light shade and curtain pole!!!
Level Three...
Vacuum Floor (even if it's just where you can see)
Strip beds, turn and vacuum mattresses!! and replace with fresh linen .. check if duvets need freshening up too!! Wash the curtains!
Extras

• Time for the Friday Flylady Fling, aim for 27, if you can't find that many, well done, you are obviously making a difference
• Clean windows in these rooms
• Declutter one hotspot anywhere
• Clean any mucky marks off kids doors and walls, oh and those lightswitches and door frames.
• HHI

!!!8195;