Weekly Flylady Thread 5th March 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 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!!!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...



Magnificent Monday - Kitchen and dining room
Level One

Clear and wipe worksurfaces
Scrub down the front of units and large appliances - don't forget those icky handles!


Level Two

Wipe and replace small appliances
Clean oven and hob
Wash windows and sills

Level Three

Wipe the table and chairs... clean cloth if necessary
Sweep and mop the floor
Degunge the fridge!

Extras

Thoroughly clean the cutlery drawer!
Run the WM's and DW's through a clean cycle
Clean all the filters and door seals etc
Before you put the cloth in the wash - wipe the catflap!
HHI
A new month has started - make sure you have all cards needed!


Triffic Tuesday

Bathroom blitz....

Are you ready Steve?. Uh uh, Andy? Yeah Mick? Okay alright fellas...

Let's goooooooo

Level one

Open windows
Remove rubbish
Take toothglass downstairs for washing
Remove towels

Level 2
Scrub bath/ shower and don't forget screen and taps
Polish taps with mf cloth
Wipe Bath panel
Douse loo in loo cleaner
Scrub out loo
Wipe outside if loo with cloth
Put loo cloth in wm

Level 3
Scrub sink
Wipe/polish any cabinets
Polish sink taps
Vacuum/ mop floor
Put out clean towels

Extras
Remove fly corpses from light fitting
Clean pelmets and skirting and any dust traps
Do something nice for those you love - bake a cake...or a batch of Twinks
Work on one (at least) of your challenges...MAD half hour!

Wednesday - Beautiful Bedroom

Level 1
Open the window
strip the bed
clean window
make bed
dust sill
dust curtain rails/pelmets

Level 2
dust all surfaces
wipe light pulls/switches
wipe cosmetic bottles with a just-damp cloth
polish mirrors

Level 3
vacuum/dust all light fittings
clear detritus from bedside tables
empty any bins
vacuum/sweep floors

extras
clear bedside cabinets
HHI
S&S kitchen and bathroom
MAD half hour - challenge time

Thursday look after the lounge day

Level 1

Open windows and let in fresh air
Empty bin
Flick a cobweb duster round coving, along picture rail and over light fittings
Vacuum or wipe sofa and swap cushions and/or seat pads
Plump cushions
Tidy and clean coffee/side tables

Level 2

Dust everywhere and wipe sticky spots inc switches with a damp cloth
Don't forget skirting, tops of doors and sills and curtain tracks

Level 3

Thorough vacuum inc under furniture
Don't forget the edges
Wipe door - both sides
Clean window

Extras

s&s bathrooms, kitchen
HHI
Plan some me time or down time for this weekend
Challenge work - use your MAD half hour

Final Flourish Friday - those neglected or high-traffic areas

Halls, stairs, landing, porch


Level 1


Clear out the clutter
Whack the mats against a wall
Clean windows and mirrors


Level 2

Dust all horizontal surfaces
Wipe banisters, light switches and sticky finger traps
Assign shoe-cleaning duty to shoe owners


Level 3
Check high places and dark corners for webs
Sweep, mop and vacuum the floor - whichever's best for your flooring


Extras
Assign a child to pocket checking - make sure nothing unpleasant is being harboured
Give kiddies a bin bag - to fill from their OWN room
Find a frog and start to nibble it and/or MAD half hour
S&S bathroom and kitchen