Today I found a fun link that I thought readers of the my blog would really enjoy. It's a website called www.justmommies.com. It's all about pregnancy, childbirth, child-rearing, etc. I didn't spend a lot of time on the "new mommy" parts of the site, but they look well-thought-out and informational for ladies just beginning the parenting journey, as well as those making their way through those first years.
The part of the webisite which I found to be useful at my stage in life was the Home Organization Plan. It's a very simple plan for daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning, plus de-cluttering challenges each month. I am in the process of preparing my family for an out-of-state move, and we are putting our home on the market in about 3 weeks. Needless to say, there's lots of projects to be done, and I want my children to get into some better habits of keeping things "spotless"!
In the past I have been really big on letting go and realizing that our home is to "live in", not to "show off". Sure, I want a clean home, I am a perfectionist at heart. BUT, I don't want a perfectly spotless home at the expense of our family's peace! I did great at keeping my home extremely clean up until somewhere between my 4th & 6th children's births, when my standards just had to be lowered, for the sake of my own sanity! It just became so overwhelming that I could not keep up as well as I wanted to anymore. So I have just learned to let go of (most of) my perfectionism, do the best I can, and then relax and enjoy my family.
BUT. . .putting the house on the market is a different story! Now the house needs to be so clean that with only a short notice I can have it ready to "show off" to potential buyers. So, I am working hard on re-establishing some of the habits that I had let slide, both my own habits as well as my children's. Of course, one of the biggest helps is getting rid of tons of stuff, and boxing up what we want to keep, but can do without for the next 3 months.
So it is in this frame of mind that I googled "daily housekeeping" today to get some new ideas. I always love new ideas! The thing I liked about the JustMommies Home Organization Plan was the fact that someone else figured it out!! I have enough to think about with the home sale, out-of-state-move & new home purchase. I don't want to have to worry about when the perfect time is to clean the toilets! :) So I found this cute little February calendar that you can print out, with all the tasks on them for the month. (You can download the other months here). I'm going to give it a try, adjusting the daily housekeeping tasks to my personal situation.
Right now our family's main housecleaning schedule is a big 2-3 hour session on Saturday with the whole family helping. We have 4 teams (one older person & one younger in each group). The teams are these:
1. Tidy & Vacuuming Team
2. Garbage & Hard Floors Team
3. Kitchen & Bathrooms Team
4. Dust & Polish Team
This weekly consistency has worked really well to keep up with the basics, and to be honest, it's a great family-togetherness time! We put on great music and can visit with the person on our team, talking about things that we might not ever get a moment to discuss otherwise. Of course, as always, when children are helping, the cleaning is not always done to the standards that Mom would like. So with a home on the market, I figure I need to go back over many areas giving them "Mom's touch" with this cute little cleaning calendar. So, that's my plan! I hope a few of these ideas can help you out.
Another resource that might be helpful to you is www.flylady.net. She is a great motivator, and sends daily emails (about a dozen per day!) that tell you what to work on in our your home each day. She's great at teaching you to establish daily habits and to "do anything in 15 minutes". She focuses on "Finally Loving Yourself" (FLY-ing), and letting go of perfectionism so you don't drive yourself crazy! So that's another resource that may be of help to you.
If any of you have other cleaning & organization resources, websites, or ideas that you think could help someone else, please leave a comment! I believe that the best resources we have are ideas and strategies that we can learn from each other. Thanks for reading! Have a great day!
Showing posts with label housework. Show all posts
Showing posts with label housework. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Make your dishsoap last 20 times longer!
Today I thought I'd post a really quick tip that has really worked well for me. A few years ago, when shopping for liquid dishsoap, I picked up a bottle of Dawn "Direct Foam" dishwashing liquid. I loved it because you press the little dispenser on top and then you get a tablespoon of bubbles directly on your scrubber sponge. It's great for the way I like to wash the pots & pans. It also saves on having the kids dump too much dishsoap into the sink.
But here's the real tip: You can't refill this dispenser with straight dishsoap because it takes a very diluted form of dishwashing liquid to make the foaming action work. When I went to purchase a refill of this "special foaming liquid", I realized that it was mostly water. Why pay for water? So I purchased regular dishsoap and filled my dispenser at home with part liquid dishsoap, part water. It took awhile to get the proportions right to make the foam, but I finally got it figured out. You only need about 1/8 inch of the dishsoap in the bottom of the dispenser bottle, and then you can fill the rest with water. Shake it, put the foaming dispenser lid back on, and you're good to go!
Using this method, I have been using that same refill bottle of dishwashing liquid for well over a year! And while we do have a dishwasher that we use for most of our dishes, a family of 9 people still hand-washes a lot of pots & pans!
I know you can do this with liquid hand-soap as well, if you can find a foaming bottle. I know that hand-soap disappears way too quickly in our home, so I'll have to scout out a new foaming dispenser for our bathroom sinks.
So, quick tip for today. Hope it can help out just a bit in the never-ending quest of mothers with large families to save money!
But here's the real tip: You can't refill this dispenser with straight dishsoap because it takes a very diluted form of dishwashing liquid to make the foaming action work. When I went to purchase a refill of this "special foaming liquid", I realized that it was mostly water. Why pay for water? So I purchased regular dishsoap and filled my dispenser at home with part liquid dishsoap, part water. It took awhile to get the proportions right to make the foam, but I finally got it figured out. You only need about 1/8 inch of the dishsoap in the bottom of the dispenser bottle, and then you can fill the rest with water. Shake it, put the foaming dispenser lid back on, and you're good to go!
Using this method, I have been using that same refill bottle of dishwashing liquid for well over a year! And while we do have a dishwasher that we use for most of our dishes, a family of 9 people still hand-washes a lot of pots & pans!
I know you can do this with liquid hand-soap as well, if you can find a foaming bottle. I know that hand-soap disappears way too quickly in our home, so I'll have to scout out a new foaming dispenser for our bathroom sinks.
So, quick tip for today. Hope it can help out just a bit in the never-ending quest of mothers with large families to save money!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Focused vs. Pinball Cleaning
This is part 2 in the "Keeping your House Clean. . .ha, ha, ha!" series that I started a few posts back when I discussed "Tidy Rooms by Choice". (See November links at the right if you haven't read that post.) Today I'm going to share with you a few ideas about how in the world a busy mother of several children can even hope to keep her home relatively clean!
Have you ever heard this saying: "Keeping your home clean when your children are growing up is like shoveling snow during a snowstorm." I love that! I told my husband this morning that sometimes I feel like I'm holding up a drinking cup and trying to catch a tidal wave! :) Well, it's not always that bad. And it can be peaceful and you can have a relatively clean home even if you have a lot of children.
FOCUSED CLEANING:
In my 15+ years of being a mother with children at home, the type of cleaning I find touted by all of the "experts" is one version or another of "focused cleaning". Focused cleaning is when your goal is to clean ONE spot and you work like crazy to NOT let yourself get distracted. This is when you heard your mother say "If there's no blood, I don't want to hear about it!" Hahaha, my Mom really did used to say that!
This is when, for instance, you've just finished a meal and it's time to clean up the kitchen. You try and just focus a good 15-30 minutes and get the whole kitchen finished, top to bottom. This is when lists and routines are essential. You know the drill: Mondays-Laundry, Tuesdays-Errands, Wednesdays-Bathrooms, Thursdays-Floors, Friday-Free. That kind of thing. There is plenty about this kind of cleaning on other websites, so I won't go into too much detail here. If that system works for you, enjoy it while it lasts!
I have had some success with these kinds of routines, and they do have a place in keeping a home clean. The problem I run into with this type of cleaning is that no day with children is ever perfect. It's rarely predictable, and almost never goes exactly how you plan. Your 3yo son is throwing up on "errand day", your 8yo wet the bed, but it's not "laundry day". You had to run errands on "bathroom day", so now all the bathrooms haven't been cleaned for 2 weeks. And on and on, you get the idea.
So I have spent hours and hours, I couldn't figure the total if I tried, making lists and schedules, plans and routines, trying to create the "perfect system" that will work for my family. But it is not to be found. There's just not enough predictability. Even if you do, by some miracle, feel great on "mopping the floor day", and you work like crazy, likely your 15yo son will walk in with dirty cleats and ruin your carefully mopped, perfectly clean floor. Or your toddler will slip on the wet water and cut his head! So it can be very discouraging to try and stick to a perfect schedule.
Don't get me wrong, kids needs predictability and schedules. We have a pretty good daily routine at our home that is followed 90% of the days. But that said, to try and cover the whole home following a "perfectly scheduled" routine when kids are in the mix, well that's just insanity! If any of you do this perfectly and you have more than 2 kids, please email me and tell me all your secrets! In the meantime, let me tell you how I've coped with this situation.
PINBALL CLEANING:
The next type of cleaning I've affectionately named "Pinball Cleaning". I'd like to say I invented this strategy, but most mother's do it to one degree or another and just don't realize it. This cleaning style is a type of controlled randomness, that I've been "perfecting" lately. Think of the name: "Pinball Cleaning" and you probably already have an idea of what this is!
Imagine one of those pinball games that you used to play in the arcades. There's a little ball in that bottom corner, and you pull back on the stopper and send it flying! It bounces here and bounces there, getting you points like crazy all over the place. But it doesn't get stuck in one area for long, and it always ends up returning home, to rest for a moment, and then be shot out into the action again!
Well, pinball cleaning is like this. You touch one area here, one area there, just like a pinball does. It's a way to take advantage of the fact that your day is often chaotic and interrupted! Why fight it? Let's USE it!
Here's how it works:
1. Set a timer for 15 minutes, and pick a room to be "Home Base". This might be the room where your children are playing, it might be the front entrance of your home, or maybe the kitchen. I usually choose the kitchen because there's always something that needs to be done in there!
2. Look around the room. What is the most obvious problem that needs to be done to make that room look presentable if company was on it's way? Get busy on it! Start tidying, cleaning, dejunking, whatever you see that needs to be done the most in that room. Here's a good guideline if you're not sure where to begin:
a) Floors First
b) Flat Surfaces Next
c) Hidden Areas Last
3. Now here's the key that makes pinball cleaning different than regular cleaning: When you come across an item that goes elsewhere (which you certainly will if you have kids), grab anything else you can fit in your hands that belongs in that direction. Now pinball-bounce to the new workplace (the place where that item belongs.) Drop off items along the way, then start the cleaning process again in the room you are in now. (See #2) Spend time in that room just like you did at "home base", then move on to the next room, and so on. This way you are "touching base" in lots of different rooms & areas of your house, and getting the most obvious, needed things done in each room.
4. When the timer rings, take a 15 minute break if you need it.
5. When the break timer rings, head back to "home base" (image the pinball going back to the beginning place, ready to shoot off again.) This "returning to home base" keeps this random cleaning session somewhat focused as you head back to the room where you began. It also gives you a moment to check on the kids, and take a break if needed. Remember, during the cleaning session, you are moving quite fast, like a pinball, so you will get your exercise too! (I'm actually pinball cleaning as I type this, and I'm typing in my blog on all my 15-minute breaks!)
Here's how a typical real-life session of pinball cleaning went for me today:
Earlier today I did a session which led me downstairs to my son's bedroom where I rebooted laundry, turned off lights, cleaned up the downstairs bathroom, took garbage outside, picked up some items in the garage while heading through it, got some charity items, put them immediately in the car, which I cleaned up a bit while I was out there. Etc, etc. . . You can see how this can help you really make a dent when it seems like much of your home is in disarray (like every morning after the "hurricane" has left for the bus!)
So, that's your new idea for today! PINBALL CLEANING! What I love about this is that I can get really bored with the same old routine day after day. With this method, you never get bored! You never know where you'll end up or what you'll be doing! The key is to hit as many rooms as possible and get done the most amount of "little things" possible. This is not the time to begin completely overhauling a closet (focused cleaning), or sorting all the seasonal clothes (more focused work). This is the time to get lots of little things done all over the place, and to have a little adventure while you do it. Yesterday I was doing this, and I came across a book we hadn't read for awhile, so we sat down and read it as "part" of our "pinball cleaning". What fun for the children (and a nice sit-down break for Mom!).
This technique makes a fun little game out of the tedious daily chore of tidying and organizing. It's great for the kids too. When they call you for something they need, you don't mind that you are being "interrupted", because you can just continue your pinball cleaning wherever the child is. Interruptions are obsolete! Potty time? Wipe down the bathtub. Bath time? Clean the mirrors and sort the magazines in the bathroom. Kids on the trampoline in the backyard? Pull a few weeds. Somebody fell down? Hug and comfort, use it as a break, then start up the vacuum with that child helping with their toy vacuum.
And on it goes. Controlled randomness! Love it! Mom gets a lot done, the kids are taken care of, and Mom gets a lot of exercise, too! What better way to spend the morning? Give it a try!
ENJOY!
Have you ever heard this saying: "Keeping your home clean when your children are growing up is like shoveling snow during a snowstorm." I love that! I told my husband this morning that sometimes I feel like I'm holding up a drinking cup and trying to catch a tidal wave! :) Well, it's not always that bad. And it can be peaceful and you can have a relatively clean home even if you have a lot of children.
FOCUSED CLEANING:
In my 15+ years of being a mother with children at home, the type of cleaning I find touted by all of the "experts" is one version or another of "focused cleaning". Focused cleaning is when your goal is to clean ONE spot and you work like crazy to NOT let yourself get distracted. This is when you heard your mother say "If there's no blood, I don't want to hear about it!" Hahaha, my Mom really did used to say that!
This is when, for instance, you've just finished a meal and it's time to clean up the kitchen. You try and just focus a good 15-30 minutes and get the whole kitchen finished, top to bottom. This is when lists and routines are essential. You know the drill: Mondays-Laundry, Tuesdays-Errands, Wednesdays-Bathrooms, Thursdays-Floors, Friday-Free. That kind of thing. There is plenty about this kind of cleaning on other websites, so I won't go into too much detail here. If that system works for you, enjoy it while it lasts!
I have had some success with these kinds of routines, and they do have a place in keeping a home clean. The problem I run into with this type of cleaning is that no day with children is ever perfect. It's rarely predictable, and almost never goes exactly how you plan. Your 3yo son is throwing up on "errand day", your 8yo wet the bed, but it's not "laundry day". You had to run errands on "bathroom day", so now all the bathrooms haven't been cleaned for 2 weeks. And on and on, you get the idea.
So I have spent hours and hours, I couldn't figure the total if I tried, making lists and schedules, plans and routines, trying to create the "perfect system" that will work for my family. But it is not to be found. There's just not enough predictability. Even if you do, by some miracle, feel great on "mopping the floor day", and you work like crazy, likely your 15yo son will walk in with dirty cleats and ruin your carefully mopped, perfectly clean floor. Or your toddler will slip on the wet water and cut his head! So it can be very discouraging to try and stick to a perfect schedule.
Don't get me wrong, kids needs predictability and schedules. We have a pretty good daily routine at our home that is followed 90% of the days. But that said, to try and cover the whole home following a "perfectly scheduled" routine when kids are in the mix, well that's just insanity! If any of you do this perfectly and you have more than 2 kids, please email me and tell me all your secrets! In the meantime, let me tell you how I've coped with this situation.
PINBALL CLEANING:
The next type of cleaning I've affectionately named "Pinball Cleaning". I'd like to say I invented this strategy, but most mother's do it to one degree or another and just don't realize it. This cleaning style is a type of controlled randomness, that I've been "perfecting" lately. Think of the name: "Pinball Cleaning" and you probably already have an idea of what this is!
Imagine one of those pinball games that you used to play in the arcades. There's a little ball in that bottom corner, and you pull back on the stopper and send it flying! It bounces here and bounces there, getting you points like crazy all over the place. But it doesn't get stuck in one area for long, and it always ends up returning home, to rest for a moment, and then be shot out into the action again!
Well, pinball cleaning is like this. You touch one area here, one area there, just like a pinball does. It's a way to take advantage of the fact that your day is often chaotic and interrupted! Why fight it? Let's USE it!
Here's how it works:
1. Set a timer for 15 minutes, and pick a room to be "Home Base". This might be the room where your children are playing, it might be the front entrance of your home, or maybe the kitchen. I usually choose the kitchen because there's always something that needs to be done in there!
2. Look around the room. What is the most obvious problem that needs to be done to make that room look presentable if company was on it's way? Get busy on it! Start tidying, cleaning, dejunking, whatever you see that needs to be done the most in that room. Here's a good guideline if you're not sure where to begin:
a) Floors First
b) Flat Surfaces Next
c) Hidden Areas Last
3. Now here's the key that makes pinball cleaning different than regular cleaning: When you come across an item that goes elsewhere (which you certainly will if you have kids), grab anything else you can fit in your hands that belongs in that direction. Now pinball-bounce to the new workplace (the place where that item belongs.) Drop off items along the way, then start the cleaning process again in the room you are in now. (See #2) Spend time in that room just like you did at "home base", then move on to the next room, and so on. This way you are "touching base" in lots of different rooms & areas of your house, and getting the most obvious, needed things done in each room.
4. When the timer rings, take a 15 minute break if you need it.
5. When the break timer rings, head back to "home base" (image the pinball going back to the beginning place, ready to shoot off again.) This "returning to home base" keeps this random cleaning session somewhat focused as you head back to the room where you began. It also gives you a moment to check on the kids, and take a break if needed. Remember, during the cleaning session, you are moving quite fast, like a pinball, so you will get your exercise too! (I'm actually pinball cleaning as I type this, and I'm typing in my blog on all my 15-minute breaks!)
Here's how a typical real-life session of pinball cleaning went for me today:
- Start in the kitchen. Begin clearing dishes off the table & loading the dishwasher.
- Come across packing tape. Head to the office after a quick glance for other things that belong in the office or in that direction.
- Drop off daughter's slippers in her shoe-bucket, some garbage in the trash, head to office and put away the tape. Start working in there. Straighten the tape drawer, find a vase that belongs in the kitchen. Finish straightening the drawer (don't put down the vase!), then look around for other kitchen or on-the-way items, grab the glass that was left out by someone, grab scrap papers from off the desk, then head back to the kitchen.
- Drop off some garbage in the kitchen garbage can, put the glass in the dishwasher, put the vase in the cupboard, resume clearing the table. Throw leftovers out to the cat, tidy the back porch a bit, grab the plate one of the kids left outside. Head back to the kitchen, put away the plate, resume clearing the table.
- Clear a few more things and put in the dishwasher, notice 6yo daughter's headband on the kitchen floor. Call her in to clean up her headband and clean up the rest of the kitchen floor as her consequence for leaving her item out. Pickup an item that belongs in the master bedroom. Grab other items that belong that direction. Head to my room.
- Tidy a bit in there, find a letter that belongs in my treasure box file, and head back to the office, quickly grabbing the 2 mugs from my master bathroom counter. Drop off the mugs in the dishwasher, put the letter in my file in the office. Begin working on the office table.
- Clear off most of the office table, find book that belongs in 12yo daughter's put-away drawer, grab that and some garbage to throw away and head back to the kitchen, dropping off the book along the way.
- Back in the kitchen, drop off garbage and proceed to finish wiping the table & the counters. Notice spice cabinet open, and crumbs on the shelf in there. Wipe down the open space on the shelf and close the cabinets. Put away seasonal plate and straighten that cupboard while you're in there. Timer goes off.
- WHEW! Time for a break! Head to office to type, check on kids along the way. When timer goes off, begin back at the kitchen.
Earlier today I did a session which led me downstairs to my son's bedroom where I rebooted laundry, turned off lights, cleaned up the downstairs bathroom, took garbage outside, picked up some items in the garage while heading through it, got some charity items, put them immediately in the car, which I cleaned up a bit while I was out there. Etc, etc. . . You can see how this can help you really make a dent when it seems like much of your home is in disarray (like every morning after the "hurricane" has left for the bus!)
So, that's your new idea for today! PINBALL CLEANING! What I love about this is that I can get really bored with the same old routine day after day. With this method, you never get bored! You never know where you'll end up or what you'll be doing! The key is to hit as many rooms as possible and get done the most amount of "little things" possible. This is not the time to begin completely overhauling a closet (focused cleaning), or sorting all the seasonal clothes (more focused work). This is the time to get lots of little things done all over the place, and to have a little adventure while you do it. Yesterday I was doing this, and I came across a book we hadn't read for awhile, so we sat down and read it as "part" of our "pinball cleaning". What fun for the children (and a nice sit-down break for Mom!).
This technique makes a fun little game out of the tedious daily chore of tidying and organizing. It's great for the kids too. When they call you for something they need, you don't mind that you are being "interrupted", because you can just continue your pinball cleaning wherever the child is. Interruptions are obsolete! Potty time? Wipe down the bathtub. Bath time? Clean the mirrors and sort the magazines in the bathroom. Kids on the trampoline in the backyard? Pull a few weeds. Somebody fell down? Hug and comfort, use it as a break, then start up the vacuum with that child helping with their toy vacuum.
And on it goes. Controlled randomness! Love it! Mom gets a lot done, the kids are taken care of, and Mom gets a lot of exercise, too! What better way to spend the morning? Give it a try!
ENJOY!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Tidy Rooms by Choice
This is part one of a new series that I'm affectionately calling:
"Keeping the house clean. . .ha ha ha!. . ."
Part One: Tidy Rooms by Choice
Okay, so I think that mothers of large families should band together. It's them against us, and sometimes I don't think it's fair at all! How in the world can one woman keep up with seven children who can't even put the hairbrush back in the drawer after using it? (That is, if they even remember to brush their hair!) Sometimes I feel like I will never be able to get ahead!
I read once "Keeping the house clean while children are growing up is like trying to shovel snow during a storm." AMEN! Do you ever just feel like you are going to go crazy? Like when you get one room clean, another is getting destroyed, and then while you are going to do that room, the original one is messed back up again? I SURE DO!
Well, I have actually come up with some solutions. Now don't think you'll live in a palace, but it will definitely be more manageable with a few ideas. Over the next few posts I will talk about some of the things I've found that work (as long as you consistently do them, which I don't always do, and then the house is a mess!). Hopefully you'll find them helpful.
The first is the idea of tidy rooms by choice. I made a simple chart on the computer which lists all the rooms in the house (including the yard & garage). I put it in a clear, smooth, plastic sleeve (like the kind you use for scrapbooking. This way it can be written on with dry-erase marker and erased each day). After dinner, I call out how many "tidy rooms" they have to do. It's usually 2 rooms each, unless someone's missing, then they may have to do more, or if some rooms are already clean, they will have less to do. It's great, because no matter who's home, you can get this done. If it's just me then, well, I watch TV! (hee hee!)
They each "get" to choose one room as they finish up their kitchen job. (Notice I said, "get", because this is better than being "assigned" a job). If two children get to the chart at the same time, then the younger one is first by default. They pick their room by writing their name next to the room on the chart with a dry-erase marker. Then they go tidy up the room.
Now here's the most critical part: after getting it cleaned, they come get me and I "inspect" the room. I try to pick out something really good about the room, such as, "Wow, the floor looks nice!" (or sometimes, "Gee. . .give me a tour and show me what you did!". If needed, I point out just one or two things more to do. Sometimes it will be to wipe off a mirrior, sometimes to pick up under the furniture, sometimes it will be to vacuum the floor. It just depends how the room looks and how old the child is who did the work. Obviously I expect more from the 15 year old than the 3 year old.
The key to this is that they have to finish their kitchen job before choosing, and they have to have each room passed off before they can pick their next one. So those who go quickly are rewarded by getting to choose what they think are the "easy" rooms. It's interesting how each child finds an area they like to do the best. I can often now guess who will choose what. Those who go slowly get the "worst" jobs, or what's leftover. No one likes that, so often it will get done quickly. Sometimes I'll chip in and do a room also, but usually all my time during this tidying session is spent inspecting and keeping everyone on task.
If you have a large family like I do, one good way to not run yourself ragged when trying to have everyone work at the same time is to check on the children in order, oldest to youngest, then rotate around again. I use this same rotating approach for helping with homework, instrument practice, anything really. That way you're not nagging the same ones over and over again and forgetting to check on the quieter ones. When you check on them, give them a compliment, or help them for a few minutes. (Unless they're caught lounging, in which case you can choose to bite their head off or give a gentle reminder!)
Funny, this brings to mind when they were littler, I got so tired of hearing "MOM!MOM!MOM!" (imagine the seagulls on "finding Nemo": "Mine! Mine! Mine!") that I actually had them "Take a Number!" I made little index cards that had numbers on them and when someone wanted to talk to me, inevitably at the same time as another child, I handed them a number. They had to wait until I called their number before I dealt with their issue! Funny, the things mothers have to do. I swear, we have to be the most creative bunch out there!
So anyway, this has worked really well for us, as far as keeping the house clean, as long as we do it EVERY NIGHT! You can miss once in awhile, but it only takes a group of children, working together in conspiratorial silence, about 30 minutes to make a clean room look like it went through a hurricane! So. . . it's really important to do this regularly if you want things to be generally tidy. That's the key, and the thing I struggle with sometimes. Being consistent! But when you do, this method works really well.
There have been other things we've tried, some with more success than others. I'll write about them in the next few posts. For now, good luck getting your home in better order! :) And I'll try not to laugh as I write that last line. . . (snicker, snicker. . .)
"Keeping the house clean. . .ha ha ha!. . ."
Part One: Tidy Rooms by Choice
Okay, so I think that mothers of large families should band together. It's them against us, and sometimes I don't think it's fair at all! How in the world can one woman keep up with seven children who can't even put the hairbrush back in the drawer after using it? (That is, if they even remember to brush their hair!) Sometimes I feel like I will never be able to get ahead!
I read once "Keeping the house clean while children are growing up is like trying to shovel snow during a storm." AMEN! Do you ever just feel like you are going to go crazy? Like when you get one room clean, another is getting destroyed, and then while you are going to do that room, the original one is messed back up again? I SURE DO!
Well, I have actually come up with some solutions. Now don't think you'll live in a palace, but it will definitely be more manageable with a few ideas. Over the next few posts I will talk about some of the things I've found that work (as long as you consistently do them, which I don't always do, and then the house is a mess!). Hopefully you'll find them helpful.
The first is the idea of tidy rooms by choice. I made a simple chart on the computer which lists all the rooms in the house (including the yard & garage). I put it in a clear, smooth, plastic sleeve (like the kind you use for scrapbooking. This way it can be written on with dry-erase marker and erased each day). After dinner, I call out how many "tidy rooms" they have to do. It's usually 2 rooms each, unless someone's missing, then they may have to do more, or if some rooms are already clean, they will have less to do. It's great, because no matter who's home, you can get this done. If it's just me then, well, I watch TV! (hee hee!)
They each "get" to choose one room as they finish up their kitchen job. (Notice I said, "get", because this is better than being "assigned" a job). If two children get to the chart at the same time, then the younger one is first by default. They pick their room by writing their name next to the room on the chart with a dry-erase marker. Then they go tidy up the room.
Now here's the most critical part: after getting it cleaned, they come get me and I "inspect" the room. I try to pick out something really good about the room, such as, "Wow, the floor looks nice!" (or sometimes, "Gee. . .give me a tour and show me what you did!". If needed, I point out just one or two things more to do. Sometimes it will be to wipe off a mirrior, sometimes to pick up under the furniture, sometimes it will be to vacuum the floor. It just depends how the room looks and how old the child is who did the work. Obviously I expect more from the 15 year old than the 3 year old.
The key to this is that they have to finish their kitchen job before choosing, and they have to have each room passed off before they can pick their next one. So those who go quickly are rewarded by getting to choose what they think are the "easy" rooms. It's interesting how each child finds an area they like to do the best. I can often now guess who will choose what. Those who go slowly get the "worst" jobs, or what's leftover. No one likes that, so often it will get done quickly. Sometimes I'll chip in and do a room also, but usually all my time during this tidying session is spent inspecting and keeping everyone on task.
If you have a large family like I do, one good way to not run yourself ragged when trying to have everyone work at the same time is to check on the children in order, oldest to youngest, then rotate around again. I use this same rotating approach for helping with homework, instrument practice, anything really. That way you're not nagging the same ones over and over again and forgetting to check on the quieter ones. When you check on them, give them a compliment, or help them for a few minutes. (Unless they're caught lounging, in which case you can choose to bite their head off or give a gentle reminder!)
Funny, this brings to mind when they were littler, I got so tired of hearing "MOM!MOM!MOM!" (imagine the seagulls on "finding Nemo": "Mine! Mine! Mine!") that I actually had them "Take a Number!" I made little index cards that had numbers on them and when someone wanted to talk to me, inevitably at the same time as another child, I handed them a number. They had to wait until I called their number before I dealt with their issue! Funny, the things mothers have to do. I swear, we have to be the most creative bunch out there!
So anyway, this has worked really well for us, as far as keeping the house clean, as long as we do it EVERY NIGHT! You can miss once in awhile, but it only takes a group of children, working together in conspiratorial silence, about 30 minutes to make a clean room look like it went through a hurricane! So. . . it's really important to do this regularly if you want things to be generally tidy. That's the key, and the thing I struggle with sometimes. Being consistent! But when you do, this method works really well.
There have been other things we've tried, some with more success than others. I'll write about them in the next few posts. For now, good luck getting your home in better order! :) And I'll try not to laugh as I write that last line. . . (snicker, snicker. . .)
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