Saturday, May 29, 2010

Cleaning Up.

There are many things I aspire to be. The kind of mom that has a house that is perfectly in order is one of them. Unfortunately that is not me, at least not yet, but I do hold out the hope that it will be someday.

Since this is the first day of Summer break, I thought that breaking in a new Chore Chart would be a good move. It isn't the most fun thing to do, but I know how messy the house gets when they are only home for part of the time and was worried about how it'd get with both of them home all the time. I also feel that with a baby coming soon that they need to have more responsibility. I used the generator on this website to create it. I liked that I could pick what the kids were into (dragons and fairy princesses) but also pick what chores I wanted to include.

I started somewhat small and put "Make bed, Put away toys, Put away laundry, and Feed fish" as the chores to do daily. Making their bed is each morning, but the rest are going to be done during the time between dinner and their bedtime routine. Their room doesn't have to be perfect, they just have to make an effort to put things away, and all the toys need to be out of every other room in the house. Putting their laundry away means both putting the clean stuff away in the right drawer and putting the dirty in the hamper. It is all stuff that really could add up if not done daily.

I also made my own Chore Chart. I have a room assigned to each day. Monday is the Bathroom, Tuesday is the Kids' room (this is when it is deep cleaned), Wednesday is the Kitchen, Thursday is the Master Bedroom, Friday is the Living Room, and Saturday and Sunday are maintenance days. I break down each room by what needs done (like cleaning the toilet or washing the bedding). Each day I do at least 1 load of laundry (washing, drying and putting away) and some I do 2. I also have dishes listed daily as well as sweeping the kitchen. Mine is printed out and laminated so I can put it on the fridge and mark off what is done daily, then erase it all at the end of a week. This saves paper/ink and also is kind of rewarding to see so much done at the end of a week. I also have budgeting, menu planning, grocery shopping, and a day to purge from a trouble spot added in every other week.

With this system my house is still never perfect, and I am still doing a dash to pick stuff up before company comes over, but the mess does not get past my comfort zone so I feel happy in my home. This helps us stay home more (saving on gas and the expense of whatever we do instead of being home) and makes me want to cook at home because I know that I don't have to wash anything in order to cook (saving on the expense of eating out). I hope that by adding the chore system for the kids that picking up will become second nature to them, and that they will become used to a clean home and want to keep it that way. If not, I hope that stickers work as a bribe ;)

Do you have a cleaning routine in your home? What chores do your kids do?

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