May Challenge-Getting the kids to help!

So, April’s challenges didn’t go so well. I pretty much failed at all of them. I did mostly keep up with my original March goals, but even that doesn’t feel like an accomplishment. It just seems like no matter what I do, it doesn’t last long. I don’t want to get too far into pity party mode here, but there are literally times when I clean a room and then leave it for a minute, and when I come back, there is a whole new mess. It just feels so futile, like no matter what I do, it won’t make a difference. It makes me want to just give up, I mean, what’s the point of just treading water all of the time?

Then I realize that giving up certainly isn’t going to solve anything, but if my family isn’t helping, there is NO way I am ever going to be able to get the house in order. Getting the kids on board is not going to be easy. They have bad habits too, and changing their habits is going to take a lot of effort, both from the kids and from my husband and I. This is my May challenge, to get the kids to pull their weight.

A friend of mine made a chore chart for her three kids, and has had a lot of success with that. She has broken the house into three areas, and her kids rotate through the jobs, so that they aren’t doing the same job every day. If one of the kids doesn’t do their chore one day, the next day they have to do the previous day’s chore and the current day’s chore, which means one of their siblings doesn’t have to do a chore that day.

Initially, I thought I could use her system with a few minor adjustments. It became obvious pretty quickly that her chart, while great for her kids ages 12, 11, and 9, would not work for my kids ages 10, 7, 6, and 3. I need to assign specific chores to each child based on age and ability.  What I could borrow from her, however, was the idea that failure to complete chores would result in clear, consistent consequences. 

I have made 3 checklists for the kids:

The Morning/Bedtime list for the tasks they have to do to get ready for school and get ready for bed.

 The After School list has their daily chores and tasks.

 The Sunday list has their bigger once a week chores, including step by step lists for each of those chores.

The lists are color coded so the kids can identify their own list easily, also because I am really anal retentive about things that don’t matter.I printed them out and put each one in a sheet protector so that they can use a china marker to check off the list each day, and then it can be wiped off and used again. There is an extra copy of each kids' Sunday chores in their room, so that they can see what they need to do without fighting over the list.

The kids’ role in this challenge is, of course to do the items on their lists. My (and my husband’s) role is to remind them to do their chores, as many times as necessary, without yelling, and to establish a set routine to keep things consistent. I, of course, have to remember that even though it might be quicker, easier, and done better if I do it myself, they have to learn how to help out around the house. This will be a particularly tricky challenge, because I have  enough trouble motivating myself, and now I have to motivate 4 other people, BUT, if I can succeed the reward will be great.

Challenge 2-Week 1

This week I did fine on my new challenge areas, but my challenge items from last month were a big FAIL. It was Spring Break, which meant that all 4 kids and the husband were home with me all week. The usual schedule was out the window. I slept in, I went several days without doing any laundry, and I barely set foot in the kitchen. Fortunately, I was able to get caught up by the end of the week, so I was able to start today on track.

Since the week was pretty much a wash, I have decided to extend this challenge through the end of April. This way, my challenges will begin on the 1st of the month and finish on the last day of the month. In addition to extending my challenge, I have decided to add another item to my April challenge list. I decided that I needed more focus on the organizing/cleaning for this month. Each day I will clear the clutter off of one area of my front rooms. Like with the laundry, I have designated a specific day to each area. After this first week, it should be a really quick job to get it back to tidy.

Monday-Homework Center
Tuesday-Small side counter and coupon/ad and menu pockets
Wednesday- Hutch
Thursday-Bookcase
Friday-Long kitchen counter

These are the primary clutter catchers in the front part of the house. Mail, purse, keys, backpacks etc all get piled on one of these surfaces, so they are a great place to start.

Challenge Update

Week one went really well. I met my goals each day and was really thinking this was going to be easier than I thought, until...

Week two arrived. The second week it was a bit tougher to get out of bed in the morning. I still managed, but it took a lot of self convincing each day. I still met my goals everyday, so yay me!

Week three was a mess. On Monday, our Rabbi and friend passed away suddenly, and it hit the entire family very hard. I managed to keep up on Monday, but I didn’t do any laundry or dishes the rest of the week. I did manage to get up on (or almost on) time each day, got dressed, and the kids’ lunches got made each night with the exception of the night following the funeral, but that was about it.  Fortunately, since I had been keeping up with laundry the previous two weeks, there wasn’t too big of a mountain. My husband got the laundry caught up on the weekend while I was out selling cookies with my Girl Scout troop, so I was able to start the last week on track.

Week four was not as off as the previous week, but I still didn’t get fully back on track. We lost another family friend this week, so I wasn’t in a very gung-ho kinda mood. Laundry got done, but it didn’t always get folded and put away properly. The dishwasher mostly got emptied, but sometimes I had the kids do it afterschool. The good thing about all of this is, I am still motivated to keep going. In the past, after losing ground like this, I would just quit. But I am not going to quit this time. Today is the last day of my challenge, and I am on track to meet all of my goals for the day.

Overall, I think my challenge went well. I am waking up at 6am every morning, even on the weekends. Today I was even the first one awake in the house! Even my bad days are more productive than they used to be, due in part to getting dressed in the morning. The laundry is under control, and even when I slip up, it doesn’t take much to get it back on track.

Now that I have finished my first challenge, I hope to add 5 new things to do/change each month. My next goals are more self improvement focused, rather than household focused. In addition to keeping up with my previous goals, I want to:

No nail biting. I have had this terrible habit for as long as I can remember. I am in a wedding in July and would like my hands to look like they belong to a female without having to pay big bucks for acrylics.

Portion control. I want to keep my meals down to something that could reasonably be called a single serving, and stop eating out of boredom, especially right before bed.

Put my clothes in the hamper as soon as I take them off. I tend to just drop them on the floor outside the bathroom or next to the bed with the intention of putting them in the hamper in the morning, but that rarely happens.

No dining out. Well, with one exception. We have tickets to a show in April, and we are likely going to meet up with friends before or after, so I am allowing for dining out that one day.  Even though I am making an exception, we are going to eat at home before the show, so that any dining out can be a small snack, or just a drink. We don’t go out much, but it always seems to happen more than we planned.

Work on this blog more. I am challenging myself to work on Better Mom for 15 minutes a day, even if it is just coming up with post ideas.

Conquering Mt. Hand-Me-Down

As I mentioned previously, I have four kids. Keeping them in relatively clean clothing that are free of holes, in an attempt to make them not look like feral children can be quite a challenge. Even at discount stores clothing costs can add up, especially for kids who are going to out grow it soon. At least with my own clothes I can get several years of use in return for my investment. With the kids, I’m lucky if the clothes fit for a year. When you factor in stains and holes in the knees, we’re lucky if clothes last 6 months.

Hand me downs can really help stretch a family’s clothing budget. I mean really, you can’t beat FREE! While the price is certainly right, there is some time involved in making the most of donated clothing. I automatically accept all offers of hand me downs. Sometimes this can lead to an overwhelming stack of bags and boxes of clothes to sort through, especially if they aren’t dealt with right away and they begin to pile up.

Mt. Hand-Me-Down turned into a Mole Hill

Having a simple system helps make quick work of even the biggest hand me down pile up. The first step is to get rid of all the items that you can’t use. I usually go through the pile looking for anything that is too small, has holes I can’t or won’t repair, has significant stains or that I know my kids just will not wear. These go into a pile to donate to a thrift store or shelter. Items that were part of a set and are missing the top or bottom, if the single piece is difficult to match also go. In most cases, this thins the pile significantly.

Some might say that I am being too picky with something I got for free. The thing is, I may be trying to be frugal but I am also trying to reduce clutter, so even free items have to be worth the storage real estate. With that in mind, however, PLEASE don’t throw away usable clothing or other household items. Donate it. Whether it goes to a friend, a shelter, or to a charity that operates a thrift store, it doesn’t matter, just donate what you can. There is a Jewish teaching that every body needs to give to charity, even if the charity you give comes from charity you received from someone else. There is always someone worse off than you, and it doesn’t cost me anything to donate my unused stuff.

Storage labels for clear bins

Most of the time the usable hand me downs are a size or more too large for my kids to use right away, so they need to be stored. I use clear bins so that I can see the contents and reduce digging for a specific item later. I sort clothes by size and if there is enough of one size to fill more than one bin, I also sort by season. I write the size and season on a piece of paper and slide between the folded clothing and one end of the bin so that it can be read from the outside. I usually make a note of which child it will be for and an approximate date to pull it out of storage as well.

With a little effort, and the help of some clear bins and a permanent marker, those huge piles of donated clothes can quickly turn into an organized stack of usable, free clothing.

Get Organized Giveaway opportunity

Living on a Dime is full of frugal living, and organizing tips. I visit the site often!

They are having a giveaway for a copy of Get Organized, Stay Organized by Christine Shuck. Check out the details here

If Loving Lists is Wrong (Then I Don't Wanna Be Right)

I am a bad blogger. It seems the more I have going on, the more I have to blog about, BUT the less time I have to blog.

As I have mentioned before, my biggest hurdle to getting organized is the “doing” part. I can plan with the best of them, but getting off my butt to DO something is a bit of a challenge. In my latest attempt to overcome this shortcoming, I took a page from some of the budget making articles I have read. Just as tracking your spending can help you identify where you are over spending, and how much money you really have, I figured that making a schedule could give me a similar insight into my time. In all honesty, this endeavor probably began as yet another way to procrastinate, but in the end it really did help me.

I laid out my schedule in half-hour increments starting at 6 am and ending at 10 pm. I don’t generally get up at 6 am, but is a goal, so I started with that. I made columns for each day of the week. Next, I filled in parts of my day that are regular, like getting the kids off to school, Girl Scout meetings, and such. Once all of that was filled in, I filled in household jobs that should get done on a daily or weekly basis, but usually get neglected like laundry, emptying the dishwasher and tidying the front rooms. Now I had a schedule that accommodated all of the family’s activities and allowed time for general household maintenance. When I saw that there was still a LOT of available time, I filled in slots to work on bigger projects and built in a little “me time.” Now I could really see how much time I had available and how much I had been wasting. In case you haven’t noticed, I am a big fan of lists. I made a checklist for the next day of all the things I wanted to accomplish. Having that visual guide really helped. I managed to check off all the items on my list! I now try to make a checklist everyday. I sometimes skip it and on those days I definitely get less accomplished. Some days I don’t get everything done, either because I got to ambitious with my goals, or I wasted too much time. I just put unfinished tasks onto the next day’s list and move on.

The first week I used it, my new system helped me get 100% caught up on the laundry. Everything was clean, folded and put away. That had never happened before! Usually, if all the laundry is clean, there are 4 or 5 baskets of unfolded laundry on the couch, which then ends up on the floor where it gets mixed back in with the dirty laundry. I have also finally managed to get the linen closet organized. I got tired of risking a towel avalanche every time I took a shower. As it turns out, you can get much more space if the towels and sheets are folded and stacked rather than just crammed in. Pulling out the crib bedding we haven’t had a use for in almost a year didn’t hurt either.

Last week, I had a couple of really productive days. I did 3-4 loads of laundry, made bread, dealt with Girl Scout cookie stuff, mended a bunch of pants, did a couple organizing projects, made laundry soap etc, etc. By the end of the day I was so tired, but really excited about everything I got done. If I keep this up, my house might start looking presentable!

I am almost done boring you now. I just wanted to mention that I got a new e-book on saving money on groceries. That is our biggest budget category after rent, unless you count all the debt payments as one. But unlike rent and debt payments it is possible to lower the grocery bill so I am willing to try anything to knock it down a little. I will let you know how it goes once I get a chance to give it a try.

The Laundry room

Working through two days of Thanksgiving break, we were able to clear and condense enough stuff in the garage to set up my new sewing space. In the process I re-discovered no fewer than 8 plastic bins full of various fabrics I had purchased on clearance and then never got around to using. Now I can add more projects to the To Do List.

With a sewing space carved out, I got to work on the flannel pajamas for the kids. The plan for this year was to make jammies, as usual, and then make fleece hoodies for my kids and four other kids on our list. I was determined this year to not let the household stuff go by the wayside. While I was spending the bulk of my day at the sewing machine, I made sure to wash at least one load of laundry and to fold and put away as many loads as I washed each day, so that it didn’t pile up. I didn’t make any progress on the house, but at least it wasn’t getting worse.

Once the pajamas were completed, I only had a few days left to finish the hoodies. I started to get really stressed out from the pressure to finish. Mike saw the stress I was under and he suggested that I skip the hoodies and we buy some gifts instead. I argued that we couldn’t afford it and it would be a waste of the money I had already spent on fabric.

After some back and forth, I realized that there was no way I was going to get the sewing done in time. The fleece fabric could be saved for next year’s gifts. I had purchased extra flannel at the store to get ahead on next year as well since Chanukah starts on December first in 2010, so this would allow me to get a head start. We did have to spend more money on gifts than we had planned, but in this case, the trade off for my sanity was well worth it. We set a budget and hit every discount store in the area. We were able to come in under (the newly set) budget and I didn’t have to spend the entire holiday season in the garage. An added bonus was that I didn’t spend so much time sewing that I got burned out, so I am actually looking forward to some more projects! All in all, I am counting this as a success, even if I didn’t reach my intended goal.

After the holidays, we continued to work on the garage. We received some cash as a gift, and I used part of it to get some more clear plastic bins for storing stuff. They are always on sale after Christmas, so I got several 54 qt bins for $3.00 each. So far I have only used one of them but there is plenty of stuff still to be sorted out there, so I am glad I stocked up.

I also picked up some heavy duty larger bins for the laundry room area. These ones are not clear because the lids don’t go on them, so I can see what is inside. I now have 5 bins in my laundry room area. Clothes that need special attention (stain treating, mending etc.) and the ever present single sock collection both get kept in old broken laundry hampers. In a shallow plastic bin I place parts of outfits or sets that are missing their mates. The 3 new large bins store the hand me downs, one for clothes going to my own kids, one for clothes going to friends, and one for donating to charity.

A major part of my plan for the laundry room was to get the folding table cleared off so that I could actually fold the clothes out there. The plan is to eliminate the ever present basket of clean laundry waiting to be folded on the couch. Not only did we get the table cleared, but I also laid some tile on the surface to make it easy to wipe off. I just got some really cheap peel and stick stuff, so the whole thing took less than 30 minutes. The bins allow me to sort through items as they come out of the dryer, and prevent that too small shirt from cycling through the laundry 50 times because SOMEBODY keeps throwing it on the floor. Using the folding table means that clothes don’t even come in the house unless they are folded and ready to be put away. Plus, now that I have a system, I can easily patch a pair of pants while I am waiting for the dryer to finish. So far the new set up is working great, and it has cut way down on rewashing clean clothes because they ended up on the floor.

Up next: The Master Bedroom