Why I LOVE My Chore Cart

Last month while browsing blogs, I discovered a new chore chart that I was really excited about.  Part of my excitement was the fact that I already had the pocket chart (though mine is WAY too big and I had to fold it in half and pin it to make it shorter), so all I had to do was print out the cards, laminate them, cut everything out, and get started!

My girls were excited about the chore chart as well!  They loved the tickets they would earn, stars on a reward card, the idea of earning prizes or money that they could save up and go shopping with.  If they complete every chore by their name then they get a sticker on their reward card.  6 stickers fills the reward card which can then be exchanged for a prize/reward.  If they only do some of their chores then they get a ticket for each chore they completed.  Tickets are supposed to be traded in for really small prizes, or money.  My biggest concern when I first hung up the chart was the fact that the tickets could be traded in for small prizes.  With clean up prizes already being given out, I didn't want a surplus of small useless odds and ends laying around.  I was also a little worried about the cost of the larger prizes adding up. 

I decided that tickets could be exchanged for quarters, and completed reward cards could be traded for either a trip to the dollar store, or larger prizes from a prize bag.  They usually finish all their chores every day so there aren't a lot of tickets being handed out, but a lot of stickers make their way onto those reward cards!  My "big" prizes have been found mostly in the dollar section of Target, so they are cheap but the kids don't know it!

The girls also like that everything is visual - they can see exactly what chores they need to accomplish that day, and it's satisfying for them to physically move the chore cards down to the "all done" row.  They also like that their chores are not the same every day, except for the homework and pet-related cards.

I also love that it changes every day.  Chore charts in the past haven't worked because our chore needs change all the time.  I needed to be able to customize it every day.  Every night or morning I can decide what I want them to do based on what needs to be done.  If I know there will be a load of kids laundry that needs to get started in the morning, I can assign that chore to Sweet Pea.  If the floors aren't too dirty but could use a light mopping I can assign it to Babydoll.  If I have a sink full of pots and large stuff to wash, I'm not going to assign dishes to either of them... it's just too much for them to get clean.  I love the daily customization it allows! 

Every day Sweet Pea (age 8) is assigned the same two chores: Homework (which includes her daily reading aloud, spelling practice, and the once-per-week worksheets that come home), and filling the dog and cat's water bowl.  Then depending on the day she usually has 2 more chores, but if it's going to be a really busy evening I'll only give her one more so she has the best chance at succeeding.  Every day Babydoll (age 4) is assigned "feed dog" and "feed cat" and is given two other chores based on our needs that day. 

Some of the chores Sweet Pea gets are: clean litter box, start laundry, fold laundry, clean bedroom, vacuum, sweep kitchen, mop kitchen, make bed, and empty dishwasher.  Some of Babydoll's have been: sweep kitchen, mop kitchen, fold laundry, pick up bathroom (keep things put away and tidy, not actually cleaning it), dishes (sort of), make bed, clean bedroom, and set the table for dinner.

There are also "best bee-havior" cards that are supposed to be handed out for especially fantastic behavior.  Babydoll earned one when she voluntarily cleaned their very messy room without any kind of coaxing or help from anyone. And she did a very good job, so I gave her a "bee-havior" card.  She then got to exchange that for something fun - she chose a playdate with her friend, who then came over to play the next morning.  Sweet Pea earned one, though it was a month ago now and I can't remember what it was for.  It was something above and beyond typical expectations.  She also chose to have a friend over for the afternoon.

The very best part of this new system? I haven't had to beg/plead/nag at all!  I simply ask (if I even have to) if they finished their chores, and with a quick look they can either answer that they had, or can choose to do the chore.  It isn't a power struggle, I don't fret if they don't get every chore done or punish them for it, they simply get a "lesser" reward (which really isn't even a lesser reward consider the "bigger" prizes are still pretty cheap!)  They have been doing their chores now for one month without complaining or grumbling, except a couple times when they were bummed to have the same chore two days in a row. 

So there you go folks, a chore chart that actually works and is fun for the kids!  I wish I could take credit for it but I can't.  I found it at Confessions of a Homeschooler.  You can find the link in my initial post about this chart, here.

New Chore Chart

I love using charts for kid-management stuff.  I have had 3 different behavior charts, currently have a perfect pickup chart and a kindness chart, and there is a clean room chart in the girls room for if they ever keep their room clean for more than a day.  They work well until we all get bored with them or we forget to use them, so I'm not sure how long my new one will last, but so far it's been two days and has been working beautifully.

I made a chore chart, for both the girls!  I found it at the Confessions of a Homeschooler blog under the My Printables tab.  Here's what it looks like on our wall in the dining room.

Sweet Pea has the first two rows, the third row is for supplies, and the fourth and fifth rows are for Babydoll

Every day they have their chore cards listed next to their names (I turned their name cards around).  As they complete the chores throughout the day they can move the cards down to their lower row, next to the "All Done!" 

At the end of the day, I give them tickets for whatever chores they completed that day.  At the end of the week they can spend those tickets on small prize items. 

If they are able to complete ALL of their chores they get a sticker on their reward card.  Completed rewards cards can be exchanged for more special prizes.  Yesterday I bought Sweet Pea a pair of cute monkey slippers that were on clearance, she'll get them when she completes her reward card!

After giving them their tickets or stickers I look through my stack of chore cards and pick out their chores for the next day, and put them up on the chart for them to see in the morning.

I'm still not sure about the ticket system though.  It seems like a lot of cards to spend at the end of the week, a lot of junk prizes to buy, hang on to, and deal with.  I'm still working that out.  Perhaps the tickets can be traded in for the type of things that COAH suggested (gum, erasers, fun pencils, stickers, candy) or some amount of money for their piggy banks.

These cards are for outstanding behavior and can be used for really special things, activities, privileges, etc.

These were Sweet Pea's chores today.  Make her bed, do her daily reading, set the table for dinner, and clean the litter box.  Yesterday she decided to play with Moon Dough before checking to see if she finished her chores, so she ran out of time to get her last one done.  She realized she hadn't folded a load of laundry three minutes before bedtime.  She was so bummed to not be getting a sticker for the day that she actually cried.  It was pretty sad, but sweet - in a relieved-mommy kind of way.

Babydoll's chores today were to mop the floor (which she did this morning), vacuum (which she did at about 4:30), and feed the animals. 

Both the kids completed all of their chores, and they did them with a great attitude!  Two days in and it's going pretty great.. I just hope this lasts longer than their interested in dishes lasted!


Edited to add: click HERE to read the follow-up post "Why I LOVE My New Chore Chart" to read how it went.  Although, the title of the post is kind of a spoiler isn't it?

Planning + Preparing = Wonderful

Yesterday was wonderful. Today is wonderful.  And not just because it's my birthday today.  Let me elaborate (because if I left it at the previous three sentences you'd never visit again).

All weekend I poured over a blog that I recently discovered.  Actually I didn't discover it so much as a friend "liked" it on facebook and I checked it out from there.  So really she gets credit for my lame attempt at getting the laundry done.  Thanks Nichole!  I'll talk more about what I've picked up from that blog in another post.

Since I got only one load of laundry done, and didn't feel like doing more at 10:00, I prepared for work the next day.  I pulled out everything we were going to be doing for preschool in the morning, picked up the living room, dining room, and most of the kitchen (which of course was trashed again two hours after the kids arrived, but that's just how it works), picked up the bathroom so I could clean it in the morning, detailed my lesson plan for the next day, and (most importantly) set the coffee pot to have coffee ready to pour when I woke up.

The next morning was beautiful!  I woke up and poured myself a fresh cup of coffee, got dressed, actually did my makeup (rare occurance during the day), and sat down to check my email, facebook, and blogs while I sipped coffee and waited for kids to wake up and arrive! 

This was so much nicer than waking up and seeing all the crap we hadn't put away yet from the day before, and trying to get that done before the daycare kids arrived.  It really set a positive tone for the rest of the day.

Since I had pulled everything out for preschool already, when 9:30 rolled around and the preschoolers came inside from sledding, everything was ready to go and we got started without any lag time.  I also had things pulled out for the toddlers to do during this time, but tonight I'm going to take it a step further and plan more learning center material for them to do on their own while I'm helping the preschoolers with things.

Everything went so smoothly, and it really only took about an hour of prep work the night before.  Because everything flowed smoothly the kids were in great moods, which of course means they retained information more easily and participated with extra enthusiasm.  I was in a great mood, which really is beneficial for all right?  Since I did the same prep work last night, plus a little extra, today has been going just as well! 

All morning I've been feeling the birthday love, and have been enjoying the chaos-free home, which is making me one happy lady!

Why I Hate This Time Of Year

Tax time... Blech.  I was so not born to be an accountant, it isn't even funny.  I've been stressing out about taxes for over a month now.  It wouldn't be this hard if we had any kind of a better organization process for our finances and all of the tax stuff that goes along with owning a daycare.  Some of the business end of running a daycare I actually do like, but keeping track of all of the expenses and deductions for tax time I do NOT like.  I've always kept excellent track of my pay checks. A few months ago I switched over to the accounting program through my childcare food program, but before that I had every check written down in a notebook AND recorded on a spreadsheet on my computer, backing myself up either way.  It's just those pesky expenses that give me trouble.  I guess I haven't figured out the best way to make keeping track of them easy.  I'm so busy all the time that the last thing I think of doing throughout the week is closely itemizing my Target receipts and keeping track of my business mileage, and writing down somewhere that I bought bandaids and they can fall under medical expenses.

On top of the pain of preparing for our tax appointment, is the actual cost of the appointment.  Ever since I opened my daycare we've gone to H&R Block since there is so much put into our tax preparation.  The woman who's done our taxes every year since our second year with H&R Block does an excellent job and we've always gotten back a nice rebate, but they are expensive.  Just today I went ahead and made an appointment with a different accountant.  She's not with a financial giant like the other place so their costs are lower, which makes our costs lower.  I'm just hoping there will be a great big fat rebate check coming our way to make it all worth it!

I really want your input on this one... What/who do you use to file your taxes?  What software or record keeping devices do you use to manage your general or business finances?  Do you have any links to great financial management websites or blogs that you would care to share?

Keeping My Girls' Room Clean

Much better! 

   My challenge with keeping the girls' room clean, other than the fact that there are two people sharing a medium sized bedroom, and they're both young, is fairness.  Sweet Pea doesn't make nearly as much of a mess in there as her little sister Babydoll.  She's not home as much, the things she plays usually are fairly contained to begin with, and she truely wants to keep her room clean (once I clean it).  Babydoll will destroy this room in a matter of minutes, but is just not able to clean it all up by herself.  The only way she can get any picking up done in there is for me to be in there telling her where to put things, which I usually don't have time to do, or don't take the time to do.  When I send them in to clean it up together, Sweet Pea will attempt to pick up while Babydoll finds toys to play with and gets right in her big sister's way.  This of course frustrates Sweet Pea who ends up yelling at Babydoll, which of course frustrates me!  By the way, I hate when they fight.  They don't fight very often but when they do it makes me wish we had some padded cells down in the basement for me to put them in... or put myself in for that matter!  But I don't have a padded cell... excuse me while I go find some padding.

   Have a wonderful monday everyone, and a terrific week!

I Tackled Little Man's Closet

   Back a few weeks ago I had made it my mission to get the toys organized (among other things in my life) as they have taken over my house.  Honestly, they took over my house 7 years ago when my oldest daughter was born and we experienced our first Christmas with children.  When you have a daycare in your home, as part of your living space, organizing toys/getting rid of toys becomes quite different than typical parents.  If I didn't have a daycare I would currently be getting rid of all my boppy pillows, bouncy seats, small-sized pack and plays, and would soon be getting rid of bunches more!  I would, since my last baby... as far as we know of the future... is a boy, I would have gotten rid of barbies, dolls, and other girly-type things (though I am adiment that little boys have every right to play with barbies and dolls if they feel like it) when my girls tired of them.  Instead I pass them on to the daycare, making it really difficult to get rid of "extra" toys.  So there's my excuse, or... um... reason, for the excess toys.  Now, on to what I did over the weekend before I got sick and slept through the football game.

Remember this?  Little Man's closet, where "extra" toys are currently being stored?

Yikes that's scary!  As you can see the closet is unable to contain the madness.

Now look...

What you can't see here is that I've gone ahead and put together a very small pile of  "extras" that I have realized I don't need, and they are going to whoever wants them or goodwill.  There's a bouncy seat that doesn't vibrate or play music like it's supposed to (not sure if I can actually give that to goodwill), a Snugli infant carrier that none of my babies and I got the hang of, so it barely got used, and I don't need to keep it, and a couple more odds and ends.  After I got the closet better organized (it's not perfect, but hey.... I'M not perfect either!) I was able to really clean LM's room for the first time in weeks.

See what little boys can do when they have a nice clean floor to play on?

They play with the legos they got for Christmas!  And by "play" I mean smack them around the room. :o)

I can tell he appreciates it.

My Kitchen Project

   It's probably no surprise, based on my apparent obsession with organization on this blog, that I've read a few organizing books and visited a few organizing blogs.  I also enjoy talking about organizing, not all the time, but I do.  I'll talk a little about each here and there, but I'm going to start with "It's Hard To Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys"  by Marilyn Paul.  This book was lent to me by my friend Jeni, and it was excellent.  What it helped me with the most was searching deep down into my soul to find my true reasons for getting organized, and staying organized.  I found that my reason wasn't just so I could find things easily, but because it made me feel more peacefull, I would save money, and I wanted to teach my kids to appreciate an orderly home.  Another thing that stuck with me was exploring what my idea of a "clean" home is, and what does a room look like when it's "ready" for use or company.  If you're looking for a good book to help you stop just picking up/getting organized only to let it fall apart a few days later, it's worth looking into.
   It's time for more pictures of my organizing process.  Obviously we want things to be in sensable places, and I was pretty good at that aspect of organizing, but had missed several areas/groups of things.  My friend Jeni has a friend named Sarah who is, so I'm told, a superstar organizer.  I've never met her but already know if she had a blog I would read it daily.  Come on Sarah, you've got so much inspiration, encouragement, and help to give... we need your blog! :o)   Anyway... one thing that I'm told she's great at helping with is getting everything in the most sensable and efficient place.  Here are my pictures of how I've arranged some of my kitchen areas so that everything is more efficient.  First you have to understand that my kitchen is very small and I really don't have to take more than a couple steps to get to anything in there, but it's certainly a time saver to have not only like-items grouped together, but related items kept near eachother.

This is a picture of my baby/kid cabinet.  Top shelf is all the kids cups.  I replaced a lot of cups of different shapes/sizes that didn't stack well together and went all over the place, with some perfect sized easily stacked cups that I got 6 for $2 at Target.  Top shelf also has the sippy cups and the dishwasher detergent.  Second shelf is all baby stuff.  Baby bottles, formula, cereal, snacks, bowls, and food live on this shelf. 

Directly below this cabinet is a drawer that now contains bibs and burp cloths.

Directly to the right of the kids cabinet is my coffee cabinet.  An entire cabinet dedicated to coffee, coffee cups, and coffee filters?  You know you're Jealous!!   Sorry, the point is that it is directly above my coffee pot.  The best part of this set up is that I can pour my first cup of coffee and make the baby's bottle all without moving my feet, which are very very sleepy when I wake up in the morning.

This picture shows where my towels and hot-pads are in relation to where the towels hang and the oven and range are.  The dish drying towels hang on the oven door looking pretty while they wait to be used while the hand drying towels hang from the handle of the refridgerator, which is directly across from the ovens.

   Pots and pans live under the stove and Tupperware lives across from the stove, next to the fridge so I can put leftovers into containers and then easily put them in the fridge.  Silverware should really be over on the fridge side where the plates/bowls are, but non of the drawers on that side are wide enough to hold them.  They live in the drawer next to the bibs, which works too since I need forks,spoons, and butter knives when I'm cooking on that side.  I took pictures of my revamped pantry situation as well but will have to save that for a different post because they are, I think, on my husband's computer. 

   To sum things up, check out that book I talked about and linked to, Sarah should consider blogging, and you have now had a partial tour of my kitchen.  Have a fantastic weekend!!

Attack of the Bins! I feel better

    As much as I find it difficult to stay organized, when I get things in order man do I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders! My heart rate seems to slow down, the tenseness (is that a word?) leaves me, my anxiety melts away.  It allows me to slow down my thought processes and be more clear minded.  I can breath.  When things are messy and cluttered I feel anxious and my brain can't seem to settle on any one thing.  I can't imagine how much more exaggerated that must be for people with OCD!  Having things in order is wonderful.  
   I have the capability of organizing, but I'm better with other people's stuff, I think I put blinders on when it comes to my own mess.  Growing up my room was always messy, my dorm was messy, my basement is a disaster.  I'm not sure how I can let things get like that when I crave a simple, clear space.  I think I'm a minimalist at heart, but I like my stuff, and my family likes their stuff.  I just don't like the look of it being out.  I'd like to blame being a mother, wife, daycare provider, cook, and many more things, as the reasons for why I have trouble keeping organized spaces neat and tidy, but I've had that problem my whole life... just ask my mom... which you could do because she's reading this too:o)   I think it may be my nature to not want to throw things away.  Maybe it's because I'm part of a generation that began being taught that garbage is bad, and maybe it's because I do daycare and think of things as possible craft material or daycare toys.  Maybe it's because I'm a little stingy and don't want to get rid of things that I know cost someone money.  Whatever the reasons are, I know I need to get rid of stuff we're not using.
   It seems that the people who are the most organized are REALLY good at throwing junk away!  I was watching a late night show and Reese Witherspoon was being interviewed.  Who knew she was a bit OCD about organizing? Not me!  She had asked someone who knew what they were talking about if she had obsessive complulsive disorder about organizing.  The person told her its only OCD if you spend about 3 hours a day on organizing.... apparently Reese spends about 5 or 6 hours a day organizing.  The point is that she shared that she is obsessed with the garbage and throws things away all the time. I must remember this.

  Reese on Conan O'Brien 

Remember this photo?  My girls' room before I attacked it with clear plastic containers?

   

 

Same room after the bin attack!

This is fun!   Before...

 After!

 

 and the closet... 

Are you adding a note or a person?

After

 I wish I took pictures of my art supplies before I got to work on those, but I didn't.  Just imagine a boat load of paints, paper, crayons, markers, confetti, colage material, glue, beads, and so much more, mixed up in several different places in the house.  I'm still not done getting them adequately organized, but I've started.  Here's what I have so far.

 

 

 

You can totally do this too!  You just need some of these...

And you need to kick your kids out of their room for an hour or so, so they don't object to your garbage pile, or give you too much input on what gets packed away!  They will thank you when you're done, mine did!

They even promised to keep it clean forever... we'll see.

Got Bins?

Taking a brief break from organization talk to look at Little Man.  He was laying on his boppy pillow drinking his bottle, I left the room for a couple minutes, came back and he was laying on the wood floor!  Are you comfortable there buddy?

 

He must be:o)

I promised pictures of my bins, yet to be filled, but it's the first step right?  At least I think I promised pictures, it was after midnight when I posted my last blog, so I'm a little fuzzy today.  If clear plastic bins don't excite you, just ignore them and look above at Little Man. 

 

Thanks for the Suggestions, My Current Plan

   Thank you ladies for the great suggestions!  I'm not intending this blog to be solely about organizing, but that's been on my agenda these days so I guess that's what I blog about these days.  Some of the many great suggestions were shelves, suitcases for art supplies, clear plastic bins, morning/afternoon jobs, several cleanup times each day, being stricter on having the kids pick up everything, rotating my own kids toys better like I do with the daycare toys (not sure why I never did that!), and getting rid of the excess junk.
   I figured I'd start with the least costly solutions first.  We had several clean up times today, and to be honest, the kids didn't seem to mind at all.  The older kids complain a lot more about picking up, but those preschoolers get right to task and get the job done... anything for a smiley face on the happy face/sad face white board (I'll have to talk about that another time)!  I went to Target today and was excited to see that storage bins were still on sale!  Like... REALLY excited!  Almost as excited as seeing file cabinets being wheeled into the high school choir room 10 years ago (I know one of you will know what I'm talking about)! I bought 2 big ones and 1 really big one to start with, and a small 3-drawer unit that would make a great scrapbooking storage piece, but I'm going to see what I can use it for with the daycare art supplies.  I have a feeling it's not going to work out though.  My intention is to get into my daughters' room possibly tomorrow night, and start boxing stuff up.  I'm going to go nuts with the boxing up of things.  Usually when I go in there with a box it's to put things into a garage sale/donate pile, which is really hard for me, but I'm not going in with the intention of getting rid of stuff completely, just boxing it up for a later rotation.  Some things will get thrown away though, don't worry!
   I have no problem getting rid of my own unused stuff (for the most part) but it is so hard for me to do that with my children's toys.  I can't get past the knowledge of their things being gifts that they've received from people at one point, and who am I to take their gifts away from them.  But on the flip side, what kind of lesson am I teaching them about the value of unused stuff, or of living within their means/space.  They have so much stuff that they can't even play in their room, can't even walk to their bed without stepping on something pointy or breakable.  Is it worth it to them to have all that stuff if they dont have a bedroom they can play in, or don't even know where their stuff is?  I'm trying really hard to turn over a new leaf and have been thinking for quite a long time now about the lessons that clutter teaches my kids.
   I'll probably post pictures of my bins tomorrow (its after midnight, so I guess later today) because I'm excited to fill them up and get more!  I'll also write about the recent developments of my kids doing dishes, one of them has decided dishes are not fun, and the other is perfectly happy to pick up the slack... you can probably guess who felt which way.
   

My "Non-Resolution" 2010 To-Do List

   I don't do New Years resolutions, haven't in a few years (see the "toys" post about that one) because I think a year to accomplish something is just too long for my motivation to hold out.  So perhaps smaller short term goals are what I really need. Like monthly goals, break that down to weekly goals.  A "To Do" list of sorts. 

   So what should I start my 2010 "to do" list with?  Organize toys (probably going to need to break that down into more specific steps), organize paper work, organize bills and finances, bathe my son more than once a week, bathe myself more than once a week (haha, just checking to see if anyone's paying attention!), get in better shape, achieve my gold belt in Karate by the end of the month, spend more time outdoors as a family (the dog needs it too), watch less reality TV, watch more Grey's Anatomy :o).  I think I'll start with that.

   Please dont judge me too harshly, I'm going out on a limb here and baring my soul/mess for the sake of self improvement.  Here are some pictures of the areas where toys need better organization.

This picture and the next one are taken in the living room/ daycare playroom. This is after my daughters picked up the living room.

Not too bad right? Just needs a little straightening up. The bins at one point were the clear bins from Target and the lids are stacked ever so helpfully under the bins.

Here we go... Little Man's closet. He's 9 months old and he doesn't have much stuff, so his closet has become (for now anyway) a storage closet for toys that either don't fit in my daughters' room, or are daycare toys awaiting the next rotation. needs work.

Brace yourself!!

This is our daughters' room.  They share this room, and it's not very big.  We tell them to go clean up their room and everything gets pushed into all sorts of evil little corners and nooks and cranies.  Obviously though this is not one of those days, they haven't lifted much of a finger in here for weeks.  I clean it myself from time to time and it will look spotless for 4-5 days max, and that's with a reward sticker chart prompting them to keep it clean!

 

turn a little to the left and you see... this

turn a little more to the left and you see their closet.  For the love of Pete please help me!

   For obvious reasons the daycare kids aren't allowed in this room, it can't handle any more kids in it, and it's just not an acceptable place to play.  Since I've decided that it works way better to break up these things into workable chunks lets start with January. Achieve gold belt, organize toys, work on getting in better shape. I think those three things will be a good start, and who knows, maybe I'll chip away at the others while I'm at it.

   If you have kids (or even if you don't) and you can relate to any of this, please make me feel better and tell me about your messes.  I have others than these, but I'm working on toys this month so that's all I'm going to focus on for now.  If you are an amazing organizer and know exactly what to do here, please tell me that too!!