Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Keeping it Clean

I'm back on a cleaning schedule everyone!  I slacked a while after we moved into our new home but I'm back on track.  For those of you looking for ways to keep a cleaner home without the strict "Fly Lady" type schedule, here goes.

I keep my cleaning chart on my kids' chore chart so they see that everyone has a job to do every day.
Every morning, I announce what their chores are for the day and what area I'm going to focus on.  I do a specific deep cleaning every day plus our "10 Minute Pick-Up" which I will explain later.

Today's focus was the kitchen.  I spent about 30 minutes to an hour deep cleaning which to me means: steam mopping, cleaning the appliances, counters, organizing, etc.  Yesterday was the Master Suite so I vacuumed and straightened up my room, and deep cleaned my bathroom.

This way I know that it all gets cleaned every week and my kids know that we do our housework first and then we can sit back and play.

Now on to the "10 Minute Pick-Up".  This is my sanity saver.  Every night at 10pm, my husband and I set the timer for 10 minutes and pick up the house as fast as we can.  That usually includes loading and starting the dishwasher, starting the washing machine, picking up a few toys, sweeping the floor and wiping down the cabinets.  It is amazing what can get done in just 10 minutes!  Then we can go to bed and the morning starts off with a fairly clean home.
Hope this helps someone!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Raising Grateful Children

I love my kids but they all go through different phases.  Lately, my kids have seemed very entitled and ungrateful for what they have and what we do for them.  I tried to think of ways to turn this around and I came up with a few ways to remind them of how blessed they are.

1. Dinnertime thankfulness: Every night at dinner, we are going around the table saying one thing we are grateful for that day.  It may not be much but it gives us a chance to reflect on the blessings we received that day and it usually becomes a good conversation starter.

2. Work before you play:  My kids have had chores for a while but they just have to get them done sometime during the day.  This Summer we have done a lot of fun activities in the community and their gratitude for that has not been reflected in their behavior.  So, they have to do their chores before I will take them to do anything fun or have friends over.  I want them to understand that going to the pool, play dates, etc are a privilege, not a right.

3. Giving and serving: I have been talking to them a lot about how much they have compared to most kids around the world.  I think that conversation can be done without becoming a giant guilt trip (at lease I hope).  I had them gather up toys to donate to a local charity and we are talking about other opportunities for them to serve.

How do you encourage an attitude of gratitude in your home?

Thursday, July 21, 2011

And our Family's Rules...

Our Family Motto

Just about sums it up.