1. I have a magnetic board in the kitchen and I found clip art of things we do each day or each week and then at breakfast we talk about what we are going to do. I should add that I laminated the clip art and put a magnet on them. Then the boys put them on the board in the order we will do things. We don't use them every day and I don't know if it really helps us at all except that then the boys don't bother me every two second about when we are going to things.
2. This also hasn't been very fruitful for us but the boys have a hard time knowing what to dress themselves in so I made little weather cards and they decide what the weather is and then dress accordingly. It hasn't worked but the boys like it none the less. It seems like it was a waste of my time to make.
3. This is the only thing that I can think of that is really helping me. My sisters-in-law have laundry days. I cannot do that. I get way too behind and it just doesn't work. So, I did this to our laundry baskets so I can have a reminder of when I need to do the laundry.I've been trying really hard to take about a half hour to an hour in the morning and just clean as much as I can, wipe counters, sweep, do dishes, vacuum, etc. Then if I get nothing else done at least I've gotten some cleaning done.
So, since most of my attempts to be organized have failed or are lame, what do you do? I'm serious. I want some answers. I want something I can copy. Anything? Is there just something you love that your family does that makes your life easier?
4 comments:
Life with 6 children isn't so much about being organized as it is staying just one step ahead of disaster. Multiple loads of laundry are done on a daily basis, the dish washer is filled and emptied at least twice daily, and the floors are being swept seemingly every hour. I am impressed that you are as organized as you are. Good luck!
Adrianne,
The one major thing that helped me the most with laundry was to have a tall wastebasket with holes in the sides for each kind of load I am going to do - one for darks, one for whites, one for towels, one for light-colored clothes, etc. Make sure there are holes in the sides so nothing that is sitting in there will get moldy. That way, you can sort and then do the loads as they begin to fill up. Before I did this, it was such a chore to separate that it really depressed me. After you fold the clothes, have your boys put their own clothes away. They won't do it well at first, but it will begin to teach them how to do their own!! What a lifesaver that was when I figured out that teenagers could wash their own dang jeans every other day. (And they don't when they are in charge.)
I am a huge believer in job charts. We don't have one right now, but it really helps organize people and chores. Start with little simple ones with the boys - they will feel very proud of themselves with simple little ones and then work them into harder ones with more responsibility as they get older. When we don't have a job chart, we have pandemonium.
Our house was generally full of pandemonium anyway, but some little things helped.
Good luck!
I simply use a white dry erase board. I write the daily to-do list on it and let the kids initial what they choose to do. It's suprising to me which ones they choose sometimes. If it's a short list, they must only do one chore a piece (always in addition to cleaning their own bedrooms)but if the list is longer, I tell them to pick 2-3. Geoff chooses first, then Sarah, then back to Geoff, and so on til they've worked it out. The next day Sarah chooses first. They don't always vacuum too well or sweep very thoroughly, but it's better than it was and it's the fact that they're learning. Hopefully their skills will improve with age! They enjoy wiping the board clean after I've given them the o.k.
Brent also appreciates the list. He's always telling me to just tell him what I need done instead of expecting he'll just notice it. He does notice it, but doesn't always know what I can't do on my own. Jake's only wanting to help with dishes these days, and I'm usually too impatient to stand there and watch the kitchen turn into a flooded, soapy mess. So, for now, he helps wash the windows!
Another good chore for Jake is to help unload the dryer into the basket. He waits for the "ding" to tell me it's done!
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