Over the past few months {years?} I’ve heard myself barking the same reminders to my boys, “hang your book bag up, don’t pour too much cereal, you can’t use 18 different cups before lunch…“. My husband and I made a few simple changes in our home and now I can save my words for better things like “can I have a hug? would you like some more cereal? flush the toilet…”
For example, we have always kept our dishes, you know, the plates and bowls, way up in the high cabinets. Our boys are in the stage where they are old enough to not break real dishes but not tall enough to reach all the higher cabinets without a stool. We like for them to help set the table and put the dishes away so an easy solution for our family was to relocate the dishes to the lower cabinets where they can easily reach a bowl. I consider that idea to be one of my best accomplishments as a mother. I think simple mom would be proud.
Another issue was the poring of 8 servings of cereal into a bowl every morning. Our solution: much smaller bowls. I know, it’s not rocket surgery but this simple change is going to really impact how often I have to buy cereal. I found the bowls for $1 each at Big Lots.
Cup over usage was running rampant in our house. Now each boy has his own style of clear plastic, unbreakable cup. They each have 3 cups and those are the only ones they can use. They use it, rinse it out and then set it on the dish rack until they need it later. I throw them in the dishwasher at night. If I see a cup laying around the house, I don’t grab it. I leave it. Right now one of the boys has unknowingly left two of his cups in the playroom and one half full of juice in the fridge. I can’t wait until he figures it out and has to go searching for his cups and then wash them out because he missed the nightly dishwasher run. If I really ran a tight ship I’d probably lower the cups down to one each but, I’m new at this.
Now you will roll your eyes at how I am so slow to miss the obvious. We had book bags on the floor that seemed to multiply. It finally hit me that I had not provided a designated spot for the book bags. Problem solved. Duh. It’s from Target if you are wondering.
There is just not a good place near the boys room or bathroom for any kind of clothes basket or hamper. The problem is, it doesn’t matter if I choose to provide a hamper or not, dirty clothes will come off and need to be put some place–I don’t walk down stairs naked just to put my clothes in the laundry room before I take a shower and I can’t expect my boys to either. So, I went ahead and accepted the fact that I needed to put a bulky, in-the-way basket in our skinny hall. It’s still better than a pile of clothes strewn around.
Lastly, every night we somehow had like 5 wet towels on the bathroom floor. Even though we only have 3 boys. And of course, none of them left THEIR towel on the floor. So my husband bought 3 different color towels {2 of each} and assigned a color to each boy. Now, if they step out of the shower and their two towels are somehow dripping wet from the night before, they’ll have to reach into that in-the-way clothes basket and dry off with their dirty clothes or figure something out. I have a feeling after experiencing a dripping wet towel once, they will naturally remember to hang up their towel.
None of these solutions were new, life changing or even things I hadn’t heard of before. Just things that we failed to implement. Now I’m on the lookout for other ways to help our house run more smoothly so I can focus more on fun things and help our boys become more responsible.
What about you? What issues have you resolved with no duh, simple solutions?
This post is a repost but it was the post that got the most comments EVER other than a giveaway. That response gave me the push I needed to decide to write for 31 days about less messiness.
Be sure to visit the other 31 dayers:: Reluctant Entertainer, The Inspired Room, Remodeling This LifeChatting at the Sky, Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, My First Kitchen, Life With My 3 Boybarians, over the next 31 days.
My duh answer really is a “DUH”!
For most of my life, I lived in houses with small cramped kitchens and no dishwasher. My mother always commented that it never looked as though I cooked when I cooked, because I cleaned as I went along.
Well, somewhere between then and now, I managed to lose that habit. Once again I live in a small house, but we did purchase a portable dishwasher for it. Still, I was constantly fuming over having so much cleanup to do. It finally hit me the other day that if I would just go back to my old habit of cleaning as I go (only now I only have to load the dishwasher!), by the time I was done cooking the kitchen would be clean.
I don’t know if or when my husband and son will notice, but I am LOVING not having to stay in the kitchen all alone after dinner and deal with the mess while they go off and do other stuff!
I dont have a dish washer and all my friends can’t believe I wash all my dishes! When I go to their house it takes me forever to load a washer! I wash as I go! I keep a small rectangle sized container in my sink that I fill with soap and water (so Im not filling the whole sink everytime I need to wash a few things) and keep a little bit of soapy water in there all day. We rinse our cups, cereal bowls, etc as we use them. For dinner I will fill the sink up and wash the pots and pans as I go! Saves me lots of time and I get to hang with the family after dinner instead of cleaning!
you’re a genius!
I have to come clean and admit that I am the least organized and efficient of any of the people in my house-my son was what FLYlady would call “born organized”-there are no toys under his bed, there are no food wrappers or plates in his room, there are no broken toys, torn books, outgrown clothes, etc. Once it is no longer usable, he disposes of it. I never, EVER, have to go through his things and get rid of anything secretly-he does it on his own.
If he didn’t look so much like his dad I’d swear he was switched at the hospital.
My only stroke of genius was having my children (ages 8 & 6, but we’ve been doing this for a few years now) help me come up with a breakfast menu. We have the same breakfast every Monday, eggs and cereal on Tuesdays, oatmeal on Wednesdays, etc. That way I’m not a short order cook each morning and they know what to expect.
Boy, did this post bring back memories! I grew up with five brothers, and one of the many ways my mom kept order was to assign us each a color for our drinking cup (notice that was cup, as in singular!). My color was orange, yuck. But the funny thing is my mom still has a set of our cups and when we visit, my girls love to see who gets to drink out of the orange cup!
One way we have battled the whole laundry issue around here, which also aided in getting the kids to do the laundry, is to give each child his/her own basket in a color that matches the decor of his/her room. Each child is responsible for bringing said basket downstairs for the laundry master (the child assigned that chore). They then have to divide their own clothes into the two baskets in the laundry room (one dark, one light). Once the clothes are folded (by the whole family), they each take their own basket full of clean clothes to their respective rooms. Saves my back and trains them that clothes do not magically appear clean in their drawers!
We have “the basket.” (It’s a gathering basket that lives near the staircase on a stool.) Anything that doesn’t belong downstairs goes into “the basket.” Then in the evening at bath time the basket goes up with us. Items are placed into the room that they belong and then are put away (by mother or child, depending on their age). A quick check of each bedroom and things that go downstairs go back into the basket to be put away. Having the kids put things away in the basket, then away correctly once a day, goes over much better than nagging them throughout the day and it keeps the clutter in-check. It’s also easy to give it a quick look before each trip upstairs…
I love these ideas!
I am a definite color coder. It is a MUST for a big family when, “that’s mine” is the famous phrase. I still remember my color was red growing up. ;o) So when I found out I was pregnant with another boy (2 under 3), I started up. First boy, everything is blue. Cups, towels, plates, etc. And the second boy’s color is green. Yesterday I gave my 22 month old a cup with the wrong color lid and he brought it back to me to fix!
I also paid (too much) to have someone put my kids name on their bath towel. No arguing about who’s is who’s. I also bought collapsable laundry baskets at Target and put their names on them so as I sort laundry it is easy for me, and then I just put the clean clothes in each boys room and they put it away and return the basket to the laundry room.
I have a toddler and I feel the same way–I want so badly to not have to say no, no, no all the time every day!
Right now, my solutions are cabinet locks, keeping things out of the way I don’t want her to touch, and lots of hugs, and trying to be laid back. If it’s not THAT big of a deal, I try not to have a cow.
I wish I could make her not want to play with the computer, though. Any solutions for electronics?
Jessie
Just plain SMART – but definitely not obvious solutions. Thanks for the tidbits =)
♥ these! Simple. My most favorite word in the world! :)
You are the queen of practicality and simplicity. {This is why we love you and pay you the big bucks.} This post is COMPLETELY where I am right now: brainstorming for simple {obvious} solutions to make life with children run more smoothly and to shift some more of the responsibility to them. The dishes down low idea? Brilliant. Look forward to browsing through the comments…my house will practically run itself after this!
My sweeties were using bath towels as hand towels and once they fell on the floor they were thrown in the wash. Sheesh. They can eat dirt but can’t touch a towel that has dropped onto the floor? Whatever! So I bought 24 hand towels and 24 washcloths from Costco, dyed them a color that wouldn’t show dirt and replaced the bath towels with those. If they are going to make them one use items they may as well use the washcloths (the hand towels are really overkill). Perfect size, easy on the washer/dryer. I *love* using the washcloths as hand towels!
lovin the dishes lower….such a great idea! and thanks for the tip on the $1 bowls at Big Lots!! I’m there tomorrow….
I was looking at this again and want to know where you got that board with the hooks? I’ve been looking for a sturdy but affordable one for a while.
Reminds me of our Super Bowl Party last year. Forgot to erase the kids’ (teens) weekly chore checklist. Everyone was amazed at how organized we were. Little did they know, only half of those items were done WELL on a REGULAR basis. But, every little bit helps!!! Doesn’t have to be perfect, right?
“it’s not rocket surgery” made me laugh. I didn’t know if you meant that- or if you meant: it’s not rocket science OR it’s not brain surgery.
Your mixture of the two phrases accomplished killing 2 birds with 1 stone!! Loved it!!
Maybe it’s a southern thing. I’m in the NW so, you know, I guess we talk different!!
Great ideas! I put a chalkboard up right at my dishwasher that says “Please put your dishes in the dishwasher” as a reminder to people who like to leave their dishes in the sink.
Am I really the first guy to write here?! Anyways, I’m gonna let the side down a bit … If you’ve got more than one toilet, why not tell the kids that one toilet is a ‘special’ one for guests when they come, and if the kids want to use it, they *have* to flush it. Any other toilets don’t matter so much (assuming they’ve just peed…), because you’re saving the environment by not flushing :) Save the planet, one pee at a time ;)
As for shoe storage, we just use an old bookcase. It’s only a little one, and takes up less room than a proper shoe rack would.
Look everyone, it’s a MAN!!!!
Nick, YES, thank you–if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down… at least in their bathroom!
Don’t worry, as a stay-at-home dad I think I qualify as an honorary woman :)
You’d certainly think so at toddler group anyway, when the leaders keep saying, ‘could all the mums please…’. I’ve been going for over a year, and dads still rarely get a mention! (And yes, I do mean mums, not moms – I’m British)
I’ve just started blogging about making stuff, and have titled it ‘manmade’, to attempt to balance out the millions of craft-related blogs by women (though I have to admit there are a lot of good ones!)
The stuff on my blog is probably a little ropey, but I enjoy blogging about it anyways!
(And as for the flushing rule – that’s the one we had a boarding school!)
OK – I didn’t read all the zillions of posts here so someone may have already said this one. I have 4 kids ranging from 4 to 11. Laundry used to be like a lead weight I was dragging around. Maybe it got done but so much clean stuff piled up before I folded it and rarely did it ever get put away. Everyone had to go to the basement to look for clean clothes every morning and even though it was not their fault, I would be angry because they didn’t realize which pile was dirty and which was clean! BUT, then I moved all their clothes storage to the basement! No one has clothes up in their bedrooms anymore. I bought some simple metalkitchen storage shelves and now everyone has their own 6 shelves and on the bottom shelf is a laundry basket each for socks and underwear. I tell you this changes my life! There is alwas laundry on in our house but it has been about 4 months and I have been happily caught up ever since! The kids are happy they always have easily accessible clothes – mornings are so much happier and easier!!!!
Love this post!
I am a huge clutter-phobe. My husband? Not so much. I figured out a long time ago that I needed to work WITH his habits, not against them. So, if he routinely left his keys and wallet sitting on the kitchen counter, I would put a basket there for him to use. I created a mudroom-type area by my back door with a small, narrow bookcase and a shelf with hooks. There are baskets on top of the bookcase for mail and miscellaneous stuff, coats go on the hooks, diaper bags and briefcases in a basket under the hooks… Sometimes it gets cluttered, but at least it is contained to a small area!
We have a place for book bags. We have a place for coats. We have a place for shoes and dishes are in a lower cabinet. We have a TEENY house so I have to be on top of these things. I only wish I had a regular refridgerator, i.e. fridge on the bottom. It thwarts all independence in acquiring drinks.
Wonderful ideas! My kids are a bit younger than yours, Nester, so we’ve got a drawer of small plastic plates, cups and utensils that they can get themselves. And a box tucker under a desk for shoes, jackets and hats. Except all this winter clothing (in Kansas) is still out of hand, but there won’t be snow forever! I like the towel and glass ideas – I wonder if they’d work for husbands too? *wink* Oh, and a coat/bag rack is in the works for the future!
New to your site, and I love it! Some simple solutions we have:
(1) everyone has their own Sigg bottle and the filtered water sits on a low shelf in the fridge with a spout so they can re-fill their bottles very easily. If we go out somewhere everyone is responsible for getting their own drink. When we eat they are responsible for getting their own drink. If they like their water cold, they have to put it in the fridge. It serves two purposes – Mommy doesn’t have all those cups to wash and keep up with, and they only drink water (the 2 year old does have 1 sippy cup a day of milk). To keep the bottles clean I throw in a denture tablet and let it sit for about 30 minutes.
(2) each kid has their own monogrammed towel and a place to hang it (even Mom and Dad). I do not fold towels – they go straight from the dryer to the rack in the bathroom. We do have a few extras in the closet for emergency things but 95% of the time this is what we do. Same thing with bed sheets – they go straight from the dryer to the bed, no folding.
(3) in the laundry room I have a narrow table set up and each kid (I have 4) has their own “bucket” (actually a plastic dish pan that I wrote their names on) I fold their laundry and put it in their “bucket” they carry the stuff to their rooms to put it up. The “buckets” make it much easier for them to carry the stuff and it makes it easier for me to corral the small stuff like socks and underwear.
(4) for soccer and ballet uniforms – every thing they need to get ready goes in a large ziplock bag after it comes out of the dryer – makes it really easy to get ready when it’s time to go because they know where everything is.
(5) I occasionally save the little plastic cups the kid’s yogurt comes in. They are the perfect size for them to fill up for a snack of grapes, raisins, goldfish, etc. They are kept on the bottom shelf so they can get them out easily.
Sorry this is so long, but we’re all about streamlining around here. Great post.
I agree with the towel & sheet anti-folding policy. I take our towels straight from the clothes-line back into the bathroom & the beds get re-made with the same sheets once they are dry. (It helps that my kids are older now & we don’t have those middle-of-the-night accidents). Sometimes the sheet thing comes back to bite me if they don’t dry early enough for me to remake the beds while I’m still enthused & then I realise it’s kids’ bedtime with bed not made. To reduce the irritation of these occasions I’ve made myself a rule that I only wash the sheets from 1 bed on any particular day. That way, if I’m sidetracked then there’s only one bed to hastily make at bed-time.
Okay, I don’t have any kids myself, but thank you for this post! Most of it is now filed away in my brain for “future mama days”…it’s always good to be prepared, right? ;)
Each of us has a clothes hamper in our bedrooms, but wet towels in a hamper can be stinky. I put another hamper for the kids in the hallway outside their bathroom/bedroom doors. All wet towels go into the basket. It’s so much easier to keep up with towel laundry that way!
Love these tips. I haven’t read through everyone’s, so I don’t know if my tips are already mentioned or not.
We have 3 girls, ages 3, 5 and 9. One of my most hated chores is sorting socks. I bought 3 large lingerie bags and took a black magic marker to each, labeling with an M, L and A. Now when each girl takes off her socks, she puts them in her own bag. When I go to wash whites, I just zip up the bag and toss it in the wash. It’s great at folding time to just hand the older two girls their bags (they can find pairs themselves) and only have to pair for my 3yo. And I know that only her socks are in there, so no determining who’s are who’s when there’s an inch difference in size.
I bought a $1 plastic silverware tray and use that to organize the pens, pencils, tape, batteries, etc in our “junk drawer” It really helps to keep everything more organized.
We have a large closet in our bathroom, so on the shelves I’ve got baskets lined up and labled with “First Aid” or “Teeth” or “Skin” and the basket is filled with everything needed (like the “Teeth” basket has extra toothbrushes, floss, new toothpaste, rinse, etc) Keeps everything alike together and my closet organized.
I also have a small plastic 5-drawer chest that sits on my closet shelf with all the girls’ hair things organized. Top to bottom is barrettes, small binders, fancy binders, headbands/straps, then big binders (like my size to fit on my wrist and hold my thick hair) Makes it all so easy!
We have three girls as well, and use the plastic drawer system for hair things. It has really kept things organized; we keep it in the bathroom under the sink, and one drawer is for brushes and combs. Any things that they feel are special and don’t want to share I make them keep in a drawer for treasures.
We moved kid-dishes to a lower shelf a few months ago when my 10-year-old complained about not being able to reach the shelf for the kid cups, and suggested we move them. Leave it to a 10-year-old to come up with an obvious solution! I also recently bought different color cups for each of my 3 girls. They have 3 cups a piece. Now when I see a cup sitting in the living room, I know who’s it is and I never hear, “that’s not mine.” My oldest has her own color towels, but the twins had matching towels. They’re getting their own colors today!
I’ve had two step sons living with me since they were both about 12. the oldest is 20 and has his own appt now. The youngest is still a minor in high school.
the oldest was much more neat and clean than the youngest. He did his own laundry, changed his own sheets, scrubbed the boys bathroom every week. (this was a hard habit for him at first, but he learned) And he always put his dishes in the dishwasher, took out the trash and usually found time over school break to clean out his closet of unwanted things.
the younger one, he sleeps on dirty sheets, uses the same towel for a month or more, wears dirty clothes and his socks do not match. I find molded over dishes hidden in his room, and thank goodness I have a regular insecticide service in our home. Need I mention the smell that emerges from his room?
I can only account for the differences in their personalities. I only hope he will spring from the nest at an early age also. then I plan to demo his room and bathroom. he’s already made a nice start on that for me, as every knob and handle is broken, mysterious holes are in the walls and in general, he has not had any respect for our home.
there I admitted it.
a friend of ours took the door off their sons room when he chose to not obey the rules. They told him he could have his respected privacy back when he respected their home and rules. Nothing like no privacy to whip a teenage boy into shape! lol Good luck!
Fabulous ideas (as usual)! Wet towels are the bane of my existence. I’ve been committed to white towels for a while because I can bleach them. But, I think I will stitch a different color X per child.
We have a large, deep drawer that we put all of the kids’ plastic plates and cups into. We’ve done this since they were little (with sippy cups) because it gave them ownership (getting it out when they wanted a drink), was an easy place for them to put them away, and even though it was a jumble I didn’t mind because it was contained in one drawer. Now that they are older, I’m SO liking your 3 cup system!
A great post! Hugs!
We bought two large wardrobes from Home Depot with double doors. My husband took the hanging rod out, bought matching wood and split them down (lengthwise) the middle. Then he added an extra shelf across the bottom, added large double hooks on either side of rectangles, and now our four kids each have a “locker” with a top and bottom shelf. I’ve put a plastic tub on the top shelf with their name on it for hats, mitts, scarves and misc. things, and underneath the bottom shelf goes all their footwear. The things I love most is that the sides are large enough to hold their backpacks, all their winter gear, including snowpants, and I can close the doors on them, so the room looks very tidy. Whenever I find a book or toy or item that belongs to one of them on the main floor, it goes in their locker tub.
HELP! I need a lovely “duh” solution to my girls’ clothes issue! Reading all these ideas, surely there must be one, that I can’t just think of. My two girls (8 and 5) have a thing for “needing” to change their clothes a few times a day, in order to be dressed “just right” for various activities. But the clothes end up ALL OVER THE FLOOR daily. I have actually considered taking their dressers out of their room, and putting them in my eave-closet. Any ideas?
Someone mentioned the hook board and where did it come from-we have one that my DH made with a premade shelf from the hardware store and half a dozen hooks from another aisle of the hardware store. The hooks are all equally spaced and an equal distance from the top, and because it was a premade shelf all the edges are already finished. It’s worked great for us!
I use the GIGO (garbage in garbage out) method. If a new pair of shoes comes in, an old pair is donated to Goodwill. Ditto for school supplies, mass amounts of paper and junk mail (RECYCLE) artwork, those insane mass purchases from the Dollar Store….anything comes in, something is thrown away, given away or recycled. It keeps clutter a little more balanced.
thank you for sharing your simple solutions nester! i love them all and i’m working on ways to rearrange my kitchen cabinets to put our dishes down lower. i’m also working my way through the other comments to see what other changes i can make.
here’s one i did a few years ago. i remember reading this in a magazine or a blog a few years ago so i cannot take credit for it, but it has helped me with sorting clean laundry. i have 4 kids. in the label of their clothes: underwear, pjs, t-shirts, pants, shorts, jeans, jackets…i put a dot with a sharpie pen. 1 dot is for my oldest. 2 for the second born, 3 for the…well, you get the idea. all i have to do is look for the dot, then i know who it belongs to. when my oldest grows out of that item of clothing, if it survives him without too many holes, i put another dot in the tag so i know it belongs to kid #2. and so on. the older they get and they closer they get in size, this will be more useful, except i guess i will be able to tell which clothing belongs to the girl. but, if she’s anything like her mom, a little tomboy, maybe not. this system also helps anyone else who might do the laundry – husband, grandparents, kids – they know what belongs to whom based on the number of dots. i guess i could do this for socks, but i think i might take the nester idea and switch to black footie socks…
This is brilliant. Why didn’t I think of this? I’ve been wondering how to label clothes that will be handed down!
Yes…the drawer of dishes has been a lifesaver (for me) here, too. I moved them all so that my kids can get their dishes, and my 11-year-old is the dishwasher emptier around here. She can now reach just about everything and put it all away easier. If I could figure out how to get them all to do their own laundry and put it away, that would be amazing. Suggestions?
I totally know how you feel with these suggestions. I’m trying to get my house organized (and I actually mean it this time) and I keep having these “duh” moments. I guess “duh moments” are the new “a-ha moments.” I recently thought of placing a bin in my kitchen pantry for recyclables…you know instead of throwing them next to the trash can like we did before. http://www.diynewlyweds.com/2010/01/easy-kitchen-recycling-bins.html
A total “duh” moment with a simple solution, but it has made life much easier!
Love all your inventive solutions and have one more to add. I know this one costs money- and it really falls into the creature comforts BUT it really saves on washing towels and people love to hang their towels up is a Wall Mounted Towel Warmer. Well worth the money and can be found for 150 or even under 100 for standup ones.
Hey Nester and Peeps!
I just recently (fall) did the same thing with the cereal bowls….bought a smaller size, from the dollar store in fab shades of seaglass blues n greens and put them in a lower cabinet next to the pantry for the kids. AAAHHHH, now I can sleep in :)
This is such a great post! Thanks for sharing all of your tips.
We seem to have the same issues going on: laundry on the floor, cups everywhere, too big bowls, bookbags on the floor…Except you have fixed all your probs and mine are still occuring. You have inspired me. :-)
b.r.i.l.l.i.a.n.t.
I love all your ideas – BRAVO! As a mom and a mom who helps support other busy moms I often suggest similar ways to decrease the nagging, frustration and such. These are great ideas to help eliminate some areas that will provide relief for a mom who feels like she is at her wits end! Thanks for sharing these!
I have 6 children, all grown now-man I’m old! But when they were younger I ,too, made some changes to help be organized. One is that I color coordinated their bath towels, hand towels, wash cloths and cup. I think that I also did tooth brushes, combs and hair bushes. It made it easier for them and me, I suggest color codeing what ever you can!
Great tips! May I add one that works for us: no top sheets. Both my girls have a twin fitted sheet with a comforter (winter)/light throw (summer). When they get up in the morning, the comforter/throw is folded across the bottom of the bed. Two pluses: the bed looks made and I can see whether under the bed is clean….:)
YAY! There is another like me!! We stopped using the top sheet about 6 mos ago. My 6 yr old could never get his straight, my 2 yr old’s had to be re-done every morning! And my husband is extremely hot natured and rarely sleeps with a blanket.. he also sleeps with his feet hanging off the end of the bed so he would untuck it every night! Grrrrr! So I pulled them all off! I dont think I even own them anymore! And it has saved my patience for more pressing things!! Highly recommend it!
Color code the towels!!!!!!!! what have I been thinking? I’ve color coded tooth brushes, duffel bags, back packs, but it never dawned on me to do the towels!!!! I am so excited. Darn it’s midnight and I’ll have to wait until Target opens in the morning. I’ll also be buying two glasses each when I go for the towels. I love this becaue my boys always say “it wasn’t me” when things are left everywhere and I’m trying to figure out which one has to pay me for picking up after them. Yes, if I have to do something I’ve already asked them to do, given them time to do it, and then I have to do it myself, I charge them for it. At 11 and 15 money is the only thing that carries any weight with them now.
When it comes to laundry, each boy has a tall skinny trash can in their closet with their name and a day of the week written on it. When they were younger I tried to do their laundry on their assigned day, along with any fill-in laundry to make a full load. When they got old enough, (the youngest may have been about 8) they had to start doing their own laundry on their assigned day. If they didn’t do it on that day then it was too bad, they had to wait until the next week (in theory). I don’t have to sort their laundry and if it doesn’t get done they know who to blame. I’m convinced my 15 year old doens’t wear underwear because I almost never see him do laundry. Now that they are older they don’t have to stick to the same day anymore and I never have to do their laundry. I just wash a ton of towels:) but not after tomorrow!!!!!! (hee hee) The oldest started R.O.T.C. this year and had to learn to iron and startch his uniform himself.
Before you think I have well trained young men on my hands, would someone tell me how to get them to hit the toilet when they’re peeing? I can’t figure out how they get pee pee all over the bathroom!!!! I’ve tried not cleaning their bathroom but it doesn’t bother them … they’re pigs. They’ll let it go on getting nasty for weeks until I can’t stand it any longer. Of course, they each say “it isn’t me!” If I could only COLOR CODE their pee pee!!
They used to fight over the front seat of the car, so I assigned odd days to the oldest and even days to the youngest. It’s hard to argue with a number:)
Sorry this was so long.
My 5 and 3 year old boys were really bad shots, but I put a ping pong ball in the loo and now they aim at that. DH laughed at me, but I have noticed since doing it that he rarely misses now too. Hehehe.
Left open doors drive me CRAZY. Hubby put a spring on the hinges of the pantry door so that it closes on its own now. Simply sanity saving.
Thanks for the post! I have five children so I need all the organizing help I can get. Along with thier own color of towel I bought them each a small, plastic basket (in the same color as their towel) at the dollar store. These go along the back of the bathroom counter and hold their tooth brush, a small cup, toothe paste and whatever other bathroom stuff they need. I buy them each a different color of tooth paste so I know who has made the mess in the sink;) I also got a comb and brush with holes in the end of the handle. I attached sturdy string to the top edge of the bathroom door with a flat thumb tack. (the top edge, not the top of the door where you can see it.) I made the string long, almost to the floor. I tied the comb and brush each onto their own string and they will never again be lost. They are always in the bathroom where they belong! It has saved my sanity. As for dirty clothes, my kids have a large plastic container that slides under their bed. They each keep their dirty clothes in it. I do a different color of laundry each day. On Monday morning they know they need to sort our white and put them in a laundrey basket in the hall. On Tuesday they sort darks, etc. Then, I carry the hall basket down to the laundry room. Any clothes that are turned inside out are rejected and not washed!!!
Laura
Wow, I have a full document created from the tips here! We are moving to a new house this year and we are completely overwhelmed with the amount of work/clutter we have to deal with. I will be putting some of these tips into play right now, but all of them when we move. I already have a mudroom locker designed with hooks for stuff…glad to see it “should” work :)
Because we live in an old house, it’s “normal” to have things oddly wired. For example, coming in the back door, you’d have to cross through the foyer to turn on a light. During winter, this isn’t too cool with tracking muddy boots — especially up here in Canada. Our simple solution? A sensor light left on automatic and faces the entry door — now we can take our boots right there and I have less muddy floors to mop!