Chore Charts

#3, #1, and #2 camping in the living room

I grew up in a home where there were 6 of us kids. I was the 3rd. Both my parents worked and we were homeschooled, so you can imagine what my chore list was like. My parents did a good job of teaching us to be hard workers.  I’ve been scrubbing baseboards and toilets, doing my own laundry, hand washing dishes (we didn’t have a dishwasher back then), and taking out the garbage for as long as I can remember. I don’t remember enjoying all of my chores, but I certainly didn’t hate most of them. With my own kids,  I have tried in the past to set up chore charts for their edification (they end up being more work for me to enforce then to simply do it on my own), but nothing has stuck this far. The older ones do help me around the house with whatever the current need is, but whenever I tried to have a more structured system it only ever lasted a couple months before dissolving. It could, admittedly, have something to do with my frequent HG pregnancies. It is hard to stay on top of chore charts when you are in and out of the hospital, and barely able to get out of bed. We can make plans, but ultimately, God decides the course of our lives (Proverbs 16:9).  The relative chaos in the housework department doesn’t bother me much anymore. My chaos meter has changed a lot since spending collective years listening to my family live while I helplessly listened from my bed. I can get involved again and bring some order to our little world. Plus, I have long since gotten over any aversions I had to chores. I enjoy cleaning. It occurred to me the other day that since we are done home growing our family, that the odds of sticking to a basic program have greatly increased.   I’ve also noticed a good deal of boredom going around our house. During the day when my oldest is at school, my second plays with our third, but then #3 takes a nap and #2 becomes my shadow, her questions cycle around on a loop, “What day is it? When will sister be home? When will brother get up? What are we doing tonight? Can I play games on the ipad or watch tv?” When I have my wits about me I take the opportunity to give her something constructive to do. Preschool workpages, wiping down surfaces, helping me fold the laundry or tear up lettuce for supper. If I am really on top of my game, I’ll drop everything and build a fort with her or host a tea party for just the two of us (and sometimes baby #4). However, more often then not, my wits get lost somewhere between my morning coffee and the Magic Laundry (you know, it pulls dirty clothes out of thin air and strews them about the house). Add into this the constant direction I give throughout the day and it’s no wonder I am ready to crash the second I load the last dirty dinner dish into the dishwasher (Praise God for technology!). The time has come for change. Today I sat down, searched through all those chore lists I’ve pinned on Pinterest, and came up with what I think is a decent working list for us. I’ll share it here, but I would like to hear what your thoughts are. What chores have you found work well for different age groups? What are your thoughts on incentives? Sticker charts or check lists? Have you found any certain flaws in the system that I should be aware of?

 Chores for a 7 Year old Girl 

BEFORE SCHOOL	Mon day	Tues day	Wedn esday	Thurs day	Friday
Brush your teeth.
Brush your hair.
Wash your face.
Put dirty clothes in laundry hamper.
AFTER SCHOOL	***	***	***	***	***
Change clothes.
Put dirty school clothes in laundry hamper.
Wipe down bathroom sink.
Clean your room (make your bed, put clothes away, put toys away, sweep).
Unload dishwasher.
Homework.
Help fold laundry.
BEFORE DINNER	***	***	***	***	***
Set table with plates or bowls, napkins and silverware.
Wash your hands.
AFTER DINNER	***	***	***	***	***
Clear your plate.
Put on your pajamas.
Put your dirty clothes in laundry hamper.
Politely ask Mommy or Daddy to brush your teeth.
Brush your hair.
Wash your face.
Politely ask Mommy or Daddy to braid your hair for bed.

  Chores for a 4 Year Old Girl

MORNING	Mon day	Tues day	Wedn esday	Thurs day	Friday
Brush your teeth.
Brush your hair.
Wash your face.
Put dirty clothes in laundry hamper.
Do school.
Help fold laundry.
AFTERNOON	***	***	***	***	***
Dust coffee tables.
Disinfect doorknobs.
Clean your room (make your bed, put your clothes away, pick up toys, pick up garbage and throw it away).
Unload dishwasher.
BEFORE DINNER	***	***	***	***	***
Wipe off kitchen table.
Set table with plates or bowls, napkins and silverware.
AFTER DINNER	***	***	***	***	***
Clear your plate.
Put on your pajamas.
Put your dirty clothes in laundry hamper.
Politely ask Mommy or Daddy to brush your teeth.
Wash your face.
Brush your hair.

Chores for a 2 Year Old Boy

MORNING	Mon day	Tues day	Wedn esday	Thurs day	Friday
Brush your teeth.
Brush your hair.
Wash your face.
AFTER NAP	***	***	***	***	***
Make your bed.
Wipe down front of dishwasher.
Wipe down front of oven.
Wipe down front of fridge.
Wipe down bathroom cabinet.
BEFORE DINNER	***	***	***	***	***
Wash your hands.
Wash your face.
AFTER DINNER
Put your toys away.
Put on your pajamas.
Put your dirty clothes in laundry hamper.
Politely ask Mommy or Daddy to brush your teeth.
Wash your face.

Cleaning

Every Saturday my dad would take all six of us kids out for several hours. He bought us a Big Slurp of sprite to  at 7Eleven and off we went.  Sometimes we fished in the Boise River which ran just outside his shop (he was a carpenter). Other times we walked around a dimly lit warehouse to the sound of an auctioneer bidding off piles and piles of miscellany to crowds of people. When we got home, my mom would have a Barbara Streisand, Pam Mark Hall, or Carly Simon record blaring, the windows were usually open, and the whole house clean with the scent of disinfectant lingering in the fresh air. My mom was in an especially great mood on those days…and now I understand why. Thursdays, Ben’s mom takes the girls to her house.  I get to put the baby down for a nap, turn on my music (without having to worry about my daughters repeating the lyrics), open up my windows and bleach the heck out of the bathroom. I  move the furniture and clean underneath it. I organize the girls closet which always seems to need it and  I wipe down the base boards in the living room and kitchen. I clean out my refridgerator. I wash sheets. I dust! I love Thursdays. It seems funny. You wouldn’t think cleaning would be that fulfilling for a person whose whole life is revolving around taking care and cleaning up after other people (some people of which still poo their pants!). But it is. One of the gifts God gave women is the opportunity to mirror the creation.  He organized by separating earth from water. We organize through folding and putting away clothes. We put structure to the lives of our family just as God brought structure when He created a sun and a moon.  We make our dwelling spaces homes. We create beautiful and delicious foods to enjoy. He created beautiful and delicious foods for us to enjoy. We have been given the tools we need to create our own  family Eden. We can even make life and sustain it.  Isn’t it an honor to be called to this particularly joyful manifestation of God’s nature? I know it doesn’t always feel like it, but being a mom is truely a glory.

Storage Solutions

2 pieces of peg board
2 packages of misc hooks
1 magnetic knife strip
screws (don’t forget spacers!)
______________________
Whole project was under $35! (the knife strip was $15)

(Now I just need to polish my pots and pans.)

Spring Cleaning: Clothes

The cleaning bug has struck early this year for us. First job on the docket is a wardrobe purge. My basic rules for cleaning out the closets are….

• CHUCK IT if I haven’t worn it in a year.
• CHUCK IT if I don’t like the way it fits.
• CHUCK IT if it is trashed beyond repair.
• CHUCK IT if I haven’t had time to repair it in the last 90 days.
• CHUCK IT if I don’t really like it.
• CHUCK IT if I have nothing to wear it with.

Exceptions to these rules include occasion wear (aka formals, seasonal wear) and one or two really awesome pieces I just haven’t found the right thing to match with it yet but it still fits fine.

We moms have an especially difficult time navigating wardrobe management since our sizes tend to fluctuate with every new child. A good rule of thumb is to only keep the maternity pieces you really love, ditto post partum. An alternative  is to start a lending chain. If you have a lotta mom friends, start putting all your extra maternity/post partum clothes in a bin and pass it around. When one person is done taking from and adding to it, pass it on.  It hurts, but I’ve found it best to just lose the pre-pregnancy clothes if you don’t honestly think you’ll be back in them within the next 3 years. I have yet to find a motivational piece of clothing motivate me. I always just end up feeling like a looser. Pass!

RECYCLE:
When you choose what to goodwill, give away or sell, make sure you put anything un-wearable (torn, tattered, stained badly) in the garbage. It’s true sometimes one woman’s trash is another’s treasure, but sometimes your treasures might be trash. Be realistic.  Pick out the best of the best of your chucked items and preferably give it to a friend who would like it or consignment shop/ebay it. With the rest of it, use freecycle.org or craigslist and offer it to whoever wants it. You don’t have to use big descriptions. Mine are usually are something like, “Offer: Bag of 12 month old clothes.” If you don’t mind driving a bit, just run the bag down to a goodwill drop off point and be done with it.

Remember it is okay to clean out your children’s closets. It is NOT okay to clean out your husbands! There’s that one time right after you get married, when it’s kind of cute to go through his clothes and veto parts of it. That is your freebie. Don’t do it again without permission.

When you are done, take inventory. Write up a small list of essentials that need replacing.  Socks, underwear, everyday basics.  Put the list on your phone or in your purse and keep it there so when you happen to have the money, you know what you need.

I try to go through my closet every 6 months or so. Obviously, a lot of the kids clothes are in storage until the next one grows into them, so I just re-evaluate when I pack it away and then again when I get back into it.

When you are shopping, hold yourself to a  standard. Don’t buy things you feel ho-hum about. Even the most uninteresting clothing should make you feel comfortable. Btw, these babies made my top 10 essentials list! Don’t buy things that don’t fit right that you can’t fix easily. And for Pete’s sake, don’t go shopping on a skinny day! The best time to go shopping is in the evening on a “fat” day. If you look good and feel good in what you try on then, you will always look/feel good in it.

an addiction

I know that some people have shoe addictions, and others can’t pass up a new purse. My addiction is to linens. It’s very strange. There are two classifications of this addiction too…the Bed Linens Addiction (I have about 5 sets of sheets/duvet covers that I change out every couple of months just because I have to) and the Random Vintage Linens Addiction. I can’t go into an antique store without checking out the linens and hoping to find some great little pillow case, table cloth, or randomly shaped table runner. And the worst part is that I never use any of them because I’m afraid that I’ll wear them out or stain them. A couple of years ago I found this great pair of napkins.

Just too fun. I’m hoping that when we move this fall I can find a great old craftsman style house that will make a few more of my linens feel at home (vintage linens in 70’s style apartments just seem a little out of place).

makes me want to squeal!

I am in love again. Well, again and again. First, we found out yesterday that we’re having another little girl, Miss Evangeline Audrey (Eva). So first of all I’m in love with her, and the idea of two girls. I am, however, a little scared of the idea of “sisters” because I never had sisters and the whole relationship just kind of freaks me out. I have no experience with the “sister dynamic” and all sorts of scenarios are running through my head along with a bunch of preggo emotions and making me want to faint. But hey, all that is a long way off and I’m sure that God will equip me for it when it shows up. So that’s taken care of. Sisters. Check.

Second, I just checked out Anna Maria Horner’s new fabric line, and it just makes me all giddy inside! This fabric, combined with a little girl due at the beginning of summer just brings to mind all sorts of lovely cheery things to be made. I want blankets, dresses, sheets, curtains (for our new house up in Spokane, have I mentioned that yet?), and tablecloths galore out of this stuff. These prints are just plain cheerful. Now I just have to get my hands on some….

Omop

Well, we finally did it. Last month we bought the Omop I talked about in this post. And, after 3 weeks of use, I’m in love with it. We are still using the Method cleaning products. I have yet to find one that doesn’t work wonderfully. Sure, it costs a little more, but the yummy smells and being able to include Ophelia in my cleaning routine makes it all worth it. I just reordered up today. More soap, dish detergent, leather wipes, toilet cleaner and all purpose cleaner. Secretly, I’m hoping someone buys me the Method Baby Gift basket when I have Mira. I know Johnson & Johnson does the job, but now Method and I are an “item“.

Roses

We had Ben & Abra and their kidlet over for dinner last week. This was my first time entertaining since I’d repainted, and I was a little nervous that they might walk in and go all bug-eyed at the pure yellow-ness of it all. So I bought these roses to put on the table to kind of tie in the colors and make the walls look a little tamer (the roses are only a hair yellower than the walls, so it worked well).

Fortunately, even without the roses, they liked the new paint job and so now I’m not quite so nervous about our next guests going into color shock.

In other news, it’s a lovely cool dreary day here and so I’m taking advantage of the natural air conditioning and firing up my oven to make Coconut-Pineapple Loaf Cake this afternoon. If it passes muster, I’ll post some pictures to go along with the recipe.

Howard Feed-N-Wax

I think it’s time to plug my favorite furniture polish. Howard Feed-N-Wax is a simple blend of beeswax, carnauba wax, and orange oil that you just put on a cloth and rub on until your furniture can’t soak up any more. It works much better than Pledge and does a fantastic job of protecting wood. I use it every time I dust (once every two months or so – don’t come near my house with a white glove!!) to keep our wood furniture happy and protected. It smells great too – it’s hard to beat orange oil! Here in Moscow you can find it at Tri-State and the little antique store down on the corner of C St. and North Main.

weekend project

I’m one of those women who compulsively rearranges furniture. I am easily bored with the layout of a room and I will continually experiment with new layouts in search of the *perfect* one (as if one exists!). Unfortunately, the floor plan of our current apartment combined with the amount of furniture that we’ve tried to squeeze in has left me with little room to rearrange. So I must find alternative ways to update our living space, and this last weekend I went with the more labor intensive project of repainting.

The walls of our living room/dining room/kitchen have been the same cool, dull green for two years now. It was getting old, and I wanted something warmer and cheerier. I also wanted something that wouldn’t make our unattractively cheap honey maple cabinets stand out anymore than they needed to, so I went with a honey yellow color that would ‘blend’ a little more.

When I started painting, it was a little scary. From cool green to warm, vibrant yellow is quite a contrast, and it looked like I was putting up warning tape around the edges of my walls.

But, I am usually scared when I first start to brush the paint on, so I trudged along. The walls got yellower, and I got more comfortable with it.

This painting job taught me a little trick that I thought I’d pass on. I originally bought one gallon of paint that was a little lighter than I’d originally wanted (I wimped out at the last minute and went for the ‘safer’ color). I used up that gallon on the first coat and it was quite plain that I was going to need a second coat. I let the first coat dry and I decided that I did want to go with the darker color (the first one was a little too lemony and I wanted something a little darker and more substantial). So when I went to buy the second gallon, I went with the darker tint, and am much happier with it. So if you’re reticent to paint in a darker color, use a ‘safer’ hue on the first coat and darken it up on the second round if you’re up for it.

An unexpected blessing came while I was moving furniture away from the walls and that was the discovery of the little hole that our unwelcome guest had chewed through our carpet in order to gain access into our tasty apartment.

We stuffed the hole with steel wool (apparently that’s the one thing that mice can’t gnaw through with their little razor sharp fangs), and don’t expect to see the little varmint again.

I’m still getting used to the warmth of my new walls. I love the color, but I’m trying to decide if it really goes with my furniture. Either way, it’s still something new and it’s much more cozy than it was before, so I’m content with it for now. And as a heads-up to you husbands out there – these kind of large scale projects are to be expected when you work Saturday nights. 😉