jobby jobs

Sawyer has a habit for making a "cute" nickname for almost everything. When asked if he did his morning jobs, his reply is always, Yes, my jobby jobs are done.
Flip flops are flippity floppities, when he wants a snack he asks for goldfishy fishies and juicy juice, dessert is icy creamy, his sister is Savannie Banannie... you get the idea.

So Jobby Jobs it is.

It's not, technically, Works For Me Wednesday, but the topic of Chores and family responsibilities have coincidentally come up in a few of my conversations lately and I wanted to record what has (and hasn't) worked for us this year. It occurs to me this is something I should have jotted down at the beginning of the summer, but I didn't, so oh well. Now I know how well it works, so even better to share now, right?! :)

You guys- I feel like after almost 10 years of being a wife --and more than 8 years of being a stay-at-home-mom-- that I'm finally, finally, really getting the hang of and doing a decent job with the housekeeping thing. Finally. (I'm a slow learner I guess.)

So mid-school year last year, we started more specifically doling out and teaching more household responsibilities. I wrote about that plan here; basically boiling down to the kids having simple morning responsibilities and after dinner responsibilities as well as a few "extra chores" asked of them each week.
Theoretically that works really, really well for us. I am so not a clean-up-right-after-dinner type of person... I'm much more of a hang-out-together-and-relax,-I'll-get-around-to-the-dishes-in-the-morning type of person. But by breaking up after dinner clean-up into different steps and by all four of us doing it, dinner and dishes are cleaned up and put away in a clean kitchen in about 5 minutes. Seriously. (I say that works "theoretically" because we've let that slide big time this summer -with so many guests here and there and the radomness of summertime- but I'm excited to get back into it this week getting into more of a regular routine) The kids actually love it!

For the summer we basically ignored our "extra" jobs list that we had for school year weekends. Instead, since the kids had more free time to help with this stuff, I broke down the main housekeeping jobs into categories and assigned each job a day of the week:

• Vacuuming and dusting is done to start off our week on Monday,
• Tuesday, we get the all the sheets and towels washed real quick,
• Wednesdays are our regular laundry days,
• bathrooms get cleaned on Thursday,
• and we do another round of vacuuming and dusting on Friday, getting ready for the weekend.

I even wrote it on the weekly calendar in our laundry room on the back of the garage door

This way of doing "chores" is more of a group effort for us... the kids switch off vacuuming or dusting the upstairs and downstairs each week, they fold towels and help make beds, sort laundry, put away their own clothes, and while I still mostly do the big bathroom cleaning (ie., toilets and tubs), they've gotten good about wiping down the counters and mirrors and taking out the garbage.
And the great thing is, when it's a group effort like that, it goes so fast! Which is a win-win for me... the kids are learning learning these life skills, contributing to our family and household, and eventually lightening my work load! For someone like me, who has never been a great housekeeper and dreads the thought of actual cleaning, it is really fun to watch that suddenly change for all of us... that doing these things regularly and together? Actually does make it so. much. easier. We never (except for laundry obv.**) spend more than about 15 minutes of our morning on our "chore of the day" total. And then it's done for the week! :)

So those "chore of the day" chores, combined with the fact that the kitchen is supposedly being kept up with by at least every evening with the afterdinner jobs, and then adding in the practice of starting the day with a standing rule for the summer (complete with a reminder sign that was flipped over the tv to greet them in the morning) that we didn't watch tv/play video games/play outside or do our "fun" for the day unless

a) beds are made and bedrooms are tidy,
b) kids' bathroom is neat with towels hanging and counter/sink wiped down if needed,
c) the living room is free of toys and mess (they use this room as an extension of their playroom)
and
d) the family room is straightened up









...and basically our house stays clean.
I know, novel idea, huh?
Let me tell you, for me it is!

If this summer has taught me nothing else, it's that my kids want to help. And they're actually (gasp!) good at it! They -dare I say- thrive in the responsibility and they want the pride in a job well done. As soon as I take the time to show them how to do it correctly and efficiently, they (for the most part) are perfectly willing to do these things. Because they're seeing that, in fact, if we do work together as a family, as a team, these annoying jobs that have to get done aren't really so bad and it gets done fast. And if that realization sticks with them? They'll have a much easier time in this life.
And they won't be as much of a slob as their mother. :)

I'm not sure how we're going to transition back into the school year for certain as far as household responsibilities go... we'll have to see what works best. We'll most likely just go back to our last year's school year plan with just the Saturday extra jobs for the kids. I think I'll still stick with my weekly assignment plan myself though... just breaking it down and knowing a job is getting done each day and then I don't have to think about it again for a week, works for me!

**I've seen/heard the "laundry day" vs. a little every day debate several times and mentioned it here when I very first discovered for myself the "freedom" that is having one day a week set aside for laundry. I've said it before and I'll say it again... I LOVE having just a specific laundry day. I love not having to think about laundry all week long. (doing sheets/towels on another day doesn't really really feel like laundry as it's just a few loads and so easy to put away) On laundry day, I just throw in the first load in the morning, switch them over and throw the clean clothes on my bed. I usually have between 3-5 loads to do and it's not like I have to be home all day to do it... I can pop them in and out of the machines when I'm around -and it's quick and painless because I don't fold the loads as they come out. They just get tossed in the pile. Ideally, if we have been mostly home all day, the washing and drying is all done by lunch and that afternoon I fold all the laundry on my bed while spending time in my weekly indulgence... my hour-long Wednesday date with Days of our Lives. If not, I try to fold it all before bed. So other than putting in and out of machine time, I just fold it all at once and spend probably about 30 minutes on laundry while I watch tv.
I must admit, this routine has probably taken the worst turn of all the household stuff this summer... between houseguests and trips, laundry has been thrown way off and often only gets done when it needs to. But I so hate that and I'm actually looking forward to Wednesday this week and getting back into the habit!

our jobs

I haven't coordinated any effort around here to match up with a Works for me Wednesday in a long time, so I thought I'd get my act together today and show you want we're doing with chores in our house.
We call them jobs around here. And this last week we finally got an actual, dependable, regular system in place. What?... it's only taken me 7 years of parenting to make a tangible system... is that so bad??

My kids have been "helpers" for as long as they can remember. They have always been expected to help with household things... they set the table or put away groceries or help with laundry or clean up toys all along the way and are really pretty good about helping out.
When I think to ask them to or remember to remind them to.

Lately, mostly since moving this summer, I've tried to give them more responsibility and regular jobs to be done on a regular basis on their own; cleaning up their bathroom, folding laundry, putting away laundry, keeping their rooms clean and other random this-is-something-you-can-handle-on-a-regular-basis jobs.
Which haven't always worked out so well on that regular basis.
Turns out my kids -or maybe it's just me?- just can't do it without specific times and days and details of how and when and where to do the job each time.

So instead of just a laid back go with the flow team effort I was hoping to create around here, I decided I finally had to get organized and get a plan in place for these guys. Or maybe for me. Either way, it needed to be spelled out, on paper, visual. In other words, it was time to choose from the myriad of chore chart, job jar, responsibility board ideas out there.

So here's what I came up with.
(please excuse the dim pictures today)

First I broke down what I wanted to be the kids' responsibilities into three areas:
Morning Jobs (things like making beds and brushing teeth and getting ready for the day), After Dinner Jobs (things like clearing the table, cleaning up toys, dishes, etc) and
Extra Jobs (things I think of more like "chores"... vacuuming, dusting, bathrooms, etc.),

Morning Jobs I posted in their bedrooms for now, most of which are already part of their routine but wanted it to be posted for a reminder nonetheless. These are more of their personal responsibility jobs.















I also wrote up and posted what specifically constitutes keeping their bedrooms cleaned up, just for reference. Their bedrooms, for the most part, are left up to them and only when it gets really bad (SJ, lately, often) do I "make" them "clean their room". Her idea of a clean room and my idea of a clean room haven't been lining up very well, so I'm hoping breaking it down into baby steps will make it easier on all of us.















(I debated putting pictures on the lists since Sawyer can't technically read, but I think he's close enough to being able to read at least the main words that I decided against it... It'll be good practice for him to learn a few specific words and be familiar enough with these lists to figure it out.)

For After Dinner Jobs, I divied them up into two lists and the kids will take turns with each list each week or each night, depending on how we switch it up. We'll definitely go by weeks at first so the kids can get some good "instruction" and practice in on these jobs, doing them right and well.
One set of jobs we refer to as "yellow jobs" and one set are "green jobs". Our Yellow jobs are clearing the table, wiping the table and chairs and then doing a quick pick up of any toys and other out of place things in the kitchen and family room. The Green jobs are helping to put away leftovers, wiping down counters and sweeping the kitchen floor.

Extra Jobs are for now, and probably at least during the school year, going to be Saturday jobs, to be done Saturday mornings; vacuuming, dusting, matching socks, washing windows, bathroom counters, etc.

So here's how our "on paper, spelled out, visuals" plays out for these community/family jobs...

I had bought, a long time ago, these three giant clothespins I came across on clearance at Homegoods. I didn't know what exactly I was going to do with them at the time, but I thought they were cute (oversized anything is cute, right?) and knew I could find something that would make them worth their $2 price tag. Well, turns out they fit right in with my plan here.
















First I painted them
(this is probably why they were on the clearance shelf; one was black with the words "world's best cook" scrawled on both sides, and the other two were two-toned pink and orange.) I made one a turquoisey blue and one solid orange to coordinate with the bright colors in my kitchen and then I turned the black one plain black.










Then I pulled out matching ribbon and I covered some small clothespins (not the hanging clothes size, but craft size) in the ribbon with hot glue, adding a star shaped brad to one side of each clip.















I printed out our jobs, backing them with cuter paper, and used the giant clothespins to display our jobs on the wall in a corner of our kitchen by the laundry room door.


(I ♥ these velcro picture hanging strips... I use them for everything!)
















Our Extra Jobs hang from the big black clothespin and the cards with the After Dinner Jobs will move back and forth from the blue to orange clothespins designating which jobs are whose responsibility.




















The orange clips -both big and small- point out Savannah's jobs and the blue clips are for Sawyer's jobs.




















The little clothespins are clipped to the Extra Jobs list, putting each kids' color next to a job slated for them. I clip them on plain colored side out and the kids turn them over to show the star when the job is completed.
































So far so good. Savannah got her room clean without too much intervention this weekend, and so far the kids have happily been getting their new assignments done. I know it's still new and novel, but I hope having it spelled out like this helps keep us on the ball for the long run.
Do you have a system in place to be sure the kids know and accomplish their responsibilities?? What works for you?












See what's working for others -lots of Valentine's ideas!- this week at Kristen's. :)

organizing

{quick aside}
I spent all of last night organizing photo files dumped willy nilly on my computer over the last year. I spent three hours (!!) sorting pics into folders... and I'm not even done yet. And that's simply sorting... I didn't do any editing or even deleting. I've just been dumping memory cards wherever whenever they're full... ever since the craziness of last summer. And now I'm having to find photos hiding in every nook and cranny of my two computers. Ugh.

I realized, wading through all those pictures, how much the past 12 months have really been full of lots of insanity. Lots of vacations and visitors and new ventures and projects and trips and decisions and stress, all piled up on top of each other. And glancing through the pictures last night I realized exactly how much I didn't get here on my blog. Like I maybe touched on barely any of it. And it makes me really sad, because lots of that was really good stuff. And even if it wasn't, it's our life.
I already miss those memories, and I'm lamenting the fact that it's not recorded.

So with my renewed commitment to keep on top of organizing, backing up and actually using all of our pictures from here on out, I'm feeling a renewed urgency to be keeping on top of organizing, backing up and actually retelling our stories around here from here on out. Blogging. Blogging regularly. About the big things and the seemingly inconsequential other things that make up our life. I hate all the gaps in our story over the past year and I might even do my best to fill those in along the way. At the very least, I'm seriously jumping back on the wagon. For real this time.

{back to the point of the post!}
Anyway, all that to say, it's been a looong time since I've done any WFMW posts, even though I've had a ton -and I mean A TON- of them rolling around in my head.
Since I posted pictures last week of our previous bathroom facelift, I thought it'd be a good time to add a couple of projects I also did way back then that work wonderfully for me in there!

I was stuck for a long while on what to do with my [probably too]rapidly growing jewelry collection. You see, I'm kind of boring when it comes to fashion... I like easy, predictable, solid colors, layers and I don't much go outside the box. But the way I do try to at least seem a little bit with it is to throw a great necklace or an eye-catching pair of earrings in the mix. That way I can get more than one look out of the same t-shirt and jeans. :)
Problem is was, I didn't know what to do with all those big necklaces and where to put all my earrings so I could see what I had. I don't really have any place to put a great jewelry box or anything like that. So I got creative...

For my necklaces, I picked up two of these key hook thingies (similar to this one but in silver) at Target for about $6-7 each:















I simply hung them up behind my bathroom door and wha-la... they're the perfect place to hang all my necklaces so I can see exactly what suits my fancy for the day.















And for earrings, I revamped a shadow box and turned it into a great display for all my "earbobs". (i just love that word!)














I bought a black shadow box at Hobby Lobby (at 50% off) as well a package of plastic canvas for crossstitch/needlework for about $1.50. I also grabbed a few kebob skewers I had, black craft paint and my glue gun and I was ready to go!





















First I painted the skewers black to match my shadowbox.




I took apart the shadowbox and set aside the glass and the backing as I only needed the frame.






Next I cut one of the pieces of plastic canvas to replace the glass, fitting inside the front frame of the shadowbox. Hotglued that in.







Then I cut the skewers to the width of backside of the shadowbox frame and hotglued them in place. These are to hold hooped earrings or pairs that wouldn't work on the canvas.

Here's the backside with the skewers on the back ledge and the canvas glued in the front frame.









Let the glue dry well and ta-da... a place to hang any and all earrings that looks nice and tidy and actually a little fancy in the bathroom!














Put studs and wires right in the teeny holes in the plastic canvas and hang bigger wires or hoops on the dowels in the back layer.















You could prop this slightly open (like a book) standing on a vanity or dresser and be able to see all the earrings and use it as decor.

Or you can do as I did and hang it on the wall... simply open the front door to find your second layer of jewelry!

I love it and it was so easy and cheap to do!
















See what great ideas work for others or share your own at We are That Family, the fabulous faithful host of Works for Me Wednesdays. :)

speaking of produce...

(*sorry that video in the post below automatically starts playing if you're on my home page... I may remove that so it's not so annoying...)

We got our two week ration yesterday and just for fun I decided to once and for all figure out exactly how much (if any) money I was saving on produce with this arrangement.
So I jotted down everything that was in our basket this week:

• 5 red delicious apples
• 8 plums
• 8 nectarines
• 1 bag green grapes (about 2.5lbs)
• 1 pint blueberries
• 1 lb strawberries
• 1 small cantaloupe
• 1 bunch bananas (about 2.5lbs)
• 4 big carrots
• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 1 bag prepared coleslaw
• 14 red potatoes
• 5 ears of corn
• 1 zucchini
• 1 eggplant
• 1 brown bag full of snap peas
• 1 brown bag full (heaping) of green beans

Then I went to the grocery store and walked through the produce section, writing down prices and weighing fruits and veggies to get a comparison.
Here are the prices at our closest grocery store:

• red delicious apples $1.49/lb
• plums 4/$2.50
• nectarines $1.99/lb
• green grapes $1.99/lb
• pint blueberries 4/$10
• 1 lb strawberries $2.99
• cantaloupe $2 each
• bananas .65/lb
• carrots $2.99/bag
• romaine lettuce $1.99/lb
• bagged prepared coleslaw $1.89
• 5# red potatoes $2.99
• corn 2/$1
• zucchini .99/lb
• eggplant .99/lb
• snap peas 2.99/bag
• green beans $1.49/lb

...which, according to my weights and measures and tallies, for the amount of produce we have in our kitchen right now would total approximately $53.50

And we paid just $22 for ours, which in our experience has been fresher and tastier than what we used to bring home from the grocery store and which includes taxes and delivery.

Now granted, I wouldn't normally have eggplant or coleslaw in my cart or pay $2.50 a pound for plums and nectarines... but still.
The price difference here??
Crazy.

That makes me not feel so bad about letting a zucchini go to waste here and there...


Anyone interested in joining or starting up a co-op??? :)

goodbye dixie

I have a few Works For Me Wednesday posts brewing, but in the meantime here's an easy one that just dawned on me that I could share...

Growing up, we never used dixie cups in the bathroom. Or any rinsing cup for that matter. We brushed our teeth, loaded up the toothbrush with extra water to "rinse" the mouth, and that was that. I remember visiting friends houses and being envious of those cute little "fancy" (to me) dixie cups. In the fancy dispenser, no less!! I remember thinking, to some extent, they must be rich to afford to buy all those cups they just throw away all the time!! HA!

Anyway, all that to say, I don't quite recall how, but somewhere along the line, my kids got hooked on dixie cups in their bathroom. I think our first batch may have even been a gift? (leftovers from a gramma or something??) The kids really liked that toothbrush finishing rinse, plus it took care of the last I'm thirsty! Can I have a (inch of water) drink?? before bed. So I started collecting coupons or stocking up on dixie cups when I saw them on sale.

But it really bugged me literally throwing away that money all the time. Not to mention the waste. Don't we make enough garbage?? I made them reuse cups for a few days at a time, but still, it didn't sit well with me.

Also, I didn't want to get a permanent "bathroom cup" to use because it kind of yucks me out. I was sure I'd forget to wash it often enough, and I knew that when I did remember, I would always forget to put it back in the bathroom. Just sounded like a hassle.
Much easier to throw away disposable cups :)

The guilt finally did get to me though, and I decided to go out in search of a real cup for each of the kids to have in the bathroom. And then I found an even better solution...








I found this whole stack of 6 cups at Target for $2. (and look! they match the kids' bathroom!!)







Now we keep this stack of cups in the drawer rather than the disposables. The kids use one for a couple of days and then it comes down to be washed. And I don't have to worry about getting it cleaned and put away back up there right away, because they already have a stack of clean ones waiting to be used! No hassle, always available, easy to clean, and green (and green) to boot!For more Works for Me tips, check it out at it's new home at We are THAT Family.

the miracle of baby wipes

Hey Y'all! (no, I'm not from the south, and honestly I rarely in real life say y'all... for some reason I tend to write it though... I guess it's my fantasy southern belle trying to get out!)
This is my very first Works for Me Wednesday post ever! I do randomly think of things now and then, but they seldom make it to the keyboard. This one I've been knowing I had to write about for awhile though... the miracle of Baby Wipes.

Now, I don't know if this is true for all baby wipes as for the last four years or so we've been loyal to Costco's Kirkland brand baby wipes (with some Target brand thrown in there when we didn't have access to Costco while living in MI). We did use a lot of the Pampers brand when Savannah was a baby due to her sensitive skin (it was before we tried Costco), and I know they were great couch/carpet cleaners as well. Oops, I'm getting ahead of myself-- let me back up.

My Works for Me Wednesday tip is that I use baby wipes for everything! They are my go-to miracle cure for an endless list of dilemmas.
Here are just a few examples of the way they work for me:
Couch/Carpet cleaner
We have an amazingly comfortable big chocolate brown sectional sofa that we are in love with. In fact, anyone who's ever sat on it is in love with it. We've had it our whole marriage. And even through two kids (one who was a monster spitter-upper) it looks as good as new. It's made of that micro-fiber suede-ish material and being chocolate brown in color, you bet it shows every swipe of snot and of course the lovely baby spit up quite well. Well everytime we had a loss of baby belly contents or some excess snot escaping from a toddler nose, I just grab the baby wipes. It takes it all right out. Same for our carpet as well.
Shoe cleaner
My husband let my two year old "help" him mow the lawn this summer... with his brand spankin' new Converse Chuck's on his feet. He came in and every speck of formerly white rubber on his shoes was now a nice bright grass green. Grass stains... I was not happy. Well, I sat down on the deck with the shoes and a pack of baby wipes and it only took about three wipes per shoe and a little elbow grease and the shoes were as good as new. I also did this recently with some tennishoes of Savannah's that she had to wear on our camping trip (tons of dirt, dirt and more dirt)... they were brand new and as much as it made me cringe, she had to wear them as her old ones were too small. Now she was able to wear them to school and they look good as new.
Make-up/Tanner remover
I keep a pack of baby wipes in my bathroom, not only for emergency diaper changes or random "Mommmmy... wipe me!!!"'s, but I often use sunless tanner on my skin and I've found the very best remedy for any streaks or dark spots is to run a baby wipe over it. Seriously, it erases any mistakes and evens it out wonderfully! Also I've used them often while traveling for make-up, especially eye-make up remover.

Now hearing all of the ways these wipes have worked for me, you might wonder what the heck is in these wipes and if they are such good "cleaners"; it cannot be good on a baby's behind, right? Well I glanced at the ingredients and they actually sound pretty "green"... water, glycerin, lanolin, aloe leaf, and a bunch of other things that don't sound too incredibly chemically. Both of my kids had/have extremely sensitive skin where I need to use dye and frangrance free detergents, and these wipes have been perfectly fine on them.

Costco sells their Kirkland brand wipes in boxes of 8 packs and even though my youngest is currently all but nighttime pottytrained, I am confident we will still be buying these wipes for years to come. I keep a pack tucked away in almost every room, just for emergencies!
Next time you have a seemingly stubborn stain or spot on you or anything you own... give baby wipes a try!

And for a plethora of Works For Me tips, check out Rocks In My Dryer!