A couple of nights ago, we ran into someone we don't know that well. He had been to our home once a couple of years ago. He said this, "You're home looked like a really cool place to grow up, a place I would have liked to live as a kid." Golly. This was such a sweet comment at an unexpected moment. This guy will probably never know how much that encouraged me.
I have a love hate relationship with this house. It's big, but small in some places that count. It has "character" which sometimes means imperfections at every turn. It can be dark because our neighbors' houses are ten feet or less away from our own.
Oh yeah, and seven people live here. We own stuff. We use dishes. We wear clothes. We track dirt in. Some of us pee on the floor occasionally. Most of us pee in the toilet. Stephen said when we got married that he wanted our house to look lived in. So, in order to appease him, I don't clean as often as I feel up to cleaning.
That last sentence is not true.
Our last MOPS meeting was all about making a vision or purpose statement for ourselves.
I'm working on a couple for the different roles I have. As a homemaker, I had come up with this. I won't our home to "function". That to me means the laundry gets done once a week, the dishes get done everyday, dinner gets prepared each evening, homework gets completed on time, the kids get a bath twice a week, and the bills get payed on time.
On occasion, when we have a party, my goal is a squeaky clean home, but otherwise, my goal is a lived in, functioning home.
I like it when I find a new, better way of keeping my house functioning. I just recently came up with this laundry plan. I took that idea of washing, drying, folding, and putting away one load of laundry each day and took it further. Sundays I do school uniforms. Monday kids darks. Tuesday kids lights. Etc. Etc. I wanted to make sure I didn't leave laundry in the washer overnight. That's a bad habit. I wanted to make sure I wasn't just making a load out of random stuff that found it's way into the laundry room. I wanted to make sure that my kids didn't say, "Mom, I have nothing to wear to school." So I wouldn't have to respond, "That shirt you wore yesterday wasn't that dirty, right? Just wear that again."
It's working. Woot.
So I'm trying this other idea, too. When the kids are told to pick up their rooms, I'm not going to ask a bunch of times. I'm just going to ask once and whatever they don't pick up, I'm going to confiscate. They can items back by doing an additional chore. I'm hoping this will prevent me from fighting with them, and provide a simple, direct consequence. I'm also hoping it will help me simplify their rooms and all of us discover which toys are really important to them. Oh, and maybe I'll get some extra chores done out of the deal. However, I do have to pick up what they don't, but hopefully, after awhile, they'll learn to pick up what's important to them. We'll see how it goes.
I have a love hate relationship with this house. It's big, but small in some places that count. It has "character" which sometimes means imperfections at every turn. It can be dark because our neighbors' houses are ten feet or less away from our own.
Oh yeah, and seven people live here. We own stuff. We use dishes. We wear clothes. We track dirt in. Some of us pee on the floor occasionally. Most of us pee in the toilet. Stephen said when we got married that he wanted our house to look lived in. So, in order to appease him, I don't clean as often as I feel up to cleaning.
That last sentence is not true.
Our last MOPS meeting was all about making a vision or purpose statement for ourselves.
I'm working on a couple for the different roles I have. As a homemaker, I had come up with this. I won't our home to "function". That to me means the laundry gets done once a week, the dishes get done everyday, dinner gets prepared each evening, homework gets completed on time, the kids get a bath twice a week, and the bills get payed on time.
On occasion, when we have a party, my goal is a squeaky clean home, but otherwise, my goal is a lived in, functioning home.
I like it when I find a new, better way of keeping my house functioning. I just recently came up with this laundry plan. I took that idea of washing, drying, folding, and putting away one load of laundry each day and took it further. Sundays I do school uniforms. Monday kids darks. Tuesday kids lights. Etc. Etc. I wanted to make sure I didn't leave laundry in the washer overnight. That's a bad habit. I wanted to make sure I wasn't just making a load out of random stuff that found it's way into the laundry room. I wanted to make sure that my kids didn't say, "Mom, I have nothing to wear to school." So I wouldn't have to respond, "That shirt you wore yesterday wasn't that dirty, right? Just wear that again."
It's working. Woot.
So I'm trying this other idea, too. When the kids are told to pick up their rooms, I'm not going to ask a bunch of times. I'm just going to ask once and whatever they don't pick up, I'm going to confiscate. They can items back by doing an additional chore. I'm hoping this will prevent me from fighting with them, and provide a simple, direct consequence. I'm also hoping it will help me simplify their rooms and all of us discover which toys are really important to them. Oh, and maybe I'll get some extra chores done out of the deal. However, I do have to pick up what they don't, but hopefully, after awhile, they'll learn to pick up what's important to them. We'll see how it goes.
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