and I don't think I have a clean towel in the house. I probably have 10 or so loads of laundry to do. My dishwasher is useless. I have a whole load of dishes that needs to be washed again...by hand. Oh, and the sink is full too. The whole entire house is a disaster. Why can't I stay on top of it??? It embarrassing and really it's not from lack of trying. Most days I just give up. I checked into having someone come in and help me. I had heard she didn't charge much so I asked. Yep, that's not gonna happen. I know my older kids can help, and they do, when I scream and yell and threaten. I need to figure out a better system. So, I'm curious. How do YOU get it all done? How do YOU stay on top of it all? I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of dirt and chaos. I need someone to throw me some rope....
Monday, July 19, 2010
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5 people not afraid to say something:
Truthfully, I've only ever had two things work for me EVER. Neither of which I stayed on top of long enough to make them permanent but they did make a HUGE difference. The first is Flylady.net. CHANGED MY LIFE!! For 5 months my house was AMAZING and my kids even said that they felt like they were doing less work but getting more done. Why I couldn't keep going after 5 months?? I just let one day slide and then another and we were doomed BUT the house has stayed "better" since then due to the fact that we did adopt a few good habits during our time with Flylady. I am attempting to start again this week....
2nd thing that worked. I, too, looked into paying someone who people told me was reasonably priced, I too realized I couldn't afford that and that I had children that SHOULD do it....then I decided that if I was actually willing to pay someone but wanted my kids to do it that maybe paying them was the answer. Not my favorite answer but why not? So, I figured out how much I could have afforded to pay the lady I had wanted to come and then I let me kids know they could make some good money if they did things like actually CLEAN and when they were done cleaning, wipe down walls, doors, and take out bathroom trash, etc. I decided that it was going to be a no hassle thing on me. Either they did it on their own and got paid or they didn't get paid and had to do it as a chore. It actually worked for some time but we all kind of lost track of what we were doing and it eventually fell by the way side (though they still occasionally ask me for money for doing something...sigh). Anyway, that's all I've tried that worked. good luck!
When you are done with the rope, throw it this way. I am drowning too. Especially in laundry.
I only have 1 child, who is only 21 months so its still really fun for him to help me pick up toys and clean etc.... BUT, I know that when my house is chaotic I feel chaotic. On days where I feel completley overwhelmed like it sounds like you do today, I ask James to take Jax out for a little while while I plow through things. Then maybe the next day it won't be so overwhelming. I've checked into cleaning lady's too, but the price scares me!! Let us know what you figure out.
Don't pay your kids an allowance. Instead give them a commission for chores they do around the house. If they do their chores and maintain them during the week, they get a certain amount of money for what they do. If they put off their chores until Saturday, still make them do the chore, but they just don't get paid for it.
When you pay them at the end of the week/month, etc, Give them three envelopes. One marked "give" for tithing. One marked "save" and one more "spend." It a good way to teach them they have to work for the things they want. It teaches them at a young age that you don't just get what you want, you have to work hard for it.
I hope this helps. This follow's Dave Ramsey's plan. If you haven't heard of him, you should check his book, "The Total Money Makeover" out. It's an amazing book that can do wonders for your family, both financially and mentally. (I do realize you weren't talking about money, but I've found in my own life, if my finances are in order, other things in my life are too. It's crazy how it works, but it does. Good Luck!)
I have a hard time staying on top of house cleaning too...just come to my house and you'll see. ;) But, we do have a chore chart that works great for our kids (the older 2). The chores are different everyday, except for reading everyday and in the summer they have to weed every day also. They have to dust on Mon, clean car out on Tues, Take all garbage out on Wed, Clean bedroom on Thurs, etc. They take down their magnet whenever the chores are done. If Sat comes and they didn't do them, they have to do all of them plus more we think of. Plus they get angry mom and dad. ;) We pay them $1/day that they weed for 1 hr. They get 3 strikes (if they don't weed a day they get a strike). If they get 3 strikes they stop getting dollars for weeding and just have to do it for free. They only have one strike so far this summer. This has been working for us. Our house still needs lots of help, but at least they are doing a little. Don't get me wrong though, there are still days that I feel like I'm nagging and yelling to get things done. But overall, the chart thing has been working pretty well. Plus, Udine checks it when he gets home from work and gets on their case if they didn't do something. Which helps a ton because lets be honest, my kids could care less about what I say half the time. Anyway, don't know if that helps, but good luck!! I hope it gets better!!
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