Chores

I am still struggling with keeping a neat and clean house. A friend told me about Flylady so I have looked into that. There seems to be a lot to it and I haven't explored it totally. I have adopted some of her tricks like cleaning for 10 minutes. We do this about two times a day and that is to just keep the clutter under control. I like the idea of the zones and deep cleaning but I haven't gotten on board with that yet. I just can't seem to get it together. But, I like the concept. So, we clean a lot when there is nothing else to do and of course when someone is coming over :) I keep telling myself I will get serious about some kind of plan after the baby is born and at the beginning of the year when we start school again etc. So that makes me feel a little better. But in the mean time, I need some kind of plan just to get us through. Well, a couple of weeks ago I decided to give the kids chores - I mean real chores. Chores that really help me out. Shake rugs, clean the bathroom sinks, clean mirrors, empty garbage cans, vacuum etc. I tried it about a month ago and was absolutely, positively blown away by the results. They all did a FANTASTIC job. I didn't have to go back over a thing. And the best part about it is they wanted to do it. Now just like everything else I try, we got away from it over the past few weeks. So, yesterday I was telling Little Mama "You need to go outside and play or you will have to clean the bathroom." I was kind of kidding and I just wanted her to enjoy the beautiful day. Her eyes lit up and she was like "O.K., I will clean the bathroom!" So much for my motivation to play outside in the beautiful weather. So, I comprised. She played outside and when it was time to come in she could clean the bathroom. Well, then Nature Girl wanted in and so did Boop. Today we have two clean bathroom sinks and mirrors, a vacuumed floor under the table, and empty wastepaper baskets. They would have kept going but it was rest time and I needed a break from all the cleaning going on - ha, ha! What an invaluable resource kids are. At this age they LOVE to clean. My current plan is to continue to tap into my newly acquired resource . . . .