Chores, Chores for Everyone!

Recently a friend told me that on her children’s 10th birthday, she wrapped a bottle of Tide and gave it to them. The message: Time to wash your own laundry.

I don’t remember when I started doing laundry or how MY mother taught me to do things like dishes, laundry, cleaning, etc. I just know I could take care of most household tasks solo. By 18 my sister and I were self-sufficient enough to take care of the house and farm by ourselves while my parents lived at the hospital in a nearby town when my baby brother was treated for spinal meningitis for 21 days.

Now, we don’t live on a farm, so I don’t need as much help as my mother did. But I do believe in children pitching in because the work of maintaining a family should simply not fall to one person. And while I’m getting a handle on my family’s new situation (my new job, hubby’s long days, and extra childcare) our strained finances require me to do more cooking, with virtually no eating out. That takes time – which I have less of.

I say all that to say this – my children need to step up to the plate and assist in the tasks that are required to keep family life running smoothly. Currently, they put away their own laundry, empty the dishwasher, and pick up their rooms. So they don’t do chores on a daily basis.

That has to change, because I can’t do it alone.

Only 2 months from 11, Drama Queen is about to start doing her own laundry. I think she and her brother could also fold the towels for their own bathroom too. Maybe empty the trash? Wipe down the table after dinner every night (they already do this at school). Dust sometimes?

It’s amazing how having one small thing done by someone else can lighten a mother’s load.

So tell me, what tasks did your kids do at what age? When do you think it is appropriate for them to learn new chores? How much do you ask them to help around the house?

Angel

Every Little Bit Helps

I was reading someone's Facebook posts recently about how they're doing with this 100 word a day challenge. I guess the idea is to sit down and write at least a hundred words a day for a set period of time I'm not sure of. At first, it confused me. 100 words? That's two paragraphs. When I'm doing NaNo, my daily goal is 2000 words. I couldn't really fathom how 100 words a day would get you anywhere.

Until I applied it to housekeeping. I am not the world's greatest housekeeper. That, in fact, is my mother, so I will never wear that crown and I'm fully aware of it. Before my mother went to some intense therapy to determine why she was so obsessed with controlling her environment, she used to mop the ceilings. True stuff, but I digress... I don't like to clean. There are eighty other things I can do with my time. Unfortunately, I live with a packrat and four fur-babies that shed like crazy. When I lived alone, my cleaning habits were adequate because I just sort of cleaned up after myself as I went along.

It is no longer enough. I tried having a cleaning service come in, but I found I was cleaning up all the clutter (the real issue) before the cleaning lady came. Once all the clutter is gone, the cleaning is no big deal and certainly not worth what I was paying. I'm also kinda cheap, if I haven't mentioned that before. For that amount of money, I could pay my mother to come over and get my ceilings mopped as a bonus.

So (and this is where it loops back to the point) I've started my own cleaning version of 100 words a day. Instead of tearing the house down all at once, I'm going to clean one thing every day. I keep up with the kitchen out of necessity, but aside from that - one thing. Last night I cleaned all three toilets. The night before I swiffered up all the hard woods and linoleum. Tonight, I think I'll vacuum upstairs. Nothing earth shattering here, but its something. And a couple times, once I get started, I do a little more than I planned - maybe cleaning the sink or washing towels while I'm scrubbing toilets. A little something every night and maybe I won't feel like the authorities are going to declare my house a SuperFund site.

Now the 100 words a day makes more sense. There's progress being made and sometimes sitting down to write, even just a little, is the hardest part. It helps build the writing habit, and if you're lucky, maybe you end up writing not just 100 words, but 200 or 500 or even 2000 if you get on a roll.

Have you ever done a writing challenge like this or broken up your cleaning to get more done? Have you been able to stick with it for long?
SP

Nesting

A weird phenomenon has overtaken me this week. I’m nesting. You remember, those obsessive moments at the end of pregnancy where you felt you HAD to get everything in your house just so? Well, except for the pregnancy thing (I’m NOT), that’s exactly how I feel.

It all started with my mother-in-law telling me she needed her desk, which she left here when she moved a few years ago. At the time she didn’t need it in her new place. But now she does, along with the shelves we commandeered in the living room. So we’ve bought a new desk we are waiting to be delivered and picked out new shelves, which I’m getting one at a time. Not because I want to, but because Target seems unable to get them in any quicker.

So far I’ve bought 1 shelf, set it up, and started rearranging furniture and clutter to make space for it. I’ve also stripped everything but the essentials from the desk, so it will be ready when the new one comes in and the hubby puts it together.

Unfortunately, the need to declutter and clear out has spread from these two areas to anything that loosely resembles a “pile”. You see, we are “pilers” around here. One minute, I’ve got a good expanse of lovely clean carpet. The next minute, someone has heaped up a pile of stuff they don’t want to be bothered to put away. Now, I can’t point fingers, because we are equal-opportunity pilers. I do it just as much as everyone else. Actually, I might do it more, because after I’ve cleaned up after everyone else, I’m too tired to get around to my own junk. So I pile it up until I get the urge to “nest”. I’ve learned to go with the feeling when it appears (which is never at the traditional times, like spring), even if it might be 10 o’clock at night. You see, I never know when it might come again, so I jump in with both feet while it lasts. As for everyday cleaning, as long as we aren’t growing mold, we’re good.

And as of last night, in about 4 hours between 8 and midnight, I decluttered my hubby’s side of the bedroom, several living room piles (including the bookshelf area) and the pile on the chair in my office. We aren't pile-free by a long shot, but this week I've made a nice dent in the clutter. I’m hoping this feeling lasts for a while, since our local RWA chapter’s Christmas part is at my house this year and I have a lot of work to do before my house can go on display. Yikes!

How about y’all? Is your house magazine-ready or comfortably lived in? Do you clean on a schedule or when the urge hits you?


Angel

Clutter, clutter everywhere

NOTE FROM PM: New Zebra Historical author Pearl Wolf was supposed to guest blog for us today. As of midnight I had not received her blog, so I've offered some spring cleaning tips. We'll re-schedule Pearl for a later date.

It’s invading suburbia -- an insidious ogre, creeping silently and often accompanied by the words “But that might come in handy one day.”

Its name is clutter and it may be caused by bad habits, a packrat attitude or chronic bargain shopping. Whatever the cause, clutter leads to lost time while you search for your keys or the bill that’s due tomorrow.

Most of us would de-clutter this minute if we only knew where to start. First, begin with yourself and set a good example. Next, schedule regular de-clutter sessions. Spend ten minutes a day cleaning up, or decide to remove a certain number of items each day. Don’t stop until they’re in a garbage bag and tossed.

Major clutter may call for a marathon session. Schedule this on your calendar since having adequate time increases the odds of success.

One method involves three boxes and a trash bag. In the clean-up area pick up each item and decide which place it goes.

Box #1 is the “put away” box. These items can be saved; they just need to be put in the proper place.

Box #2 is the “give away or sell” box. Store these items in the garage or trunk of your car til you take them to the thrift store or hold a garage sale to avoid incorporating them back into the household. Or list it on Freecycle and let it clutter someone else's house. At least it won't end up in the landfill.

Box #3 is for “storage.” Designate a place for this after marking the contents on the outside.

The trash bag is self-explanatory.

Move from room to room until you’ve de-cluttered the whole house. Don’t forget the attic, home of hidden clutter. I remember the summer we cleaned the attic in our old house and discovered boxes for long-gone electronic equipment along with an orphaned ski pole.

After spending most of a Saturday hauling stuff to the curb, it was easy to keep that attic free of clutter; when I was tempted to stash something up there, I remembered how hot that attic became during an Alabama August.

Getting rid of clutter doesn’t mean it won’t reappear. Sadly, it’s like a bad penny that keeps returning.

One solution uses that old adage “a place for everything and everything in its place.” As long as stuff has a “home” it won’t clutter the house.

Another solution is to establish routines. For example, always put your purse away when you return to the house. Put the newspaper in the recycling bin as soon as you finish reading it. Sort mail when you bring it inside. Toss the junk and file the rest in its “home.”

Adopt a “one in and one out” attitude. When you buy a new pair of shoes, get rid of a pair. Want that colorful vase on sale at the mall? What will you discard if you buy it? This method not only tackles clutter but can save dollars as well.

With some scheduling, the right tools and a few rules, you can drive the clutter monster from your home and keep him away.

Okay... I wrote this a few years ago for a newsletter. It all sounds good, but somehow the monster has taken up residence in my office. That laundry basket on the futon contains things that go to our place at the campground, and weather permitting, we're going there this weekend. The plastic bag is full of books for the visitor bags for my RWA chapter. Beside them are tote bags that Maven LJ kindly donated for the visitor bags too. In the forefront is a pile of shirts and slacks that need to be ironed. Usually I take the ironing into the great room and do it while I watch a movie. That makes the chore less boring. But in the meantime, those clothes and the ironing board are cluttering my space. And I really need to find a better place to store my duffel bag than under the futon -- or at least shove it further back.

FACT: Getting rid of clutter eliminates 40% of housework in the average home.

I don't know about you but I could use a 40% reduction in housework. Have you done your spring cleaning yet? Got any good tips to share?

One lucky commenter will be selected to win a book and help declutter the bookshelf in my office. :-)

National Cleaning Week -- No kidding!

Angel blogged on Monday about clutter, though her's is good-for-a-cause clutter. And when I went looking for a blog topic for today I discovered that March 23-29 is National Cleaning Week. Honest. I have no clue what idiot came up with this but he was obviously scraping the bottom of the barrel for some activity to celebrate. And I say "he" with assuredness because no woman would declare a week for cleaning. Evah.

Because I'm scrapped for time (finished the first round of edits yesterday and have to enter them into the Word document as well as write one more scene for the end), I'm going to re-cycle an article I wrote for a newsletter a few years ago and hope it helps you in your spring cleaning.



It’s invading suburbia -- an insidious ogre, creeping silently and often accompanied by the words “But that might come in handy one day.”

Its name is clutter and it may be caused by bad habits, a packrat attitude or chronic bargain shopping. Whatever the cause, clutter leads to lost time while you search for your keys or the bill that’s due tomorrow.

Most of us would de-clutter this minute if we only knew where to start. First, begin with yourself and set a good example. Next, schedule regular de-clutter sessions. Spend ten minutes a day cleaning up, or decide to remove a certain number of items each day. Don’t stop until they’re in a garbage bag and tossed.

Major clutter may call for a marathon session. Schedule this on your calendar since having adequate time increases the odds of success.

One method involves three boxes and a trash bag. In the clean-up area pick up each item and decide which place it goes.

Box #1 is the “put away” box. These items can be saved; they just need to be put in the proper place.

Box #2 is the “give away or sell” box. Store these items in the garage or trunk of your car til you take them to the thrift store or hold a garage sale to avoid incorporating them back into the household.

Box #3 is for “storage.” Designate a place for this after marking the contents on the outside.

The trash bag is self-explanatory.

Move from room to room until you’ve de-cluttered the whole house. Don’t forget the attic, home of hidden clutter. Several years ago we cleaned ours and discovered boxes for long gone electronic equipment along with an orphaned ski pole.

After spending most of a Saturday hauling stuff to the curb, it was easy to keep the attic free of clutter; when I was tempted to stash something up there, I remembered how hot that attic gets during an Alabama August.

Getting rid of clutter doesn’t mean it won’t reappear. Sadly, it’s like a bad penny that keeps returning.

One solution uses that old adage “a place for everything and everything in its place.” As long as stuff has a “home” it won’t clutter the house.

Another solution is to establish routines. For example, always put your purse away when you return to the house. Put the newspaper in the recycling bin as soon as you finish reading it. Sort mail when you bring it inside. Toss the junk and file the rest in its “home.”

Adopt a “one in and one out” attitude. When you buy a new pair of shoes, get rid of a pair. Want that colorful vase on sale at the mall? What will you discard if you buy it? This method not only tackles clutter but can save dollars as well.

With some scheduling, the right tools and a few rules, you can drive the clutter monster from your home and keep him away. Happy spring and happy cleaning.


Share a tip with us today and you'll be entered to win a book from my stash and a dollar bill to buy a reusable shopping bag, because in addition to keeping our houses clean, we need to keep the planet clean and green. Reusable shopping bags are a great place to start.


P.S. Golden Heart and Rita nominations are being announced today. Judi Fennell will be posting finalists on her blog just as soon as she hears of them. If you or someone you know gets a call from RWA, please tell them to notify Judi. The full list will be posted on the RWA website as soon as all finalists have been notified, but it's fun to watch the results dribble in throughout the day.

Spring Cleaning

There are several things that I avoid. Lately, its my manuscript, but usually, it involves various forms of housework. I hate to clean. Hate it. Especially when everyone conspires to make it worse but no one will help. I remember, at one time, when it was just me and the cats, the house was always clean and quiet. I could clean up as I went. Then a boy and some dogs moved in and I've been chasing dirt ever since. Heaven forbid I add kids to the mix. The house will be condemned.

But there is one time of year that I want to clean. The spring. I get all antsy. I don't know if its being cooped up all winter, but the minute it gets remotely warm, I want to open all the windows, air out the house and scrub every inch. I clean out closets. Wash all the towels. Wash curtains. Clean miniblinds. Baseboards. Really neurotic stuff that I can ignore the rest of the year.

We're experiencing a warm snap here in Alabama. It's a fluke I'm sure. Happens every year around this time. Sends everyone scurrying to Lowe's to buy plants for their yard and without fail, we get a cold front, it drops below freezing, and all their plants die. I don't know how long it will last, but the Weather Channel says it will be in the 70s this weekend.

It's not spring yet, but the time has come! I am cleaning this blasted house all weekend. All weekend. And I'm going to make DB help me. (insert wicked laugh) Maybe, just maybe, after I make my way through the house, I'll be able to post pictures of my office or do some of the little things I've put off since moving in, like painting the bathroom. Or not.

Do you get fired up to spring clean? Is there anything you do that you don't normally bother with the rest of the year? Are you as itching for spring as I am? I can't stand it anymore. I want to run out and buy tulips!

SP