Free Online Job/Chore Chart

Hey you moms and dads with messy kids out there, this is a MUST read!

I've been wanting to find a new job system for my kids before summertime hits my house (yeah, you totally know what I mean)! I wanted to be a step ahead--having a good system in place so I don't have to nag at my kids when we should be making the most of our time together. I can't even tell you how EXCITED I am to share this post!

Yes, there are so many cutesy charts out there in Pinterest/blog-land that may work great for some of you. I'm not putting them down in any way. I've seen some REALLY cool, impressive systems and I think they're all great! But for me...well, I'll be honest. Most of them require too much maintenance on MY part. I'm a great starter...until it becomes too much work for me to keep up with it all. I don't like laminating charts, updating jobs, monitoring progress, flipping over magnets, sliding in chore cards, tallying up points, trying to remember who's supposed to do what on which day, trying to find a good wall for these charts to hang on, keeping track of the dry erase markers, and all the headache that goes along with paying up and trying to be consistent and fair. I have five busy kids and am in school full-time. This new system was an answer to prayers.

FAMILY MEMBER LOGIN EXAMPLE PAGE

 Let me tell you-- this system is hands down the best one I've ever seen. (No, I'm not paid by the company--I'm just so in love with it and want to share my success with everyone!)My awesome friend enlightened me to it's magic and now I'm sharing it with you...

It's called My job chart.

It's free and so easy to use! Here's how it works:

You take about an hour or so, depending on how many jobs/kids you have (that's about how long it took me), to set it up. Believe me, it's so very worth your time.

The kids can access it from any computer, ipad, ipod, tablet, the wii, some phones, and probably other electronic devices I'm not thinking of ...maybe even from their DS (haven't tried that yet)!

It puts them in total control and is great for all ages. Even my little 4 year-old can do it all by herself!

Once you get it set up, there's very little maintenance on your part. And the cool thing is that it feels like a game to them. My kids are beyond excited and have been cleaning like crazy!

Here is an example of what their job screen might look like-->

JOB CHART EXAMPLE

1. The kids do the jobs, which earns them points as they check them off. 

2. They get to "spend" their points on whatever privileges or $ amount I put in there for them to choose from.
3. Once they've chosen, I'm notified (your choice-- email or text) to pay up...and I love that it's not always in money! It's wonderful!

REWARDS PAGE EXAMPLE

So, there you have it! So easy, fun, and VERY effective!

Ok, parents, let's kick summer's butt! Yeah, go us!

Shabby Chic Jewelry-holder tutorial

 This is such an easy and thrifty solution to hang your jewelry from. If you're like me, you want to be able to see them so you can easily choose which piece you want to wear. And like most people, I had more wall space than I  counter space, so this was a great solution for me!

I found an old picture frame at the thrift store (the one with the velvet in-lay). This isn't the one, but I forgot to take a "before" picture--and this one's pretty close to what it looked like. I paid $1.00 for it.

 

 Next, I bought a subtle off-white paint sample at Home Depot. It was an "oops", so I paid $.50 for it.
I painted the whole thing a few times--taking special care to liberally coat the velvet. As soon as all coats were dry, I lightly sanded the edges and detail to give it an aged look. Then I drilled 5 evenly spaced holes in the velvet part.

 Also at Home Depot, I bought the cheapest wooden knobs I could find and painted them.

 This is what they looked like scuffed and installed. Cute, aren't they?

 Then, I stretched a piece of fabric (cut 1" bigger on all sides) over Dollar Store foam core using hot glue on the back.

 I decided at the last minute to add more hooks on the bottom.

 Here's the finished product. I also made one to hold my hair accessories by gluing vertical pieces of ribbon on it.

That's it! I have been absolutely loving it! Not only is it very functional and cleared up quite a bit of space for me, but it's such a fun way to add pops of color to a drab wall!

How to Organize Children's Bookshelves

This was one of our bookshelves just a couple weeks ago. I had the other one on a different wall, but only took this pic, so picture this times two. That was the amount of books that lived in my 3 boys' room. Both were packed to the brim and we had no sense of organization whatsoever. I can't tell you how many times I had straightened the books up just to have them look like this again within days.

So, I was helping out in one of my son's classrooms and I couldn't help but notice how nice and organized her bookshelves were! She had a bunch of labeled bins and they looked so nice! I went right home and started looking up bookshelf organization ideas. It made so much sense!

The key is to make it easier to keep it clean than to mess it up. It's so nice and easy for kids to pull out a bin, flip through until they find the book they'd like, take it, then push the bin back in it's place. It's much better than looking at the spine of the book (kids like to see the fronts, anyway!), then pulling out a whole slew of them until they've decided on the perfect book, leaving a pile of un-wanted books on the floor. Why hadn't I thought of this before??? I've been a mom for 10 years. I've been battling with organizing my kid's bookshelves nearly evey day of those 10 years! What a waste of time; it kills me to know how much easier it could've been for me!

Let me introduce you to our new, organized shelves. I know you're thinking- Where are all the books? There's no way you fit what was crammed in the picture above (times 2) in these shelves. But it's TRUE! I DID! I only threw away a few books that had totally fallen apart and were missing pages. It's amazing how much extra SPACE we have on the shelves now!

Below is a picture I took AFTER a full day of the kids pulling out and reading books. Hardly a mess- and it only took seconds to put back.

I decided to test this new system out and see how well we could keep it up...and here we are two weeks later with perfectly organized bookshelves still!

 Since I knew it was something we could maintain, I decided to make labels for each category. I was out of my laminating sheets, so I used packing tape.

Here they are after labels-

Looks better with the labels, doesn't it?

I categorized them as-

Chapter Books, Early Reader Books, Rhythm & Rhyme books, Abc books, Bedtime Stories, Religious books, Non-fiction, Scriptures, Holiday books, Animal books, Little Golden books, Disney, Seuss, Muppets, and misc. Some of the labels were placed on the edge of the shelf itself.

 I used these wash basins from the dollar store-

 And shoe boxes-

 I found this bin for the books that didn't fit on the shelves-

 Ah, organization! :)

 I was having so much fun, I decided to put new labels on some of our toy bins.

Double yay for a system that finally works for us! I'm so happy, I could just...I don't know...go organize something else!

Now, I'm off to the girl's bookshelves!

The Contraption Clean-up Game

I have 5 kids. And yes, they are messy. And yes, they resist when it's time to clean up. It can be exhausting trying to get them to do anything. Well, a few years ago, we came up with a little game to help make cleaning up a bit more fun. We call it "Contraption Clean-up"...and my kids love it!

First, gather up a bunch of "contraptions" from around the house. In this picture, I raided the kitchen utensil drawer. I have a wire sieve, a ladle, wooden salad fork & spoon, small cheese tongs, big tongs, and turkey lifters. Sometimes we'll grab measuring cups, pliers, wrenches, a brush & comb, really anything. Make sure to choose instruments you're sure your kids can use safely. *Those turkey lifters are kind of pointy, but I made sure to only let my older kids use them. They're actually great for picking up laundry. Use what works for your kids.

Rules-
1. Try your best not to use your hands. You have new contraption appendages now!
2. No using contraptions on siblings.
How to play-
Have each kid grab their tool of choice (if they seem to fight over a certain gadget, explain that they'll be taking turns).

Set a timer for 5 minutes and begin the cleaning (keep track of which kid is working the hardest or keeping the best attitude). When the 5 minutes are up, all contraptions go back in the basket. The best cleaner gets to choose their new gadget first (but not the same one they had last time).

Repeat until each kid has tried each tool and you're satisfied with the clean-up. If it's a really big mess and they're losing interest, it's time to change it up. This is when we start TEAMWORK CONTRAPTIONS. Give each kid a partner. They now have to work together, using their contraptions to clean an area. Keep setting the timer and rotating tools. It's amazing how fast they'll work when there's a certain tool they really want to use the next round.

I have found that it's best to walk them through what needs to be done in the room before you start. For example- Clothes in hamper, cars in their tote, trains in a certain bin, books on shelf, legos in their bin, etc. If there's a place for everything, the kids work MUCH better. They'll probably need reminders while working, so stick around and supervise (or help).

Make sure to encourage them as they go. It's amazing how positive words can FUEL them and keep them pumped about cleaning.



Tongs-

Wire sieve-

 Ladle-

 Salad spoon & fork-

 Ladle-

Turkey lifters-

Wire sieve-

Yes, even my 3yr old enjoys cleaning up with this game. I sure love these little helpers.

Bless their little hearts, I now have a spotless upstairs!

Happy Cleaning!