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A White Board For Chores

I made a chore chart with “the power of 3” in mind, and loved how it worked!  The one thing I didn’t love about it is that it wasted post it notes!  

I’m all about simple and buying as little as possible, so a chore chart that would need a trip to the store every few months did not quite fit.  Enter, the white board!

I’ve been wanting a white board hung in our home in a prominent place for awhile now. My great friend, Sharon, visited and told me that she has one.  She uses it for chores and said it worked wonderfully, and that is when I knew I needed one, too!

{My oldest checking off her chores, (she was horrified that
I was going to post this pic b/c of her messy ponytail:)
I keep the markers in a bowl on the bookshelf.}  

I am a bit too moody for a super structured, pre-printed chore chart, never knowing until that day what I want the girls to help with.  I love that I can quickly jot down what I would like them to do so when they come home from school, they can glance at the board and know exactly what they have to do before they can play.

{I don’t have a Leah, but wanted you to see how cute a name looks 
when these two stickers are combined, and as you know, I like to keep my girls names private}

Because the white board is in my dining room for all to see, it was important to me that it looked nice.  I liked the black frame on this one!  I wanted to do something fun with their names, so I bought these letter stickers at Micheal’s.  I wanted to back them with something, and was happy to find these round silver tag stickers in the next aisle, knowing they would work well as a “frame” for the letters. (The  white board is from Micheal’s, but I’ve seen them a bit cheaper at Target.)

The board has room for me to write a note of encouragement or a scripture verse for my girls.  Love that!
It’s just all around one of my favorite things!

*stay tuned for a post on “Routine Charts”  I just finished them up today, and combined with our chore board, things are gonna be flowin’ and easy goin’ around here!

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FAMILY/ HOME/ Homemaking/ Kids/Family/ Parenting/ Simplifying

Simple Chore Chart-Power Of 3

{whoops, spelled vacuum wrong on one, but got it right on the other:)}

It’s spring break for my girls, so my posts this week will be a bit shorter than usual.  Despite a very busy week, I am determined to have a blast with my girls this week, which means less computer time for me!
I’m excited to share this simple chore system we have been using, thanks to Liz’s idea of the Power of 3. (you can read about it at her site, here.)



Power Of 3
 Hoosier Mama Liz, over at Hoosier Homemade, wrote a great post and linked it to my “Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays” link party.  Her post really stood out to me, and caused me to start thinking about how I can incorporate her idea into our family. I love how simple it is!  She calls it the “Power Of 3”  Here is more from Liz:

I simply give each of the boys (18,16 & 12) and my husband 3 things each day to do. Simple…huh? Not quite sure why I didn’t think of it before.

I typed up a form that has each of their names and 3 lines, I use a different sheet for each day. And if a chore on their list doesn’t get done (gasp) it gets added to the next day, if they have a chore listed more than…you guessed it…3 days, they are grounded for…you guessed it…3 days!

I have taken her idea of 3’s and made a simple post-it note chart. It has been working beautifully! (I will be hanging a white board to replace this chart in the near future, there are many reasons for wanting a white board, but in this case it will replace post-it notes, one less thing to buy!)

My girls have really responded to the chart.  No one has been grounded yet:) My approach is not as relaxed as Liz’s approach, because I skip this part of her plan–“if it doesn’t get done in 3 days, it gets added to the next day.”  I want my girls to get used to the the idea that we all contribute daily as a family.  It is non-negotiable. They need to have responsibilities everyday as it teaches them to be hard workers, and it communicates to them that we are a team and work together as a family.  If my girls were grown like her kids, I would probably feel different.

It has been super easy for them, they like knowing they won’t have more than 3 chores a day (except for Saturdays), and they are surprised at how quickly it gets done.  There has been very little complaining, which quite frankly, has surprised me.  They seem to like the number 3 and the simplicity of our new rule– “3 chores a day, if not accomplished = 3 days of grounding.”  The “3 days of grounding” part widened their little eyes, but they took me seriously when I laid out the rules. I can’t believe how easy it has been, I love it!

{if you are wondering, “dr” means “dining room.” Oh, and the one that says “pick up mom’s room” is because they made a mess in there, not because I make them clean MY mess:)}

As you can see from the above picture, Saturdays are an exception to the rule.  We have always done chores on Saturday mornings, so they are used to a list and doing a bit more on the weekend.  It really only takes them 30 minutes or so each Saturday.

I will continue the idea of 3’s, even after our white board is hung.

I am also working on what I call “Daily Routine Charts” (brush teeth, get backpack ready, eat breakfast would all be part of their morning routine.)  We have done this before and it worked beautifully.  Why we stopped?  Hmmm, I have no idea, but it is time to start again.  By having these charts, mommy is not constantly nagging reminding them to get these little things done.  I’ll share those when I have the design finished.

So what works for you?  Do you have a chart system?  How many chores do your kids do?





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ANTI-PROCRASTINATION/ FAMILY/ HOME

Crossing Off The Doozy List

Here is the link for My Doozy-Of-A-List.
We’ve been having much fun at “Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays” link party.
Would love to have you join us by linking up or commenting!



Got This Stuff Crossed Off The List This Week!
~Dentist Appt. (going today!)
~Girls Writing Thank You Notes-made this tote, problem solved!
~Decorate For Spring-done.
~Organize Google Reader, make daily reads folder-done.
~Laundry Under Control-its truly a miracle, my laundry room is empty! (let’s see if I can keep it up!)
~Library Book-discovered it is packed away in one of 6 Christmas bins in the attic (its was a Christmas book-ugh.) Decided to pay for it.  Ugh.

Workin’ On It:
~Exercise-ran 3 times last week
~Keeping Up On Emails, Twitter, Phone Messages/Text, etc-success this week
~Girls Chore Charts-halfway done!
~Social Event At My Home For Bible Study Ladies-discussing date tonight w/ ladies
~Organizing Starred Items In Google Reader-wow, I’ve starred a lot of great stuff, its taking forever!
~Emailed Community Gardens To Reserve Spot-waiting to hear back.

Added To Doozy List This Week:
~Plan Lil’ Ones BDay Party
~“power of 3” chart

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ANTI-PROCRASTINATION/ FAMILY/ HOME

Featured Posts From “Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays” Link Party

I held my first “Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays” link party here at New Nostalgia last week.  It was really fun reading through the posts, they were so motivating and full of many great ideas!  Thank you to those who participated, my hope is that it will continue to grow in the coming weeks.
I know I personally got a lot done this week, thanks to our “Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays” together.  When I don’t feel like doing anything, I think “gotta have something to post on tuesday” which is enough to get me up to check what is next on my doozie-of-a-list.

Here are a few featured posts from last week:

Power Of 3
 Hoosier Mama Liz, over at Hoosier Homemade, wrote a brilliant post.  This one really stood out to me, and has caused me to start thinking about how I can incorporate her great idea into our family.
I love how simple it is!  She calls it the “Power Of 3”  Here is more from Liz:

“I simply give each of the boys (18,16 & 12) and my husband 3 things each day to do. Simple…huh? Not quite sure why I didn’t think of it before.

I typed up a form that has each of their names and 3 lines, I use a different sheet for each day. And if a chore on their list doesn’t get done (gasp) it gets added to the next day, if they have a chore listed more than…you guessed it…3 days, they are grounded for…you guessed it…3 days!”

 I love it.  The rest of the post is well worth reading, so head on over there and say hi to Liz for me.  

Laurie, over at Domestic Productions linked a post whose title caught my eye.  “Procrastination-The Lock To Healthy Eating”-how true is that?  Here is more from her post:

I said earlier that The Key to Healthy Eating is Planning. Well, that makes Procrastination the Lock to Healthy Eating. When we procrastinate it leaves us in a state of emotional eating and held hostage to convenience food.

So true.  Laurie used our “Anti-Procrastination Tuesday” as motivation to make healthy bread.  Don’t they look delish?  The recipe is on her post.

Image via The Land Of Nod

Cutting Through The Clutter Of Toys–
Destri at The Mother Huddle is one of those women who just continue to amaze me with her ideas and writing.  I have loved getting to know her through twitter, email and her blog.  Her blog is a must visit, it is as lovely as she is.
The post she linked is invaluable to anyone who has toys!  It is full of a bunch of great ideas.

Framed-My First Anti-Procrastination Project
I just wrote a post about Laurie and her new blog, she happens to be my lil’ sis so the post is pretty much big sister braggin’ on lil’ sister. Her blog is great, much to brag about!  I was super happy she participated in my link party.  She finally got around to framing and hanging her wedding pics, don’t they look great?

Come join us on tuesdays!  We’d love to hear about what you are (or are not) getting done!  Click here for more information.

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ANTI-PROCRASTINATION/ FAMILY/ HOME

“Anti-procrastination Tuesdays” Link Party!

Welcome to our first weekly “Anti-Procrastination Tuesday” link party!  I am so excited to kick my procrastination habit to the curb with your help!  You can read about the challenge here.  You can also read an ongoing list of my personal goals here.

I’d like this to be a place where we can:
 *share and encourage one another
 *get stuff done, no matter big or small
 *feel safe to “get-real” with our junk
 *share with one another something we have accomplished, past or present
 *share conquered goals or lists of goals we would like to conquer
 *share before and after pictures of our accomplishments
 *learn tips from each other

Here are the guidelines:
1. On Tuesdays each week, I’ll host the link party here at New Nostalgia.  You’ll come over and enter the permalink to your Anti-Procrastination post in my MckLinky List.


2. Be sure to insert a link in your post that directs others back here.  It could be my button at the side bar, or something like “This post is linked to “Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays” at New Nostaglia. 

3. Be sure to link your posts url, not your blog url!

4. Link as many posts as you would like, as long as they have to do with this subject

5. Visit as many other links as you can for ideas, inspiration and to offer encouragement.

6. Leave comments for the links you visit just to let them know you are there (and so we can know there really ARE people out there committed to getting things done together, support matters!)

7. Come back each tuesday, post more of your accomplishments, and see some of the links featured from the week before.  You could be one of them!

Don’t forget to grab a button to place at the top or bottom of your post to show you are participating in “Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays.”  Simply copy the code below in the box and paste where you can edit the html in your blog post.  


And now, onto today’s “Anti-Procrastination Tuesday’s” Link Party! Be inspired, be encouraged, and get something done!


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ANTI-PROCRASTINATION/ FAMILY/ HOME/ Organizing

Crossing Off My To-Do List

ahhhh…it feel so good to GET THINGS DONE! 

Tomorrow is “Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays” link party here at New Nostalgia. 

I REALLY hope that having this link party each week will continue to motivate me!  I wrote a master “wanna get done” list 5 days ago, and IT IS ACTUALLY WORKING, I’m getting things done!!  It is because I know I will have to write a post every week about what I have done, so thanks to you readers, I will no longer procrastinate.

Here are a few of the things on my to do list that I have crossed off:

~pay $2.10 to school for forgotten school lunch
ok, I know this sounds like a really easy one, and it was, but can you believe it took me over 2 months to “just do it”??  I didn’t use my personal goal of “when I think about it, just do it.”  Thanks to tomorrow’s party, I did get it done.  It took me all of 63 seconds to put some money in an envelope, mark it, and stick it in my daughters backpack for her to take to school.

~clean out trunk
My husband did this, sort of.  Our car had a flat tire last week, so before he took it into the shop, he brought all the junk from the trunk into our sunroom.  There was already a pile of stuff sitting there to be taken to goodwill, so our sunroom looked horrendous.  That was enough to get me to deal with it and put it all away.

my sunroom last fall 

~stuff to Goodwill
I’ve have had a pile of bags and a bin in my sunroom since Christmas.  No joke.  That stuff stared at me every time I left and every time I came back into my home.  Our sunroom is the first impression that guests have of our home, and they have been greeted by a pile of stuff for 3 months now!  The kicker…there is a Goodwill just blocks from our house-it took me less than 5 minutes to load it, drop it off, unload it and drive home.  Why do I put this stuff off??

~ants in basement
Easy fix.  I bought poison.  I rarely do this, I hate pesticides!  There are little discs you can buy that the ants will crawl in, get the “food,” take it back home, share it with their friends, and after their feast they all die.:(  I needed to just do something, especially since I don’t know if these are carpenter ants we are dealing with!  Next time, I am going to try my homemade laundry detergent.  Seriously!  I got a tip from a reader that sprinkling it around wards off pests, and since the ants were in the laundry room, it seems fitting?!?

~make homemade laundry detergent
Did it.  I have a how- to post coming in the very near future!

~boogie study closet
“Boogie” is a term stolen from Flylady.  It just means to move as quickly as you can and get it done, taking a quick break if needed, then right back into it.  It was just a few months ago I did a whole study clean up, so it was a quick boogie and now it is back to being organized again!

~yearly physical appointment made
Done!  I put the number into my online contacts so next time I have no excuse to procrastinate!

~organize papers in sorters on desk
This was the most helpful of all the “To-Do’s” that I did!  I keep papers that need attention in these, so a week or so of no attention can really get me in trouble!  Having this done made me feel so on top of things, I literally felt lighter when I was done.  Guess I need to keep that one up every week, I may live longer..

~create Amazon store for the blog
I have wanted to do this for awhile.  There are many times I talk about a product or ingredient, and a reader will ask where I got it or what I use.  Now I can just put the product in my Amazon store.  I can link up things I love and use, in case you would like to purchase them, too.  The blessing of it is, if you purchase through my link, I will get a small percentage (this does not cost you any more) from Amazon, which in time might add up.  I would love to be able to contribute financially to our family’s budget through this little love of mine called blog.  You will be able to access the store in a week or two, I need to continue to add products I love to it..

~organize stickies
This is an online application that allows virtual, post- it- type notes on a computer desktop.  I use it all the time to quickly type a thought or copy a link.  The problem, they over took my desktop because I didn’t delete them!  They are now organized, problem solved.

Not bad for 5 days!  It barely made a dent in my list, but I’m not stressing. Baby steps.

  I hope to see you all on tuesdays where we can chip away on our to-do’s together!  Next time I may just highlight one thing and write about it, we’ll see.  Come on by tomorrow!  If you are a blogger, link up, if you are a reader, come check it out and feel free to leave a comment, I’d love to hear what you have been getting done or want to get done!


Thank YOU, my readers.  Without you, I would be getting nothing done!:)

This post is linked to:
 “Works For Me Wednesdays”
“Show and Tell” @ Blue Cricket Designs

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ANTI-PROCRASTINATION/ FAMILY/ HOME/ Organizing/ Simplifying

My Anti-Procrastination List-It’s A Doozie!

As most of you know, I tend to procrastinate on things.  I’ve had some success in this area, but I want more!  I have found in the past that lists and accountability both work for me, which makes me very excited about “Anti-procrastination Tuesdays.” If you read my “Anti-procrastination Tuesdays” post, you know that I will be doing a weekly link party (starting this tuesday, March 9th) where we can all share what we tend to procrastinate on, and what we have accomplished each week.

 I have been thinking about what I want to accomplish, and have been jotting things down as they come to my mind.  I have come up with quite a list, which honestly is quite overwhelming to see how long it is!  I have to keep reminding myself that one step at a time is the way to go, and that I won’t be alone, because I am hoping you will join me on tuesdays to GET THINGS DONE!

 Below is the list I have together so far. I’m sure there is more that I am missing, but this is more than enough of a start! I thought sharing it with you would be a great way to be held accountable, and very convenient for me to have a running list of goals I want to reach on our tuesdays together.  I will cross things off as I accomplish them and also add new things, then share the highlights at “Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays” party.

Parenting:
chore charts for the girls, remade
make a master chore list 
print and hang a list of ideas kids can do when I hear “I’m bored!”
faith box for family prayer requests
continue ongoing birds and bees conversation with my girls:)
girls to write thank- you’s more regularly
discuss allowance with Todd
year round Joshua Tree 
new ideas for family devotions
“power of 3 chart”
routine charts made
People:
“get in touch with regularly” list
have grandparents for brunch
have women’s Bible study group social in our home
keep up on emails, twitter, facebook, texts and phone messages-get a strategy
General:
find lost library book
pay school $2.10 for forgotten lunch 
whiten teeth
workout
clean out trunk
buy bolt for bike
go through family wardrobe
bring out spring/ summer clothes
pack up winter clothes
get rid of ants in basement-ew
put pics in frames and hang them up
decorate for spring
make laundry detergent
read a book a month (ongoing)
white board hung up
mirrors hung up
laundry under control
sort my clothes
take stuff to goodwill
make exercise a regular part of my week-ugh.
plan lil’ ones bday party
Reorganize:
storage area in basement
 craft closet
‘boogie’ study closet



Appointments:
dentist
yearly physical
allergist
eye doctor
Papers and Lists:
organize paper in sorters on desk
reorganize filing cabinet
Binders:
print recipes used regularly, put in binder
revamp emergency numbers/instructions binder
menu plans
print organized addresses; put in binder
make binder for magazine articles
Computer:
computer safety family contract.
delete unwanted facebook emails
organize bookmarks on computer
organize stickies
add to kid sites
put addresses in mac online address book
learn how to make an imovie
birthdays into ical
groups and smart groups in address book
organize itunes
explore smart playlist, make some new ones
order guinea pig food and hay online to have delivered regularly
videos to dvds

organize reader, make “daily reads”folder
organize starred items in reader
organize my tweet deck
get more familiar with twitter
Cleaning:
wash windows
clean grout on tile floor
clean behind stove/refrig
clean all ceiling fans
clean all light fixtures
clean mini blinds
clean shutters/windowsills
vacuum furniture
Blogging:
create Amazon store 
review some products
do a give-away

Projects:
paint laundry room

paint bathroom
Photos:
delete unwanted photos
back up photos onto cds
print photos
label photos



Outside:
read up on gardening
call community gardens to reserve spot
In The Kitchen:
make homemade tortillas
try making homemade yogurt
make/freeze some make ahead meals
Circus Ponies Online Notebook: (it is an online, virtual binder)
make craft notebook
make recipe notebook
organize poetry notebook
make hairstylist notebook
make womens ministry notebook
list of books to read
make inspirational journal on notebook for blog ideas

Whew!!  Good thing there is no deadline to most of these things (ok.. maybe the ants:))

Do you plan on joining in on “Anti-procrastination” Tuesdays?  I’d love to have ya!
If so and you are a blogger, feel free to get my button from the sidebar to invite others to come.
This post is linked to:
Works For Me Wednesdays @Rocks In My Dryer


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