Organization: Let's Get Everyone On Board!

I AM FINALLY BACK!

How are you doing so far with what we have covered (review HERE, HERE then HERE)?
Oh I am LOVING the feedback on all of this! I am SO happy to hear how these simple little changes are simplifying your lives! How great is that?! I love sharing!
Please feel free at anytime to share some of your secrets in comments! 

In order to make all of this new plan successful we are going to have to get everyone in your home on board! Could you do it all by yourself, well....yes, however, when the family works together as a team the load is lighter on everyone and everyone becomes more aware of their surroundings and they tend to clean up after themselves A LOT more!  

So, how to let them know just what is needed in a positive way? We want to provide a team mentality. Not a mentality of you dictating what needs to be done. 

Plan a family counsel or "Team Meeting".  Before you start be sure to have about 6-8 bags of brown sugar (let's chalk it up to food storage, shall we?!). 

BROWN SUGAR GAME:
{See this as an FHE lesson (with pictures)HERE)

Have one of your kids come to the front of the room. Have them stick both arms straight out in front of them. Place one of the bags of Brown Sugar on their hands. Tell them to keep their arms out in front and hold on. After 2 or 3 bags the load is unbearable or impossible to bear. Call someone else to come up and put their hands under the first childs hands. Add another bag or two. When it is heavy, call someone else in to place their hands underneath. Add all of the bags. Call each member of the family (adjust for family size) up to place their hands on the bottom. When all bags are on the hands and all members of the family are participating, discuss how the load is too hard to carry for one or two people, but when everyone works together, carrying an equal share, the load is easy for everyone. 

If you want to have a dramatic or SHOCK start to the meeting, if you feel like you really need to drive the point home, after dinner announce, "(Child's Name) you are in charge of cleaning up after dinner. Then you need to make sure that the entire house is clean before you can go to bed."

I say dramatic or shock because you can almost HEAR the response to this, right?! Do it lovingly, not using manipulation. Don't throw out the, "How do you think I feel", because it will make it negative. After the reaction have everyone get up and help do a quick clean up and let everyone know there will be a fun game after they are all done. The game will be the brown sugar game.

Here is the thing about the Family Counsel/Team Meeting. It is supposed to involve everyone. My hubby is so great about reminding me not to lecture. He is so good about getting the kids involved in any discussion we are having. When they are involved it is always SO much more pleasant...AND PRODUCTIVE!

After the brown sugar game is done you will start a discussion on what jobs need to be done around the house. The more you involve the family, the more success you will have. Come prepared with a list of jobs that need to be done. Write down other jobs that family members mention, then throw out any of the jobs from your list that haven't been mentioned, to make sure they are included in the final list.

 Among our jobs we have personal jobs/responsiblities for kids:
Morning Responsibilities (Make Bed, Clean Room, Say Prayers, Brush Teeth, Get ready, Scriptures), Scouts, music practice, laundry, Feed & Play with pet, Act of Kindness, Bedtime Responsibilities (10 min. clean up, PJs, lay out next days clothes, clean room, say prayers, set alarm clock). 

Now make a list of household responsibilities: Vacuum, dust, sweep & mop, dust baseboards, vacuum vehicle, clean vehicle, mow lawn, pull weeds, clean garage, bathrooms, kitchen cupboards wipe down, windows, etc. 

Now, ask the kids which of the jobs they would like to do. Obviously some of them need to happen more than once per week. Some need to be done by parents.

Here is the deal, if your kids volunteer for a job, LET THEM HAVE IT!
Jake wanted to learn to clean his own bathroom when he was 5. So, I taught him. Of course at first I needed to go back over the whole thing and make sure that it was all clean. However, I never let him see me doing that, because I didn't want him to think he wasn't doing a good job. As long as I praised him A LOT after he was done, he wanted to continue to get better and better. About once every 2 months I would go in with him and help/watch him. I would lovingly give a suggestion (make sure you clean the base of the toilet, etc.), and eventually I stopped needing to clean behind him. He does a really great job at it!

As everyone is volunteering for job, you and your spouse should also say what he can do. I learned this from Ryan.

I hate asking Ryan to do anything when he gets home from work. I am thinking a "Welcome Home Babe, by the way the garbages are waiting for you to dump them" isn't the most pleasant thing to come home to. However, in order for the kids to get the whole "TEAM" thing, it is so good for them to see that everyone is on board. This is when my perfectly perfect hubby came up with the idea that spiraled into the full on schedule and ended up simplifying my life tremendously!"

He asked for a schedule with jobs he could do everyday throughout the week. That way I don't have to ask, and he already knows what needs to be done and can do it when it is convenient for him. I was thrilled with the idea. The kids already have great job charts, how great would it be if I threw one up for Ry and I also. What would drive the Team mentality home better than that?!

Here is an example of Ryan's run down:
Monday: Vacuum
Tuesday: Dump Garbages
Wednesday: Dog Pen (YUCK!)
Thursday: Sweep & Mop
Friday: Dump Garbages & Downstairs Bathroom Deep Clean
Saturday: Garage (touch up organizing & sweep)

Now, with everyone sharing the load, I am ready to give you my weekly schedule.
This is the SWEET SPOT of this whole scheduling business!
I do my daily laundry schedule, which is done by the time kids head to school. Then I participate in the "10 Min. Clean up" by doing the "3 wipes in 3 minutes". Other than that, I live in a completely clean house by contributing just 30 min TOPS each day! REALLY! I mean TOPS! Some days...just 10 min! Here is my run down:

Monday: Single Room Wipe Down (you'll learn about this in the next few days)
Tuesday: Vacuum
Wednesday: Sweep & Mop
Thursday: Dust
Friday: Vacuum & Master Bathroom Deep Clean
Saturday: Window check (clean the ones that need it)

THAT'S IT! Between our schedule and the kids the floor is vacuumed 6 days a week. The floor (all of our downstairs is hardwood) is swept and mopped at least every other day & all the little jobs that you don't normally have time to get to (windows, baseboards, garage, etc) are done weekly, which means that it takes less time to do them all!

Ok, this is ONE LONG POST! Are you still with me?!

I am going to cut off here. I want you to process all of this and get your plan put together. I am going to show you the secret behind all of this. It's all about the job charts! :) There is a wall in my house that I am going to lovingly refer to as our MOTHER BOARD. It is the work horse in the home. It keeps us all on it with our schedules. AND it's fun and super cute! That is a big part of the secret for our family!

For now...Let's just get through this post! :)