Clutter makes me blue

at 02/25/10 6:26PM *
I've been an on and off again flybaby (see www.flylady.com for more info) for 6yrs now. It is time to get back on the housecleaning with a planned routine bandwagon again. This system really does work when I use it! Only, it is going to have to start once we move. Moving is so chaotic. Seeing as how I love to purge that part can start now!

This apartment has been the most difficult space to live in with its tiny public areas and reasonable size rooms. I suppose if we lived in our bedrooms it would be much better.

I wonder how much stuff I will throw out with this move? It is amazing how much "weight" we loose when we move. I find the hardest things to purge are Kami's toys. She plays with EVERYTHING. The only problem is she plays with it everywhere, and gets overwhelmed when it is time to clean.

Kami is strongly encouraged to play in her room, but she plays where ever I am, because she doesn't like to be alone and she likes to imitate me. Since she trails after me, she leaves evidence of her play behind. There is point each day where she must return all the stuff to her room.

A question to Mom's out there....

How do you teach your children to clean with a good spirit? Everything she owns has a home. I've shown her where things go. Is age 4 to early to expect her to clean up her toys with out my help?

I have been failing at teaching my munchkin to clean up after herself with a good spirit. That is going to have to change. She is blessed with a variety of toys. She plays with all of them. Patrick tells me she doesn't have too many, our place is just that small. It just feels like she has so much more.

OK fellow Parents I need suggestions and success stories!


Closing day for the house is just around the corner -- March 19th. That thought is my silver lining when the small rooms start closing in on me.

On the house front...

It has been fun picking out new floors, and paint colors for our home. I am so excited to see the changes that that are going to happen. I feel really blessed to have the income available and the real need to change the existing floor and wall color right away. It is much easier to spend on house "makeup" when the need is real. I always love putting my own mark on space.

  • be_with_me_lord
    You can make a game or contest out of it between the two of you. SInce you haven't trained her to pick up yet, you need to teach her how to do it. Don't be overly type A about it or she will be discouraged if she doesn't meet your expectations. But, she is beyond the age of being able to pick up her own toys so it is good you are starting to train her. Singing songs and making it fun takes the drudgery out of it. Start at what you know is reasonable to expect since I know she is very bright. Add on to the expectations as she gets more practice at it. It helps if you have specific spots for some things and then a catch all 'box' for all those items who don't have their own category.
    by be_with_me_lord at 02/25/10 7:20PM
  • sarai_31
    My friend has taught the 18 month old she babysits to pick up her toys. I haven't attempted to start that with Kaelyn, but I'm thinking about it!
    by sarai_31 at 02/25/10 8:12PM
  • quiltedmama
    Mine understand picking up, but they don't do it unless told to. Aeryn is actually more likely to spontaneously clean her room than the boys (she's 19 months). But, when I tell them to do it, they can do it well.

    Mine are very motivated by counting. They'll ask me to count to see how fast they can do it. We usually divide it into small tasks (books, clothes, cars, etc) and count for each one. We do the same for putting laundry away- I hand each of them a stack, tell them what drawer it goes in, and count as they run down the hall, then they come back for more. The boys enjoy doing their chores this way, and it has avoided complaints, and Aeryn has learned to count to 6 already because of this game!

    Obviously all of that applies to the little ones only (Philip and Simon are 3 and 4)- Peter and Andrew (10 and 7) just get told to clean their room. ;)
    by quiltedmama at 02/26/10 12:54PM
  • heatheronthehill
    My toy organizing solution: I've collected plastic toy bins (sterilite/rubbermaid containers with lids) in various sizes... one bin for each toy set. Jack mostly only plays in the living room, but the bins are all stored in a stack in his closet. We keep one large bin out at a time (big sets like LIttle People, train set, or big blocks) and two little bins (one for things like cars, alphabet blocks, and such, and a miscellaneous one with little toys and balls and things). He also has a magazine rack to hold all of his books, though a basket would work well for that also, and a puzzle rack. He picks up his toys twice a day (before nap and bedtime) and he has learned to do it all by himself - we started working on this when he was about a year old. The key is keeping a limited number of items available for play. We rotate toys monthly, though it can be done more often - as soon as a child exhibits boredom. He can request to play with certain toys, and we will usually get them out for him. Things stay nice and neat, and he has learned to clean up after himself. With an older child, you can take a digital photo of the toy and tape it to the outside of the bin with a label. This is great for literacy - seeing things labeled.

    I didn't come up with that stuff on my own - that was our system at the pre-school where I worked, and it was so smooth! I also like it because bringing out a toy that has been put away for a while makes it like new for the child!
    by heatheronthehill at 02/26/10 12:57PM
  • heatheronthehill
    With the preschool, we had a "housekeeping corner" set up continually with those types of things. For the kitchen stuff, we had little plastic baskets with labels/pictures on the front for sorting out play food, pots & pans, dishes, etc... A little cardboard or plastic 3-4 drawer type thing would be a good addition to use for dress up clothes, baby doll clothes and blankets, etc... Dolls and stuffed animals were kept in a little cradle that we had, but you could also use a basket. Again, the key is organizing and labeling everything so SHE can do it herself, having a routine time every day when it all gets cleaned up and put away, and not stressing out too much if things are not absolutely perfect. :) Another thing, housekeeping things had to stay in the housekeeping corner. If the kids wanted to have a special "picnic" in another place or something, they had to ask permission to take it out. These rules just kept the mess contained and under control. She might need some initial training to understand how to go about picking up things and putting them back in their place. (i.e. - tackling one thing at a time and doing a job to completion.)
    by heatheronthehill at 02/26/10 4:16PM
  • jennifermy
    ^That is exactly how we store our toys. We have clear boxes from the dollar store and Target(in various sizes). There is a picture on the outside so they know what goes in that box. We started teaching them as soon as they learned to walk to pick up. With this system you always know where the toy you want to play with is located. We clean up before nap, when Daddy is headed home and then everything must be put away before bed. I like waking up to a clean house. :) It helps that Blake is a little OCD about organizing. With a new house it will be a great time to teach new routines. I am sure she will do great. How many days are left until closing? I hope the transition goes smoothly.
    by jennifermy at 03/04/10 6:32PM
  • anne
    Sherelyn did a good job of organizing their boys' things into bins and boxes. You might check with her. I teach kids to put one "set" of playthings away before they get something else out, so they don't get overwhelmed.

    When our 3 seemed to have too many toys to really enjoy them all, I divided them so that each boy had two "chicken boxes." They were large, wax covered cardboard boxes the grocer got chicken in, and gave them away. They were sturdy, had lids, and had handles...all three important factors. We couldn't afford plastic tubs. Anyway, I divided their toys into their own two boxes and keeping one box down for each boy, put their "spare" boxes in the attic. Every month, I switched them out. They loved opening their "new" boxes, and seemed to enjoy playing with the toys they had missed the previous month more than when they had all them available at one time.
    by anne at 03/16/10 10:01PM

YEAH!!!

at 02/02/10 10:37PM
We got the house!!!! Yep the one we really wanted!!!! We got the house!!!!

After 14yrs of married life renting small apartments we are going to live in and own a house just blocks from some of our favorite brethren! It's going to be awesome!

Its time to purge, pack, and paint. We'll be moving approximately the end of March.
  • frances
    Which one? I am very excited for you, and for us, if its in our neighborhood.
    by frances at 02/02/10 11:43PM
  • dragonwriter
    Congrats! Pics!?
    by dragonwriter at 02/03/10 9:16AM
  • teathyme
    Yay!!!!!! :D
    I, too, can hardly wait to see some pictures. Written details would also be nice! # of bedrooms? sq. ft.? What's the kitchen like? What do you love about the place? What plans do you have for it? How is the little one reacting?
    by teathyme at 02/03/10 1:34PM
  • wise
    Congratulations! Now the fun begins. Enjoy making it your own.
    by wise at 02/03/10 3:32PM
  • bradford_rebekah
    I'll see what help I can get from Pat to show pictures on Pleo. He has stuff on Facebook already!
    by bradford_rebekah at 02/03/10 4:15PM
  • sherelyn
    We are so happy for yall and look forward to having you in the neighborhood! Seems like you got a great deal on a very nice house, too! :)
    by sherelyn at 02/03/10 4:40PM
  • be_with_me_lord
    I'm very happy for your family :)
    by be_with_me_lord at 02/04/10 12:05AM
  • heartsintexas
    hooray!!!
    by heartsintexas at 02/04/10 1:52PM
  • quiltedmama
    Yay for you!!! Love to see pics when you can.
    by quiltedmama at 02/06/10 6:51PM
  • sjb
    Congratulations! You will LOVE owning. SO MUCH better than renting!!! I'm excited for you three!
    by sjb at 02/17/10 12:11AM

real estate issues

at 01/27/10 9:52AM *
Well the agent listing the Morgan's Landing house has shown himself to be a greedy man. He never even opened our offer. He listed his own client. His desire for double commission fell to floor. His buyer did not disclose she was getting a divorce. So her money wasn't her own.

We get a second chance on the house. He's proving to be greedy again. Our offer remains unopened. We are going to see if we can go around him and talk to the broker he works for. We knew about because my aunt (our agent) is on top of stuff.

I really want this to work. It is a real pain to work with dishonest people.
  • teathyme
    I know very little of these things...is this agent not being dishonest? I am certain that he is at least doing the homeowner a disservice! It sounds so frustrating!
    We've only bought the one house so far in our lives and we purchased it from Christians with another Christian as the agent. However, we've rented many places in many states and found that although competition for the individual places may be high and the search stressful, God sends what we need most, when we really need it - regardless of what we think we need it and when we think we have to have it. I'll say an extra prayer for you today that His perfect timing for you bring you the perfect home soon - and you can remind me of this conversation in a couple of months when we begin trying to sell our house and I need the reassurance that God is in control. ;)
    by teathyme at 01/27/10 1:49PM
  • frances
    Your honesty will make you a winner in the long run. Hang in there!! It may not be this house, but things will work out .
    by frances at 01/27/10 6:20PM
  • be_with_me_lord
    You should be able to report him to a state commision where he received his license and he will be investigated.
    by be_with_me_lord at 01/27/10 11:15PM
  • teathyme
    Really?!? (kicking self) I thought that I had checked and that you guys were not near the part of TX we were going to be in! How far away were you???
    by teathyme at 02/02/10 2:24PM

house hunting blues...

at 01/19/10 5:53PM
Buying home is so emotional. We still haven't sealed a deal on house we like. Our first offer fell apart. We had to withdraw our offer. The owner just didn't want to negotiate and he wanted the moon too.

So here we are with an offer on another house. Its a bank owned foreclosure -- a real nice one too. There are multiple offers on the table. It was put on the market Thursday before the holiday weekend. We've been waiting to to hear how it turned out. It's late Tuesday afternoon, and I still haven't heard anything. It is making me crazy.

I want this house but, I'm afraid to want it too much. So I've been back out there checking the house listings just incase the news isn't what I want to hear.
  • quiltedmama
    I always try not to get too attached, but that's hard! It will all work out, it just may take longer than you expect!
    by quiltedmama at 01/19/10 8:11PM
  • anne
    Hoping something turns up soon for you, if not this one.
    by anne at 01/19/10 8:42PM
  • frances
    We want you'll for neighbors--hope it pans out!!
    by frances at 01/20/10 9:54AM
  • frances
    If it doesn't, we will come see you wherever you are, as long as it is in Alvin!!
    by frances at 01/20/10 9:55AM

12/01/09 9:47AM

  • kcollins
    Rebekah, I'm not sure what you were trying to say here so I am not sure what to say. Anyway, have a good day and be thinking of some cookie recipes.
    by kcollins at 12/01/09 11:02AM
  • quiltedmama
    We've been playing a lot of Catan (and getting others hooked on it too) and thinking of you guys!
    by quiltedmama at 12/01/09 2:55PM