Homemaking Tip o' the Day: The Mess-Up Monster

This is a tip I learned at a Relief Society Super Saturday during a class on TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN TO WORK given by a beautiful lady named Anne Pratt. Her suggestion was to tell the kids that in five minutes, the MESS-UP MONSTER was going to come and eat everything that was laying where it didn't belong.


This monster can be made of a box or laundry basket with a posterboard cut-out of a monster taped to the front, such as the one above. (I googled "monster art".) The toys, clothes or other items this monster "eats" (i.e. you swiftly going through the room depositing the items in the basket, preferably making monster noises) have to be put in storage for a week, a month, or longer, whatever you deem appropriate, or they have to be earned back by doing extra chores or giving up allowance. This idea has worked wonders for me. It's effective, fun and SCARY!

Homemaking Tip o' the Day: Instructions for kids on how to clean a family or living room

Unexpectedly, it seems as though my posts about kids' chores are popular with many readers....so here goes another one.

My kids have lots of chores. In turn, I have often found myself nagging them to get it done and pointing out everything they missed. This became frustrating to both them and me, so recently I developed a plan that would benefit all of us. I wrote a very specific step-by-step, how-to clean list for every room. Picture prompts (such as the ones in this post) help small children, and serve as visual reminders to older children. When they feel like they are finished with a specific chore, they come tell me, I ask them if they have reviewed the list, then I check their work. This has cut WAY down on the nagging and helps them to feel less overwhelmed by the tasks at hand. Here's my checklist of how to thoroughly clean a living or family room. This is one of our Saturday chores. (You may have to alter this list depending on the age of your children)

Step 1: Pick up everything off the floor and carpet and put it in its home. (That means we moms have to teach kids where every object's home is!)

Step 2: Check coffee table, sofa table, end tables, TV console and piano for any objects that need to be put in their proper homes. Put them in their proper homes.


Step 3: Dust all furniture and objects. (It helps to declutter before assigning this chore to children so as not to overwhelm them.) Start from the top and work your way down.

Step 4: If there are spills on any hard furnishings, such as the coffee table, wipe these up with a damp rag.

Step 5: Sweep floor area, including corners and under furniture.

(I have no idea why that broom was so huge.)

Step 6: Vacuum carpet area. When you are finished with the main areas, use the tube attachments to get the corners, under the couches, coffee table, TV console, end tables and sofa table.

Step 7: Mop the floor.

Step 8: Stand in the entrance of the room and look around to make sure you didn't miss anything. Admire your work (so you can stand tall like this man) and come tell me you're finished!

THANK YOU!!

Two-fer Tuesday

Another thing I have been reading about when it comes to creative blogging is to have different types of posts on different days of the week. Usually alliteration comes into play here, such as "Memory Lane Mondays", "Thirteen Thursday", or "Freebie Friday".

Well, I made up my own alliteration and have begun "Two-fer Tuesdays". Actually, a radio station here does that (plays two songs in a row by the same artist), so I didn't actually make it up, but I stole it to use on my blog. In this weeks two-fer, I will chronicle two people who have inspired me in the past week.

First, we have my daughter, Bethany. As I've said in a previous post, she brings so much joy into my world as she strives to live a faithful life. This is where one of the best parts of parenting comes in! To see the child you raised out on her own being the best she can be. No matter what stumbling blocks she is asked to overcome, she always remains faithful and continues to love the Lord, when others might have turned their backs on Him. She sets a great example for her eight younger siblings as well, as they see her reading her scriptures at night when she visits or referencing quotes and verses from her favorite prophets or composing beautiful poetry about nature and God. I'm so lucky to have you, Bethany! To learn more about this wonderful young lady, click here. (Doesn't she and her snowman buddy look cozy?)

Second, let me introduce my sister, Kristin. I haven't seen her in one year, since her youngest of four children was six weeks old, and now she has finally come to visit us here in Mexico. She is an absolutely beautiful woman, inside and out. She follows a strict diet plan and is as thin as the day she was married to her eternal companion. She always (at least when I'm around) speaks kindly and softly to her children, and is patient and loving and carefully explains things that might sometimes be difficult from them to accept, such as why we can't drive back two hours to get a toy gun that was left at Grandma's. She has been a wonderful help to me and the twins, giving my mom (my helper for the last two weeks) a well-needed break. In addition, she hand-made me an ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL quilt for the twins. I don't have my camera with me now, so I can't show it to you, but I will, don't you worry. Thanks for being my sister, Kris! After all, we probably did pick each other, right? To learn more about this amazing mom, click here. (Isn't she amazingly motherly in the picture?) (I know....I said amazing a lot just now.)

P.S. I know this Two-fer Tuesday post is actually posting on Wednesday, but I started it on Tuesday, so I think that's okay.

Okay, Here's How You Do It....

A few people have been asking me how to add a blog roll to their page, so I will give a quick tutorial on this.

First, make sure you are signed in on your blog.

Next, go to "customize" at the top right corner.

When the "customize" page opens, go to "add a page element".

When the pop-up screen pops up, click on "blog list". From here, you can add the URL's of your favorite blogs.

Make sure you save it both in the pop-up window and in the "customize" window.

I hope that helps! Please let me know if anything is unclear.