My New Favorite Website

A few months ago I ran into a sweet lady at the UPS store. She asked me if Tessa was our only child and I explained that we have a blended family of five children. She said, "Wow, I bet your house is clean all the time, right?" And I LAUGHED my head off and assured her that in fact, NO, it's not, and in fact just that morning I had been not-so-patiently encouraging the children to clean their rooms before they left for school.

She proceeded to tell me about this website and even wrote it down for me so I wouldn't forget. I believe that she said she has six children, and that one of them (the smallest, I think?) had just passed away. :( I felt so bad for complaining about the bad morning I had.

Ever since we met I've been thinking about this sweet woman and what she told me. I have almost ordered this program three or four times, but with Christmas and birthdays we just didn't have the money. (It's not even that much money.)

So, last week I finally was able to order it. I think there is a 30-day money back guarantee, but even after ONE DAY I think we're sold. The key will be consistency on my part, I know that.

But it was so wonderful to wake up this morning, turn a CD on, and watch the children QUICKLY and HAPPILY do everything they needed to do to get ready for school. They even all did an "Act of Kindness" ... (IE: Chore) without me asking them to.

I'm trying to make this as simple as possible for everyone involved. Yesterday I went through all of the kids clothes and boxed up a bunch of them. The drawers and closets were all stuffed to overflowing. They were constantly fighting over hangers (and we now have a HUGE box of empty hangers). Many of the things I boxed were summertime clothes that they can't wear right now anyway. Some things we're getting rid of because they're too small or too stained. (LOL - you should see how big the girls' boxes are - they have SOOO many clothes.) It feels so good just to have completed that step of the simplification of life. I let everyone choose six shirts to keep in their closets. They have two outfits for Sunday, four sets of pajamas, and all the underwear and socks that didn't have holes/stains in them. We boxed everything else. We'll do laundry one day a week instead of three or four. I've already started teaching them how to help with the laundry.

I think the kids are relieved too - so many less things for them to be in charge of. I'm hoping this will help them be more motivated to hang up/fold and put away their clothes, instead of stuffing them under beds, behind the dresser, and under the dresser. I'm also hoping they will be able to tell which clothes are clean and which are dirty so they won't just keep putting things in the laundry basket hoping I won't notice!

The next project is toy simplification. I'm going to rotate through things. Put some boxes in the downstairs storage, leave them there for a month or so, then box up the things that have been played with and switch. We have seven people in a 3 bedroom house and there is clutter everywhere. That's part of my stress problem right now and I'm excited to get it under control. I need to go through my own things as well.

Anyway, the program above is great. There is a CD for the morning routine and one for the bedtime routine. Each one includes an "Act of Kindness" that each child is responsible for. If they need help, I will show them how to do it. Once they are well trained in that area of the house, they will choose another area that they want to learn to take care of. These are small, simple things like "Unload the dishwasher", "Fill the dishwasher", "Vacuum under the table." Then they need to get dressed, make beds, put clothes away, brush teeth, etc. And I don't have to tell them to do any of it. The CD does it for me. :) It has fun, upbeat classical pieces on it, many of which I have performed in my orchestral experience.

At the end of the routine, I give each child a sticker on their hand so they can remember that they did a good job, and I thank them for loving our family by helping around the house and doing their jobs quickly w/out me asking, and then we hug.

I'm looking forward to continuing to work on being a happier, more productive family, and here's to having less stress in all of our lives! :)