Family – Financial Frogs

I’m Living In The Lamest Frat House and I Think I’m The Maid

There are clothes EVERYWHERE! In my sitting room, living room, hallways, bathroom floors, stairs and just about anywhere else you can think of. Anything from socks and underwear to shirts just laying around all over my house.

Then there’s the nakedness…. A house full of half dressed teenagers and a mostly naked preschooler running around making messes and a whole lot of noise. I guess this explains why there’s always clothes all over my house.

Of course there’s also the dirty dishes and overflowing trash after only a day or two. The dishes are often found in every room of the house, on top of the furniture, under the furniture, in the trash, next to the trash. Crumbs, so many crumbs. Spills, messes, trash, all of it. Continue reading “I’m Living In The Lamest Frat House and I Think I’m The Maid”

I’m Not Cleaning This Up Myself, You Live Here Too!

ZONES! Zones are the answer. This wasn’t always the answer. For years there’s been too big a gap between skills and abilities for my oldest kids so we had to divide cleaning chores by chore rather than by area. This was rarely successful and it meant that neither kid ever learned how to clean an entire room top to bottom. Things got missed. Fights over who’s chores were easier or the number of tasks each kid was assigned were common. It seemed impossible to make it work and keep the cleaning train on track.

I didn’t want to spend every weekend blowing a whole day on cleaning but the week days were just too busy for actual cleaning to happen and by the end the week everything looked like a tornado had come through.

Clearly there has to be a better way. The frustration was growing which you would know if you read I’m Living In The Lamest Frat House Ever and I Think I’m The Maid. If you haven’t, check it out because you might be able to relate or you’ll have further evidence that my house is a bit crazy at times. Continue reading “I’m Not Cleaning This Up Myself, You Live Here Too!”

Laundry, Laundry Everywhere, Laundry Near and Far, Let’s Count How Many Types There Are

I’m guessing I am not the only one that has laundry troubles. It is the never ending task. Unless you spend a lot of time completely naked, you are always creating more laundry. Since there are 5 people in my home, dirty laundry is always being made and sometimes at an alarming rate. Not gonna lie, I have considered implementing a nakedness policy just so I could go a whole day with all laundry being done and put away and nothing new being dirtied. Continue reading “Laundry, Laundry Everywhere, Laundry Near and Far, Let’s Count How Many Types There Are”

Is Your Vehicle Your Second Home? Does It Look Like It Is?

How much time do you spend in your vehicle whether it be actually driving or waiting around for a child or sitting in it because you just don’t want to go inside yet?

Perhaps you commute to work like many people do or maybe you spend a lot of time doing carpool to and from school and extracurricular functions. Perhaps you are like me and you spend a lot of time driving for business activities, volunteer functions, various board activities, and transporting kids to various activities and events. Continue reading “Is Your Vehicle Your Second Home? Does It Look Like It Is?”

Keeping It Straight, A Way To Organize Those School Papers

Several years ago I was completely overwhelmed by the piles and piles of school papers building up in my house. I was also concerned about how to manage the guilt of deciding what was important enough to keep and what wasn’t. As a mom everything that the kids brought home from school was special and important, but as a practical person with a desire for cleanliness and organization, I knew tough decisions had to be made. Continue reading “Keeping It Straight, A Way To Organize Those School Papers”