Mindless housekeeping, Part 2: Ready supplies = no excuses

Posted by Melissa in Cleaning, Uncategorized April 12, 2012

I’m still trying to find a cleaning routine that works for me. But one project that I thought might help make some new cleaning routines stick is storing cleaning supplies right next to the job at hand.

In the past nine years, we’ve had babies and small children to worry about, so I’ve been careful to store cleaning supplies high up on a shelf. I do have a bin upstairs and another downstairs, but now that the kids are old enough not to drink the toilet bowl cleaner, if I store the essentials within reach in each bathroom, they can also help with the cleaning.

After a week, I think it’s working. I bought an extra spray bottle and stocked up again on Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day (the lemon verbena scent is our favorite). Each bathroom now has a bin or bucket with a spray bottle of cleaner, a bottle of toilet cleaner, and several clean rags. The older kids have been instructed on how to clean the sinks, mirrors and toilets, and Miss Six has already earned some cash. Little Four likes to wipe down the sink in the powder room, usually after a prolonged splashing session. (Mr. Nine has been studiously avoiding this chore, preferring to be the Garbage-Can-and-Recycling-Bin-Bringer-Inner.) I’ve been wiping down the master bath most every day after my shower, since it only takes a minute and the supplies are RIGHT THERE.

Now I’m pondering what other supplies could be placed more conveniently. I’m still having visions of a powerful little hand vac to keep upstairs…

Mindless housekeeping, Part 1: Setting the laundry on autopilot

Posted by Melissa in Cleaning April 4, 2012

I’ve been thinking a lot about housekeeping routines lately. I want a clean and tidy house. I spend most of my time here, and I find it difficult to write, try a new recipe or play a game with the kids when a cluttered, dirty house is staring me in the face. I think we do reasonably well, but I know we can do better.

The thing is, I don’t want to think about keeping the house clean. I don’t want to resent the time it takes out of my day or feel guilty if I don’t take the time. I want it to become as automatic as brushing my teeth before bed, and not take much more time than that, either.

But just as it’s not automatic for my kids to brush their teeth before bed (without a reminder–or three or four–they just won’t do it), housecleaning is not yet a mindless habit for me. This spring I’ve begun to think about my daily housework a little like my kids’ “morning work” that they do every day at school–just a few exercises that have to be completed before moving on to the rest of the day’s activities. For me, this includes emptying the dishwasher, loading the breakfast dishes, making my bed, and starting a load of laundry. In reality this routine only takes about half an hour. What I haven’t accomplished yet is adding–automating, really–the rest of the house cleaning. It isn’t that we don’t clean house. We just tend to do things on an as needed basis, an oh-my-gosh-I-can’t-stand-it-anymore-I-have-to-clean-it-right-now reaction.

So the first mindless routine I worked on was laundry. With a family of five, in just a couple days our laundry bin is overflowing. I used to do it about three times a week, and made a special effort to be all caught up on Friday so nobody would have any laundry to do over the weekend. But then Monday morning would arrive, and I found it so disheartening to stumble down the basement stairs and face a toppling pile of dirty clothes.

Whichever bin is most full gets washed…looks like whites are next!

My new routine is simple. Every day–even Saturday and Sunday–I sort the dirty clothes in the bin (we have a laundry chute, so thankfully I don’t have to collect dirty clothes from upstairs), and every day I wash, dry, fold and put away one load. Sometimes there is an inevitable second load (usually involving one of the kid’s bedding), but most days it takes 10-15 minutes total. Honestly, today I timed myself and it took seven minutes to fold this basket of clothes. Exactly one more minute to put it away.

I read somewhere that it takes three weeks to learn a new habit. After six weeks, I’m finally at the point where I don’t resent the laundry. No, really! I don’t even think about it anymore. I am always caught up. There are no overflowing bins, no baskets of wrinkled clothes waiting to be folded. And if, once in a while, I miss a day (things happen!) it’s not a big deal to get back on the horse, so to speak.

I’ll be back in a few days to update you on how we’re doing with some other new routines, and whether the kids get on board with the project. When I suggested that it’s time they learned how to clean a toilet, I was met with expressions of abject horror. “But that’s SO GROSS!” Perhaps it’s time to watch some old episodes of How Clean is Your House?. Now that’s a horror show!

Choose a chore, kids

Posted by Melissa in Cleaning, Kids March 22, 2012

I’m still waiting for the magic moment of parenting when I can delegate a bunch of the routine housekeeping chores to my children. I want them to learn to be competent, self-sufficient adults who can care for themselves, and naturally, it would make my life a little easier. We’re still in the stage where they have to be reminded 17 times to brush their teeth, put their clothes down the laundry chute, and clear their plates. They can perform all those tasks acceptably, but the effort on my part to remind them repeatedly wears me down. And of course, teaching them each new task involves time and effort, too.

Clearly, I’m not the only parent who struggles with this. Did you see this blog post in the New York Times? All I can say is, I’m happy to report that my six- and nine-year-old can tie their own shoes (though my first grader tells me that not everyone in her class can do so).

We’ve flirted with chore charts before, but they’ve always been paper charts, so that I needed to print new ones every week. I liked the customizable charts at Goalforit, but was forever running out of printer ink or forgetting whether I’d paid the agreed allowance. If your child is old enough to fill in the chart online, it could be a great tool. It just didn’t work for us. The other down side was that I had to assign sets of chores to specific kids, and then they would get tired of doing those chores or argue that someone else had a better slate.

So I’ve been thinking about making some sort of reusable chore chart or system. Pinterest was a great resource for ideas. Most of the ones I found are a lot prettier than ours, but I don’t spend that much time crafting and I don’t have a ton of supplies. No stash of scrapbook paper, no Cricut machine, no assortment of craft sticks, magnets or chalkboard paint. I did not want to spend more at Hobby Lobby to make a homemade chart than it would cost to buy a cute finished one on Etsy.

I finally settled on a magnetic memo board from Ikea. I also bought the coordinating magnets, which are conveniently large enough to write on. I didn’t have much of a plan before I started, but I pulled out my set of Sharpies and a ruler and jumped in. I drew lines to mark off a section for each child, and left a section for the unused magnets. I wrote a chore and its value on each magnet (there are multiples of some chores, like cleaning up the kitchen and tidying a room). Whenever they like, the kids can choose a chore to do and then put the magnet on their section. When I get around to paying them what they’re owed, I move the magnet back down. And from now on, they will use their earnings for school book orders and other small treats, or they can save for something larger.

One week in to the system, it seems to be working. They like the element of choice (what to do and when to do it) and the ability to earn more for doing more. I like that I don’t have to calculate anything or remind, nag or bribe anyone. I have had to supervise and give some direction for some chores, but the older two have surprised me with their skills. I’m really optimistic that this system might last. I can add and subtract chores from the chart as the kids grow. And just days after I hung the chart, all three kids had tidied their rooms, loaded the dishwasher and begged for a turn to clean the bathroom sink. It’s progress.

A safe haven from pollen

Posted by Melissa in Cleaning, Health, Kids, Laundry March 20, 2012

The air outside smells so good. The trees are greening up, daffodils are bobbing in the breeze, and we can hear a woodpecker hammering away. The temperature is a perfect 73 degrees. But today I closed up all the windows, turned on the air conditioner, and dragged the vacuum cleaner upstairs, because my poor kid suffers from allergies to tree pollen.

This week his eyes have been red and watery, he’s had long stretches of serial sneezing, and last night, just after midnight, he had his first big nosebleed of the season. Our pediatrician recommended Claritin (we buy the generic loratadine), which definitely helps manage his symptoms. We have also started giving him a dose of Benadryl at bedtime to manage the watery eyes and sneezing, which often triggers his nosebleeds. (The drowsiness side effect is just a bonus.) I am grateful that he doesn’t have asthma or any other condition that can be exacerbated by allergies, but the symptoms he does have can be miserable, distracting him at school and disturbing his nighttime sleep. I can’t put him in a plastic bubble. He has to go to school and I’m not going to discourage his active playtime outdoors. But here are a few ways we help him stay comfortable at home during the spring allergy season.

6 ways to alleviate pollen allergy symptoms:

Close the windows. I hate to do it, but if the pollen isn’t blowing in, he isn’t breathing it.
Especially in the bedroom, vacuum (with a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter, if possible), dust with a damp cloth, and wash all the bedding in hot water.
Change the furnace filter regularly.
Have your child wear a hat outside and change clothes after playing outdoors for any length of time.
Encourage kids to shower before bed. It rinses off the pollen (especially in their hair) that they’ve accumulated while playing outside, and the steam helps clear the nasal passages.
To keep nasal passages moist and prevent nosebleeds, use a saline mist or ointment in the nose morning and night.

Now, if anyone can suggest six ways to convince a nine-year-old boy that taking a shower every day is a good idea, I’m all ears.

A little spring cleaning

Posted by Melissa in Cleaning, Kids, Organizing March 15, 2012

Feels like spring! With temperatures in the 70s this week, I was propelled to do a little work in the garage. Nothing major, but I finally gathered all the boxes we flung into the garage on Christmas Day, plus all the ones we tossed on top of the pile in the months since. I even got them all out to the curb in time for the recycling truck. Okay, there’s still one giant box from the new desk in our bedroom and a stack of styrofoam, but I plan to break that down and get it into next week’s garbage (unfortunately, it seems there is only one recycler of styrofoam in Illinois, and it’s not that close). Now the kids can find their scooters and there’s an actual path from the door to the van that isn’t strewn with crumpled wrapping paper and plastic grocery bags.

The next day I took the string of snowflake lights down from the porch and put away the basket of snow toys. I wiped down the tables and chairs and dragged the porch rug out of the basement. I even cleaned the light fixtures. A couple hours after I set the chairs at precise angles and swept all the pine needles from the concrete, half a dozen kids gathered, lounged on the porch swing, scattered pine cones, doodled with sidewalk chalk, and tossed each other’s shoes into the hedge.