Basket o' Crap

Do you have one of these at your house?

..for the freezer goodies or other 'treats'...

It works wonders... miracles... turns your kids into little worker bees.  I haven't perused my enormous google reader blogroll for 4 months...until now.  Too many amazing ideas were awaiting me.  Summer crazy solved.  We've always had incentivizing chore & behavior charts ....some more complicated than others.  But the simplicity and loveliness of this idea captured all the summer bribery we needed.  The kids so affectionately named it our basket o' crap... cause that's precisely what it is.  Their own personal store full of junk, crap... the kind I usually don't buy but the kind that makes them clean toilets, wash windows, dust blinds, stairwells, scrub walls, pull weeds, as well as do all their normal everyday stuff like say prayers, make beds, clean rooms... without even whining.  

Miracle worker bees.  

Oh, and it alleviates the kids asking all. day. long. if they can have chips, juice, crackers, gum, etc. etc.  because they know they can't unless they've earned enough points to visit out little store aka basket o' crap and cash them in.  They earn points by completing their chores, including my fave, 'mom's choice,' and being caught doing kind things, treating each other with respect, responding the FIRST time they're called, etc.  They also earn points doing their workbooks and reading, piano & violin practice, you name it--- it can have points!  Now, this is after a day of redeeming... and yes, they can lose points too... when attitudes and mutual respect is lacking.

Each 'room' of kids (x3) share a jar.  Each child has a different color they shaded in at one end of their sticks.  The chore is written on the stick, and they start the day off with the color facing down.  When they complete the chore, they turn the stick, color-up.  Easy peasy... visual representation of progress, and the best part is that they can do it themselves so momma doesn't have to micro-manage.  Chores are expected, so they don't get points for each chore... but they do get one point if ALL their chores are completed.  I wanted this basket o' crap to be attached to the 'extras' and especially an incentive to have less chaos and more order around the house (attitudes included).

   Go make yours today!

Pottery Barn has nothin' on me!

This was almost 2 1/2 years in the making.  Well, in my head, that is.  This summer I finally took the plunge and bought the bedford desks from PB to outfit our little nook upstairs. AT LAST!!!!  The dining room table won't be homework & coloring central for the big and little monkeys (just in time to move...the way Murphy's Law works sometimes I guess).  There's two work stations and eventually, when I can resurrect my laptop, there will be two computers.  From PB, I bought:

• one 70" rectangular desktop, 
• one small desk with the legs, 
• a CPU cabinet, and 
• a three-drawer file cabinet.  (I do get a 40% discount, folks....so PB is economical for me neener neener).

I didn't want to buy another cabinet to support the other end of the desk, so instead I installed a cleat to the wall all around the 70" desktop to support it and this is how it all fits my space:  Custom look for a lot less! (believe me, I priced out a few custom sets from Home Depot & Lowes).

I LOVE the PBT style tile system, but not the price.  SO, I designed and made my own...for $150 with the input of Bray, Kenz, and Mons.  It's 3x4 feet...and the kids have put it to good use.

Each tile is 12" square.  So Bray, Kenz, and Mons each have:

• 1 magnet board
  
• 1 white board
  
• 1 peg board
  
• 1 cork board.
  

I didn't want chalk dust, but it would have been easy to spray some backing board with chalk spray.

Each of them helped me pick out some heavy-weight fabric for their cork boards.  I had Home Depot cut backing board & pegboard into 12x12" squares for me, as well as a 4x3 foot piece of backing board, which I screwed into the wall. I also picked out some molding to frame this whole board out at HD and mitered the edges (did I mention I LOVE TOOLS??).  I assembled each square and backed it with a square of backing board, with the exception of the pegboard, which got two 1x12" strips of backing board on the top & bottom of the back to allow for a voided space for peg hanging.  Then each finished 12x12 piece was attached to the main 4x3 foot board with industrial strength velcro.  How handy!~My new friend.

The magnet board (galvanized sheet metal) came in a 4x3 foot sheet.  I bought tin snips for $10 and cut the metal sheet into 12x12" squares.  Because the edges were quite sharp, I wrapped electrical tape around the edges to avoid another ouchie to my fingers.  I then mod-podged the front of the tin and laid a piece of 12x12" scrapbook paper on top (covering the tape), then smoothed it down adding another layer of mod-podge to secure it and preserve the paper.  I used industrial strength velcro to secure it to the 12x12" backing board.  Walaa!  A custom magnetic surface with some panache!

I bought the cork board online in 12x12 sheets, then backed it with backing board using liquid nails.  I then centered the front of the board on a 14" square piece of decorator fabric and used my power stapler to secure the fabric around both boards.   

I bought this dry erase paint from Home Depot and painted three 12x12 backer boards with the white board paint.  I did find 12x12" dry erase squares online...all different colors for $8 each.  What a deal compared to PBT's $29, but the company must have gone under because they took my money...TWICE and never sent the product.    Gheesh...people these days.

I then cut and backed the molding with my handy velcro...attached it, then painted it and look how great this command center is!  I sing a song  and move with a hop in my step everytime I pass by my beloved little nook.  I know you want one...so now, go make your own! I've included a video tutorial I found for the copycat PB style tile board just in case what I say is gibberish and you really want to make one. (You have to watch a plug for the Huntsman Cancer Institute first cause KSL says so).

Chore System

I'm #1 resident NAG in our home....and I DESPISE IT! This is what I do to try and avoid that rating:

Last year while on bedrest....to avoid more chaos and to keep a sense of organization and responsibility, I bought a chore system for the computer called 'the reward board.' It worked GREAT...it was motivating, inspiring, fun, visual, and exciting. I love that it helped the kids to focus on behaviors they felt they needed extra work on as well as make decisions and personal goals. I would input all their duties, then print a weekly chart out to give them a visual to mark off daily. The only problem was that the kids didn't update and check off their chores often enough on the computer, and then the reward board couldn't add their points up and thus, they couldn't choose their rewards. If they fell behind in marking them off on the program, it was a huge task to input so much at once. Technology can be a pain sometimes.

The 'idea' was fabulous and it worked for a time. So, I've taken that idea, and searched the net for others and came up with a system that I think will work for our family. Funny enough, once I had it written down on paper it's really almost identical to what I did when we lived in Utah...just a little more fancy and detailed. Here's what we came up with just in time for back to school:

~*~I picked up the magnet board at Costco for $22 last week.

~*~I bought 1/8" crepe art tape to make my lines and divide the board into sections at Office Depot.

~*~I made each of the tags in photoshop, laminated, then attached neo magnets (which I ordered from the link) to the back of each one. The little girls have basic pictures of their tasks to help them know what they need to do.

 

 

~*~The magnetic-backed tins came from ikea--the grundtal collection.  I'm working on punching holes in the side, so that as they sit on the board, the hole is on top.

How it works:

*They each have two major household chores. We used to rotate these every week, but this summer we changed it to a month-at-a-time. It's worked really well, so we rotate the two major chores every month. (Viviana's job is to look cute right now...we're working on that change-your-own-diaper thing. kidding

*All have they need to fulfill daily and they need to work on.

*For each one successfully completed daily, they put a button (point) in their container (thus, the hole I'm working on drilling in each one).

*Certain behaviors earn extra points ('I'm Awesome') and other behaviors & actions deduct from their earnings ('oopsies!').

*They can 'cash in' for rewards ('jackpot!') that have point values. Of course we can add to/take away from the reward-type as needed.

Obviously this is very visual & tactile. Lexie & Izzie's have little pictures next to their tasks so they can figure out what they need to do each day. I mounted it in their new computer/homework command station (which I'll post about later this week) so they see it all the time and have constant reminders of their tasks & behaviors:

My hope is that they'll be more motivated and they'll just be better and that I'll have self-starters, rather than me being #1 Momma Nag. Each of them have something they're working towards that they chose. I'm sure we'll change things up as we go to make them more independent workers and well-behaved members of this crazy clan. I really don't like nagging and I despise whining...and I'm always looking for ways to function with such a large family without- well...going bonkers everyday!

My Bling-Bling

It's so easy to get to bedtime, stumble upstairs and shove my things in my closet thinking I will actually put them in their place tomorrow. In my house, tomorrow never comes! My closet was proof of that! Bras, new purchases, returns ready to go back, jewelry, an umbrella, and somewhere in that pile is the perfect necklace for my outfit that day, only it's lost in the chaos! I know you all do the same thing, only your chaos may be a little more manageable and not so unsightly. I'm really not a true slob... promise.

With her photos of her organized jewels, My friend, Katie, inspired me to clean up my slobby mess. I like to call it organized chaos-pretty much that refers to everything in this home. Now I can actually find my jewelry stash instead of searching through zippered bags, thumbing through drawers and the big pile of bling to find that one earring I remember buying a couple of years ago. I knew I had a lot of the bling-bling thanks to my Cookie Lee days, but I didn't realize I had this insane much. And 99% of my stash is costume jewelry... nothing to stick your nose up at. But you can never have too much, right? And yes, those are all bracelets on that top display. I think I also have enough earrings and necklaces to outfit a whole runway of girls--actually, I have done that before for a fashion show! My silver displays from my days of selling at the Utah County Fair sure came in handy when I organized! Need some bling? You know where I am! It's no wonder how my girls got so girly.