Tackle it Tuesday: Three Year Olds Can Put Away Laundry!   

March 11, 2008 | 6 Comments

First off, I apologize - I meant to have photos to post of this project, but my camera up and died yesterday! Hopefully it’s just the battery and I’ll be able to post photos later this week.

Ok, now on to today’s Tackle. I have a family of 5 - soon to be 6 (if you haven’t already, check out the nursery blogging project!), and with our 3-year old potty training, let’s just say we generate a LOT of laundry! One of the biggest challenges to all this laundry hasn’t been getting it put through the washer and dryer, but getting it all put away. I can get through about 4-5 loads of laundry in a day if I stay on top of it, and it’s easier for me to put it all away at the end of the day, rather than put each load away individually. I usually sort and fold laundry while the kids are in their bath.

Here’s the problem with my existing system: by the time I have the clothes sorted and folded, the boys are ready for bed. I can’t really get the clothes into their dressers and closet while they’re trying to go to sleep, so their clothes end up being stored in laundry baskets.

That’s gotta end - it’s driving me nuts!

There are two reasons that the boys couldn’t put their own clothes away: First, they would have to accurately figure out which clothes belonged to which person, and second, they would have to remember which drawer each item of clothing belonged in.

On the first point - figuring out which person each item belonged to - I bought 3 smallish laundry baskets. They’re just big enough to hold one boy’s clothes, and small enough for them to carry or push them down the hall to their room. I labeled them with each boy’s name in their favorite color. As I’m folding, I sort the clothes into each boy’s basket.

On the second point - helping them remember which drawers are theirs and which holds shirts, pants, etc. - I’m turning that problem into a homeschooling opportunity! Our oldest is starting to read independently, our middle son is starting to sound out words, and our youngest is learning to recognize his name and his brothers’ names.

I found index cards with manuscript lines printed on them, and some clip art showing shirts, pants, and pajamas. I made three cards for each boy, and wrote a label for each drawer in the boy’s favorite color, then taped a picture of the clothing item to the card.

Now, each boy has a color-coded laundry basket with his name on it, and three drawers with color-coordinated labels with his name, the word for the appropriate clothing item, and a picture of the clothing that belongs in that drawer.

To test the theory, I lined up the full baskets in the hallway outside their room, and sent them each in to put their laundry away. It worked - even my 3 year old got all of his clothes put away in the correct drawers!

I’ll try to get pictures posted later this week, once my camera is working again.

Tackle it Tuesday: The Monthly Budget   

March 4, 2008 | 4 Comments

Ok, this week’s project wasn’t nearly as inspiring or creative as last week’s Big Board, but it’s arguably just as crucial. This weekend I tackled our budget for March. I’ll admit, I dread the project every month, but when it’s done I have to admit I feel like a huge weight has been lifted.

It’s fear of the unknown. Unless I write out a budget for the month, I have literally no idea whether or not we’ll have enough cash to make it through the month - and odds are we’ll end up with a nasty surprise around the 15th because we just didn’t keep track of how much we were actually spending.

So there you go - it’s not glamorous, but it’s necessary for maintaining sanity. Of course, writing up the budget is the easy part. Sticking to it all month is what gets difficult.

That’s my big question in this post. WHY on Earth is it so darn hard to stick to a budget? Sometimes unexpected expenses pop up. I understand that. But even when that’s not the case it seems like the math I do at the beginning of the month never seems to match up to reality by the end of the month. Any ideas as to why this is and how to make math reflect reality?

Tackle it Tuesday: The Big Board   

February 26, 2008 | 11 Comments

Shauntelle over at A Beautiful Abode suggested that I should join the Tackle It Tuesday meme, so here goes. My big project this week is the Big Board. I tried to get pictures, but it’s kinda hard to photograph something transparent, so I’ll just give you the quick rundown.

I’m a very visual person. I need to see everything going on, for my own mental health. If I can’t see it, I’m likely to forget about it, and that usually has consequences. Bad consequences. So there’s the background for this project. There’s a lot going on in this family, and I need to be able to see it all at once.

I have my household notebook, but it’s simply not big enough to show me everything at once. I decided what I really needed was a really big whiteboard - ideally about 3′ x 4′. I could go bigger, but that’s the size of the wall space I can devote to this. When I priced out whiteboards of that size at the office store, well….I decided that household organization probably isn’t worth a week’s worth of groceries for the family. So - it’s time to get creative.

Step 1. Get a big sheet of plexiglass. I spent $19.95 for a sheet that measures 3′ x 4′ at the local home improvement warehouse. While you’re there, pick up some picture wire and some strong wall hooks. I’m using Hercules Hooks because they’re rated to 150 lbs. and don’t need to be drilled into a stud.

Step 2. Drill two holes at the top corners of the plexiglass.

Step 3. Thread the picture wire through the holes and knot securely on the back side.

Step 4. Put the Hercules Hooks into the wall so they line up nice and straight.

Step 5. Hang the Big Board.

Not too hard, huh? The great part is, plexiglass takes dry erase markers perfectly. They erase better than real whiteboards do, I think. There’s no scrubbing, and no ghost lines left if you leave something up for a week or more.

Now, I have a different color for each member of the family, an area where I list out what I need to do each day for about a week, and a brainstorming area for - well, brainstorms, notes to self (or others!), and general mind dumping.

We’ve had this up for about 10 days now, and the family has already learned that if they need me to know about something, they write it on the Big Board. If it’s not on the Big Board, I don’t know about it and I’m not responsible for remembering it!

So there you go. My first Tackle It Tuesday post. Here’s to plenty more!