Keer “Unplugged”

To Do: 9 Comments

1. Serena wrote,

   Kirstin,
   That is a lot to do and maybe a bit more to bite off than you can get done in that time. Prioritize your list and then do the Flylady thing where you set the timer for 15 minute chunks of time to tackle the jobs. It is amazing how much you can accomplish in 15 minutes at a time. I don’t know if you know about Flylady or not, but her site is flylady.org and you can sign up for encourageing emails to keep you on track. When you get decluttered and have a routine, it really does not take much to keep up a home. I wish I had known all this at your age. I grew up in a “messy” home and lived as a “messy” up until the last few years. It is really in just the last year that I have learned the secrets to keeping a home orderly and I just turned 50 in May. One of the secrets I have found is to not have more than I have a place for. Then I work at keeping things in their place and am trying to train the children to do that, too. My older children have struggled since they were trained by a “messy” mother. I’m hoping better for these 3 youngest ones. I find that keeping a list helps, too to stay on track. I hope you can accomplish a lot before your husband gets home and that you feel good about what you got done when your inlaws are there. I found one of the biggest things that has helped was being able to keep the place clean for several weeks. It changed my visual so that now things that I didn’t “see” before, I “see” now and it bothers me enough to get it to where I like what I see. Before I was too used to messy surroundings so didn’t really notice the mess so much as I do now. May Father bless you with strength and wisdom for your tasks.
   Love and shalom,
   Serena

   Link | July 20th, 2005 at 2:10 pm

2. Barbara wrote,

   gee, and i’m overwhelmed just to pick up the living room!

   Link | July 20th, 2005 at 2:21 pm

3. razorbackmama wrote,

   LOL oh yes that was in “what can I think of” order rather than priority order.
   I’m a Flylady flunkie. Her method does not work for me one bit. ALTHOUGH, the original Sidetracked Home Executives method with the card system…oddly enough when I am “in the box” it works the best for me. I need to just buckle down and do it is all.

   So far since posting this list I’ve gotten the baker’s rack cleared off. (Our house is one big hot spot full of papers LOL.)

   Had to stop though because naptime rolled around and the baby needed to nurse….

   Link | July 20th, 2005 at 2:23 pm

4. Serena wrote,

   I actually don’t do the timer thing myself, but do keep a list and cross off what I have got done as I do it. I do find that routines help a lot. I bought “Managers of Their Homes” in hopes of sceduling our lives, but I have never been able to keep a schedule yet. I didn’t end up using the book and hope to sell it (or give it)someday to someone it will fit. I used the SHE method way back but we moved and the cards weren’t for the new place and it fell by the wayside. The Messies Manual has some good ideas, too, and she also has encouraging emails but not in the volume of Flylady. I had to get Flylady’s in a daily digest because I was on dial up at the time and did not have the time to load each email to read it. I did like the encouragement in the emails and would skim mainly for that.

   I know how much longer it takes with little ones. I have been there and am now, though my youngest is approaching 4 years old now. When your older ones are just a bit older, that will make a real difference if you are training them to be helping with the work. My son (age 12)has been vacuuming since he was big enough to move the vacuum which is at least 3-4 years now. He also is responsible for the dishes, burning the trash, and his share of folding and putting away laundry. G who is going on 6 now is starting to wash dishes some of the time, helps with the laundry and helps keep the messes picked up. I helps pick up and helps to fold and put away the washrags and smaller towels. G also is starting to wash the table and both G and I help to set it. It makes a real difference when they all start doing their part.

   Papers are my nemesis, too, but I am blessed with a cleany husband who helps keep my paper piles under control (though some of them do disappear on me that way that I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with yet).

   Love and shalom,
   Serena

   Link | July 20th, 2005 at 3:21 pm

5. razorbackmama wrote,

   Yes, I’m working on training my dc in how to work around the house. G (8) is pretty good at doing what I ask him to (only in the area of housework LOL!!!!!) - loves to clean the bathroom and vacuum. C (almost 7) loathes work in any form or fashion, and you’d think I was chopping off a leg by telling him to put away his clean clothes. Spare me. LOL!!! L (5) is so-so - she tends to sneak and not do something but we don’t realize it till later. Ugh.

   My dh isn’t really keen on them doing much since he didn’t have to start helping around the house till he was 8 or 9, so anytime I suggest that we are behind the ball on teaching the dc to do chores, he thinks I’m off my rocker.

   Well I AM, but not about this.
   Papers papers everywhere. My kids love to draw, so there are just papers (blank or drawn on) all over the place!

   Link | July 20th, 2005 at 3:29 pm

6. Serena wrote,

   I have a box just to put their papers in when they get out of hand. I need to sort through it and pick out some for grandma and discard some and keep the best, but right now it is sitting behind the loveseat and not bothering me so I’m not bothering it. I figured that you were teaching them already, just giving that unsolicited advice. It does help to get them going young. My 3 year old acts like we asked him to jump in a pot of hot oil about doing his chores, but he still ends up doing them with encouragement from us. No one said the job of raising children is easy, but it sure is rewarding.
   Love and shalom,
   Serena

   Link | July 20th, 2005 at 4:44 pm

7. Kimberly wrote,

   Did you say “loate housework”! I thought I was the only one. Our laundry got so bad this week that Joe actually loaded up almost all the laundry (all that would fit in the van) and went to the laundry mat. Of course, now that I’m back on my adrenal formula I’m getting something done. You would know that as soon as I started in on my HUGE pile of dishes, the pipes under the sink came apart…water everywhere. I guess I’m not meant to clean…

   Link | July 21st, 2005 at 6:19 am

8. Carla wrote,

   Maybe you can trick them by suggesting that “now that they are big enough……” the get to do something. This happened by accident with me. I “let” Rianna transfer washing from the washer to the drier because her arms were long enough. Soon everyone was in the laundry room wanting to know what their job was because they were “big enough” too. It was a wacky, weird, wonderful moment

   Link | July 21st, 2005 at 7:34 am

9. razorbackmama wrote,

   Oh Kimberly UGH!!!!!!! RIGHT before dh left for this trip, I noticed that there was air in the line in the kitchen sink anytime I’d turn it on. A while later dh looked under the sink, and there was water all over under the cabinet. Turns out the sprayer was loose. But I sure am glad that happened BEFORE he left - I would have had no idea what to do in order to fix it or even where to look!

   Carla, that works with G, but not with C. C is the boy who doesn’t give a rip LOL! Like when he kept having accidents, I couldn’t use the ol’ “if you keep having accidents I’ll put you back in diapers” method - he’d be THRILLED!!!!!!!!! LOL!!! I think laziness is just one of his besetting sins. *sigh*

   Link | July 21st, 2005 at 10:41 am