No help over summer-keep house in order

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Forum -> Parenting our children

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amother

Wed, Jun 29 2022, 9:24 pm

Ok. So my help left for over the summer. Not the heavy cleaning help. The laundry folding messer put awayer.

My kids are 6 and 9. I want to put some things in place so that I can minimize what I need to do Bec I much prefer to use my energy parenting them and dealing with other important things.

So far I:

Got baskets for every room where I put the clean laundry. So I do need to sort but no folding

I'm debating if I should just do each kids laundry seperately then I really cut down on sorting, both the dirty and clean laundry. Besides for white shirts is that a crazy idea??

Next. I told my kids that over the summer I am not putting away any toys in the room (only putting laundry in the hamper and garbage in the garbage. And yes, they generally don't help)

I made a rule that no brining toys in to the main parts of the house unless you clean it up or it's 1 toy and then maybe I can clean it.

Any other ideas welcome!!

Dreamer

Wed, Jun 29 2022, 9:27 pm

I find that the kitchen stays way cleaner on the nights I don't cook supper. When I serve cold-cut sandwiches there are no pots to wash, potato peels, or anything extra on the counters.

amother

Iris

Wed, Jun 29 2022, 9:53 pm

My life has gotten much easier since I started washing clothing by person instead of by color.

Definitely try it! I even started folding for the first time in over a decade because it's just 5 minutes per load when it's all the same person's clothes and requires much less brain power.

I put white shirts in too. Just sometimes I'll do a white load with whitener with my husband's and son's shirts. Maybe I need to replace shirts more often, but it is totally worth it.

Other ideas:

Implement a 5-minute cleanup job at night. Pick a room, and join them in spending 5 minutes on a timer putting things away. Rules: Only pick up things you know where to put down. Start with the easy stuff.

Practice clearing your place before leaving the table.

Teach them to make their beds in the morning. Room looks much nicer!

amother

Wed, Jun 29 2022, 10:17 pm

Thank you both. Great ideas!

amother

Thu, Jun 30 2022, 10:23 am

All other ideas welcome!

momof2+?

Thu, Jun 30 2022, 11:16 am

Kids that are 6 and 9 are very capable. They may not want to help, but they are able to. I think the important thing is to not let their rooms get messy to begin with. Do they have to play toys in their rooms? My children have a dirty hamper and small garbage can in each of their rooms. I (try!) to remind them to clean up their rooms for 1 minute before bedtime. It’s always just dirty laundry and some garbage. Sometimes some random toys.

When your desperate, bribing always works at that age 😉

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