My life...just not on the road I expected (but it's still dang good).

Our NEW Chore & Allowance Approach

As I've mentioned before, I want to occasionally share some of the things we're doing in this house that are working.

Not because I'm doing it all right (Truth be told, I'm doing a lot wrong.) or because I'm chock-full of good ideas (I can't take credit for most of these ideas because the bulk of them came from books or magazines or other mothers much wiser than myself.) but simply because I want to share what's working for us and because I want to gleam ideas from what's working around your house as well.

So periodically, I'm hoping to share one new thing that is working around here. I'll share why we're doing it, how we're doing it, and any other tips that I can think of that have helped us along the way.

And in return, I'm hoping you'll share with me what you're doing, why you're doing it, how you're doing it and any other tips you can think of that have helped in your success.

Sound fair?

Our NEW Chore & Allowance Approach...

I probably shouldn't post this under the "What's Working Around Here" section of this blog because truth be told, we just instituted this new system, so I have no clue whether or not it's going to work for us, but here's to hoping.

Our last Chore & Allowance system was kind of a failure. Either the kids didn't do their chores (without constant reminders) or they failed to check it off on the chore sheet. And even if they did occasionally do both of those things, the allowance-payer-outer (Josh Downs) was so slow in paying up that the kid quickly lost interest.

Eventually, we just ended up falling back into our old, default approach; Our kids forget to do their chores. We nag at our kids to do their chores. Our kids still don't do their chores. We yell at our kids for not doing their chores. Our kids unhappily and half-assidly (If that's not a word, it totally should be.) do their chores. We complain at our kids for their sub-standard chore-doing. Our kids don't get paid. No one is happy.  And no one learns any valuable life lessons about hard-work and/or money management.  

Not an approach I recommend.

So I spent a little bit of time trying to come up with a new approach:

1. I solidified a chore list that took into account what the kids schedules looked like on an average week and what things I felt needed done most around here.

2. I assigned each kid one chore per day (except for Sundays.) In addition to that chore, they have to have their backpacks cleaned out (no leftover lunchboxes or trash), packed for the next school day, and sitting by the front door before bedtime each night (to ensure that our mornings run a bit smoother.)

3. Each kid has a set of seven magnets attached to their door for each day of the week. (Technically, we didn't need a "Sunday" magnet since the kids don't do any chores on Sunday, but for some reason, the rest of the daily magnets looked lonely without having a "Sunday" magnet to round out the week.) Each magnet has their daily chore listed on it and which day of the week that chore is to be completed. (I had the kids write the day and chore on each magnet with a Sharpie pen.)

4. At the beginning of each week, I hang the money allotted for each chore under the magnets on each kid's door. (Cold, hard cash is a surprising motivator.) 

I keep a copy of the chore list in my office and on the fridge too.

5. Each kid has three mason jars in their room, one labeled, "charity", one labeled, "savings" and one labeled, "spending." (I used Ball Regular-Mouth Mason Jars that I found on sale and purchased these bank jar lids for each of them.)

6. I came up with an EASY money system that only involves dollar bills (No change, hallelujah!) and here's how it works:

- Each day, every kid can earn a total of $2 ($1 for their chore and $1 for their backpack) for a total of $12 per week.

- The first $2 a kid earns each week goes into a jar marked for church/charity. From there, any money they earn during the week is split 50/50 into two more jars; saving and spending. (With three kids, each potentially earning up to $12 per week, that ends up being...let me do some quick math here...a crapload of money each month. Since our kids are getting older though, they're responsible for paying for more things and saving for more things, so we're feeling like $12 is good for now, but are open to making adjustments as needed. (Another idea would be to use paper 'currency', like Monopoly money or I.O.U. tickets that your kids can redeem for things like a trip to the park, computer time, etc.) 

7. Once a kid's daily chore is done and their backpack is by the door, they just need to get a quick parental approval (to make sure things are done to satisfaction) and then they can take their money and distribute it into their banks.

8. Josh and I (mainly me) are going to try (really hard) not to nag or holler at our kids about their chores. If someone's chores aren't done/aren't done adequately, we're (I'm) just going to allow them to learn through the natural consequences of not getting paid and still having to do their chore the next day anyhow, but without pay. (More Starbucks money for me!) 

I designed the magnets and uploaded them to a place called Wacky Buttons. (I've ordered lots of buttons from them in the past and they're a great business to work with.) I ordered the "clothing magnet" kind and then I attached the magnets to the door using glue dots and Gorilla Glue as seen in the photo below. (A TINY bit of Gorilla Glue goes a looooong way, so use it sparingly - as you can see, I used too much and the gorilla glue seeped out along the outside edges of the magnet.)

In retrospect, I might recommend ordering the "refrigerator magnets" instead and attaching them to a metal strip that is fastened to the door like the one you see in my office a few shots up. (You can get metal strips like that from any home improvement store.) Then you wouldn't have to hassle with all the glue. Or better yet, use the refrigerator magnets on your fridge if you've only got one or two kids. (With three kids, I figured that would be way too much of a mess on my fridge.)

And I designed them in a variety of colors; blues for Cole, greens for Courtney Lee and pinks for Yans.

If you want to order any of these buttons, just go to the "Order Page" on the Wacky Buttons website and then enter the Design Code (based on the color you want to order) under the, "Order by Design Code" section. I ordered the "Clothing Magnet" version in the 2.25 inch size, but they come in a variety of sizes and backing options.

Please note that I do NOT make any money from any purchases you make on the Wacky Button site - just sharing for the sake of sharing...

Enjoy!

The Scavenger Hunt list

Lots of questions about our Scavenger Hunt list from the Unplanned Plan (Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, Day Five and Day Six photos are here.) so I'll give a go at answering those, but let me know in the comments section if you have any other questions and I'll add any additional answers in red to the bottom of this post...

The Scavenger Hunt was an idea Josh and I decided on a few days before the tip, but Josh volunteered to make the list since he knew I already had a lot of packing and prep work to do before we left.

We didn't know exactly where we were going on the trip though (other than that we'd be spending the first night in Mitchell, Oregon and that we'd be heading further East from there) so that meant we just had to be a little generic with the list.

Josh did include "Meet a person named Skeeter" on the list and "What is the population of Mitchell, Oregon" since he knew we'd be spending our first night in Mitchell at the Oregon Hotel (and Skeeter, the owner, was the one who helped Josh make our reservation.)

Aside from that though, Josh just added a bunch of fun, random and/or  helpful things to the list.

And Josh took on the responsibility of being the 'judge' because what we hadn't expected was that the kids would have 14 bazillion questions about every single item on the list and that arguments would ensue in regards to the list as well. (At one point during the trip, we explained to the kids that they were taking something that was meant to be 'fun' and turning it into something really 'NOT fun' with their incessant questions and bickering over the list. And eventually, we resorted to threats to take away quarters if the questions/arguments didn't come to a screaching halt.)

But there were things on the list like "Point out a deer in the wild.", "Dance in public.", "Spot a double-rainbow.", "Hold the door for an elderly woman." "List the history of one of the small towns we visited."

"Win a foot race.", "Pick up someone else's trash.", "Name the fourth song that played on the radio once we started our trip.", "Buy something for a random stranger.", "Guess how many miles we traveled round trip.", "List all the names of towns you remember driving through on our trip.", "Fully submerge your body in a stream.", "Find a gold rock.", "Show a random act of kindness.", "Sing at the top of your lungs.", "Win a foot race.", "Strike up a conversation with a stranger and find out what sport they liked to play as a kid."

The adult winner won a "30-minute message." (That was a typo - was supposed to be a 30-minute massage.)

And the kid winner won a full week without any chores. (Josh and I would do their chores for them.)

And then within 30-minutes of getting home, we all sat down and tallied up our points, making everyone swear in advance that there would be no pouting/whining/arguing if they didn't win (and much to my surprise, there was no pouting, whining or arguing.)

The kid winner: Courtney Lee (with a narrow, 1-point lead over Cole.)

The adult winner: Me (I'm ignoring the typo though and am waiting for my "30-minute message' from my husband who doesn't like to talk about anything emotionally deeper than his love of the OSU Beavers.)

Packing for Trips

As I mentioned before, I want to start sharing some of the things we're doing in this house that are working.

Not because I'm doing it all right (Truth be told, I'm doing a lot wrong.) or because I'm chock-full of good ideas (I can't take credit for most of these ideas because the bulk of them came from books or magazines or other mothers much wiser than myself.) but simply because I want to share what's working for us and because I want to gleam ideas from what's working around your house as well.

So periodically, I'm hoping to share one new thing that is working around here. I'll share why we're doing it, how we're doing it, and any other tips that I can think of that have helped us along the way.

And in return, I'm hoping you'll share with me what you're doing, why you're doing it, how you're doing it and any other tips you can think of that have helped in your success.

Sound fair?

Packing for Trips

With three little kiddos, packing for trips is pretty time-consuming, but I think all the prep-work makes our vacations run smoother.

Packing clothes, without forgetting anything is my goal (Nobody likes it when I forget to pack their pants.) so over the years, I've developed a pretty good system.

Basically, if we're going on a four day trip for example, I'll grab four pairs of pants, four shirts, four sets of socks and four pairs of underoos from each kid's closet.

Then I start putting them into piles; one outfit for Annie, one for Courtney and one for Cole along with one set of underwear and socks for each kid (as seen in the photo above) and then I shove them into a plastic grocery sack (as seen in the photo below.)

Then, each morning of the trip, I only have to grab ONE bag to get THREE kids dressed in record time.

Normally, I don't label the bags. However, if we're doing a specific thing on a specific day that requires specific clothing, I'll label that bag with a Sharpie pen. For example, if we were planning to go hiking on Monday and my kids needed warmer clothing that day, I'd write "Monday" on the bag.

Then, I tie off bags that are complete (as shown in the photo below) and leave bags open that are still missing items (as shown in the photo above) until I find/wash the missing items and finish filling the bag.

And I try to use different colored bags to indicate different types of items so I can find what I need in a hurry.

For example, on this trip I used nothing but tan colored bags from Fred Meyers to pack the kids clothes, white bags from Target to pack their pajamas, and a bag from Justice for all their swimsuits.

And then I grab a couple of jackets/sweatshirts for each of them and shove them into a trash sack.

Packing clothes...done.

And year-round, I always keep a bag (shown below) packed with three toothbrushes (with their names written in Sharpie), toothpaste, a brush and hair ties to making packing quicker.

And then I make a grocery-run so I can pack daily snack bags in Ziplock bags for each of the kids (contents shown above) that they can ration throughout the day as they see fit. (This saves me from griping, hungry kids in between meals.)

And then I have each one of them pack an 'entertainment' bag for the car.

I always throw in a few packs of gum, a new notebook and some new colored pencils or pens to keep them busy and Josh usually takes them to the book store to buy a new chapter book to take on the trip too. 

That's the contents of Courtney Lee's bag above. (Three reading books, two coloring books, one notepad, two Mad Libs pads, a few Polly Pocket dolls, a bag full of colored pencils and three packs of gum. Oh, and a teddy bear, that didn't make it into the photo.)

Coley's. (Three reading books, one notepad, one stuffed pig, two Bionicles, a bag full of markers and three packs of gum.)

And Annie's. (A book on dog breeds, one notepad, a dry erase board, a dry erase pen, a dry eraser, a horse wearing a baseball uniform that she got from her Grandpa Tom, a bag full of colored pencils and three packs of gum.)

And two rolls of quarters for each of them (An idea my friend Tanya gave me.) which serves a dual purpose:

1. They get to spend the money on whatever they want during the trip, but its the only money they get.

2. Each time someone is misbehaving, they lose a quarter.

Makes for a much more pleasant trip.

And I had really hoped to get some more blog posts ready for Thursday and Friday of this week, but as you may have already guessed, we're heading out of town for Spring Break, and I've got to be up in five hours. 

Blogging or sleep???

Sleep for sure - so I'll see you next week.

Ok, you're turn. (What tricks do you have up your sleeve for packing/preparing for trips?)

Chores & Allowances

As I mentioned before, I want to start sharing some of the things we're doing in this house that are working.

Not because I'm doing it all right (Truth be told, I'm doing a lot wrong.) or because I'm chock-full of good ideas (I can't take credit for most of these ideas because the bulk of them came from books or magazines or other mothers much wiser than myself.) but simply because I want to share what's working for us and because I want to gleam ideas from what's working around your house as well.

So periodically, I'm hoping to share one new thing that is working around here. I'll share why we're doing it, how we're doing it, and any other tips that I can think of that have helped us along the way.

And in return, I'm hoping you'll share with me what you're doing, why you're doing it, how you're doing it and any other tips you can think of that have helped in your success.

Sound fair?

Chores & Allowances

I've always been a parent who believes in chores. In fact Ross (who is celebrating his 21st birthday next month) always had chores growing-up, but for some reason, I've had a tough time getting the whole ball rolling on regular, daily household chores for these three little ones that are still at home.

Sure, we'd ask them to do things around the house, and sure, they had to clean their rooms, but never with any scheduled regularity or accountability.

I think part of that is because of my 'all or nothing' personality which led me to feel like until I had hours to devote to making a perfect and detailed chore list, a flawless and accurate method of tracking those chores, the time and patience to show the kids specifically how we wanted things done and a well thought-out allowance system to keep them motivated, that there was no sense in trying to instutue such a thing.

And I think the other part of the equation is my 'if you want something done right, do it yourself' mentality, which (let's be honest) isn't always the best approach - and in this situation, it was cheating my kids out of some pretty healthy life lessons in responsibility, spending habits and teamwork within a family.

So a few months back, Josh and I took a few minutes (not a few hours) to get this whole ball rolling.

I made the chore-list that hangs on the fridge:

And Josh Downs made the calendar (that also hangs on the fridge) where we sign-off daily on each of the kids chores:

And then together, we came up with an allowance system that works for us.

Basically, each of the kids gets $10 per week for their chores and since there are six chores per week (no chores on Sunday) that means that each time they miss a chore, they lose $1.50. (Technically, $1.66, but we just rounded it down to $1.50 for the sake of simplicity.)

And we decided on $10 per week because it's easy. 10% to charity = $1.00. 50% to savings = $5.00. And 40% for spending = $4.00. (I've heard of systems where the kids gets $1.00 per year, every week. So Annie would get $7 per week since she's seven, Courtney would get $10 since she's ten, etc. and that may be something we institute later - though that could get pretty spendy in the future when we've got three teenagers in the house.)

But for now, our $10 per week system is easy.

And we like easy around here.

Then, once a month, Josh tallies everything up, calls all the kids to the dining room table and tells them how much they earned. (We decided on doing it once a month because it's easier for us and quite honestly, the kids seem more motivated by the larger quantity of money that they see on a monthly basis in comparison to what they'd see on a weekly basis.)

So that means, if they do all of their chores each month, they've got $4.00 to give to the charity of their choice, $20 to add to their savings and $16 to spend as they like. (We try to encourage them to make wise spending choices, but ultimately, they can spend it on whatever they want.)

And all that money goes into individual jars with three clips inside that are labeled (with a Sharpie pen) 'tithing', 'spending', and 'savings.'

And those jars purposely sit on top of the piano where they're visible & accessible in the hopes that they will serve as a reminder & motivator.

So far, we're still reminding the kids about their chores each day, but for the most part, the chores seem to be getting done, with the exception of days when they aren't home/aren't home until late. (Since I'm the one who is home with the kids both before and after school, I feel like it's always me who is reminding/nagging the kids to wash out their lunch boxes, do their chores, start on their homework, etc., so recently, Josh started calling home almost every day after school, so HE could be the reminder/nagger instead of me.)

And that means that three nights a week, the dishes are done by someone other than myself or Josh...

And that means that there are fewer dust bunnies on the stairs...

And that means that I never have to take out the trash or the recycling again (although I never did that anyhow)...

And I think it also means that are kids are learning that it takes a lot of work to keep a household running smoothly and that a family who really loves and cares for one another will all step in to get those jobs done.

And sure, our system is not perfect and will probably undergo some updates and modification (I'm reading 'The Secrets of Happy Families' right now - thanks to the recommendation of Erin Cobb and will probably make some modifications as a result.) but it's a start.

And a start is a start.

So it's your turn. (What are you doing in the realm of chores and allowances that is working???)

Get Out of Trouble Free Cards

I want to share some of the things we're doing in this house that are working.

Not because I'm doing it all right (Truth be told, I'm doing a lot wrong.) or because I'm chock-full of good ideas (I can't take credit for most of these ideas because the bulk of them came from books or magazines or other mothers much wiser than myself.) but simply because I want to share what's working for us and because I want to gleam ideas from what's working around your house as well.

So periodically, I'm hoping to share one new thing that is working around here. I'll share why we're doing it, how we're doing it, and any other tips that I can think of that have helped us along the way.

And in return, I'm hoping you'll share with me what you're doing, why you're doing it, how you're doing it and any other tips you can think of that have helped in your success.

Sound fair?

Get Out of Trouble Free Cards

In all fairness, I have no clue where I got this idea from and the only reason I'm even mentioning it is because I've received so many emails and questions about the Get Out of Trouble Free cards that we give to the kids each year at Christmastime, so I figured I'd share.

And the great news is that this idea doesn't require any long-winded explanation or any great parental feats.

It just requires a printer.

The cards you see my kids holding (above) are the cards I printed up for them last Christmas, but honestly, they aren't anything special to look at. (The cards, not my kids.)

So tonight, I spent a little time making some prettier cards for you all.

To use the Get Out of Trouble Free cards below:

- Double-click on the image you want to save.

- Right-click on the enlarged image and then select 'save as' to save the file to your computer.

- Using a photo editing program like Photoshop Elements, resize the image (I think 3x3's or 4x4's at 300 dpi will look best) and then add a name to it using the font of your choice like I did in the samples below or resize and print them 'as is' and add the name in your own handwriting.

- Give them to your kids on their birthday, on Christmas, or on some random Tuesday for no reason at all.

*Note that these instructions should work similarly for both Mac and PC users.

 

We just remind our kids that they can't use their Get Out of Trouble Free cards with their school principal or the police.

Those are the only rules.

And here's a link to the Lunch Date tickets I made too.