Teens and Messy Rooms

Oh the mountain of STUFF.  Stuff, stuff, stuff... thank goodness for doors and I can just close it off and not see it, but that doesn't really solve the issue.  Teens and Messy rooms.

We have always have had messy rooms... and over the years things like toy bins, storage carts, and other organizational tools have helped, but now it just seems the mess is just papers and other miscellaneous items that can't really be stored away in toy bins, storage carts, shoe boxes, etc.

Seeing we are young teens we are in that in between stage of toys and no toys. I want them, yet I don't, some of the items have been sitting in the bins and have a dust on them a mile high because we simply do not play with them like we use too, but we aren't quite ready to get rid of them --- because well some rainy day I might be board and decided to blow of the dust and actually play with them. It's weird stage.

Looking back at my own childhood I'm not even exactly sure when I got rid of the toys.... I know by the time I moved out -- I didn't have toys in my room anymore, but I really don't remember when I got rid of them. When I decided I really didn't want toys -- I remember getting movies, video games, and things of that nature as a teen along with clothing and I know toys weren't really on the list and I just don't remember when I got rid of the toys in my room.  I know I had them, I know I played with toys, I just don't remember when my personal space was purge of them.

So, I really don't know when my kids will feel the need to purge their own personal space from the toys either.  I don't know if we are there with them being 13/14. I don't know if I went to them and say how do you feel about that if they will be ready or feel pressure to do it.

I want them to be "kids" for as long as they want. I want them to feel secure and happy and I don't want to pressure them to get rid of things they simply are not ready for; it's a weird place to be.



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If your kids are older like mine when did they get rid of the toys? When did you get rid of the toys? How do you help your teen keep a cleaner room? Or are you like me: just close the door?

Balancing Household Chores and Homeschooling

This is the question I see a lot over the years: "How do you stay on top of homeschooling AND the household chores?" It seems that this is a balancing act that many struggle with including yours truly.

The short and long answer of it is: ROUTINES!

Having a good routine leads to good habits. Having a good routine leads to having more time. Having a good routine..... I know, I know.  Many fight the urge, and I do to, because you don't want to be bogged down by a schedule! Homeschooling should be freeing, fly by the seat of your pants, do what you want to do when you want to do.  Yes, it can be and is depending on what method you are using, but at the same time having a routine is not horrible.  You most likely already have routines that you don't even think about and do because they come naturally. Like washing your hands after you use the bathroom, putting your dirty dishes in the sink or dishwasher, tucking the kids in at night, reading bedtime stories, and going to Church Sunday mornings.

Some routines come more naturally than others and some routine form bad habits. Either way having a routine is key to keeping things balanced.  I like to get up in the morning, after spending time snuggling with the dogs (Puggy and Onyx), to put a load of laundry in the wash. At lunch time I switched it over and from there it piles up in the laundry room. I haven't found the good routine to getting it folded, but at least for the most part our clothing is getting washed and dried.

In addition to establishing good routines having some organization helps to. What is your go to place to check and keep track of appointments? What is your go to place to keeping records, EM numbers, doctor numbers, etc? Where are you going to find your important information when you need it?

Several years ago, because balancing household chores and homeschooling has been my struggle along with lesson planning, I came across Flylady.  She introduced me to the idea of a control journal. Then later I read A Mother's Rule of Life and she talked about the 5 Ps and routines and writing it all down, doing your best to stick to a schedule/routine. Not to be a slave to it, but know if you establish good habits, routines, you will find you have more "time" to do what you love.  -- Flylady, Holly, and everyone else I read all pretty much say the same thing. Routines, Schedules, having some kind of home management/control binder/journals.

I made a huge binder. Writing things down, making plans and routines on paper is not my issue following through is my issue. I have poor follow through. Working on it. It's getting better.  I liked flylady, but then I got bogged down with all her emails. I got bogged down with feeling I was behind because I couldn't keep up with the emails, reminders, etc.

The control journal while helpful I was using less and less, because I was going digital. I got a smartphone. I found that I like things like google calendar. Flylady, Holly (author of A Mother's Rule) and everyone else I was reading and following made it clear having a family calendar is good. Having a calendar where everyone can access it is good. My husband and I getting smartphone made google calendar a no brainer. We both had google accounts, the smartphones we got were (are) android based (google owned). It just made sense.  --- well back track prior to getting my smart phone I had a Palm PDA (digital personal assistant). Hubby got that for me as soon as I started homeschooling. I told him I wanted something small and digital that I can carry with me everywhere. Easily. Something to sync with the computer and device. The Palm was doing that. I just got tired of carrying TWO devices. Phone and PDA. I wanted one device. The only way to get what I wanted was upgrading to a smartphone.

So while I used a paper control journal/binder. I never used it for calendar. I used the PDA and manually synced it (plugging it in to the computer) as needed and then printed out paper calendars. When we upgraded to the smartphones a benefit of using google calendars was discovered. I didn't have to print out calendars and updates from the computer and phone are done automatically via google. That and I now had the power to SHARE the calendar with hubby and HE could write or add things to it and SEE it from his phone or computer. NO more having to call me and ask if it's okay if he goes here or there after work (making sure we/I didn't have plans already) No more calling me while at the doctors office asking if this day would work for an appt. He had complete access and he could add things like HIS own doctor appts, going to confession, meeting up with his friends, working late or going in early to the calendar without running it by me.  Don't get me wrong we still communicate with each other daily, but it is rather freeing to add something to the calendar and not have to worry about it conflicting with plans your spouse may have already made.

Getting the smartphone made me dive into the apps and other features to see if I could meet my "home management binder" needs with the smartphone. I also wanted to move away from Flylady. While I learned some available things, I wanted something as simple as a check list. Sure I could make my own check list, but I wanted something a little bit more automated; where I didn't have to think. I tried several free apps and while they were okay they didn't fit my needs exactly and some of them were just pure garbage. Good thing they were free.

After searching I found the Motivated Moms App. Yes, you have to pay for the app. I didn't sign up at first because I didn't want to pay, but in the end I did and I found it to meet my needs the best.-- It is worth every penny.  The days (because routines is stills a struggle) I do the things on the app my husband comes home and is amazed the most. He truly thinks I worked hard all day cleaning --- shh... It's our secret that the items on the app listed for the day take maybe an hour at most. Of course you can personalize it: add to the list or remove the ones that don't fit your needs. For example the app comes pre-loaded with feed pets as a daily task. If you don't have a pet you remove it. If there something you want to do that's not listed you just add it.

Using the calendar app and motivated moms app on my phone made me ask: Is there way I can make the control journal more digital? Can I do away with the binder? The answer was Yes, mostly! I found this ebook to help me with the process: Paperless Home Organization: How to Create A Digital Home Management Binder.  I say mostly, because there are something that I just go totally digital with like bills for example: So that's where the binder comes in handy.

Mystie's ebook, paperless home organization, centers around 3 different apps/programs: Google Email and Calendars (already using), Evernote (heard of it), and Remember The Milk (what's that?). All of them are free apps/programs. The ebook really talks about maximizing the use of these apps/programs and how to get the most out of them. It was a huge help to me. Although I found that I do not care for Remember The Milk (RTM).

RTM is basically at it's core a task management app. I was already using Motivated Moms for chores and the only other thing I would need task management for was those things that were NOT on my calendar (because you don't want to clutter it up with wishful thinking), and NON-Chore related items, that popped up as needed: like helping Superstar with scout project, collecting library books for hubby to take back to the library, call my mom. etc.  I found that a simple check list in evernote or memo on the phone worked. I could even use google task which is apart of the google calendars (but for some strange reason google won't let you access google task via the phone --- really google you should fix that!).

The way to get it done and find balance between chores and homeschooling is to establish good healthy routines, use some kind of home management control binder/journal, and just enjoy life with your family.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something.

Books, Books, and More Books!

I've decided to organized, catalog, and make a list of our books. Often the kids want certain books but we have a hard time finding them. They are all on our shelves, but they haven't been organized every well. Often Web-princess wants only the books that are "her reading level" and Superstar just wants certain titles.

So I removed all of the books off the shelves in our living room and put them on the floor. I have a program on my computer that allows me to enter in books. Once the books are entered I can print of a list of how I want them to be organized. I figured once I have a list I will just organized the shelves according to the list.

Superstar suggested that once I'm done I give them each a special place marker to use on the shelves so that they would know where to put the books back when they are done with them. He said, "Mom we already have the rule one book at a time, so if we had a bookmark for the shelf we could just put it in the book's place and when we are done put the book back". The paper list would help them to know where to look for the book, learn what books we have, and perhaps encourage them to read items that they may not even known we had.

I see that it can work, however it just getting there. I'm STILL entering books! I knew we had a lot, but I really didn't think it was THAT much! I have 2 bookshelves in our living room, but only 2 shelves on these bookshelves really hold our books. The program I'm using is counting the books as they are entered. I have already entered in 120 books and I think I have about that much left! UGH! So we have 200-300 books easy! I had no idea that those 2 shelves held that many books. (And to think we are always looking for more and picking them up here and there.)

I had no idea we had SO many books! I'll be thankful when this little project is over! I admit it's a huge undertaking and much more work then I thought it would be, but it will be so worth it when I'm done. I've already discovered that we had some science text books that I was NOT aware that we had; books that I can use the next coming weeks.

Out With The Old-In With The New

I enjoy Christmas at my relatives because I don't have the stress of making room in my small but modest house. Although the toys are enough to drive me bonkers. I would be so much happier if my relatives would each just do one nice gift vs. many gifts. Mainly because we have a small house and the kids are left with twice a year deciding what MUST go and what CAN stay!

You see each child has a toy (bin) shelf in their room. The only toys they are allowed to have are the ones that can "fit" in their bins.

I insist that the toys be grouped by like things. So they just can't have a mess of stuff. Now there might be a few things that are naturally too big for these bins and that is okay. I do make allowances for some things like that, but even then there is a limit.

This is the reason we don't allow them to open things while at our relatives' houses. You see in order to get the item the kids have to make room for it in their room's by getting rid of OTHER stuff. If they don't want to get rid of anything then they can't get anything "new". 

My son as gotten rid of one 13 gallon garbage bag of stuff and has only "earn" 1 new toy.  My daughter has gotten rid of half of 13 gallon garbage bag of stuff and has only "earn" 1 toy. They have a TONS more toys and will have to get rid of a lot more things to make room.  I have a feeling that when they are done they both would have gotten rid of 3-4 garbage bag EACH!!

We do a similar thing in the summer. In the summer they will get rid 1-2 garbage bags EACH. The main difference between Christmas and summer in the summer time there is less stuff and it's POST birthdays. So kid's do have a bit of an overflow of toys for a few months.

What's sad about the whole process is the only time my kids get new toys is on their birthdays and at Christmas.  So often the stuff they got at their birthdays are gone by Christmas and the stuff they got at Christmas are gone by the summer.

In other words the toys here will only stay for 6 months!! This is because often the kids rather keep the newer stuff then the older stuff. This is really the reason we only get them 1 toy each (and often wish other would do the same), because in 6 months we know it's going o be gone because it broke or because the kids got rid of it to make room for their new stuff.

So what do you do? Do you make your kids get rid of their old stuff regularly?

LAST Week of School

This is our LAST week of school! WOW. We will be starting school up again on July 6th, 2009! After this week and before our new year starts I think I'll be tackling the HOUSE! There are things that need to be done around here, because well some of the rooms just make me go UGH!