My sister asked me to come and give a 15 minute
mini-class at her church last night about organization. While it could take hours and hours to talk
about this topic…. I chose to focus on a few things that are going to help my
family once we get into our own home.
(Which is soon! Yay!)
A few months back I was pinning some things on Pinterest
and saw something that instantly appealed to me and my long-time hatred of trying
to stay on top of the kids with the “chores” around our house. I was inspired by THIS. I LOVED the idea of using time cards. While
this idea I stumbled on was designed to be used with toddlers I instantly went
to work modifying it to fit my big family with children of all ages.
The thing I love about this concept is the analogy
between the home and the workplace. I
can’t wait to sit my family down and talk about how our family is like
its own little business where Mom and Dad are the “bosses” and they are the
employees. We all have jobs to do in
order to make sure our “company” is running smoothly and is profitable. Profitability meaning --- there is joy and
love and happiness in our home. That it
is organized and taken care of and everyone is learning to be responsible for
themselves and their belongings.
I found these old shutters and painted them to
make them work as a time card holder which I will mount on the wall. Each
family member’s card will have their photo on it and will list what specific
“job duties” they need to perform each day before they can “clock out” or go to
bed at night. Then... when they get up each morning they "clock" back in for the day.
One area on the card will have a space to change
the weekly chores or “zones” assigned. Everyone’s
card will have the routine type things listed like, prayer, scripture study,
pick up room, laundry (if it’s their day), exercise, brushing teeth, etc….. I
did ours based on our family’s needs. Here's a close-up sample of one of the cards.....
I will also talk about how when the company (our
family) is profitable and everyone does their part then the employees will get
bonuses or rewards for their hard work.
I’m sooooo excited about this system because
once I laminate the time cards then the only thing I will have to stay on top
of is changing out what “zones” each child has for the week using a dry erase marker. Zones is something we will talk about
too. Those will be assigned areas of the
house if that makes sense. And Momma will be able to quickly glance at the wall and see who is still "working" each day.
Sounds great doesn't it??? Easy enough? HA HA!!!! I will have to give you an update on this in 6 months so you can see how well it's working.
