Organization Tips - 9/12

Chore Charts

I have had a few of you ask about how we manage chores here. I have made a chore chart for the kids using pictures I took from a Richard Scary book about Travel (can’t remember the title) that had already been ripped by one of my kids when they went through a book/magazine ripping phase. I cut the pictures out and scanned them into the computer and then made squares and included the chore name. I also used some stickers and clip-art pictures from the internet. After getting them all ready, I printed them out, laminated them and then put magnets on the back.

Then I made some more glass marble magnets with the initials of each child. Those are their chores for the week. Then on Sunday, my kids rotate their weekly chores. This is the part I have a hard time remembering, but the kids enjoying the chore of changing who does what, so they get to take turns with who gets to move the magnets. One less thing for me to worry about. We rotate by age. So one magnet is always replaced by the child who is immediately younger than the other. The chores on the top row are expected for each child.

I actually display these on our organizing bulletin board that is in our laundry room, but the light in that room is not great and when I took a picture with the flash, you could not see some of the detail. So these are just a few of chore cards we have to give you an idea of how we do it. I have tried charts and wheels, but this has seemed to work the best and is the most flexible. We have been using it for a few years now!

**And as a side note for those of you new to The Idea Room, I mentioned earlier that we don’t pay our kids for our regular chores or pay them an allowance. We have set up a Home Store and Reward System. I do pay the kids for doing extra chores so they can have a way to earn some money to be able to buy them a little something if they want to.

September 17, 2009 · Filed under: Home Decor, Organization Tips, Parenting Help Tagged with

Weekly Menu Planner

36 Comments

I like to plan out my weekly dinner menus two weeks ahead. I usually will take a minute to sit down and write down in my day planner what I plan to make for dinner in the coming weeks. Then when I am at the grocery store, I pull out my planner to see what dinner ingredients I need to purchase for the coming week.

I have been wanting to make something with chalkboard paint ever since I have been seeing it used all over the internet. So I came up with something that will work for our home. A weekly menu planner. I love it! Now at a glance, I know what I am making and can get an idea of when I need to start making dinner to have it on the table at 5:45 (the time dinner is {ideally} served in our house). Which I like so much better than staring into the fridge at 4:58 and wondering what to serve my family for dinner. Ever been there?

I found a metal plaque (I am not really sure what it is??) I found it at Ben Franklin (which is a local store). I know most of you don’t have one near you. Any frame would work really. You could use a framed metal board like I used for my hair bow organizer, etc. I taped around the frame edge and then attached paper to the painter’s tape to protect the frame from being covered with the chalkboard paint.

Then I took my Chalkboard Spray Paint in black (purchased from Home Depot) and sprayed the inside of the frame according to the directions on the can. I painted it with 3 coats of paint and allowed the proper drying time between each application. When it was completely dry, I removed the tape. My chalkboard paint told me to then rub the side of a piece of chalk over the entire black surface and then erase to prepare it for final use. I love how it turned out! I also made some glass magnets (great tut here) to represent the days of the week. Go ahead and make one!

September 15, 2009 · Filed under: Home Decor, Organization Tips Tagged with

Organize Your Ribbon

19 Comments

I have acquired a bit of ribbon due to various projects and was getting tired of digging through my shoe boxes of them to find the exact one I was looking for. When I saw this idea for organizing your ribbon, at Capturing the Moment, I knew it was exactly what I was looking for.

I found my jar at Wal-Mart and my doll pins (wooden slotted clothes pins) at Ben Franklin.

In my searching, I also came across some other great ideas for storing your ribbon on the following websites: Little Birdie Secrets, Your HomeBased Mom, and Martha Stewart.