Cleaning Catch up - Number 1

Ok, so like I said, I am going to start posting about how I clean my house, when what and why etc.

This first post is very simple.

Start small!

My house was a sty yesterday. Im not kidding, a full on pig sty.  Picture a bomb going off, then times it by 1000.

So, first thing is first. Attempting to get your mojo back so you can actually begin to be bothered, and find a reason why we should bother cleaning in the first place. As parents know, kids are little tornados. Sometimes it feels like we spend all day cleaning, only to have it look like it did before the mass clean, at 6pm that night. Frustrating right? Right!

So, start small. I started on the least messy room, but one of the most used. The lounge room. There was bits of rubbish on the floor from doing some craft and drawing while they were waiting for me to make dinner. The floor needed a good vacuum, and some general tidying of the bits and pieces around the room. I knew this would take all of maybe 5 minutes. So I started there. After I had finished, I could see the result, and it kick started my mojo for doing it.

Because it looks good!

Then I made my way to the kitchen. I am lucky enough to have my dad staying with us at the moment, and he likes to help out, so he does the dishes for me while I am taking the kids to school. So I came back, put them away, and wiped over the benches, oven, dishwasher and fridge.

After seeing how clean and tidy these rooms were. It got me spurred on enough to keep going.

The way I see it is, get the lived in areas done first, as you don't want to be trying to relax at night when the kids are in bed, with toys under you and things circling your mind. We all do it.

Don't worry about the kids rooms, as they are often the most untidy, and there is a door there for a reason. You close it, and voila, it's out of sight until you are happy with other things, and you feel ready to tackle it.

In saying that, I make sure my kids get up every morning about 15 minutes earlier then we have to, they make their beds, and take out any dirty clothes they have laying around, and do a general tidy. If I make sure they do this every morning, then they generally don't get too badly messy. I have been slack of late however, and they are a bit untidy. But little by little, they are cleaning them up themselves, without me having to nag them, without it taking up their time, and with a little praise, they feel the sense of achievement, and pride of their belongings, and their 'living space'.

Today, I am tackling the tiled floors, toilets, and bathrooms. If I make sure I just get these things done today, I will be happy.

Remember to keep it small. You don't have to do everything in one day.

However, in saying that, I add these 'extra chores' to my daily routine. My biggest tip, is once you have gotten a room nice, tidy and clean, keep it that way. By spending a few minutes each day on little things, they don't turn into big things.

Well, those toilets aren't going to clean themselves, so I am off. Happy cleaning.

Getting my Mum-mojo back

So, recently, I have lost my 'mum-mojo'. I have kind of given up a bit on my house, and being all I can be. I don't know why. Call it frustration from the monotony of it all.

School Station Revised - All Aboard!!

A while ago I did a post about my 'school station' , it was working well, but we needed that big shelf set for all the books we have. So, hubby grudgingly cleared some room in the Garage for me. This is what we have come up with. We had these little shelves floating around basically being unused. So, we tipped it on it's side.

 The bottom cubes are for homework and library bags. 

The top cubes are for school shoes, and school bags are placed on top. 

The red box on top is the library books that need to be returned to the library. (Note to self, return library books!).

The purple box on the right, is for school hats. Next to that is a basket with umbrellas in it for rainy days.

On the wall above, we have a barometer, so the kids can learn to read the temperature for the day, and know if they need jumpers or what not.

Then there is a big notice board. The pin board is where we display all their certificates and things they are proud of. They get rotated often. The white board has 3 columns, Holly, Jack and Xavier, and each column has room for each day of the week going downwards. So we can jot down music day, library day, Japanese day, sports, etc etc. Nothing gets missed that way. Finally, there is a separate notice board. That is my notice board for things I need to remember. At the moment, I have their school photo slips ready for them to take in at the end of the week on photo day.

So there you have it. This is working much better for us, by unloading everything before they come inside, there is less clutter around the house (in theory). Also, they take their shoes off before going inside, so they don't drag the dirt and sand inside. Im thinking about adding another little box for dirty socks too and they are often covered in dirt and grass. And another box with clean white socks to pop on before school. All in the one place equals easy access and nothing lost in the last minute dash out of the house..... well, once again, in theory.

How do you organise your kids school things? Do you have school station or access point?

:)

School Station - All aboard!

I am going to share with you all how I store and sort my kids and their things for school.
I have 2 at school, and next year I will have 3. I don't know what I am going to do with myself when I only have one at home. I feel like I have been imagining that day in my head for, forever! HAHA!

Anyway, this is my cube cupboard. I got it for $149 from Amart Furniture. It didn't need to be pricey, just functional. I refuse to buy expensive furniture while my kids are young.

 

 

 

 

My Three Sons - In ONE room!

Well, I know a few of you are interested in how I fit 3 young boys into one bedroom. So I thought I would show you....

The Kids Rooms Big Clean Up - Part 2

Ok so after cleaning the little boys room up, I was knackered feeling motivated to continue with the other kids rooms. I cleaned up MR Jack's room, but I forgot to take photos as I was doing it, like a genius LOL.
However I did take photos of a new addition to Miss Holly's room. I LOVE this new little storage device.

I got this nifty little contraption from Office Works for an outstanding price of $35!

The colours fit in perfectly with any little girls room. Beautiful rainbow but they are also available in a white frosted look, black or fading bottom black, turning to grey, then white frosted at the top, kinda like a paint sample :P

It has 10 little draws, perfect for little girls crap trinkets.

The Kids Rooms Big Clean Up - Part 1

The little boys bedroom after I 'gutted' it and started cleaning!

Well if you follow me on Facebook (here) then you will know that this Easter, the family thought it would be great to have it at my house. AARRGGHH!!
So much cleaning had to be done, as we live 20km out of town, not many people come out on short notice, so I can generally have crap everywhere, and noone knows the difference. I made myself a list of everything I wanted to get done (you can see that here too!).

Buckets of fun

 I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but I hate when the kids go to bed, and all the teddies and pillows that were on the beds for decoration, have been thrown across the floor in the haste to get into bed.

Great for uniforms

My kids are starting to do a lot of after school activities. Holly does dancing Jack and Holly do Little Athletics. Jack is also wanting to do Karate, so he will be stating that soon, then there is school. 

Picture worth a mention

Just a quick post that I wanted to share with everyone. 

My mother in law made this gorgeous cross stitch for my daughters 5th birthday.

She loves dancing and just adores this gorgeous picture. :)

Cool, cheap shelves for boys

My partner and I painted the kids rooms not long ago, and as a birthday pressie for my now 5yo son, we painted a feature wall (we got him real pressies too) in his room. It looks great, but it was lacking something, shelves on the wall. 

We had a look at floating shelves but they were quite expensive and they lacked my sons interest. 'They are boring mum, I want something cool 'cause im cool!' these were his words lol.

Anyway I was at Kmart one day and came across a very cool idea for him....

Shoes, shoes and more shoes

Shoes are usually such a fun topic for me as I am obsessed with shoes. I love them! I dont love them all over the floor however, and with an almost 8yo daughter, who loves shoes as much as I do, they ended up all over the place. 

I was at Coles doing some groceries one week and found this little beauty which has saved me alot of work picking up shoes. For $12, me and my daughter are happy! :)