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Kids
From Rochelle Jourdan in NY
When labeling your video tapes that you made for your kids, who can't read,
print up some cartoon characters and tape them to the cassette.
Get the kids out of it, if you want to keep it clean! Take them to the park when the weather permits. I know some of you can relate to having these *little tornadoes on toes* inside all day!
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From Zona Avila
For children's dinners, I cover my table with butcher paper, taped,
then give the kids crayons to "decorate the table cloth." This makes messy clean up afterwards, easy.
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From Sally Blyth in New Zealand
Make some chores fun for the kids eg watering
the plants, hanging out the washing. They sure take longer, but the kids get something out of it, and the chore gets done.
Leave the really messy play (like finger painting) for the kids to do at daycare, kindergarten etc. My kids bring home enough artwork for me to know they get a good dose of messy painting time, well away from the house and my poor tired aching cleaned-out body.
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Kids Chores
Maybe your kids are great about helping around the house but for those of ours who aren't, Michelle Marsh suggested making a chart
with various chores that each child can do. For each chore they complete, they receive a sticker. After the chart has 20 stickers, they get allowance. My daughters, age 4 & 6 get $2. for every 20 stickers. It may take longer for the younger ones to accomplish this goal but you are guaranteed that they will do some chores.
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Laundry
From Kristine Campiola
A friend had told me once that blood
stains can be removed with hydrogen peroxide and she was right!
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From Sally Blyth in
New Zealand
Only iron in front of the television when the kids are in bed.
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From Cindy Pepper in VA, USA
Ummmm...you mean there's a way to iron *other* than throwing the offending wrinkly article in the dryer with a damp towel? You bet it works! As long as it's something that can go in the dryer and it's not too badly wrinkled. It usually only takes 5 - 10 minutes.
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From Rochelle Jourdan in NY, USA
Hang linens; sheets, towels, diapers,
"blankies," blankets and such out on a line in the hot dry months. You will save the money for the dryer bill and give your linens less wear and
tear, leaving you with longer lasting linens. You can double up on the thinner materials to save space on the line.
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Storage for Kids stuff
From Jamie Tiernan in GA, USA
My
kids are young, (two boys ages 2 and 4 years). We have used Chubs diaper wipes with them so we have tons of those cute little boxes which are great for sorting toys. In their
closet, I have a shelving system made from a bookshelf that our neighbor was throwing out. I cleaned it up and I now have the kids little toys placed in neat stacks on the shelves (I labeled the outside of the boxes so we could tell what was what). Baskets for larger toys would work well too. I have large barrels in their room which holds their stuffed animals. Under their beds I use a roll out storage unit (bought it at Toys R Us) that holds their hot wheel cases. They also have a large book shelf, a small desk which has more room for books, and an old school desk which I painted purple (it holds my oldest son's school books - I am doing some early home schooling with him). We also have a small shelf in their room for the little nick nack type stuff. When they are going to play in their room, we go to the closet together and I have them each pick a box of toys or one of their larger toys out. When they get tired of those toys then we pick them up, put them away and choose something else. It does help cut down on the mess.
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