Organized and Laundry

Recently I've gotten really organized with life as mom - or at least it's all down on paper. I have a binder for "school" which has our daily schedule on the front (did it all fancy in Excel) and a whole bunch of kids stuff inside like memory verses, kids songs, activity ideas - it could still use some updating and more stuff added to it, but that'll be for the next project. Then I have a recipe binder that I print up the current month, plan out all the meals for the month and stick that in the front.

I feel like I could have it all together...except that it's me. I really like organizing things but I don't usually keep things organized. I love that I have the foundation in place to help me and the kids have a fun and productive day. Usually our "schedule" is more of a fall back position...it gives me something to do next when things start running a muck.

One of the really nice things about our schedule is that I have specific days to do the chores. Mondays and Thursdays we do laundry, Tuesdays we dust and water the plants, Wednesdays we clean the bathroom, etc. Having chores assigned to certain days frees me up from wondering when the last time I cleaned the bathroom, or not feeling like I have enough time to do laundry today, etc.

So, onto laundry... I saw on a forum friend's blog site where her son (Livvy's age) was doing laundry...not just folding it, but actually putting in the soap and taking the clothes out of the washer and putting them in the dryer. I was so impressed. Why hadn't I had Livvy and Sammy doing that? Well, on Thursday I put them to work - they loved it. Livvy got to be a helper and Sammy was so proud of himself being a "big boy". Way to go kiddos! Sammy really wanting Livvy's job of getting the clothes out of the washer, but he's not quite tall enough for that yet, maybe next year. Now I just have to keep up with allowing them to help, because it is so much quicker when I do it myself, but then they're never trained to be a functioning part of the family...and they actually loved doing it, wha da ya know.