A Southern Mama's Thoughts....
Happy April Fool’s Day! Have any hijinks happened in your house? I figure I have the rest of my kids’ lives to worry about tricks being played…so we aren’t rushing things around here. But, we are getting spring fever! The weather has been absolutely beautiful…..getting warmer and warmer each day.
Which means…..time for Spring Cleaning!
Click here to download and print your own!
I know this is a couple days early {What? Me? On the ball? Huh?}! Y’all, there is SO much going on in March. Personally, we are super busy getting ready for Easter and then Disneyworld, and in my bloggy world, we have our first round of advertisers! I don’t know if you remember, but I gave away 6 spots of free advertising earlier this month, so I have some new “faces” to introduce you to later this week.
Not to mention giveaways! I have four giveaways for you {and counting!!}. So make sure you hang with me throughout the month! March is also the start of warmer weather here in the South, so I’m sure I’ll be in full spring-cleaning mode here soon! Join me?
click here to download and print your copy!
With our impending Disney trip, and spring holidays coming up, I have a ton of ideas for blog posts. Currently, I have a little notebook that I jot my ideas down in. But lately I’ve been thinking it would be handy to have a calendar handy as well to actually schedule some of my posts {and keep track of those I’ve scheduled!}. So I came up with a planning sheet that will let me keep track of my ideas and schedule my posts….all on one page. I plan on printing out 12 of these ahead of time for my House Manager, so I have one ready each month.
Here’s an example of how I plan to use mine:
And here’s a copy for you to download and use*: 
*Here’s my little disclaimer:
Because I’m making these for my own personal use, I’m gonna give you access to the files, but unfortunately, you won’t be able to edit them. But feel free to print them out and use them for your own personal use! I got all the little buttons as free downloads from the digital scrapbooking site, Shabby Princess. And I got the fonts (Pea Carol) from Kevin & Amanda…also free. So technically, you can make your own version of these as well! And if you decide to pin them, please link them back here!! Thanks!
What section should I work on next? Do I need to add anything?
House Manager:
Family Information Cleaning and Organization Food and Meals Emergency Resources Car Maintenance Projects and Blogs Holidays
Linking Up this Week!
I have to admit I have mixed feelings about the Cleaning Calendars for 2013. Last year, they were a big hit {I got called out several times by people who missed the November edition!}, but kind of a pain to create. So I’m using last year as a template, and changed {obviously} the date and some of the chores. So here we go again! Sorry it’s so late this month…..
January 2013 Cleaning Calendar
Happy December! Hard to believe the year is just about finished….
How did you like the monthly cleaning calendars? Were the daily tasks easy and fast enough to get accomplished? How did you like having the entire month of November OFF?!?! (Yes, I know. I DID make one, but Microsoft Word was acting up…and then life happened, and so cleaning did not.)
I personally did quite well. I did not always get everything done. And I certainly did not necessarily do them on the “correct” day. So. For next year, I think I am going to make a general checklist per month, with the intent to still only do one chore a day, but make it more flexible….and be able to be used year after year. I’ll keep you posted.
In the meantime….here’s the LAST calendar of the year! Let’s end 2012 on a clean note!
{click on the picture to download and print a copy for yourself} And please PIN! And “like.” And “share.” And LINK BACK to my site! Thanks!
Click here for a printable copy
Whew! It sure is hot here….100 degree days almost every day this week! Hope you are staying cool!
Click here for the whole document!
You heard me right….my child works for commission! Jayna has started showing a real interest in money (and buying things…) lately. And she is still at that tender age where she actually WANTS to help out around the house! So we decided it was time to start teaching her the value of money…and working for it!
As you may remember, we are Dave Ramsey people at our house. We are going to the classes and working hard to whittle down our debt using the debt snowball. A while back, we froze our credit cards and only use cash (or debit) now! In fact…we’ve cut those credit cards up now…there’s no turning back!
Needless to say, Jayna has been involved in all of this money talk. We are trying really hard to instill a good work ethic in her-even at age three. She has a piggy bank, and regularly adds pennies she finds to it. But we wanted her to start connecting money with earning. And she already has such a giving heart…we want to teach her how to Give, Spend and Save responsibly.
So we broke down and bought her Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace Jr. It has an activity book with stories and worksheets to help kids learn the aspects of working, giving, saving and spending responsibly. And you know how Jayna loves her homework! So she is always asking to work in the book.
And so she is learning that certain tasks are expected of her because she lives in our house. Things like:
taking her dishes to the sink
putting her clothes in the laundry room
general cleaning up after herself
etc.
However, we decided to give her several chores that she will be responsible for on a daily basis, that she can earn money for…or commission, as we (and Dave Ramsey) call it. We agree with him that the word allowance gives off the impression that she’s entitled to the money!
So, she has four chores a day. Thanks to Ladybird Ln., we have a cute printable to keep track of them. And every night before bed, she colors in the stars of the chores that she completed that day. I don’t nag her or make a big deal if she doesn’t do them. If she forgets something (usually making her bed), then I saw “aw shucks! You aren’t getting paid for that today!” And so far she has been ok with that.
Her commissioned chores are:
feed Maggie (the dog)
make her bed
wipe the table
clean up her playroom
And Sunday is PAYDAY! Jayna gets paid a nickel for each star she completed throughout the week. We count it all out and then she divvies it up into three piles. We’re not worrying about her learning appropriate percentages and whatnot, we just have her divide it up equally. And then she puts her nickles into the designated “give” “save” and “spend” envelopes that came in the Financial Peace Jr. kit. We are trying to get her to get in the habit of giving cheerfully first, saving for the future second, and then enjoying and spending what’s left over.
2 Corinthians 9:7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
And then a wonderful thing happened….she asked me how she could earn MORE money! And so the lightbulb went off and I studied my June Calendar to see what else needed to be completed for the month. You know…all the stuff that I don’t like doing. Like dusting baseboards and wiping down cabinets. And my child was asking to do these things! So she earned extra quarters for doing those chores too. Win-win situation!
What chores do your kids do?
Happy March! Here’s your cleaning assignments for the month! Please leave me comments with things you like/dislike about it, or anything you’d like me to add! There are always plenty of cleaning/organizing things to do each month, and I don’t want to forget any!
Click HERE for the full sized document. Feel free to use and share, but please link back to this post if you do! Thanks
Just a quick hello…I have so much to tell you but I’m still gathering my thoughts…..
So, Happy February! Here’s the cleaning calendar that I made for the month. I did pretty well last month, I only slacked off last week. So now I’m pulling double duty to get caught up! Please leave me a comment if you have any suggestions to put on March’s calendar…I’m already running out of ideas (although I’ve found that many of the items on the calendar really do need to be repeated every month).
Click here for the whole (editable) document!Anyway, enjoy…and come back soon for an account of recent adventures!
P.S. Here’s where I’m linking up!
However, I do feel a sense of renewal at the beginning of every new year. I feel obligated to get all the junk food out of my house. Not to resolve to eat healthier necessarily (although I should), but I figure if I purge all of the Christmas goodies by January 1st, then at least I’m off to a good start. And too bad in my house, we don’t like to waste, so by “purging” I mean “eating.” So, I’m having a snack as I type! =)
On that note, I do not pledge to drop 20 pounds….but since I have been “purging” for the last week and a half….I do promise to call my trainer. And maybe even show up for a session or two!
And finally, you’d think that since we’ve only been living in our new house for 4 months, it would be spotless and clutter-free. Not so. We have already had four major social events which required us to shove random things that hadn’t been unpacked into the corners of our new abode. Where they stayed. And I can’t remember where I put them. Or what “they” were. So, I do not pledge to keep my house clean, or even have a weekend overhaul to de-clutter. I do however, crave a schedule. I guess it’s my type A (slightly OCD) personality that craves some order. I was so good when Jayna was born…..I could spout exactly when she ate, napped and pooped to anyone who even glanced my way. Now, when the pediatrician asks me how many times Amelia naps a day…..I hang my head in shame and make up a number (um, three?). Don’t even ask me about number of diapers….it’s just autopilot for those!
So this week I have been on a mission to find or create somewhat of a schedule. I feel like it’s so easy for my days to get away from me….I have every intention to clean the house, get the girls dressed, shower, blog, make the beds, do a craft or two, make a healthy homemade dinner, sew a couple of burpcloths, and take a nap….every day. And then, it’s 6pm and NONE of that has happened and I have three hungry children two hungry children and a hubby to deal with. I need to tap into my Special Education days and get me a schedule!!!
After posting a cry for help on my Facebook page, my friend Christy did some of the leg work for me and pointed me to Time Warp Wife’s weekly cleaning schedule. It’s printable and very basic. A good start, although I will have to tweak some of the days…but generally what I am looking for. Another site Christy showed me was My Simpler Life. Even better! She has a free downloadable calendar for January that has 31 random things to do to clean up and de-clutter your house (like cleaning the tops of your cabinets!), but it’s just one thing a day, so it seems pretty manageable.
(Click to go to see the full document from mysimplerlife.com)
I just need to add in our personal schedule to these too, to figure out where to fit in these little chores, on top of my usual stuff that doesn’t get done. Hmmm…
Here is another one that I found and liked:
(courtesy of lifes-a-journal.com)
But after searching for three days…I couldn’t find that perfect one….so I just made one. I wanted a decorative one to hang on my new fridge file (from Mead…bought from Target).
It has three clear pockets, but since they are double-sided, I have the possibility of having 6 available display spaces. So, I decided to do a daily schedule in Excel. It seems pretty rigid (and complicated) at first glance….but really it just condenses Jayna, Amelia and my schedules all into one. Hopefully it will give our days a little more structure. I’m sure this will end up being a rough draft, but here’s what it looks like for now:
(If you would like an editable version of this schedule, please leave me a comment…for a closer look, click on the picture!)
So I figure, this will be one page of my fridge file. I also made a monthly calendar with one small item each day to do on it.
(If you would like an editable version of this schedule, please leave me a comment…for a closer look, click on the picture!)
My plan for now is to use the daily schedule as a guide for being productive on a daily basis, and in addition to that, trying to accomplish the one small housekeeping item in my monthly cleaning calendar as well. We’ll give it a try this month, and I’ll let you know how it goes! If you end up using any of my schedules, please leave me some feedback so I can tweak accordingly to help y’all out….and please link back to this post if you repost on your blog or pin me! Thanks!
Happy New Year!
Hi there! I'm Shara
thanks so much for visiting me here at Palmettos and Pigtails! I am a book-lover, new-blogger, wanna-be photographer, craftiness-craver, Jesus-praiser, and now a stay-at-home mom. Follow me as I celebrate my humble little Southern Life! Read more....
