2012 June 07

Week One Progress Report for Our Summer of Clean

June 7, 2012 By Nony

Thanks to Discount Cleaning Products for sponsoring this series!

I’m sitting down to write about our first week of the 2012 Summer of Clean, and just above the laptop screen I see . . . clothes.

They’re sorted, they’re ready to be put in drawers or in storage.

But they’re not. Not in drawers or in storage.

(pause)

OK. I’m back. It’s twenty-five minutes (or so) later and the clothes are put away. Unfortunately, there is another small stack in their place. This stack is made up of clothes I found when I opened up the storage container to put the school clothes away.

Grrrr. Now we have some swap-outs to do in the morning to keep with our 8-outfits-per-kid-for-the-summer theme.

I wasn’t in the mood to do that after 9:30 at night, but I’m glad I did. With that done, I’m now happy with our first week of the 2012 Summer of Clean.

Our Grade: B

I’m struggling with adjusting my daily routine to the rhythm of summer. But overall, I’m happy because our undies are clean and the bathrooms look better than they have in a while (which isn’t really saying too much).

Today, I focused on the clothing thing and answered the ba-jillion questions/accusations about how Monday is supposed to be Laundry Day so why are we doing this on Thursday.

I was logical and repetitive, if not overly patient with my answers. Life lessons, yep . . . life lessons.

I’d love to hear how your week went! Did you involve your kids in any cleaning tasks? Did you face any unexpected challenges? Did you come up with any great ideas we might all be able to try? What grade did you give yourself?

Are you still waiting for summer to begin?

In case you haven’t yet, be sure to get your free copy of my e-book, Teaching Kids to Clean.

If you wrote a blog post, you can link it up below (just be sure to link back here).

But everyone needs to leave a comment . . . because your comment will enter you to win a Summer of Clean Starter Kit from Discount Cleaning Products! I am so excited that they put together a bucket of cleaning supplies according to the supply list I created and recommended in the e-book! You can purchase the Starter Kit from them, and/or enter to win one here!

The kit includes:

Mop Bucket
3 Microfiber Cloths (for cleaning and dusting)
2 Scrubby Sponges
Dustpan & Brush Set
Non-Latex Gloves | Box of 100
2 – 32oz. Spray Bottles with Trigger Sprayers

You can go see pictures of the items included here. (The page shows a picture of my e-book, but please note that a hard-copy of the book is not included!)

Just leave a comment to be entered. You don’t have to be a mom! One entry per person, please!

(I hate to have to say this, but the giveaway is only open to residents of the continental U.S. If you live elsewhere, go ahead and leave a comment about your progress, but please mention in your comment that you’re not eligible.) You can see my giveaway info/guidelines here.

Making Laundry Day Fun . . . ?

I’ve been busily returning emails and Facebook messages for my early morning blogging time. Now the kids are up, and it’s time to go be Mama. I thought I’d share these ideas from my new e-book as today’s post. If you have other ideas for making laundry fun, please tell us about them in the comments!

And don’t forget – tomorrow is Weekly Progress Report Day! You can share your stories from this week about teaching your kids to clean in the comments or by linking up a blog post! (And there will also be a fun giveaway!)

Ideas for Making Laundry Day Fun

Practice sorting colors by creating paper mosaics of the various colors that go together in the laundry. Use construction paper, craft paper, colored printer paper . . . whatever you have in various colors. Tear the paper into pieces and sort it like you would sort laundry. For example, glue all of the blacks, browns, grays, etc onto one paper and label it “Darks”. Put brights together on another sheet, white and off white together, etc. This can help children begin to visualize what you mean when you ask them to sort colors. It can be confusing to kids that light blue and yellow would go in the same load, and separating this process from the clothing itself can help them grasp the concept. These mosaics can be hung on the wall to designate sorting spots for your clothes on Laundry Day.

Have sorting races. Give equal piles of dirty clothes to the kids, and let them race to see who can sort their pile into the common Laundry Day piles the fastest. Mama will need to watch carefully to be sure no more-competitive-than-perfectionist children don’t cheat.

Time your folding sessions. You can work together to better your time with each load throughout the day, or divide each load into small piles and have kids race to see who can fold and put away their pile first. (Obviously, the race is forfeited if all folding is undone when the clothes get shoved into the drawers!)

What are your ideas for making Laundry Day fun?