Wednesday, July 9, 2008

House Cleaning Tips Just for Absolutely Bananas ...

Absolutely Bananas needs cleaning tips.

So here goes.

Every Friday we clean house. We means EVERYBODY. Our 4yo grandson is here. He helps.

5 Very Important Tips.

Start early.... kids are older than 18 months. It's too late. Too late, as in the earlier they are trained the easier it is. Training can be done after 18 months, but the training will take longer. Any age can learn.

There are messies & cleanies. My husband is a cleany. I'm in the middle. Could go either way. But since dh is a cleany I try to lean that direction.

My husband was raised when we married so his mother deserves the credit for his helpfulness. He is also the middle child... the peacemaker. He grew up in a household of 5 brothers.

If you are picking up after your children then THEY are training you. YOU should be training them.

Play with a toy then put it away before dragging anything else out. If a child can drag or dump toys he can also put them back where it belongs.

List of Friday chores....

Ds4 is 11 & he takes 4 plastic bags & replaces 2 upstairs trashcans & 2 downstairs trashcans. I take 2 & replace 2 trashcans. Really should delegate all 6 to him. Not sure why I haven't done that yet. He also cleans 4 sinks.

Ds3 is 13. He dusts & vacuums.

Ds2 is 17. He vacuums also. He can cook & clean the kitchen.

Ds1 is 22 and has his own place to clean. We won't discuss whose cleaning standards he lives with.

Dh cleans toilets. He also grills out & cooks.

I do the laundry. Ds1 was trained to do laundry & is in the military. Ds4 WANTED to learn how to do laundry so I obliged him when he was 10. Ds2 has had a few laundry lessons. I think Ds3 plans to live here forever. Or live with his younger brother & let him do his laundry.

We also have outside chores & animals to care for. In the past we even had chickens. There is also mowing, weeding & gardening.

Whomever cooks has a reprieve from cleaning up. I usually load the dishwasher. Ds4 earns monthly money for emptying it. Before that the boys took turns doing that job.

I do most of the grocery shopping, but dh can fill in.

So in conclusion I hope my future daughter in laws appreciate all the early training.
Lego scale : 0

4 comments:

Barbara said...

I'm SURE your future daughters-in-law will appreciate it! No kids to train yet, but I'll make sure to start right away

Bananas said...

I need to send Jay and CJ to your house for boot camp. Ok, and me too. :)

Jen said...

I was thinking this exact thought as I was reading this--whoever marries your boys are going to be SO lucky!! I am going to start doing some more delegating around here!

Unknown said...

Wow.. I certainly wish my MIL had done this for The Man! My kids are 4, 6, and 8 and they have no idea how to clean anything - I have to train them. Ugh.