Quick Clean Up Secret

I have a secret to cleaning up a really messy room in 10 minutes or less without leaving the room and even better, it gets the kids happily involved in the process. Joe taught me this method, and even though I balked and told him I didn't like the idea at first, it really works and is now the only way I clean up. Somehow he always ends up being right...

See messy room (Please note that I have six kids at home with me ALL day long):


Put every stray item that isn't in it's proper place in a pile in the middle of the room:


Mom (or Dad) sits by the pile and tells the kid where to put the item, kid puts the item where it belongs, kid comes back for another item, etc. until the pile is all gone. Make a game out of it if your kids like competition:



Ta-da!!! You room is now in perfect order. I like to do this with the kids twice a day--once in the morning, and once right before Joe comes home from work. If your kids aren't moving quickly, tell them they get a piece of candy (or a small reward) if the pile is gone in 5 minutes or less. This always gets my kids running and so far it has never taken longer than five minutes to make the pile disappear.

The Laundry Dilemma

Having six kids, laundry is an essential part of my day. I have to do at least one load a day, if not two or three to keep the clothes from spilling up and over the laundry baskets.

My laundry schedule looks like this:

• Monday: Jennabee and Ada (two loads because Ada is a baby)
• Tuesday: Mom and Dad whites (one load)
• Wednesday: Joseph and Grant (one or two loads)
• Thursday: Mom and Dad darks (one or two loads)
• Friday: Hans and Austin (two or three loads--Austin and Hans go through clothes like nobody's business. I even do the "look and sniff" test to see if it's really dirty and only wash the things that are legit)
• Saturday: Kitchen and Bathroom towels (two loads)

It's a really tight schedule. Throw in the fact that it's been really hot and the kids have bun running through the sprinklers, drying off with towels, changing out of their wet clothes, etc. and my laundry piles have been pretty intense. So when the washing machine decided to stop draining on Friday, Hans and Austin had three loads of dirty clothes to be washed and were completely out of underwear. If it didn't get fixed soon, I knew I was going to be in for it the following week. I envisioned myself washing clothes in the bathtub which I really, really didn't want to do.

I called Joe and when he came home for lunch he flushed out the drain pipe, to check for blockage but there was none to be found. That meant that the pump was going bad. Fortunately for us, this was the stackable washer and dryer that came with the house and we had our own set still sitting in the garage. On Saturday morning Joe's brother, Jeff, came over to move the stackables out and move our side by side in. The only problem was the dryer wouldn't fit through the narrow door to the laundry room no matter which way it was turned.

I have to say here that Joe is an awesome husband. If he knows I have a serious problem on my hands, he does everything in his power to fix it for me and doesn't give up until the problem is solved. He looked on craigslist, saw a newer washer and dryer for sale for $150, I went over right away to look at them (and measure them!) and bought them. He went back in the afternoon with his brother Derek to pick them up. Joe listed the washer and dryer (that didn't fit) on Craigslist for $200. That night someone came over and bought them for our full asking price. Joe not only saved the day and made$50 in the process, he also managed to get two of the three Friday loads done for me. Which means I am only three loads behind schedule isntead of who knows how many I would have been if I had to wait for a repair man to come next week. Phew!