Warning – NONE of the solutions I am about to talk about are mine. Thank goodness for pinterest and bloggarific Mama’s that have been posting genius ideas that I get to steal. But I do really like our adopted (fitting right?) chore system so perhaps it can help you too. Plus the clutter clearing ideas for all that paperwork has helped our kitchen and dining room tremendously, especially with the need to keep our foster paperwork together and easy to reach when needed.
Carmona’s task center/chore system she shares in her blog include this totally free chore chart template (you can edit it on your own computer). We love these daily reminders of which Wonder is completing which task around our house and they love getting to check off their own list. Also included is a cute to-do list and “personal goals” that we sit down and draft together on Sunday nights at dinner.
Since our littles don’t get a regular allowance, we do include bonus “money chores” each week. This includes a bigger job (cleaning baseboards, organizing tupperware, cleaning laundry room, etc.) that each child can do whenever they want to earn the extra money. If they don’t do it, it becomes a regular chore for the following week and they lose the dollar. However, it the chore doesn’t get done, it’s not a huge deal and we move the chore to a different week. This is a great way for WG and WB to feel involved in our housekeeping and we make it fun by putting on music, dancing around, and filling Scott’s bucket. He loves coming home to the surprise of not having to do all the cleaning by himself on his days off from work.
Oh man, this blog post about paper organization is a MUST READ/CLICK NOW. It totally changed my life when paperwork, schoolwork, and mail were literally taking over our counters, coffee tables, and dining spaces. I loved this blogger’s ideas of putting all incoming mail into one basket to be sorted later. The two boxes are labeled “need action” and “to file” so when you put things away, you know which ones you need to go back and pay attention to in a timely manner when you remember that you actually put something in there and oops, it was kind of important.
This amazing lateral file from Pottery Barn just like the one in the blog post is on my super dreamland wishlist so that I can file all of the paperwork into more organized categories (right now they are housed in chaotic binders in my craft room).
On the bottom shelf are two CLOSED boxes of the children’s artwork and schoolwork. Every once in a while, we go through the boxes to add more or take out important pieces of work that we want to look back on or save to be proud of. I have found that setting a limit of what we keep really is a win-win. They feel important and know that we value their hard work but the sheer amount of work/art doesn’t overwhelm our kitchen or living spaces.
Perhaps you are drowning in a sea of paperwork, artwork, glorious finger paintings that you don’t know what to do with too??? I hope this helps with some ideas on how to wrangle that mess (now the actual people that make that mess? You’re on your own). If YOU have any genius tips to share, please do so in my comments, I’d love to hear them!!! Happy decluttering!