Simplifying

[DCJenn]

Here are my tips-

ALL bills are epaid- and ebilled. That right there eliminated a huge pressure- and on the rare chance that a bill does come to the house, it is dealt with immediately- entered into the computer and bam- done.

I also have all of the statements sent online- bank statements, mortgage statements, car payments. I auto archive all of my bank statements and just about anything else. I print nothing.

For the the mail that does come, 99% of it goes into the recycling bin before it even goes into the house. The 800 neurology journals get stacked up next to his desk and he can do whatever he wants with them. He no longer prints articles, either.

Nikolai keep his toys in his room ONLY. When he pays the mortgage, he can have more than one room.

Laundry- the cleaning lady does it- I do my gentle load in the am before she comes because otherwise they're tossed in with everything else. She also puts things away. That alone makes her worth the $.

When I cook, I clean as I go. I'm completely AR about it, in fact.

Clothes get a once-over every season. If they're worn out, haven't been worn, or in the case of the kiddo, outgrown, then they're donated.

Lawncare and pool care I jettisoned when Rick was deployed and kept them on and since he's heading back to DC, it's just as well.

I'd rather eat mac and cheese and still be able to pay the pool guy.

jenn

[Flynn]

Nikolai keep his toys in his room ONLY. When he pays the mortgage, he can have more than one room.


jenn

We do this too. I love it!

Our youngest has a small basket of toys in the great room I use when cooking but as soon as he's old enough, toys stay in the designated areas.

Parents are constantly ask us "How did you do this? We have toys everywhere?" Um we told our kids the rules and we enforced them. Occasionally a toy comes into the great room and that's fine. I don't want to sound like a Psycho Mary Poppins, but at the end of the day they return to their spot. It's not an issue. Keep in mind we now have a LOT of space so that's a huge key IMO.

[houseelf]

Nikolai keep his toys in his room ONLY. When he pays the mortgage, he can have more than one room.

That's interesting because my kids have very few toys in their rooms to encourage them to keep it clean and to encourage good sleeping habits, a big issue with DD. They have beds, dressers, and a few personal toys in their closets. Otherwise, toys go in the play room. They have incorporated the ideal of keeping their rooms clean because of this policy. It is kind of wild to see in action because my nine year old already organizes his room on his own and my five year old is definitely starting to show the first inclination of self-organizing too.

It's weird how two divergent policies are used to bring the same results.

Kelly

[poky]

It's weird how two divergent policies are used to bring the same results.

I don't see them as all that divergent; in both cases there's *one* room for the toys to live in; in DCJenn's case, it happens to be the dude's bedroom, and in yours it's the playroom. Both make a lot of sense, and keep the toys out of the communal family areas, which is I think the main point.

[Flynn]

That's interesting because my kids have very few toys in their rooms to encourage them to keep it clean and to encourage good sleeping habits, a big issue with DD. They have beds, dressers, and a few personal toys in their closets. Otherwise, toys go in the play room. They have incorporated the ideal of keeping their rooms clean because of this policy. It is kind of wild to see in action because my nine year old already organizes his room on his own and my five year old is definitely starting to show the first inclination of self-organizing too.

It's weird how two divergent policies are used to bring the same results.

Kelly

I bet DCjenn doesn't have a "play room" so the little dude keeps his stuff there....just a thought.

[DCJenn]

Nope, no playroom. We have no basement and the loft area is the guest room/exercise area.

Once the dude is 10 (assuming we're living here of course) he's moving to the loft and the guest room will be downstairs so that my parents (who are usually our only guests) don't have to go up and down the stairs that were built by the stoner ex owners and which would never meet any sort of building code.

But back to the topic at hand...I hate doing dishes but I hate dirty dishes even more so on the off chance that dish boy (aka my husband) hasn't done them (which he usually does) I HAVE to do all of the dishes before I go to sleep. I cannot wake up to a dirty kitchen. I causes me mental distress and pain.

Jenn

[Sheherezade]

I just sorted through all the kids' old clothes. I took out the better stuff that they barely wore (or never wore if it was a gift that didn't fit) and plan to consign it. I hauled it in to the local store and was told that they had no more appointments to take in stuff until December!! So, my name is on the list for December. I guess that is better than having it unsorted....but I so wanted it OUT of the house. I donated the regular gently used stuff to Goodwill.

(whoa- flylady looks really interesting... thanks for that tip!)

I was just going to say that I've found the key to keeping an area organized is to really decide once in peace about the "how", because then when you're maintaining anything you don't have to decide, because you already know. I organized our linen closet impeccably when we moved into this house, and it ALWAYS looks amazing.Wish I could show that to guests to counteract the rest of the place, !