Chore Charts

A couple months ago, I finally made chore charts for my kids. 

I made a morning checklist for each of my kids. My oldest is in school, my 2nd child is starting kindergarten in the fall, so getting her started with this early has been helpful. My youngest is only 1 and a half, so hers won't be in use for a while yet. But I made one for her anyways.

I also made a chore chart with age appropriate tasks that they can help out with. This is pretty straightforward. When a child completes one of their chores, they can put a check mark under their initial for the corresponding task.

I put each sheet into a frame, over top of a piece of red & white chevron paper. A strip of it is visible at the top and the chevron is slightly visible under the rest of the paper.I wanted it pretty basic, but a little bit of colour and pattern from the paper makes them a bit more appealing.

I hung them up behind the door in the bathroom. I'll add the chart for my youngest when she's older or if this system doesn't work anymore, I can create new charts and switch them out. We'll see how it goes.

The day I hung these up, my kids did all the chores and were so excited to check things off. I hope the novelty doesn't wear off for a long, long time!

My printables are super basic, but I'm sharing them for anyone that would like to have them. Click on the link underneath each image to download!

My Morning Checklist Free Printable

Morning Checklist Free Printable

The Chore Chart Free Printable

How do you keep your kids on track in the mornings before school?

What chores do your kids do?

My Laundry Room

I don't have a finished laundry room. But I worked with what I have and made a space that I like, because with 3 kids I do quite a lot of laundry! You don't always have to wait for your spaces to be all finished and perfect and "magazine worthy" to enjoy them.

Having this large counter over my washer/dryer is so nice for organization/storage and for folding. (Although I don't usually fold clothes down there.)

I put all my laundry detergents and stain remover, etc in a plastic bin so they're easy to access, but contained.
Having paper towel and small towels handy is a good idea when doing laundry.

I added chalkboard labels to these bottles/ jars. The mason jar in the middle is filled with dish soap as that can come in handy for certain stains, just like the vinegar and baking soda. I added the pump onto the mason jar to create a cute soap dispenser.

I repurposed some jars and added vinyl onto them and have them to hold various sizes and colours of clothespins.
The Laundry quote print is one that I got HERE. I love seeing it often as I reminder to not wish away the hard days with little kids, cause they grow up much too quickly!

I have another repurposed jar to hold tea lights. I added another chalkboard label onto a jar I bought from Target to hold all those little things left in pockets. I have a little basket that holds the dryer sheets.
The large basket holds all the larger things like the iron, washing bags, extra clothespins and vinegar, etc.

The blue cabinet on the wall was there when we moved here a couple years ago, It's where all the household cleaners and chemicals live.

After I took the rest of the laundry room photos, I added these prints onto the wall.
Laundry Print from HERE. (I modified it to make my own)
Laundry Guide Printable from HERE.
 

Magnets for Kids` Masterpieces

Last week I did a simple project. I made some magnets to display my kids` latest masterpieces on the fridge......

I had some magnetic picture frames that were empty, so I made the text on my computer & printed it off, then cut then to fit in my frames. 

To jazz them up a bit, I added a strip of washi tape to the top and bottom of my text before slipping them into the frames......

My daughter`s......

My son`s......

Now they have their very own magnet to display their new pictures!

See how else I display their artwork in this post.

What do you do with your child`s artwork???

DIY Kids' Artwork Board

Since I have 2 young kids (my son is 4 & my daughter is 2), our fridge is home to all their crayon pictures and other artwork. Since I am all about them being creative, I wanted to make a place for them to hang more in our basement playroom. Here's what I made...

My husband had some scrap pieces of hardwood in the basement, so I took a long strip that was destined for the trash & some clothespins to spray paint.

The long piece of wood got about 6 coats of glossy white paint & the clothespins only needed 2 coats of aqua blue spray paint.

I didn't take a picture of the next step, but I just added the clothespins with hot glue.

(Sorry the pictures aren't the greatest, these were taken in the basement....at night.

With my son starting kindergarten this fall, I think this will be a great place to display all those larger paintings and craft things that kids make in school.

It also helps fill up some of the blank space that was above the couch in the basement...

My son saw it up today is he has already started making new pictures to hang up on it!

I think it fits right in with our basement play room...

organize me #10- Household Binder

So a few weeks ago, I decided to make up a household binder for our family.

And I had waaaayyyy too much fun putting it together. I may have some OCD tendencies...

Want to take a look?

The cover:

I used some of my left-over patterned paper from the Project Life kit I bought last year. 

I love the bright colours & simple design, so it was perfect for the binder!

{I took these photos outside on a grey day, so the colours are a bit washed-out in the photos. The colours are brighter in real life!}

The spine...

I put everything in page protectors because I knew the pages would need them since this will be used almost daily. And after I took all the pictures, I added tabs for each section for easier use.

Each section has a title page where I added a strip of the circle pattern paper from my Project Life kit. I haven't scrapbooked since last fall, so I loved bringing out my paper cutter & adhesive for this project!! haha!

Section for Important Numbers:

I have a page where I listed all the home & cell phone numbers for our families. And then I made a page to keep all the numbers for doctors, hospitals, the dentist, etc. and some emergency numbers.

I have a baseball card page there to hold business cards.

and then there's a

section to keep track of important dates:

I printed these 2 pages from Tip Junkie. I love having all the birthdays & anniversaries here by month...

On the left page I printed off a 2012 calendar from this site.

Then I have a section for Emergency Information:

I have a sheet with all the numbers to call in case of emergency- medical numbers and the numbers to call if there is an issue with one of our utilities. I also put down our cell numbers again, in case we had someone watching our kids, our numbers are listed in a few different areas.

Then I found some info on Fire Escape Planning that I printed off...

Then I printed off a bunch of sheets of information to use in different emergencies-

Asthma info (our little girl has asthma), and some info on choking...

...info on cuts & info on burns...

... then a reference page of CPR basics...

Then the next section is Babysitter Notes:

I printed off a couple of these pages from Tip Junkie in case we ever have someone besides a family member watch our kids...

My son will be going to Kindergarten in the fall, so I made a section for School Information:

This is where I can keep all the important papers that the school sends home.

I made up a page to jot down the basic info...

Next is the Church Stuff section:

I made up this page to jot down the numbers for people in our ward we may need to contact & I have a spot to write in the numbers of our home teachers & my visiting teachers. This is also where I stuck in the slips we have for our home teaching & visiting teaching assignments.

And I put in the current Primary newsletter as well...

A section of Things To Do! A spot for to-do lists, etc.

Travel checklists for packing & a place to put papers of reservations & itineraries, plans, etc!

The Birthday Party Plans section...

I made up some papers to write in my ideas for my kids' birthday parties this year...

And then I made a section to write in Gift Ideas for future reference!

Probably my fave part is the back where I added these little folders to store things!

I found them at the dollar store, so I bought one for each member of our family & printed our names onto the label stickers.

They are great to store in info for registrations or things that need to be added to the kids' baby books, etc, etc!

I also made a Table of Contents for the front pocket...

I've LOVED using this binder for the past couple of weeks! 

I don't know why I didn't make one sooner!!

How do YOU keep your family organized??

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