SAHM Triumph: A Clean Floor

When I worked full time, my husband and I had a messy house. We just did, and we knew there was not much to do about the situation. We were tired from work and would cook a homemade meal (most of the time we tried, as we feel this is important). The combination of that and chasing the kids, well, something had to go, and it was normally the house.

If we had an upcoming party or holiday (and both times before we had a baby), we hired a maid service. I thought the money was well worth it. I will return to work some day and when that day comes, I have no qualms about hiring a maid again. Now that I am a SAHM though, funds are tight and cleaning the house is all mine.

I wish I could say I had some grand schedule or at least a calendar for cleaning my house. Maybe I could sit down and write out a loose one of what needs done every month (or maybe every week). I probably should, but it just would be a waste of time. I cannot imagine following it. I would find the schedule in a few weeks and feel sad that I spent that time writing it and not following it. It really would be a lose-lose.

I did not grow up with any kind of role model for house cleaning. My childhood home was very messy. Since my house is cleaner than my parents' house, I figure I am making an improvement. Funny how that thought process works, isn't it?

I don't want my children to learn messy habits (like I always try to eliminate from the learned behavior section in my mind) so I have focused and concentrated on cleaning more. Lots more. Since I am fairly certain a schedule will not work, I have made myself a promise. I will clean something (a room, a floor, a section of the bathroom) before I shower for the day. This is specific enough for me to do it, but does not tie me down to a chore I really may not be up for doing during a certain day.

This is a recent implementation in my SAHM household, as I was struggling to clean house while paying attention to Ty and Za. I am following this self-imposed rule and am pretty happy about it, making it my most recent SAHM Triumph.

Naturalist Intelligence

My son Ty (he is almost 4 years) has a huge interest concerning anything he can sort: cars, blocks, trucks, books, tractors, crayons--if they are the same concept but different, he will organize it. I normally attribute this as a mathematical-logical strength, but I try to hit different intelligences when possible. 

Since another love of Ty's is nature (like any little boy, he will dig in dirt and run outside for hours), I wanted to weave some of his passions together. I found a way to use his naturalist intelligence, which deals with sensing patterns in and making connections to elements in nature. Combining the two, I did think of a way to involve two of Ty's passions-organizing and dirt, or mathematical-logical and naturalistic intelligences.  

Sorry for the darkness! The green container (it is the hardest to see) is 'trash'-the rest is recycling! All of it!!

Enter Christmas. We attend at least six Christmas celebrations, including ours. At each one, our children receive gifts from others. (My husband and I try to limit this, but no ploy has worked. I suppose we could have worse problems). The amount of stuff does not bother me, mostly because we do a huge donation for some of our church's outreach programs and I don't have any qualms about giving away "too nice" of toys. What really bothers me is the packaging, the sheer amount of trash.

This year, very little of the packaging went in the actual trash. Ty and I sorted it into the recycling bins, paper and plastic. He was thrilled that the trash would not hurt the ground, which is what he gathered from our environmental discussion.


As a bonus, my brother gave Ty (or Za, I am not sure) the books "The Five Senses" which is about the environment.
 


All of the combination led to a very happy little Ty and mama. Do you ever try to "hit" on your child's intelligences at the same time? How?

New Year's Resolution Time

I typically do not make a new year's resolution for two very good reasons. One, they are a bit cliche and I don't like being ordinary. Two, I stink at keeping them. When I was young, I had one to wear my retainer at night like I was already supposed to do. I kept that resolution for quite some time, but that is the only one I remember keeping. I am going to make one this year, and expect people to hold me to it.

For 2011, my resolution is to continue with Switching Classrooms. My work at Justmeans (which is where I primarily write now) is great and I enjoy working there. When I began Switching Classrooms, it was to reach parents and explain what happens in the education world. I only dreamed of working for a news organization with a national audience. At Justmeans I feel like I am reaching a wider audience than on my personal blog. That might be true, but I discuss different education topics in different tones for different audiences at my two blogs. This little blog has nagged at me from afar, almost calling me to continue writing it. I am going to try and answer that call.

Happy New Year, Blog Readers. I'll see you soon. :)


Photo Credit: Flickr

Finacial Friday: Cloth Napkins, Part II

Don't fear... I have not lost it. I know today is Monday, but we'll go ahead and do a Financial Friday update. In August, I wrote about using cloth napkins. A few weeks later, I saw a loyal reader who told me she and her family were using this idea! I didn't give them the idea, but we both expressed over concern for the environment. A few weeks after that meeting, I got this email from her:

 

We went to 3rd Sunday Market........my BARGAIN of the day was a box w/ 2 pillowcases & cloth napkins....$10 for the box. Came home & counted & got 30 cloth napkins! Also picked up some solid round bracelets for $3. for napking ring holders.... 

 

Awesome find, Financial Friday Mom. Great bargain.

Justmeans Update

Hello Friends!

For those of you who have not heard, I recently began writing for Justmeans. This news source highlights people, companies, and trends that do business, better. I am a writer in the education channel.

Already, I am busy researching and covering several topics:

School Lunches

National Core Standards

Homework 

These issues and so many more are what affect parents and students. I would love input on what parents, who are the foundation for successful students, want me to research and write. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks so much for all your support and time.

Finacial Friday: Cloth Napkins

The easiest and perhaps best step I have taken to cut down costs now that I stay at home is to stop buying paper towels. Paper towels are expensive, and we spent probably $10 a month on them, even with coupons.

When I decided to switch to cloth napkins, I began using my wedding (nice) gifts. After spaghetti sauce and mushed who-knows-what threatened to ruin them, I looked at garage sales. So far, I have found pink butterfly ones, red checked ones, green cotton, and green flowers. The best part? They are dirt cheap at garage sales, and normally in great shape. The most I have ever paid for a set of four is $2-the cost of a roll of paper towels.

Also, cloth napkins are better for the environment. Whatever is dirty, I toss into the washing machine with another load-no special washes for them. Lastly, my goofy friends think I'm some kind of domestic goddess for using these! They are so impressed that I use pretty, cloth napkins. Too funny; if they only knew I was cheap!

Photo Credit: Flickr

Education Alert

I have struggled to keep up with my blog, because I began writing for Justmeans. Justmeans is an organization that believes in doing business, better. Justmeans searches for businesses that work toward a sustainable world.

Justmeans just began a new channel, education, which is where I write. I am blogging about education advances (and flaws). When I began writing at Switching Classrooms, I dreamed of writing for a national source, but did not imagine it would happen so soon. I am thrilled to have my own blog at Justmeans-and the pay is fine, too. :)

I will not post my blog postings from Justmeans here, but you can follow me on facebook or Justmeans.

I plan to still write here, so keep checking back. It may just be sporadic now. Thanks to all my readers who have believed in my dream of making education applicable to everyone, and hopefully, interesting as well.