Took Me Ten Years To Make My Bed

I am not a messy person, but I am also not a amazingly neat person either. I already told you about the time I was robbed in college and didn't even know it. My husband however is very neat and clutter and messes drive him crazy. So as any good marriage should have, there has been compromise. I have gotten much much neater over the years and he has relaxed a little.

But yet, I never made the bed.

I am usually drawn out of bed by one of my kids waking up, so I would get up go take care of the kids and never make it back to the bed. Good excuse right?

And then it all changed.

At the end of January I was able to attend the The Power of Moms Conference. I came away refreshed, motivated and completely exhausted. I had so many great ideas and slowly started implementing them, the first of which was the MOM Organizational system which helps you organize all of those papers (and email) if your life. My email in-box went from over 300 to empty- and it stays empty and my kitchen counters now longer contain piles of papers!

The second thing I implemented was the family economy. The idea is that we are all part of the family so we all need to contribute. Everything has to get done no matter what, but if they do their responsibilities without crying, whining, or having to be asked a lot then they can earn points and these points translate into money at the end of the week.

Here is one of the sheets we use for this. ((We have one for each child for all 5 zones or weeks))

Morning Jobs: Brush teeth, make bed, get dressed
Jobs: Dishwasher (Alex unloads, Lucas loads) And a rotating zone job (based roughly on Fly lady) ((This section is only one pt though it's divided into two)
Homework: For Alex who isn't in school, reading with me or practicing writing
Bedtime: Must be ready- done with everything on-time
Bonus: Anything from helping play with Ryder, extra cleaning, memorizing a scripture, etc.

In our family, if they get all of their checks for the day, then that day's points get doubled. For older kids, you can make them have to get the entire week to double. I tried doing the entire week with my kids, but I found myself giving too many chances as I felt bad if they missed that opportunity, so now each day can possibly be doubled as I don't feel bad about holding to that. The points can represent any amount of money you determine appropriate based on the ages of your kids and the amount you want to "pay" them.

Now it doesn't always work perfectly and I am probably a little too soft when it comes to giving an extra chance for whining, but they do it and they are learning and contributing and getting in great habits. You can learn so much more about how to use this system and what to help them do with this money they are now earning from the Power of Mom's family economy system.

Now I know all of you can't attend a retreat, but the Power of Mom's has recently come out with a Virtual retreat. It is video footage from a real retreat, works-sheets, and extra material you can watch from your home when you have time. The family economy system portion has three separate webinars (1 hour each) and almost two hours of extra material. And the current introductory price-- only good through tonight at 8PM Mountain time-- is only $49! Plus you can also get the Mommy is a Person retreat-- this is the part that will help you coming out feeling so good and recharged with so many great ideas for taking care of yourself and makes you want to be a good mom too. -- This virtual retreat is only $69 or you can get both for only $95! And as with EVERYTHING from the Power of Mom's- they truly truly want everyone to have it, so if you cannot swing this amount right now please please go to their site and contact them and they will work with you. Since most of you are bloggers, you could offer to blog about your experience trying it out maybe- just tell them I sent ya ;)

It took me over ten years, but why do I finally make my bed?

It was a little hard to ask my kids to do it if I wasn't doing it myself. So yep, it took over ten years, but now I make my bed everyday.

Disclaimer: If it sounds like I am trying to sell you on this it is because I am as I believe in it and love it so much! I am an affiliate of Power of Moms because I asked to be as I want to share this with everyone!