Here is what I have so far...

OK, this is how I think things are going to work- on Saturday (or at least before Monday morning) the 5 5 minute challenges and the big weekly challenge will be posted by whomever has it that week (I will put it on the sidebar to keep track of). Whoever posts it should put the right tag on the post (if not, I will come back in and do it). You can keep track of your progress on the 5 minute challenge in the comments of the post.

The weekly challenge must be completed before midnight the next Saturday. If you already have that particular thing done, you can have two minutes to straighten before you take a picture of it. This will earn you the 20 points plus 30 bonus. If you take the challenge, you should post the before and after shots. This will earn you the 20 points.

On Saturday I will try to publish a point roundup post so you can tell how you did with the everyday cleaning. I will tally the points and add them to the score card. After 4 weeks, the highest scorer will win a small prize.

Also, we will take turns posting our Tuesday Tips (make sure to add the tag so we can keep track of it!!). I think that's everything. We will start keeping score starting Monday!! Good luck-

Kitchen Cupboards DONE!

Although most of my cupboards could do with a little straightening these were by far the worst and they were the ones I had in mind when setting my goal for the week.  The rest will have to wait for a different week.  Here is my before shot:

And here is my After:
There is SO much empty space now it is amazing.  The only thing I moved to a different spot were my recipe books which I moved here:

Everything else got put back in, or put in the garbage.  Some surprises were 2 jars of unsalted peanuts, 3 cans of cooking spray, and TONS of pasta, I threw two opened bags out that had been in there for over a year, took 3 bags up to the food storage closet and left the 5 that are left in there!  Good luck finishing all your goals for the week ( I know I am going to need it!)

The week is half over...

I can't believe tomorrow is Thursday! Things have been so crazy... I'm really struggling just to get the basics done, let alone even think about any silly things like challenges. But, tomorrow should be a relatively "normal" day, I've got Barlow's little birthday surprise of the day all ready to go, nothing else but work at 3:00. Why am I telling you this? I'm hoping a little accountability will help me reach my goals. Which are:

• CLEAN OUR BEDROOM
• Spot clean the kids' bathroom (I cleaned it today, and would like it to stay that way)
• Make VT appts
• Everyday cleaning
  

This should keep me quite busy for the day. Wish me luck!


***Update: I was able to get A LOT done today. I think the kids felt so bad for driving me to the brink of insanity yesterday (Wed), so they eased up a little today.
I got all my daily chores done, cleaned the bedroom, and even had a little time left over to clean to kitchen chairs. Just for good measure, I decided I'd add in the legs of the kitchen table since I discovered, while on my knees scrubbing the chairs, that they were fairly unappetizing. So, hooray for a productive day!!***

Works For Me Wednesdays???

So, a lot of the money saving blogs I look at participate in what they call "Works for Me Wednesdays". On Wed. (duh) they post something that "works" for them. It ranges from little tricks they use around the house, to products that they have found to be helpful, to scheduling and menu planning ideas they use. Really anything. I thought maybe we could do that here, but just take turns posting on Wed. So I could start next Wed and then just go in order (maybe the order we are listed in weekly goals??). That puts us only having to post once every 6 weeks or so. Anyway, what do you think? It could be a fun way to share things that we are using that work for us and maybe would help others out. We could do 2 people a week if we wanted or start with one and see if we'd rather have two. Anyway, comment and tell me what you think.

Here is the link to the Official Works for Me Wednesday. I don't necessarily think we should follow her themes or link to her site, but it will give you an idea of what I am talking about.
http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/shannon/2009/01/works-for-me-sports-mom-tips.html

Possible Points System

I added a score card to the sidebar. Now I am trying to work out a points system. Here is what I have so far:

For regular type cleaning: 1 point for every day you do it with a 5 point bonus if you do it EVERY day that week (I think of Monday through Friday, but I guess we could include Saturday if everyone wants to, let me know). Regular cleaning would include- dishes, sweep/vacuum floor, make bed, any others you want to add? Also there could be 5 points each if you wash and fold your laundry, clean your bathrooms, mop your floor that week.

5 minute challenge: 1 point for every 5 minute, 5 points for the 30 minute challenge, and 5 point bonus if you do all 5

Challenges: This one is a hard one for me to figure out. There are a couple ways to go-

• Once a challenge is issued you have 1 day to post what your room looks like right then (or maybe you get 2 minutes to clean before you show). If yours is already done you get 50 points. Otherwise you have one full week to take the challenge. If you do it, you get 20 points. I'm not sure what the challenger should get- 20 points, 30 points, 20 points plus 5 extra points for everyone else who does it/minus 5 points for everyone who already had it done? (I lean toward the 20 points like everyone else)
• Once a challenge is issued there are 140 points out there. For everyone who finishes the challenge in 1 day (maybe 2- maybe a week) you split the points. If only the challenger finishes they get 140 all the way down to everyone doing it and getting 20 each. Maybe we could do this with a week goal and there can be a 5 point bonus for everyday you have it done (if you finish day 1=25, day 2=20, day 3=15, day 4=10, day 5= 5, day 6=0)?
• Any other ideas? I think you have to post before pictures to take up the challenge and after pictures to get the points. I'm not sure how to decide how often we do challenges, who picks them, etc. Maybe we could put a limit of how many a week or how many challenges each person is allowed start every month? Who knows.

Anyway, those are my ideas. Anyone else have ideas? Just let me know so we have the points ready to go by February!!

Goals Today- Charlotte

Yesterday I got the phone calls done and the food stored, but didn't do the laundry or make the VT appointment. Those got moved to today.

So today I am working on shopping and laundry. I also need to get the main floor picked up and, if I get enought done today, I will begin my playroom tomorrow. I would show you the picture I took, but it is BAD. I'll wait till I have the after photos to post. I am hoping to get rid of half of the toys in there. It is either that or half the kids ~ and toys are easier to replace ;)

Weekly 5 Minute Challenges

Ok, this is the first week so I will go first and I am assigning Charlotte to do the 5 minute challenges for next week, this is how I think it should go, on the weekend the person in charge of the week will post 5 small goals that will only take about 5 minutes each, you can chose to do them all at once, or once a day all week, but I think you should get a point for each one you do. I was also thinking about doing 4 5 minute challenges and one 30 minute challenge, instead of 5-5 minute challenges. What do you think. Here are the challenges for this week:

1. Wash all doorknobs and light switches

2. Clean off top of fridge

3. Wash all mirrors

4. Scrub kitchen sink

5. (30 min.) clean kitchen chairs/highchairs

Medicine / Spice Cabinet DONE!!

So, I guess the embarrassing picture was motivation enough, because I got it done today! Here is everything that came out.

The empty cupboard.

This is everything that didn't make the cut. Some will go into our food storage and some will be given away. Excedrin, anyone?

FINISHED!!!!!

Weekly Goals Before Pictures- Andrea

Ok, here's some disgusting pictures of my goal areas for the week:

Here's the kids' room, notice Jace making the situation worse.

Well, after spending all morning making this post, I'm off to make a new post on my personal blog and go swimming with Brenda. At least I have my priorities straight.

Goals for Today- Charlotte

I think I will have to limit my goals today (due to the fact that I was up past midnight watching a movie with Peter- and hated the ending). So my goals are to make VT, picture, and dr. appointments, put Joseph's preschool schedule into my calendar, & fill my 25 lb. buckets. And do laundry. Plus my regular cleaning which actually isn't too bad today. Peter should be home for piano so I don't have to be gone for 2 hours of the day.

Also, I need to know what you want to do for privacy. We can either use initials or just make the whole site private. I am working on a blog header. Can you all send me a picture of you making a silly (but not ugly!!) face?

Everyone has great ideas for points. I am going to try to have something in place for February (see my weekly goals) with maybe a prize!!.

Also, Tami if you are starting a biggest loser contest, get at it. I have been working out all month and so far have lost 4 pounds. OK, I have been working out all month, but really I am up 4 pounds. Oops!

Kim's Goal Before Pictures

Alright, I'll be the first to embarrass myself. One of my weekly goals is my medicine cabinet / spice cupboard. Here is the before picture.

I also want to convert my very unorganized recipe shoebox into an organized recipe binder. Here is what my shoebox looks like. (monthly goal)
And finally (and most embarrassingly) is my bedroom closet. It is in very bad shape. I know, how terrible is that. It is so easy to just shut the door and walk away... (monthly goal)

Challenges?

So I was trying to think of a way to create a challenge and may have come up with something.  For example, if I were to set the goal to clean out my kitchen cupboards, I could take before and after pictures and post that I finished.  Then any time in the next six months someone could challenge that project and I would have to post current pictures to see if I was able to keep them organized or if they were once again disheveled.  What do you think?

How do you want it to work?

Here are the bare bones. The names and monthly/weekly goals I will replace with fancier pictures. I think we could post our daily goals and/or have themed days like:

Monday Madness- do as much cleaning as possible
Wednesday Works- before/after shots for orginizing projects
Folding Fridays- laundry day

ect. I couldn't think of alliterative terms for the other days, and I'm not crazy about the ones I did put there (especially Wed.). So any ideas on how to make the blog work are great!

If you can think of a way to make it competitive (given the 3 hour time difference)

Also, the weekly/monthly goals. You click the wrench beneath your list to get there (after I make you an administrator) and then change the lost. To cross it out out "s" at the beginning and "/s" at the end (both surrounded by the <> symbols). So there you go!