Day 14 – Second Bedroom! Plus, The Simple Way I Get My Kids to Clean Their Rooms (No Fuss)!

Today is a great day for the second bedroom, because it's my son's room and he is quite capable of cleaning it himself!

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Remember, I'm not showing pics of my kids rooms because I want to keep that space private. But I will show a few up close pics when he's finished!

The Simple Way I Get My Kids to Clean Their Rooms (No Fuss!)

Over the summer I ordered Dave Ramsey's book Smart Money Smart Kids. One of the ideas in the book was something I was initially completely opposed to. The advice? Pay your children to clean their rooms. Now listen, I am of the philosophy that children take care of their rooms and help with the home because we are a family and we all have jobs to do. Also, they are going to have to learn to clean and care for their things because no one is going to pay them to clean up their homes one day, they will just need to have the self-discipline to do it. BUT, after pondering it more, I decided to try paying my children to clean their rooms so I could teach them about how to manage their money. Because the reality is, we don't do allowances, and I don't have enough extra jobs around the house for them to do to earn a consistent income. So here's what I did (I tweaked what Dave did with his family) and what has been working wonderfully since: My children can each earn 5 dimes a day. They get a dime for each job they do in their bedrooms:
  • Make their bed
  • Pick up the toys
  • Laundry in basket
  • Books on shelf
  • Trash in the trash can
Once they earn their five dimes, they put one in their save jar (a simple cheap bell jar), one in their give jar, and three in their spend jar. At this point, I'm not messing with the 10% thing because it's too complicated, and dimes are easy and get the point across. (At some point I will up the amount, but for now, dimes keep me not broke.) Bada bing, bada boom. Rooms get cleaned and mama is happy. And just as a sidenote, my kids have other jobs they have to do around the house just because they are part of the family. :) So, what works for your family? Share all your secrets!

After Pics!

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The Online Friends Who Clean Together, Stay Together

Or something like that.

If you want to join the challenge using your social media channels, use the hashtag #31DaysToClean. I'll be posting updates on my Facebook page, Instagram account, and Twitter account! Also, if you are blogging through the challenge, feel free to leave the direct link to your blog post in the comments!

Love, SM

Click HERE to see all the posts in this series!
Sarah Mae