September is almost complete and our back to school routine seems to be falling into place finally! With fall just around the corner now is the perfect time to bring some positive change into our lives and for me that is all about cleaning and decluttering! I keep reminding myself of my ultimate goal in life – to live simply and have more fun! For me that is the only motivation I need.
With Dustin old enough to entertain himself for longer periods of time while Cheyenne is in school I've been taking advantage of it and reading more books and doing more things that make me happy! That's a huge change for me compared to this exact same time last year when I was trying to juggle the store on top of everything else. Life is perfect being a little less stressful!
A book that caught my eye recently is Cleaning House. I thought this book would give me some ideas on how to implement better routines and empower the kids to take care of themselves! When I read this little snippet I knew the book was meant for me:
Do your kids expect clean folded clothes to magically appear in their drawers? Do they roll their eyes when you suggest they clean the bathroom? By racing in to make their lives easy, have you unintentionally reinforced your children’s belief that the world revolves around them?
Did that speak to you as well?
Cleaning House – A Book Review
Cleaning House was written by Kay Wills Wyma and covers a span of twelve months in which she embarked on an adventure, which she calls “The Experiment,” to rid her household of youth entitlement and teach her children basic life skills. The book is humorous and full of great ideas and tips that will help you implement them into your household as well! She took a year to change the habits in her house focusing on one task a month. To give you a little inside info, the schedule she follows is:
- Operation Clutter Control (Making Beds and Picking Up)
- Kitchen Patrol (Cooking)
- Grounding Time (Outdoor Duties)
- Working for a Living (Employment)
- Domestic Dirty Jobs (Cleaning Toilets)
- Roll Tide (Laundry)
- The Handyman Can…or Can He? (Fixing What's Broken)
- The Entertainers (Hospitality)
- Team Players (Working Together)
- Runner's World (Errands)
- It's About Other's (Service)
- Ladies and Gentlemen (Manners)
I found this book easy to read, at times it was a lot of information to take it but it kept me engaged and was challenging! I have to say the honesty of Kay is truly amazing, she even owns up to her faults as a mother who enabled her children to get to this point. That's one of the main reasons she decided to do something about it and break it down into simple yet practical steps so anyone can follow the experimental plan! She also shares the results which you have to read to find out!
I say for anyone looking to break through the entitlement and teach kids how to care for themselves while giving them the tools to be a dependable adult you need to get a copy of Cleaning House!
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