Today we have Melissa from Melly Sews. She is a rising star in the sewing blog community! If you haven't already seen it, she just did an AMAZING Summer Sundress Series with 30 days of sundress tutorials! She's so awesome, she even made a Tricks of the Trade button:
Love her! Take it away Melissa!
Hello I Make Stuff readers! I'm Melissa, and I blog over at Melly Sews.
I certainly don't have everything together, but there are two things I am good at that I guess are my Tricks of the Trade.
1. ORGANIZATION
I am a firm believer that everything needs to have a place. And then you have to train your family to put things back in their place.
Every time I see clutter piling up somewhere that is a sign that we need to find a place for the things piling up. We have a tiny hall closet, and I noticed shoes piling up by the door, so the next picture was my solution.
The picture below is next to both my garage door (where we tend to enter/exit the house) and our back door. I designed the bench and the wall board, and then Hubby and I built them. My goal was to get all the shoes off the floor and give everyone a place to put their shoes.
The hat rack is a recent addition - because I noticed hats piling up on the bench.
The wall board was designed for things piling up on my counter. I was finding small electronics and their chargers, keys, mail, and things like invitations and birth announcements. The little cubbies have holes drilled into them that hide their chargers, which are plugged into the surge protector that is behind the door at the bottom.
I also made sure to include a calendar. We put appointments and family things on it, circle our recycling pick up days, and use it to plan our weekly menu.
I also make sure there are a lot of places to store toys, and we go through and pick up every night. For example, here is the boys' train table in the the playroom/sewing room we share.
Here's the whole room. You can see I use the shelving to store all my yarn and fabric so I can keep surfaces clear.
DVD storage - these are IKEA boxes and my most recent organization project. I got tired of looking at the shelf full of random DVDs and VHS tapes (yes, I still have and watch VHS).
2. MAKE YOUR KIDS WORK
This is another thing I'm pretty hard core about. I love my boys, I really want them to be good husbands someday, and I'm not serving them or their future spouses if I don't teach them self sufficiency. So yes, that is my 2 year old helping do laundry, and that is my 4 year old helping and overseeing.
First you take all the clothes from the dryer to the basket. (Make sure and check that you got them all).
Then you take the wash and put it in the dryer.
And don't forget to drag the laundry basket to the stairs so that Mommy or Daddy can carry it up.
Now before you think I have super kids, let me assure you, I have normal, rowdy boys. Who were refusing to get dressed on this particular morning. The secret is that I have started them young (but if your kids are older, it's never too late) and I start with things they can handle, making a game of it. Tater started with helping me unload the dishwasher before he was 2 because he liked sorting the silverware. Now he has taught Bean how to do it, and Bean does silverware while Tater unloads the rest. As you can see, they also do laundry. Recently we also taught Tater how to make his own waffles for breakfast. After practicing that for a few days, he progressed to serving his brother breakfast too. His words, "I got it Mommy, you're fine, drink your coffee."
And before you think I'm the meanest mom in the world, you should know that they love to help, and that their chores usually take them less than 10 minutes. Do you see the pride of accomplishment on Bean's face dragging that basket? "Mommy, I dwag it supah fast!" (translation: Mommy, I drag it super fast)
Yes, it took forever to unload a dishwasher while I was teaching Tater to do it, but the time spent teaching them to unload dishes and do laundry has saved me time now that they can do it themselves. Kids are awesomely capable, and I think we as parents need to recognize and celebrate their capabilities.
Especially when it means less housework for me :)
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As far as point 2 goes--this is awesomely important in a number of ways! I grew up doing a lot of stuff around the house, because I was expected to, and as a "young adult" or whatever it is you call us university and just-post-grad folks, I've found I'm
ReplyDeletea) often capable in ways some people I know aren't (the number of friends I've taught to cook...), because my parents taught me how to basically run a home while I was still living in theirs;
b) better at improvising in sitautions when I don't know the answer, because I have a greater background in homeskills to draw on; and
c) much more willing to just jump in and do stuff around the house for the greater good (I have had fewer roommate spats about chore distribution, etc than most people I know, and I think it's because I don't spend nearly as much time overanalyzing chore distribution)
So yes! Make your children do things! It doesn't make you mean! It makes us less cruddy grownups!
I love looking at and reading about organization. I like to see what others do to stay organized.
ReplyDeleteYour son's future spouses THANK YOU in advance. You are definitely making your sons great husbands of the future.
You're not mean at all, smart and sensible would be a better description! They need to learn these things so they don't see them as "chores" but rather "things that need to be done by me". I helps them learn and also helps make sure you aren't the only one in the house doing the cleaning.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to start habits young with children. I have learnt from you. My almost five yr old does not want to do nothing but play. We'll start his training on Monday. Lol. Thanks a bunch.
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool how your little boys take responsibility! It'll make life easier for them as they grow older - I guess we all know those people who have never loaded a washer until the age of 30 ;-)
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