Cleaning with the help of your digital camera...

I know many of you are participating in Momstheword's Summer Cleaning Frenzy and, while I'm not joining the frenzy, I still wanted to come to the party, so I thought I'd share one of my favorite tips with you.

How many times have you had this conversation with your children?

You say, "Honey, go clean your room please."

Child says, "I did it already."

You say, "Okay, you know I'm going to check it, right? You're sure you cleaned it up, right?"

Child says, "Yes, Mommy, it is cleaned up."

You check and it is not cleaned up. They insist they didn't see all of those things that are glaringly obvious to you. You get frustrated, they get frustrated and it never seems to change.

Did you know you can use your digital camera to help end the constant battles about "cleaning your room"? Seriously. Think about it, photos show everything! They show that you didn't vacuum when you got that awesome picture of cat doing some weird thing, or the group of kids being goofy; they show that you hadn't cleaned your counters off before carving pumpkins...basically, everything you skim over shows up in pictures. So, why not use that? That is exactly what I decided to do.

After battling for the umpteenth time with my children regarding what constitutes a clean room, it occurred to me that they just didn't see their rooms with a critical eye, so when they would tell me they'd cleaned it up, they truly meant it. They didn't see the stuff they left out, because their rooms are filled with things they love, have un-finished activities, piles of stuff waiting for them to come play with. How could I get them to see the things I was seeing, without coming in and nitpicking and bullying to get the job done? (Here is where the inspiration comes in!) Thinking of how often I'd seen "clutter" ruin otherwise good pictures, the next time they insisted their rooms were clean, I had them take pictures of each of their rooms and we put them up on the monitor. Shazam! It worked like magic...in a picture on the monitor, they could see their rooms the way parents do, the way their friends do, and realized that what they saw and what we all saw was completely different. All the little stuff they would leave on the floor when I asked them clean up was clearly evident in the photos. They didn't need me to say anything. They could see it for themselves. They were actually eager to clean their rooms to match their internal visions and were very eager to do before and afters. When they were done, we took more pictures and they got to compare the before and after and really "got" it.

I am not certain you can clearly see in the before and after of Valiant's room, but the floor is clean in the after, the bed is made deliberately, and the clutter has been disposed of.

So, use your camera to help you get things cleaned up. You can also use my favorite trick for decorating. Take a picture to see if you like the decor or furniture arrangement in the picture. What you might describe as homey could, in real life, turn out to be just plan messy. Conversely, what you might think is not enough might turn out to be just right! And furniture arrangement that has you stymied might become clear in a photo. (The third picture? That was after I decided the room would flow better if I switched the dresser and the desk. I was right...it feels much bigger now. Oh, and it has his new duvet cover!)

The greatest thing about this trick? You don't have to print the pictures...when you're done...hit "delete"!

What is not to love?

What is not to love about a man who is this prepared to clean? Just look at how well-trained he is!

This is how Valiant suited up to tackle cleaning his bathroom. Man, I love this kid!

Someday (in the far distant future) he's going to make an awesome husband...I hope his future wife appreciates him! (Completely random, I know!)

Today feels like a Monday...

After a three-day weekend that included a much anticipated birthday, today is definitely feeling like a Monday. The high point here is that Superman felt the same way, so I got two dates this week, rather than one! (For anyone who's counting, I've now had 16 Egg McMuffins in 2009--I've definitely slowed down since the January feasting!)

Since I homeschool Valiant and Buttercup, I've found Mondays can go one of two ways: 1) If everything stayed relatively calm and relaxed over the the weekend, the kids just sail into their school week; or 2) If everything stayed in a high state of chaos for the weekend (like with a much anticipated birthday), schooling barely gets started, as the chaos of the house must be put in order before their minds (and mine) can be calm and focused. Guess which kind of faux Monday we're having today?

So, while little schoolwork has been completed, the bathrooms are scrubbed, the bedrooms cleaned, Valentine's day decorations are removed, three loads of laundry have been done, Valiant (oops, excuse me!), the Red Fox and I have exercised, the dishwasher is unloaded, the furniture has been put back in position after some much needed carpet cleaning got done before bedtime last night, and we are all finding our groove.

Because it is, in fact, Tuesday, this is going to make for a tough week...I don't modify the weeks based on decisions like this...the schoolwork still gets done, just at a different pace. (No matter how busy Superman's weekend was, his work has to get done, so the kids might as well get used to those expectations for them now.)

Since I'm playing household clean-up, I though you might enjoy some interesting posts from some blogs I read. Go check out Lara's post at The Lazy Organizer...she's made some interesting changes in her diet and shares her results with us all. I admit to being intrigued. She's also the one who gave us all the link to this amazing (cautionary?) story about plastic from Discover Magazine's May 2009 issue: The Dirty Truth About Plastic. Pretty Organizer at Pretty Organized Palace has some terrific tips to get a lot done with minimal effort in this post. Finally, Mary at Owlhaven.net saw her first child married on Saturday and has a post about the clever things they did to make it special and frugal at the same time. The real value in the post, though, is the love you "hear" as you read her description of her daughter's wedding day. It will bring tears to your eyes (in a good way!).

For now I'll leave you all with that, while I continue to restore order and harmony to my home. (But I'll be back later tonight to show you Valiant's birthday cake...I tried something new and exciting and it actually turned out well!) Until then, have a terrific Tuesday-that-feels-like-a-Monday!

Digital Camera for Cleaning and Organizing - Seriously!

After reading the title (without reading the article because I need to get off the computer!) of the post Using Photography to Declutter over at Blissfully Domestic, I walked around my house thinking of how we could use photography to declutter. I was inspired, but I went in a completely different direction than the author of that post (which is very good, but not applicable to my stage of life), but I did use my digital camera to help me and my children stay on top of things. Think about it, photos show everything! They show that you didn't vacuum when you got that awesome picture of cat doing some weird thing, or the group of kids being goofy; they show that you hadn't cleaned your counters off before carving pumpkins...basically, everything you skim over shows up in pictures. So, why not use that? That is exactly what I decided to do.

After battling for the umpteenth time with my children regarding what constitutes a clean room, it occurred to me that they just didn't see their rooms with a critical eye, so when they would tell me they'd cleaned it up, they truly meant it. They didn't see the stuff they left out, because their rooms are filled with things they love, have finished activities, piles waiting for them to come play. How could I get them to see the things I was seeing, without coming in and nitpicking and bullying to get the job done? (Here is where the inspiration comes in!) Thinking of how often I'd seen "clutter" ruin otherwise good pictures, I had them take pictures of each of their rooms and we put them up on the monitor. Shazam! It worked like magic...in a picture on the monitor, they could see their rooms the way parents do, the way their friends do, and realized that what they saw and what we all saw was completely different. All the little stuff they would leave on the floor when I asked them clean up was clearly evident in the photos. They didn't need me to say anything. They could see it for themselves. They were actually eager to clean their rooms to match their internal visions and were very eager to do before and afters. When they were done, we took more pictures and they got to compare the before and after and really "got" it.

I am not certain you can clearly see in the before and after of Valiant's room, but the floor is clean in the after, the bed is made deliberately, and the clutter has been disposed of.

So, use your camera to help you get things cleaned up, or, my favorite trick, take a picture to see if you like the decor or furniture arrangement in the picture. What you might describe as homey in real life could turn out to be just plan messy. Conversely, what you might think is not enough might turn out to be just right! And furniture arrangement that has you stymied might become clear in a photo. (The third picture? That was after I decided the room would flow better if I switched the dresser and the desk. I was right...it feels much bigger now. Oh, and it has his new duvet cover!)

The greatest thing about this trick? You don't have to print the pictures...when you're done...hit "delete"!

It is Organizing Season...

I read that tag line at Jane's Apron and loved it (and told her so). The Christmas tree is down, the decorations are put away, and I am feeling light and free.

So, here it is New Year's Eve. I don't make resolutions, but the airy feel that comes from rediscovering all the space my home really has inspires me to keep going. I get our files in order, shredding the old, cleaning out drawers that have gotten disorganized with the lack of attention I've given them over the past few months. After feeling almost disconnected to my home by the change the holidays bring, I feel rooted again. I'm ready to get us all back on track, keep to our routines, and get things back to normal. Obviously, I'm not the only one, because people are writing about the same thing all over the blogosphere.

Like Jane, I signed up for Martha Stewart's Organizing Tip of the Day. (Do I think I want to be Martha Stewart? No, no, no...but I do like help staying on track.) Melissa, at the Inspired Room, posted her 4 Best Tips for Creating Order Every Day at Blissfully Domestic and I agreed with them all. Now that the holidays are over, I'll be back to my morning laundry routine, which sets the whole day on the right track. Pretty Organized Palace has 5 Quick things to organize right now to help us get started feeling light and in control as we go into 2009.

I'm ready to clean out closets, get back to sewing, and start planning our spring garden. The post-Christmas doldrums have passed and I'm ready to go.

Do you like to start fresh after the holidays? What do you do?