Introducing A Little More Structure In Our Day-To-Day

I was looking around my house after a weekend of traveling for work, and I felt this sense of defeat wash over me. The table was covered in clutter. There were shoes in literally every room. The entryway looked like someone's messy closet. It's a bad feeling to live in such a lovely home and not want to be there because you don't feel like nagging at your kids for the billionth time. Sure it's summer so they're home more and using our spaces more, but this house was just spotless 2 weeks ago.

So. I let myself acknowledge exhaustion and I wallowed for what felt like an appropriate amount of time, and then I did what I always do: assess how I can address the problem and RALLY. So here we are. We are a family with daily checklists, and I'm pretty excited about it.


This was my first time ever trying out Adobe InDesign, so one day I may look back on these and cringe, but for my first attempt I feel pretty good about these checklists. I jotted down the things that I'm constantly reminding the girls to do (I'm not exaggerating by using the word "constantly") and then added a few things they could pitch in on. I put them in frames so they could be used daily with a dry-erase marker, that way I don't have to print out a batch every week!

I know some people may balk at the "bonus" boxes on their checklists, but we don't do weekly allowances and I thought it may be good motivation for them to earn some money and pitch in on things they usually groan about.


Hope has actually been doing a stellar job of keeping up with her own personal space, so her list was more about helping her maintain all the hard work she put into getting it there. Seriously, it was a month-long process to unearth her bedroom from all the junk she had let pile up and I've been really proud of her for keeping up with it.

When you peep her list you'll see 2 boxes for "clear table spot". That's because she often eats 3 meals a day at home and I want her table space clean at least by lunch and then after dinner. If you couldn't tell, keeping our dining table cleaned off is a huge struggle in our house.


These photos of Poesy's bedroom aren't current, but I think she can get back to this... AND do it on her own. I really want my girls to take ownership in their spaces and treat them with pride. We'll see how it goes. So far, Poesy has taken out the trash, recycling, and is waiting for a load of laundry to fold while I'm typing this. If nothing else, at least I know money talks with this girl. 😂