Trading Clean Time for Screen Time This Summer + a free chore chart printable

Kids are getting way too much screen time these days. With the help of this free chore chart printable and our sponsor, Walmart and SheSpeaks, we’ve create a way to trade clean time for screen time in an effort of reducing screen time and getting the kids more involved in the household chores!

Trading Clean Time for Screen Time This Summer + a free chore chart printable

My son has been out of school for two weeks now and my daughter graduates preschool tomorrow. To say that we’re in full summer mode is pretty accurate. And when you work from home, that means you have to get creative with ways to keep them busy without resorting to letting them watch tv all day. Because what’s that going to do for them when they get back to school, right?

In an effort to lessen the amount of times I hear, “I’m bored,” and to try and ramp up the kids involvement in household chores after starting them slow with cleaning their rooms, I created a system where they earn screen time (up to 2 hours a day) in exchange for doing certain tasks. And in an effort to better keep track of those hours – because it was getting quite difficult in my head – I created a free chore chart printable as well.

Trading Clean Time for Screen Time This Summer with Walmart

Once we got going I realized we needed to restock the cleaning cabinet so I headed over to www.avoidtheoops.com and grabbed a few essentials including:

  • Dawn dish soap
  • Mr. Clean magic erasers
  • Cascade detergent pods
  • Swiffer refill pads
  • Dawn dish soap
  • Febreeze spray

I was able to order everything online and, with orders of $50+, get shipping to my door free. Took the hassle out of bringing all of the kids to the store with me and trying to haul everything around! The best part is we were able to stock up on larger sizes and simply refill our smaller bottles and keep the larger sizes in the garage. This means we’re less likely to run out without a back up. And when we do run out? Walmart.com will be there to help!

Trading Clean Time for Screen Time This Summer doing the dishes

How to Trade Clean Time for Screen Time

  • Come up with a list of tasks your children can do or help with
  • Assign a minute value to each task
  • Create a max number of minutes the children can earn each day (sometimes we even throw in a bonus or two)
  • Stock up on cleaning supplies from Walmart.com
  • Let the kids start tackling things on the list
  • Put the responsibility of tracking in the kids hands – have them check off tasks as they complete them
  • Once the kids are done with accruing their minutes, let them know how much screen time they have for the next day (this is key)
  • Start the whole process over the next day

Trading Clean Time for Screen Time This Summer cleaning the living room

What I’ve found over these past few weeks after instilling this system in our home is the following: 

  • My kids really hate cleaning but REALLY love their tv and tablet time.
  • My son has been more eager to help when we offer to find new games on the tablet for him to play as well (including educational games).
  • Making sure they know that the time they earn that day is for the NEXT day is really important. And, hopefully, it’s teaching them delayed gratification.
  • Our limit of 2 hours max has still yet to be met. The kids usually earn between 30-55 minutes each day.
  • We still need to re-evaluate our weekend tv and screen time rule. That might change as we move forward.
  • Family movie time or family shows watched together is not counted against their earned time.
  • If mom or dad turns on the tv, they don’t lose their earned time.
  • The kids are really getting creative in finding ways to keep them entertained AND they’re actually playing together!
  • This means a whole lot of oops moments. Spills, messes, general disaster areas in various rooms of the house. But that’s OK! With the help of our www.avoidtheoops.com supplies and their willingness to earn more time for the next day, most of the oopses are picked up.
  • Their moods have improved. We have less fighting, less bickering, and more helping.

 

Grab your free chore chart printable here!

(or click the photo below)

Trading Clean Time for Screen Time This Summer free chore chart printable

How do you get your kids involved in household chores? What age do you start?

Tips to Clear Out The Clutter with Close5

This post featuring tips to clear out the clutter is sponsored by Close5. All opinions are my own.

Tips to Clear Out The Clutter with Close5

If your house is anything like mine after the holidays then you’ll know why I’m at my wits end trying to get rid of the bomb that exploded Christmas day. While we didn’t go overboard for Christmas, the few things we did bring into the house are just enough to leave our house in a constant state of clutter.

So what’s a 36 week pregnant mom to do? Purge, purge, purge!! 

And with the help of a few tips I have, I’ve been able to do just that. Just in time to try and find out where we’re going to put all of this new baby stuff… [Read more…]

5 Tips for Cleaning The House Before a Party

This shop featuring 5 tips for cleaning the house before a party (including floor cleaning) has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CleanForTheHolidays #CollectiveBias

5 Tips for Cleaning The House Before a Party

This weekend we celebrated my daugther’s 4th birthday. We were able to schedule her birthday party on her actual birthday and she couldn’t be happier. But with just moving into our home this summer we weren’t sure if we were ready to host a large party just yet.

Luckily I planned in advance and did a lot of the pick up and deep cleaning ahead of time – including hiring a maid the week before to do some of the chores I can’t really do easily in my third trimester of pregnancy.

But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t have to clean up right before the party due to little people running around the house doing their thing beforehand. So today I’m sharing my tips for cleaning the house before a party.  [Read more…]

Kids Cleaning Tips: How to Get Kids to Clean Their Own Rooms

This shop featuring Kids Cleaning Tips has been compensated by #CollectiveBias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #EurekaPower

Kids Cleaning Tips How to Get Kids to Clean Their Own Rooms

Getting my kids to clean anything, let alone their rooms, used to be a struggle. But then I started thinking smarter and have finally found a solution that works for us!

By making cleaning part of our daily routine and making it fun I’ve been in to tap into my kids inner creativity and let them take the lead when it comes to cleaning their rooms.

It also helps that I make them in charge of where things go as well as what things they’re allowed to keep in their room – within certain limits. By limiting they types of toys and “stuff” they can keep in their rooms we’ve eliminated the clutter we used to find in their rooms.  [Read more…]

5 Natural Ways to Get Rid of Fleas in your Home

5 Natural Ways to Get Rid of Fleas in your Home

We ran into a little problem last week. Our poor Scout got fleas for the first time in his 12 years and we had no clue where to start with treatment! Since we moved next to a home with 3 other dogs we knew it was a possibility but we were hoping we’d get lucky and not have to deal with it.

Luckily we were able to find some great ways to eradicate the situation and, hopefully, reduce the chance of fleas returning again in our home. But if they do, we’ll be ready!

Here’s what we did to tackle our flea problem in our home and on our beloved dog. [Read more…]

5 Tips for Cleaning The Bathroom in 10 Minutes

5 Tips for Cleaning The Bathroom in 10 Minutes #TryZep

Have I ever shared my little secret? You know, the one about how I hate cleaning. Especially cleaning the bathrooms. In an effort to deal with the inevitable I’ve come up with these tips for cleaning the bathroom in 10 minutes so I don’t have to deal with it for very long.

No, seriously… 10 minutes once a week and my bathroom stays clean. And since it’s so quick, I can wait till the last minute to give in and clean so it’s over shortly after I start.

Want to know my secrets? I’m sharing them below.

(this post contains affiliate links)

5 Tips for Cleaning The Bathroom - all in one cleaner #TryZep

5 Tips for Cleaning The Bathroom in 10 Minutes

What you’ll need:

5 Tips for Cleaning The Bathroom - bag on door #TryZep

What you do: 

1. Use a bag – Hang the bag from the door and empty the contents of the bathroom’s waste basket into it. Set wastebasket aside and pick up any rugs, clothing, etc from the ground.

2. Spray and let products sit – Spray disinfectant/cleaner into toilet and then, after picking up bath toys and setting aside, spray All-Around Oxy Cleaner and Degreaser in tub. Let sit while cleaning the rest of the bathroom.

TIP: Throw the bath toys on the top rack of the dishwasher to clean and remove any soap scum or gunk from them! Since I always have a load of dishes to do before company comes over, it works out very nicely to fill the bottom rack with dishes and top rack with toys.

3. Spray disinfectant on floor – No need for a separate floor product! Sweep (discarding dust, dirt, etc into bag on door) and then get your mop wet inside the sink or tub. Spray disinfectant on the floor and mop. Rinse out the mop with fresh water and mop again. Use a microfiber towel to dry the floor.

5 Tips for Cleaning The Bathroom - Zep disinfectant #TryZep

4. Clean sink THEN toilet to use the same towel – Now using the disinfectant, spray down the sink, countertop and mirrors. Clean with microfiber towel tackling the mirrors first, then the counter, then the sink and faucet.

Once the sink is clean, move onto the toilet. Clean the top of the tank first, then the top of the toilet seat. Then move through each layer getting down to the rim (make sure to fold the towel in on itself as you go along). Put microfiber towel in pile of towels to be washed.

Then use the toilet brush to clean the inside of the toilet. Flush toilet.

5. Wait to do the tub last (or not at all) – The worst part of cleaning a bathroom, in my opinion, isn’t the toilet but the tub. All the mildew, grime, soap scum. Eew! So when I leave the product on the surface for a bit it has some time to work itself in.

And when I’ve cleaned everything else I then pick up the scrub brush and start scrubbing things down. Then I rinse everything off and let it air dry!

Throw the bag in the trash, put away the cleaning supplies, toss the towels (bath towels and microfiber cleaning towels) in the wash, and you’re set with a clean bathroom!

5 Tips for Cleaning The Bathroom - supplies needed #TryZep

What is your top quick cleaning tip?



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