Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Elijah's Room

Ok, I shared that we were thinking about the House Fairy thing and liked the tools, but not sure if we wanted to do this.  We want Elijah keeping his room clean and doing chores out of obedience.  Well, after Elijah saw the video he has been driving me crazy wanting to have the House Fairy come to our house.  On Monday, we did a massive clean(ok, I did most of it, but Elijah had to help) up of his room.  We took everything out of the closet, drawers, off shelves and hidden behind the bed.  We(I) spent 4 hours cleaning out this room.  Yes, 4 hours, it did take a bit longer with my helper.  I was not happy that there was so much stuff.  He is a pack rat just like his dad and he can hide his loot well!  I rearranged the furniture to take away some of the hiding places I found.  Then we put his room back together.  Several loads came down to the spare room that is currently housing all of the toys I am going to put up for now and then begin alternating their toys so they have new-old toys to play with!  So now there are very few toys in his room.  No toys from the playroom are allowed in his room.  All of the toys are in individual see through containers(house fairy suggestion).  We got a hanging closet bin that we can put a week's worth of school clothes in as well as a bin for the shoes we can never find on school mornings.  There was also a bin for the backpack since he only goes to school 2 days a week.  Play clothes were matched and put in zip-lock bags in his dresser so on non-school days that we are not going anywhere he can pick a bag and dress himself.  His desk is arranged and again we put all like items in individual see through containers.  If he can keep his room clean we are going to redo his room and get him bunk beds and a new desk.  We are going to take down the border and paint the walls a solid color.  Then he can pick a theme that we will use in accents in the room so the basics of the room can last a few years.  He has been doing wonderful at keeping his room clean.  He is making his bed each morning and making sure everything is put away in the proper place before he leaves his room.  We did decide to let the House Fairy visit Monday night because he really worked hard.  She left a note, fairy dust and some gold chocolate coins.  He will not eat the coins since they are his treasure from the House Fairy!  The note suggested that he put his dishes in the sink after meals to make mommy happy and he has been doing this with no reminders or asking.  He has also started wanting to help with things around the house. We are going to start a chore chart(from the House Fairy) next week and give him an allowance from Mommy and Daddy for doing his chores.  We are going to do 10 dimes so we can show him how to tithe and put some into savings every week.  I am now on a mission to adapt these changes to the entire house.  Starting next week, I am taking one room at a time and doing the massive clean like I did in Elijah's room until I have the entire house cleaned.  There are new house rules now.  Everything must be put away before going to a new activity and the house must be clean at night before we go to bed or before we leave the house(when possible).  Once I get everything organize this should(Should being the operative word here) be easier.  I don't want to organize all of this and by the time I am finish I need to start over.  I am hoping to make new clean habits for all of us. 

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