I posted my cleaning schedule last week when I shared my cleaning closet redo and some of you were curious if my girls help with the household work.
Evie helps out too, but my two older girls are old enough to do some real cleaning as part of their weekly chores. To make their chores a little more exciting (a stretch, I know!) and to give them more ownership, the girls and I decided they needed their own cleaning kits. So we went to Home Depot together and shopped for some supplies to make the kits. We found a huge display with duct tape in all different colors and we thought that would make a cute (and waterproof!) decoration for simple white buckets.
We also picked up some colorful nylon cording.
The girls and I worked together to wrap the buckets in layers of the duct tape. If you roll the bucket while pulling the tape really taut, there won’t be any air bubbles or wrinkles.
Then we used a hot glue gun to wrap the handles in the nylon cording.
It’s surprising to me how putting in even a little extra effort to make something beautiful gives a household item so much more importance. My girls love these buckets and they’ve been diligently doing their chores lately! Success!
The Home Depot and P&G want to give away a few things today so one of you readers can kick start your own cleaning and organizing project! To enter to win a $200 gift card to The Home Depot along with some cleaning products including Febreze Air Effects, Bounty Select-A-Size and Charmin Ultra Soft, simply leave a comment on this post and share what project you have in mind. Or share what you do to help get your kids excited to help cleaning!
I am in the process of transforming our dingy basement from random storage into a cozy apartment, and it needs lots of love. I'm sure the Home Depot could help me out!
We try to set a timer–everyone work together for 5 minutes on the playroom before bed. I am usually quite surprised with what can be accomplished in 5 minutes. The buckets are a great idea!
my closet is in need of organizing!
Would use it to tackle our new guest room!
definitely need to organize my utility closet!
I would clean our closets. ALL of them!!!
I would use it to clean and organize my closet which is in desperate need of some new shelving!
I was going to ask where you bought those fabulous buckets. Duct tape FTW!
As for the HD card … I would hoard some paint in hopes we'll ever have a house of our own.
Our laundry room is desperate for a mini makeover and organization- this would be perfect!
My next project will be to tackle the under-the-sink space in both bathrooms.
That's a great idea! I need to make some updates to my kitchen
I would tackle our entry closet!
I have been trying to come up with a way for my five year old to help more with chores so this was a great idea! And board and batten in our master bedroom is next on our to-do list.
Finishing our basement! Just a drop in the bucket.
Finishing our basement! Just a drop in the bucket.
This would be SO helpful to clean our house post-remodel. AND to help set-up our new laundry room!
We have slips of daily chores and the girls draw three each day (during the summer). For awhile they would both want the slip for cleaning toilets. Go figure. . . melinda(dot)wold(at)gmail(dot)com
Project of the moment, the master bedroom. Painting, closet doors, trim, deep cleaning, and so on.
Have to paint every single room in the house…$200 would make a nice little dent in the cost!
Well now that my 8 month old is scooting around on the wooden floors, I’ve debated adding swiffer kneepads of a sorts to her outfits but you’ll be relieved to hear that I have not. Instead, I keep up with cleaning and swiffering in the traditional way. But, with this gift card, I would leave that Swiffer in the dust and buy a Roomba. Home Depot sells them along with the Neato. Anyone out there have one? Are they wonderful?
One thing I do to help my kids is pick at least one chore they enjoy. My son loves to help scrub the toilets. It's a dirty job, and I typically go back and do it again later, but he's motivated. Of course, my kids also have to do jobs they don't enjoy, but at least they can have a little "fun" while cleaning.
Our entry closet could really use some revamping!
Spring cleaning is just around the corner…and I'm actually itching to do it this year! ;
This makes me so ready to get my laundry room in order! I need to add a shelf above the machines, would love to paint a fun color, and get it picked up in general. Thanks for the inspiration!
As soon as it warms up, I'm looking forward to cleaning and organizing my garage. It's a total mess in there!
great giveaway! we certainly need to clean/reorganize a few areas of our house. I would start with the guestroom, which serves as a storage closet as well ;)
When I was young, my mom always got us to clean up by franticly announcing "the queen is coming!" and telling us she'd arrive in 7 minutes. She'd set the timer and we'd run around the house gathering up our mess and putting it away as quickly as we could. We were wild with excitement and cleaning energy! Always a fun time and great way to get us to clean up quickly. Much better than dragging it out slowly and letting us groan or find distractions.
Planning on a kids' bathroom renovation before said kid arrives in July!
This is such a great idea! I'll make some for my husband. I have a couple buckets that I use for bathrooms, inside and garage cleaning. For some reason, he ALWAYS uses mine and ruins them, the last two, grease from his car.
I would love to tackle our kitchen cabinets!
I would use it for my kitchen reno coming up!!
My two year old likes to help me wipe the kitchen cabinets and she's pretty good about putting all her bows away, after she tosses them all on the floor!
The cleaning schedule is my next project. It would feel so nice not thinking I have to tackle the whole house everyday, just one item. So much more manageable
I'm DYING to get up to my elbows in my garden. This year I'm finishing my potager building a greenhouse, and changing the flower beds to natives in order toc onserve water.
I love the cleaning schedule! I am inspired to make my closets look pretty.
I could totally use a Home Depot gift card. So much cleaning to do. I'm in nesting mode again since I'm pregnant with my 2nd child and due in a few short weeks! We're having our ductwork cleaned out and I need to clean ceiling fans, baseboards, etc. We have such a dusty house! And I'd love to get new faucets for our kitchen and guest bath too.
I need to paint at least three rooms in our house and change the kitchen floor tiles.
Two Words…. Spring Cleaning!!! Several of my closets needs sprucing up. You've inspired me to add a lil decor in there as well!
this makes me want to reorganize my pantry and laundry room. Great post as usual ;)
If this will help my daughter help around the house, I want in!
Beautiful Cleaning Buckets. It would make me more excited to clean as well.
I would use the gift card to buy some new shelving supplies to organize all of our books and media in one place!
I love your blog and all of the the great ideas! thank you so much Jenny!
Two words…SPRING CLEANING!!
I would use it to buy paint for my kids rooms. Thanks for the giveaway!
The garage
Hands down!
The spare room needs some love!
The spare room needs some love!
In the midst of a master closet organization project, but I need a place for all my shoes! This would be great!
tkistlerslah@yahoo.com
This is so smart! I kinda wanna make myself my own cleaning kit now. :)
My project right now is redoing my guest bathroom with a slightly nautical theme. Home Depot is totally where I plan to buy painting supplies… hint hint, Gods of Internet Contest Luck…
I think this is a great idea to get my grandchildren more involved in cleaning chores.
That would have come in really handy prepping for our son's engagement brunch. Ah well, there's always spring cleaning!