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!
Our toy room needs some serious organizing help!
I am painting the long-neglected bathroom in our basement, and it needs lots of cleaning and prep work before the paint can go on. Kind of tedious, but it will be well worth the effort!
With baby #3 due in 10 weeks, I'm happy to clean just about anything these days!
I would love to redo our laundry room!!
I would love to reorganize our laundry room!!
Cleaning my dorm room!
I need to get started on some built-ins in my living room
also my whole house could use a cleaning overhaul
I'd use the gift card to re organize and baby proof under our sinks, plus get some much needed storage for our laundry closet!
I need to freshly paint and organize our kid/guest bathroom. With the kids getting older, they have more things in the bathroom.
Renovating my kids' bathroom tops my list of to-do's currently. I could use the cleaning products to clean their bathroom when it's finished!
I need to take on our coat closet! So much random stuff in there!
Oh boy do we need some Home Depot! Our poor walls and baseboards are so 10 years old it's pathetic! Been dying to get a fresh coat of something up there like a madwoman! This and I'd love to plant some pretty flowers in our yard before Summer gets here and flowers become pointless.
i would retile the bathroom!
I would put that money into a "bathroom" my husband wants to use in the basement. (Quotation marks because a shower and toilet in the middle of a room don't count as an actual bathroom) We don't have tricks to make cleaning more fun, but for my 6 year old I break down tasks. Instead of clean your room, we choose one part to start with. Pick up all the stuffed animals, then we move on to dirty clothes, then all those empty toilet paper rolls that she hoards!
Great idea. I would love to organize the closet in our master bedroom – and get some new doors on it too!
We're about to start a major main floor/kitchen renovation, so there will definitely be lots to clean!
Great giveaway! I honestly hate cleaning…maybe I need a fancy bucket! And my boyfriend is planning to build us more storage in the bathroom, so money to spend at Home Depot would be great!
You can find me at missionamanda at gmail dot com!
I have an 11, 9 and 6 year old. Besides the basic jobs (making their bed, putting shoes away, clearing the dishes, helping with dinner once a week), we do a Saturday morning "buzz around." I set the timer for 20-30 minutes and they are each give a list of jobs. They love checking things off! Since it's timed, it feels do-able and keeps them on task. (As an example, our 6-year-old might wipe down the stairs, organize the shoes and backpacks in the closet and pick up all toys in the living room). It works for us and reminds me to keep them involved.
i would absolutely go on a closet cleaning and organizing spree. i love that washi tape!
I need to tackle under the bathroom sink!
You might be happy to know that even the smallest detail you share solves a problem for someone else! My new, old-fashioned galvanized watering can came with the same silly white plastic handle that you disguised on your cleaning buckets, and it drives me crazy! It will be history asap.
I would finally update the hardware on my kitchen cabinets. The current hardware is so grandma looking!
Ok! That's it! I've got to tackle my laundry room! Its a mess! I'd love to get started!
This is a great idea! I wonder if I can make a bucket for my husband if he will do more chores? ;)
Our office area is in need of some organization — definitely need to tackle it soon!
I love the buckets. So pretty.
My linen closet needs to be cleaned and organized. It's been a while and I need to take everything out, wipe it down, organize it and put back. I dislike doing the work but will feel great when its done!
I am so making those buckets! How convenient. I'm on a mission to get our laundry room painted, cleaned and organized before this baby (our first) comes in May!
Organizing my linen closet and pantry are next on my project list. Winning this giveaway would be a great opportunity to get a jump start on those areas!
Very cute idea to get the girls involved! I have a couple of projects on a to do list. First up I think would be emptying out and organizing my catch-all closet and my kitchen cabinets. Maybe even labeling the shelves too.
the fact that something as hidden as a cleaning closet is so incredibly stunning inspires me to work on one of the rooms i typically close the door on when guests are over: the laundry room! wish me luck :)
I would use the money to organize and do some spring painting!
For our guest bathroom!
My next big project is completely revamping the walk in pantry, including shelving and new lighting.
My master bath redo!!!
I would like to tackle my garage! It's so messy!
Our family of 5 recently moved from a 3100 sq ft home to a 900 sq. ft. (on a good day), 1 bath house. Needless to say, space is at a premium and I just want to organize more to maximize the space we use. I feel like I am being swallowed up by clothing and stuffed animals at times. Help!
We're currently working on a basement bedroom to give it a bright facelift–it's a "for now" sort of change until we decide what to do with it in the future. Progress had been halted most recently by the flu.
I love what you've done with the cleaning buckets. I would find the bright buckets more motivating as well.
My three year old is all too helpful as it is! I love her sweet spirit though.
Love your cleaning closet! My girls and I are planning to repaint their bathroom (walls and vanity) and do a little mini-make over. This would help a lot!
I've been itching to finish our pantry and make it all pretty and organized!
demureprincess7(at)gmail(dot)com
We have Saturday chores and each kid has a check list, they LOVE checking off each chore, the last item on the list is a game we all play when done.
My kids are still younger (5 and 3) so basically letting them "play" in a bucket of sudsy water is a treat. I just tell them to wash walls and they love it!
My girls and I are planning to repaint their bathroom (walls and vanity, so the prizes in your give away would be well used! Love your cleaning closet, by the way!
Just moved to a new apartment so I would love to customize our storage.
I would love to redo my laundry room. It needs to be organized and brightened up.
Just one project? Hmm… it'd either be some bookcases to frame my fireplace OR painting my kitchen cabinets (or maybe I'd finally get around to adding that backsplash….)
Amy at asikora1@aol.com. My next project is tackling my closet, needs some serious purging and organization.
If I won, I would use the money to redo our cleaning/linen closet organization. The shelves are so old that they are bowing and falling apart.
Need to get my closets organized!
I would use it to remodel our dungeon, I meant basement. :)
I would love to start work on our guest bathroom!