When I was a kid, it was just thrown in the wood stove if it was found. It didn't matter when it was. If it was found on the floor and I wasn't playing with it at the time, it was burned. I'm thinking this will catch the kids' attention. They're not going to want to do the chores I set out for them to do, so we'll see. Last night 4 items went into the box. Within an hour, they were all out again. The kids didn't want to see their belongings disappear. The other advantage to having a colored tote, rather than a clear one, is that the kids also don't have any idea what's in the tote! :D They just know that something of theirs is in there and they don't want it to be. So it all gets cleaned back up. For the most part, most of their stuff stays in their rooms or toy room, but on occasion, the toy room has an overspill into the hallway and I want to clear that up with this project.

I did something similar.....each kid had a small basket - before bedtime they had to go in to each room (separately -never could put them together doing chores) and they had to pick up what was their or what they used. Anything left after the 'sweep', was discarded. Naturally - MY stuff was already picked up....And the laundry????? At age 9 the girls birthday present included a bottle of laundry soap and their own basket. I was tired of washing 'clean' clothes.

Too cool. What a great idea.

LOL! Don't I wish? But if so, he might turn the tables on me & make me pick up my sewing stuff & that would NEVER do!

This a brilliant idea, tho! A policy I had when my 2 kids were little, the each had a "day" & on that day, they got to make the decisions. My DS had the odd #'ed days & DD had the even #'s. On your "day" you got to sit in the front seat, got to pick out stuff (cereal, ice cream, etc.) at the grocery (if we went), got to watch your TV shows, etc. You also got any "bad" stuff that happened, too. So if I needed help with something, you were on the hook for that, too. It worked wonderfully & there was never any "No fair! S/he always/never has to...".

My "theory" on laundry was if you want your clothes washed, they'd better be in the hamper & have the pockets emptied out. I only washed clothes that were in that state --- none of this scanning their bedrooms for laundry to do --- & anything left in your pockets became mine. Period. Oh, I forgot to add... I was the meanest mom alive... LOL! I just tried to raise my kids to go out into the real world.

I was the meanest mom alive! DH and I never repeated ourselves. Talking won't get results just more time to be frustrated. They were not center of the universe and certainly not to be center of attention every where they went. They wanted the spotlight then they earned it. Their needs and well being were given priority over DH's and mine but not their wants.

I did this too, but their fine was a dollar! And when they were given the chore of cleaning their room, they were told anything left on the floor would be put in the garbage. I only had to do this once for each child, lol. I only WISH this worked for husbands! I swear one day I'm going to trip over one of his shoes, hit my head and die. And if I threw his stuff in the garbage, he'd just go out and buy another whatever it was.

I am the same way with the laundry. Anything in the pockets is either kept by me or trashed. Also, I do not wash any pants or shorts with belts on them. The girls have to take them off before they reach the laundry room or they would have to sort, fold and put away the general household laundry (towels, washcloths, etc) for a week. I've had some serious back issues since February so all that had to change a bit. Now, they switch the loads over and carry all the laundry upstairs to be sorted and put away. My oldest also hangs laundry out on the line now. It's a great way to ear their allowances and it's preparing them for the real world.

I could have used one like when my son was small! Only a Mom could have designed this bag.

MY husband wears steel toed boots for work. I tripped over them once. He got them back the hard way, Flying at his head. Needless say He put them in the bedroom now.