Disclaimer: I received a copy of this product in exchange for an honest review.
You want to know something funny? Despite the fact that my blog is called Happy Little Homemaker, I hate to clean. Luckily, being a homemaker is more than just cleaning. Even more lucky, was the fact that I got picked to be a part of the Motivated Moms planner review :). Because honestly, I haven’t cleaned since the boys Baptism in November.
Motivated Moms Planner
The Motivated Moms Ebooks are a series of printable planners (or an app), designed to help you get on top of keeping a clean home. The old-fashioned way where EVERYTHING is cleaned on a schedule. The printable planner (which is what I received), is available in 16(!) different formats–color or b/w, with or without bible readings, full or 1/2 sized pages, and weekly or daily pages.
There are 2-7 tasks scheduled for each day, with weekends being pretty light duty. Each days tasks are spread out all over the house. In addition, there are 16 tasks that need to be done daily, as well as blanks for 4 things to be done daily of your choice. The idea being that if you keep on top of your dailies and your tasks each day, your house will be pretty darn clean, even by your mothers standards. Each printable planner is $8, downloadable as a PDF. You can see a sample page of each type of chore planner at her website.
How We Used the Motivated Moms Planner
I picked the color, 1/2 page, week at a glance, no readings printable planner for review. The key word for this review is we Because honestly, working and homeschooling with kids 6, 3, & 8 mos, I can’t get to it all on my own. Here is what I’ve been doing to make the Motivated Moms planner work for us.
First of all, looking at that list of 16 daily tasks on their own like that fills me with dread. I have to do 16 things? Seriously? Looking closer, 5 of them are kitchen related (dishes, cooking, counters, etc), 5 are personal (vitamins, exercise, etc), 2 don’t apply and the other 3 are easy. Most of them are things that even *I* try to do almost every day anyway. So I highlight the kitchen tasks with one color & the personal care with another. I also cross out the 2 that don’t apply and I have 3 left to do. That looks much better, don’t you think?
So, the weeks tasks are all shown on one sheet and they repeat at various intervals. In a third color, I highlight anything that my 3 or 6 year old can do. One consequence for repeated disobedience or excess whining or meanness is extra chores. This helps me see at a glance what I can assign them. Also, when I’m working, they want to help. If there is a job nearby, I give them that; if not, I add a job to the place I am.
I also do not go back to things I’ve missed. Who needs the mental stress of 45 tasks to greet you on Saturday? Not I! But I do move Tuesday’s tasks to Saturday since I work for our business all day once a week–no school or extra cleaning gets done that day.
If you are used to a zone or room-a-day type format, you won’t find it here, unfortunately. If you like variety, you will get it with the Motivated Moms cleaning plan. The tasks are fairly well spread out. In the one week I counted them and there were 9 in the bathroom, 9 home management type tasks, 3 personal items, 7 in the kitchen, 2 floor tasks, 4 in the master bedroom, 1 in the other bedroom(s), and 2 outside.
Also, I was mentally thinking to myself, “How am I going to find 2 hours” to do all these “extra” chores?” And so I got out a timer. On the day I timed them, I spent an hour on 4 of the 6 tasks. Since its 12 degrees, I’m not cleaning the outside trash can and clipping the kids nails gets done after baths that day.
And I spent extra time since I modified the tasks. Since we don’t have a microwave, I thoroughly cleaned the toaster oven. And since I didn’t need to clean/declutter the kids closets (I do that when I swap seasons/sizes), I decided it was a good time to rearrange their room & put away laundry since we moved all their toys from a playroom to their bedroom. They were just thrown down there & needed to be organized. It probably took a little more time, but not much.
Summary
I really liked how the planner gets the house cleaner. Honestly. We built it 7 years ago & I’ve NEVER cleaned the lights in the master bedroom. Until they came up in the planner. No kidding. Hubby might have while changing a lightbulb, but *I* never have. And once you get rolling, it’s easy to keep going. Starting is seriously the hardest part.
I also like that its easy to modify. I already mentioned the room vs. closet and microwave vs. toaster oven examples. I ignore laundry because I already have a routine for it that work well for me. I also only change bathroom hand towels every OTHER time the planner says because I have 3 bathrooms, do laundry weekly and only have 8 hand towels. I don’t have enough to change them out every other day. Besides, with 3 bathrooms, the use is spread out among them.
It doesn’t take a ton of time to do any one thing and seriously takes more mental energy to psych yourself up to get off your duff, at least in the beginning. I also like the fun things she adds, like pampering on Sunday, hobby time on Friday, even things like work on scrapbook or baby books. Brilliant! Because the last one is coming up on Thursday and we got a free Shutterfly book from Great Wolf Lodge. That’s what I’ll be doing :).
So if you hate housework, or like me, lack energy to create the system AND overcome the obstacles to do it, the Motivated Moms chore planner is an awesome way to do it–even if you have a planner you love!
Click here to read more Crew Reviews of the Motivated Moms Chore Planners.
