A Common Goal ~ A Clean House!

Life with boys is NEVER dull!

  But, every once in awhile, they pull together and it is a beautiful thing to behold.

Their most recent scheme endeavor is to purchase a gaming system for the house. (ok, I have resisted this as long as I could....)

Colin hit the jackpot when a neighbor asked him to care for their dog while they went on vacation for a week.  The money he made was a big "jump start" to this plan.

What was really cool about this, (and really, about this boy in general) is that he got his two younger brothers together, presented the plan to pool their funds and purchase a game system for the family.

Yes, you heard me right...my 14 year old son.  

The son who has the most earning potential!  

The son who grew up with no real possessions of his own...

the son who undoubtably knew that his 7 & 10 year old brothers would not really be able to contribute much, but who wanted them to have some ownership in the process.

In no time, they had over $65 saved!  

So, Mom & Dad (that's us old folks) decided to help them out. Problem is, we don't believe in hand outs for our kids.  We also don't do allowance.  But, we want them to learn how to responsibly handle money while they have no bills!

So, this is where we landed.

We decided to create a "chore chart" for our crew.  

Each day, in addition to their schoolwork, they have certain responsibilities that help us keep the house in order.  

If these chores are completed (well) and with a good attitude, (read: without complaining) then they will have the privilege to complete EXTRA chores for money. (Don't you just have to LOVE parental psychology?)

Talk about motivating!  My house has not been this clean in ages! (No judgements, please!) 

These are not high paying jobs, but they are opportunities for the boys to work together to contribute to the common goal.

If you have very good eyesight, then you will notice that one of the chores--ironing--was adjusted.  Dear Colin decided he wanted to tackle ironing last night. So, while we all watched Karate Kid 2 for "Family Movie Night"

Watch out world!

Colin got his first lesson on ironing clothes.  He did amazingly well for his first attempt.  **3** hours later, I decided that all that work had to be worth more than $.10/shirt, so we upped it to a whopping $.25/shirt!

By the time he went to bed, (complete with tired shoulders) he had successfully ironed 28 shirts! He was so pleased with himself!
(And mama was pretty darn thrilled too!)


Then, there were windows that needed cleaning...15 of them!

Cameron working on windows!

Tommy working on the windows!

A whole $1.50 later...I had clean windows. On the inside, anyway...


Last weekend, the boys all joined forces to wash the two vehicles, vacuum them out and clean the windows. Tom was leading them in their first attempt to wash a truck, and well...I am going to have to let HIM post about that experience.  On that blissful day, my honey let me stay inside and Nap! (A famous three letter word that you don't hear much in these parts...at least not associated with me!)


So, there are no pictures of this madness family time.
But, rumor has it that it all ended well.  

To date, they have saved earned about $85! Way to go boys!


Of course, if you read here often, then you know how much I like to point out how much God is in the details of our lives and how He cares about the "silly little" things that we care about.  


Well, this is no different.  After the boys had hatched this "plan", we found out that our dear friends were selling their Wii system to help raise money for their adoption!  An adoption of a little boy that I advocated for.  

What a joy to be able to help them fund their adoption as they raise money for the orphanage donation.  An added joy was the price that they could give our boys--saving them lots off the retail price of such a toy.

So, they are close.  So close in fact, that I am already brainstorming their next "savings goal"!  A girl can get used to driving a clean car and coming home to a clean house! 


What??!! I'm just sayin'!