Pay the Maid

Hi people!
It is a snow day for us. Yeah! That means kids don't have school and mom gets 3 extra helpers to clean the house.(The last snow day we had I let them make a mess, so don't go all thinking I am no fun.)

Truth about me--- I am messy.
I actually think I am still a teenager in this area and that makes things complicated as a mother trying to train her children to clean-up behind themselves. Learning to clean-up is an important skill and as much as I know my mom tried to teach me this skill I still make a mess like I didn't learn a thing. But I have hope because I am not as bad as I used to be. So saying all that actually makes it kinda funny that I am about to give you all a tip on how to keep your house clean. We call it 'Pay the Maid'. This will cost you $2 per person in your home and rest assured mom is not the maid in this situation. If you are like me and you are still learning the skill of cleaning or if you have kids that are mess makers(who are we kidding, aren't all kids mess makers!?), 'pay the Maid' might help you too.
Here is how it works:
1. You need one paper cup for each person in the house.
2. Write one name on each cup.
3. Place 20 dimes in each cup. Or 20 quarters if you're really rich or desperate.
4. Give the instructions to your family - if you leave something(we started with winter gear, clothing and towels) on the floor or not put away whoever finds it puts it away and gets to move 10 cents from your cup into theirs. and visa-versa. 10 cents for each item
5. After a set amount of days (we did 3 weeks) we each get to take our money out of the cups and we go to the candy store or coffee shop or slushy machine.
6. If it went well, continue with the same items or change it to new items.(We are going to do books, games and crafts next)

we made one rule about who could go into whose room because there is a big issue in our house about barging into their sisters rooms uninvited. Kids are not allowed to collect from their sisters room, but our room and all other rooms are fare game.

'Pay the maid' works - I have not left any clothing on my bedroom floor for 2 months! The bathroom almost never has dirty underwear or clothing laying around for me to pick up and move 6 inches into the laundry hamper! There are no single socks slinking under the sofa or bed or laying anywhere for that matter! It has made a huge difference in our mess making. I feel like I am trying to sell you something.... It has been so good for me, the kids kept me on my toes, I had the least amount of money at the end of our first 3 weeks but I have formed new habits and so have the kids and Ben.

Note - Pay the maid is different than an allowance. We give our kids an allowance each month that is separate from this. Their allowance it has nothing to do with work. The house work they do is because they live in the house and thus learn to contribute to the work of life. Their reward for cleaning is the same reward as Ben and I get: satisfaction in a job well done and enjoying clean spaces.