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"If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."

Vincent Van Gogh








 




 
Featured Allowance Articles

Calcium And Pregnancy
Studies show that most women do not get enough daily Calcium. And many pregnant women do not realize that the typical prenatal vitamin only contains 4-20% of the RDA of Calcium. Calcium is essential for strong teeth and bones, muscle contractions, nerve ...

Does Your Child Need Children's Vitamins?
This question has been has been tormenting parents all over the world. Yet, there are no easy answers to it. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)says that "a diet based on the Food Guide Pyramid provides adequate amounts of all the vitamins a child ...

Imagine the Perfect Marriage...
Imagine the perfect marriage...then imagine it's yours! “Give and it will be given to you.” Give what you want more of in your life. In order to have more, you must give more. To some this may sound absurd but if you believe in the Law of the Harvest this ...




Organize Your Children & Save Your Sanity
 
It may be difficult to relate saving money with organization but the two terms really go hand in hand. If you are able to organize right down to the smallest detail, then not only will you save yourself countless panic headaches, but you will have more time on your hands allowing yourself to be more productive and get more accomplished.


Organizing your own personal belongings can be a daunting task in itself, however if you're also trying to take care of all your children's things, it can be an overwhelming, impossible task .


When children are old enough and capable, they have a responsibility to take care of their own belongings. This includes (but not limited to) toys, clothes, bathroom items, sports equipment, and of course school books and supplies. It should not be the parents' responsibility to clean their child's room, or pick up their wet towels off the bathroom floor. How is this teaching children to be responsible for their own belongings?


If we teach our children HOW to be organized, this will lead to a more productive and hopefully a more responsible child in school and at home. However take note, if you expect your children to be well organized, you must also do the same to provide a good example, or "model", for them. As the saying goes "practice what you preach" :-)


For the time being, we will focus on ideas to help organize your children's plethora of gadgets, toys, clothes, games, and whatever else may be piled up on the closet floor or under the bed.



Color Coordinate Everything

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The most important idea to incorporate in your family lifestyle is to color coordinate everything. Regardless of how many children you have, assign each one a specific color ie: green, red, yellow, orange, etc...


The color you assign each of your children will go on every item that belongs to them. You will need to get a permanent marker in each of your kid's colors so you can mark/dot each and every item they own.


Here's a list of the most common items you'll want to start out with. Use this list as a starting point to help harvest ideas that are relevant in your family's lifestyle.


- clothes

- toys

- towels

- bathroom utensils

- closet

- shoes

- games

- puzzles

- sports equipment




With their items, simply put a small colored dot/mark in an inconspicuous area. For example, socks-dot the toe or heel; shirts-dot the collar tag; puzzles-dot the back of each piece; toothbrushes and towels- purchase these in each of your children's assigned color.


Once everything is color coded, you can then quickly scan rooms and bathrooms and see which one of your little angels has left things out of place.


To quickly reinforce this new organization method, simply make the rule that if you find items haphazardly strewn about, you'll deduct 25 or 50 cents from their allowance. If that isn't relative, they can always earn additional work like washing a dish per item that is left out or "doggie clean-up duty". After a few times, your children will start picking up after themselves since they hate to lose money and play time, right?


** Again, these are merely suggestions. Adapt and change these practices as you see fit.



Organizing Their Closet Space and Room

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Let's face it, children are learning by trial and error unless they have someone or something to model after. So naturally, they are going to make their choices and decisions on what they think is best.


If your child(ren) haven't had much success maintaining an organized closet, maybe it would be best to start from scratch. However, before you clear out their closet completely to start reorganizing, first observe what seems to be the problem area. Are their clothes scattered on the ground? Are toys out of place, thrown here and there? What seems to be the messiest?


Each child will have different needs that have to be addressed in order to have a clean, organized closet/room. Just like you wouldn't ask a guitarist to play the guitar with only two strings, you can't expect a child to put his/her things away unless he or she has an actual "place" or container to put the stuff in.


Take the time to teach your children where their "stuff" goes. If they have trouble remembering, label the containers or areas as needed. You may need to buy some rubbermate containers from BigLots (PicNSave). Better yet, you can often find containers for a dollar at the 99cent store or the Dollar Tree (if you haven't been to one of these stores yet, you are missing out on a ton of deals!)



Weekly Review

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Once you have organized, color coded, and explained the new procedures/laws that will now be enforced, have a "weekly review" time where you can sit down with your child(ren) for 5-10 minutes. This would be the time when you go over what you liked throughout the week, and areas they may still need to work a little bit on.


Keep in mind that children will need to be reminded about the procedures you expect them to follow, so don't get frustrated if they do not do a perfect job the first week or two. This is a process that may take some time to internalize, but once it's learned, your life, and your children's lives, will be much more fluid and organized.

---
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About the Author
Organizing your own personal belongings can be a daunting task in itself, however if you're also trying to take care of all your children's things, it can be an overwhelming, impossible task . See what you can do to eliminate the chaos.



Allowance News


Zecotek Receives European and Eurasian Patent Allowance for 3D Display System
MarketWatch (press release)
The European Notice of Allowance and the Eurasian Notification on Readiness add to the other global patents, including US patent number 7944465 covering glasses-free 3D auto-stereoscopic display system, strengthening Zecotek's worldwide patent position ...


BIR: Phone Allowances Tax Exempt
Manila Bulletin
By JUN RAMIREZ MANILA, Philippines --- The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has ruled that mobile phone and transportation allowances for some workers are exempt from income and fringe benefit taxes. The BIR legal division said such allowances are not ...

and more »

Time to review councillors' allowance
The Sun Daily
IN THE last Penang state assembly, during the debate on the local government election bill on May 8, Pakatan Rakyat State Assemblyman Ng Wei Aik proposed that the allowances of councillors be increased. They are now paid RM1,300 a month, ...


Norwich Evening News

Man in dispute over disability allowance
Norwich Evening News
BY Sam Russell An investigation is under way after a severely disabled Norfolk man claimed his specially adapted car had been taken away from him and his disability allowance slashed. To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email ...

and more »

Daily Mail

Bereaved 'Mum of the Year' falsely claimed Ł8,000 of widow's allowance after ...
Daily Mail
By Nick Enoch A bereaved wife once voted Mum Of The Year has been convicted of fraud after claiming widow's allowance long after her new partner had moved in. Benefits cheat Kelly Harvey, 30, won the award in February 2008 just five months before her ...
HONOURED MUM IS A FRAUDSTERExpress.co.uk

all 4 news articles »