Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Works-For-Me Wednesday

Works-For-Me Wednesday is here again. That three-day weekend thing really messed me up, since today felt like Monday instead of Tuesday. Alas, mid-week is here already.

Here's my WFMW tip.

I got so tired of walking into our entertainment room and finding DVDs sitting around all over outside of their cases. I'd find it nearly as frustrating as trying to watch them after they've been carelessly left out and therefore badly scratched. Skip, skip, skip, freeze. Arrrggghh!

So this is what I did. I told my 4 oldest kids, ages 13, 11, 9 & 6, that for every DVD I found not put away properly I would be charging them each a quarter. Oh, yes I did. (As BooMama has been known to say.)

That's right, for every DVD that I find out of its case, I get a dollar. "I wasn't the last one to leave it out!" doesn't work with me anymore. I don't care who was the last one to watch it or whose fault it is, everyone is paying me! This way, each of them makes it his/her responsibility to make sure all DVDs are safely put away in their cases. If they walk into the room and see a DVD out, they're motivated to put it away. Also, each of them knows if he/she leaves that DVD out, his/her siblings will all suffer. (Not a great way to win the admiration of your siblings.) Works for me!

Now, don't you get mixed up! It's Wednesday, not Tuesday! So head over to Rocks in My Dryer for more help at making it through the week!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a really cool tip; it could be applied in lots of cases!

Unknown said...

Great one. I mean, I wasn't the one who dirtied all the dishes, but I (or dh) washes them all. Great way to teach family responsiblity.

Mama Duck said...

LOL can I charge DH?? ;) Happy Wednesday - our tip is up as well!

Kelly Curtis said...

Hahahaha! love that you charge everyone. I wrote an article like this once. Money talks, doesn't it?? My tip is up - building forts.

Home of Pass the Torch Tuesday

Anonymous said...

Hey, how do i get in on this money making venture?
I've probably saved them at least a dollar each in the last week. Guess I need to stop putting them away! So If I start removing DVDs from their cases can we make enough money to go on a date?

Overwhelmed! said...

I got mixed up on my days as well! :)

I love this idea and it sounds like it works! Thanks for sharing!

I've posted a WFMW baptism gift tip. Stop by and take a peek. :)

Stephanie said...

OOOOOOH! I likey this one! I wonder if it will work on my husband, as well...

Anonymous said...

Great idea! I imagine it didn't take many times for the new habit to sink in.

Shalee said...

I'm thinking that I may be rich if my kids don't catch on to this one really soon...

Oh and I love your pastermac's idea. All the $ for a date night!

Someone Beautiful said...

This is fantastic! I'm filing it away for when mine are older.

Another good one I've heard is anything that gets left out, goes into a box in the closet for a week(or for older kids, the give-away box!! Horror I know!). This doen't exactly work for my little ones yet since they are so young, they just move on to the next toy, and I am ever getting rid of less played with ones. Thanks for a great idea.

Someone Beautiful said...

P.S. Do you have a back up plan for if they run out of $? Do they owe you a quarter? Thankfully it doesn't sound like it will come to that. :)

Kristen said...

Wow. That's a great idea. However, I will have to start paying my kids an allowance if I am going to charge them money.

Rae said...

haha, this is such a cute idea!

Susanne said...

Hmmm! I'm stealing this one! I'll probably have a retirement fund built quite quickly! :D

Gina Conroy said...

Thankfully I don't have that problem, but we do have the DVD cases all over the TV room and gameboy cartridges all over the house.

We've started a bi-weekly put away all DVD/tape schedule and it's working so far, but I'll have to keep this in mind!

My WFMWis about saving time and money.

Michelle said...

sounds like a great idea! I bet you don't have as many open DVD cases laying around like you used to!

Andi @ udandi / Lunch It Punch It said...

Yeah, I'd be cleaning up after my siblings since I'm tight with my $$$!