Me + 3 KIds = Too Much Laundry!

I am trying to figure out how four people can make so much laundry!  I spend most of my life doing one or more of the following things: washing clothes, drying clothes, folding clothes, hanging clothes up, and putting clothes away.  It's a never ending cycle.  I know part of it is my fault, because I don't believe in wearing clothes or using towels more than once.  You don't have to yell at me.  I know that jeans and towels can be used more than once before being washed, but it's one of my "things".  When I put something on, I want it to be fresh.  When I dry my body, I don't want to think about the last body part I dried the time before. 

I probably wouldn't spend so much time doing laundry if I had a newer washer and dryer.  My washer is pretty standard, and can do a super sized load, but my dryer is a piece of garbage.  I have to run it twice to dry one load of laundry, which in turn hikes up my power bill.  I'm thinking that when February comes around and I have some money I should invest in a new washer and dryer.  My mom has the front loaders, and she loves them.  I may not get that fancy, but I have to do something.

Libman FREEDOM! Spray Mop Review & Giveaway

There are a couple of chores that I absolutely hate doing.  One, is cleaning the bathroom.  Brandi, however, loves it, so she gets to do it every week.  Except the toilets.  No matter how hard she tries, I still have to take charge of those. 

The second thing I hate is mopping my floor.  It takes so much time because I am still using an "old-fashioned" sponge mop.  You know, the kind that has the bar you pull to fold the sponge in half under the water to clean it after every swipe.  Not fun at all.

I was thrilled when Mom Bloggers Club asked me to review the new Libman Freedom! Spray Mop.  I was finally going to get out of the dark ages of mopping!  It was funny, but I was actually looking forward to mopping for the first time in my life.  My entire house has those fake hard wood floors, so I have to mop every square inch.  I couldn't wait to try out my new mop.

A couple of weeks ago, I broke it out. It is awesome.  I really enjoyed mopping.  It was easy to use, which makes mopping so much faster.

There are three reason why this is called the Freedom! Spray Mop.

Reason 1: FREEDOM to choose your cleaning solution.  That's right, you don't have to buy special cleaning solutions, you can use your favorite.  The little squeeze handle allows you to control how much cleaning solution it shoots out.  Squeeze it a little for a light spritz, or press it hard for a big spray.

Reason 2: FREEDOM from endless costly pads.  The cleaning pads for this mop are washable.  Just throw them into the washing machine, and your good to go.  You can wash them up to 50 times!

Reason 3: FREEDOM from heavy, messy buckets.  I think this is my favorite reason! 

Another thing I love about this mop is that the head swivels, making it easy to get into those tight corners. As you can see in the picture, I have a small area between my area rug under my kitchen table and the wall. I used to have to pull the whole thing away from the wall to be able to fit my old mop into that space.  With the FREEDOM! Spray Mop, I just swivel it around and it fits perfectly.  Makes my job a whole lot easier, I can tell you that!  This mop is made in the USA and comes fully assembled.  I literally took the packaging off, and was ready to mop.  These mops sell for between $20-$25 at retailers nationwide.

Libman was nice enough to offer one mop for me to give away to one lucky US reader.  I am going to keep this giveaway simple, too.  All you have to do to enter to win is follow me on twitter, and tweet this contest.  That's it.  Simple, right?  You can tweet once a day, but this is going to be a short giveaway.  You will have until 11:59 pm on Wednesday, October 13, 2010 to enter.  Good luck!

**As a reviewer for Mom Bloggers Club, I received this mop free from Libman with the intention of giving my honest opinion of it and offering another in a giveaway.  I have not been compensated in any other way.  I was not required to write a positive review, and the opinion express above is my own. 

Chores

Chores....the dreaded "C" word...at least it is around my house. I grew up doing chores. I remember standing on a chair to wash dishes when I was too little to reach the sink. My sister and I set the table, cleared the table, washed the dishes, dried them and put them away, swept the floors, vacuumed...we had chores to do every day. There was no whining about it, either. You did was what asked, and you did it with a smile on your face.

My kids do chores. Kasi does the laundry, Ryan is in charge of the dishes, and Brandi loves to clean the bathroom. (I am thinking of having her tested, because that's not normal for a seven year old!) They also have to pick up their toys from the living room, and help clean up the yard. I don't make them keep their rooms "spotless"...it's there space, and if they want to live like slobs, well, that's their problem. I do, however, every few weeks make them do a good clean up in there, just to make sure all the dirty laundry is found.

I do not give my kids an allowance. I am thinking that maybe the time is coming where Ryan and Kasi deserve one, but I don't want them to think I am paying them for the things they do around the house. They help out because it is their home too, and I am not their maid. I'm thinking of making a list of chores I regularly do, and if they do any of those along with their regular chores, that they can earn some cash. I usually let them spend a dollar or two whenever we go to Walmart, so it's not like they never get anything. But, there are things I refuse to buy, so if the kids had a way of making some money to save up for the things they have to have, then it would mean more to them.

So let me ask you...do you give your kids an allowance? If so, how much? If not, what are your reasons?

I know I am not the only one out there who thinks this way.