DIY All-Purpose Cleaner

I found the best homemade all-purpose cleaner recipe. 

It’s cheap, and it’s safe. 

One day I walked into the living room and found to my horror that my 3 year old had acquired a can of multi-purpose cleaner and sprayed half the bottle all over the coffee table and floor. I was so grateful she had not decided to taste any of it, but the overpowering chemical smell was nauseating.

That was when I decided to switch to homemade—safer—cleaning products.  I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the commercial all-purpose cleaners again.

Main Ingredients: 

White Distilled Vinegar

Water

Optional Ingredients:

Dawn Dish Liquid

Essential Oil or Lemon Juice 

Putting it Together:

1. Choose a clean spray bottle. (I bought mine at Wal-Mart for $1.)
2. Fill the spray bottle with the vinegar and water in a 1:1 ratio. (50% water, 50% vinegar)
3. Optional: For added oomph I also add one squirt of Dawn dish-washing liquid. It cuts grease better in the kitchen.
4. Replace the top of the spray bottle.
5. Gently turn the bottle upside down a few times to mix the solution evenly.
6. Clearly label the contents of the bottle.

The Scent:

Some people don’t like the scent of vinegar. I understand. However, here are a few tips:

•  The vinegar scent disappears when it dries, and it takes other odors with it—leaving your home smelling clean. (Great for refrigerators and trashcans!)
• If you prefer to cover up the vinegar scent a little—or simply want a more fragrant scent—you can add a few drops of your favorite essential oil.
• I add 1-2 Tablespoons of lemon juice to mine because I like the fresh lemon scent.
• You can also stick lemon peels in a jar of vinegar and let them steep for 1-2 weeks before using the vinegar. The lemon scent will be infused in the vinegar. (I haven't been patient enough to try this.) 

Uses:

This DIY all-purpose cleaner is great in the kitchen and bathroom—the whole house. Vinegar kills mold and mildew, gets rid of hard water stains, and works miracles on pans with burnt-on food. I use it on glass, plastic, stainless, and wood. I use it on my counters and my floors—anything that needs to be cleaned. I even use it on pots and pans.

For me, the best part is that I don’t have to worry about my kids getting into the all-purpose cleaner. Now I can hand my 4 year old a spray bottle and let her help me clean! 

Disclaimer: I am not a chemist. Always exercise caution when mixing any household products. Also check the care guidelines for your household surfaces before cleaning. The acidity of the vinegar may damage some surfaces.

DIY Foaming Dish Soap

I love foaming dish soap, but I hate the price tag.

However, I have found a way to make DIY foaming dish soap. That's right. Homemade and less-expensive. It's easy-peasy lemon-squeezy!

I’ll never buy the foaming stuff in the store again—unless I need another foaming pump bottle to refill with my homemade version!

My bottle of commercial foaming dish soap says I should only fill it with that same brand of soap and that no other soap will work. Well, that’s just silly! What they mean is, “Please spend all your money on our product." I think not.

Let’s get started.

Supplies:

• 1 foam pump dispenser—buy foaming dish soap and re-use the foaming pump bottle!
• Your favorite dish soap. (I prefer Dawn.)
• Water.

Three things. That's it. Did I mention this was easy?

Putting it Together:

1. Unscrew the top from your foaming soap pump bottle.
2. Fill the pump bottle 1/3 of the way with your favorite dish liquid. 
• (I use about ½ cup in mine, but other soaps require less because they are more concentrated or ‘thicker’. The amount will vary based on the size of your bottle, the thickness of your dish liquid, and your preference. Experiment until you find the amount you like.)
3. Slowly fill the bottle up to the fill line with warm water. Be careful not to fill it so fast that you create bubbles inside the bottle. 
• (You can fill with water first and then soap, but I have found that the residue of soap in the bottle will still create bubbles if you fill it with water too quickly.)
4. Replace the pump/top.
5. Gently turn the bottle upside down a few times to mix the soap evenly with the water.
6. Enjoy your DIY foaming dish soap at a fraction of the cost of the commercial stuff!

This is so inexpensive, and the same method can be used with shampoo and hand soap. All you need is the foaming dispenser. Experiment with the ratio to find your preferred consistency.

P.S. This stuff is ah-mazing when traveling. Foaming dish soap requires very little water for washing, so it works well in hotels and public sinks when you need to wash bottles, sippy cups, or even your kids on the go!

How to Make Homemade Laundry Detergent­­­­

 

I love making homemade laundry detergent. I will never go back to the brand name stuff. Not only is it cheaper, but it keeps my HE washing machine and laundry fresher. No matter how many different products I tried, or how often I cleaned my machine, the musty smell would return. My clothes also quickly turned musty if I left them in there too long—especially the whites! I simply couldn’t get the smell out of them. Until now!
 
The best part is that I only use 2 tablespoons per load!
 
There are many recipes for DIY laundry detergent on the web. I tried a few different ones and finally settled on my favorite from How Does She. If you want to try it out, but you don’t want to make a ton of it at first, there is a Trial Size Version by Jillee that is similar.

 

The Benefits:

· My HE washing machine smells fresher.
· It’s much cheaper than store bought laundry detergent.
· I can control the amount of ingredients in the recipe.
· My clothes are clean and fresh.

 

The Main Ingredients:  (Find all of them in the detergent aisle.)

· 1 (4 lb. 12 oz.) Box of Borax

· 1 (3 lb. 7 oz.) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
· 2 (14.1 oz.) Bars of Zote Soap or 3 (5.5 oz.)Bars of Fels Naptha Soap
· 1 (4 lb.) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (If it’s not with laundry supplies, check the baking or pool supply aisles.
 

Optional Ingredients:  (Also find these in the laundry aisle.)

· 1-2 (55 oz.) Bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener or the equivalent of your favorite brand such as Downy Unstoppables. (This ‘optional’ ingredient is essential for me. I love adding scent to my soap, but if you have sensitive skin or a sensitive sniffer, feel free to skip it.)
 
· 1 (3 lb.) Container of oxygen bleach (like OxyClean) (I plan to leave this out in the future and add it separately from the homemade detergent so I can control how much or how little I want depending on the load.)
 

Putting it Together:

1. Grate the bars of soap.
      *Cut them in chunks and microwave them for a few minutes until they are big and fluffy.
      *Let them cool.
      *Put them in the food processor to break them into fine crumbles.
      --or crumble them by hand.
      -- **or skip the microwave and grate them with a cheese grater on the fine grate side. 
        (NOT my favorite method, but it builds muscles!)

2. Do this in a well-ventilated area—preferably outside—away from pets and children. Borax is harmful if ingested. I recommend wearing gloves and a mask or bandanna over your nose and mouth. It makes a powdery cloud as you mix. 
 
3. Combine the ingredients in a 4-5 gallon bucket. Don’t pour it all in at once! Pour about 1/4-1/3 of each ingredient at a time and mix with a large mixing spoon, screwdriver, or your glove-wearing hands. Then repeat the process until you have mixed it all. (Trust me. Dumping it all in at once and trying to mix it is NOT fun.)
 
4. Transfer some of the detergent to a smaller container for easy dispensing. If you used the Purex Crystals, that empty bottle is perfect for dispensing the soap, and the cap has measuring lines. For lightly soiled clothes, I fill it up to the first line. For dirtier or heavier loads, I fill it to the second line or higher. Experiment to see what works for you.
 

Front-Loading Washing Machines

Yes, you can use this in your HE washing machine!

· This homemade detergent is low-sudsing. Many laundry detergents have added ingredients to create suds. The HE versions are lower-sudsing than the regular versions. This one has no sudsing agent, so it is fine for HE machines. 
 
· I pour it in the tub and not the dispensing compartment on top. Many people use the dispensing compartment without complaint, but OxyClean recommends putting its product in the tub. Since I use OxyClean in my recipe, I put it directly in the tub. I operate on the “better safe than sorry” principle here. I’m not an expert on washing machines, and I don’t want to tear mine up. Putting it in the tub is easy and cleans my clothes just fine anyway.
 
Disclaimer: I’m not a chemist. I’m not a washing machine expert. I don’t even play one on TV. Please exercise caution when mixing any household chemicals. This represents the knowledge I have gained from my personal research. Please conduct your own research and make the decisions you feel most comfortable with.

Unreading The Book Thief

There are times when I reach the end of a book, and I wish I could unread it. Something told me from the beginning that I should just put it down and walk away. But I couldn’t. From the moment I read the first few pages, I knew I would devour the entire book. The story pulled me in. No time to savor it. I needed to turn the pages as quickly as I could. I had to know how it ended. But in my heart I knew how it ended—the narrator even gave the ending away quite early in the book. I clung to hope that at the end of the story I would find hope, that the narrator was tricking me. That there would be a glimmer of light to redeem humankind, this book, and the hours of my life I dedicated to it.

It wasn’t there. Just as the bombs obliterated any hope Liesel had, the book left my hope dried up and dusty. My sigh puffed it into a wispy cloud, and it disappeared.

There were tears. I cried as I read it because I knew it wasn’t fiction. Sure, the characters are fictitious, but the story is not. Perhaps the events didn’t play out in Liesel’s life in the way it was portrayed in the book, but the events all happened. In Nazi Germany. To millions of other Liesels  and Max’s. The train wreck that was the end of the book was imminent. It was no surprise. But I couldn’t tear my eyes away. I rushed at it head-on, willing myself to go faster.

While I attempted to live my normal, mundane, comfortable life, I was haunted by the unread pages. The unfinished story. I had to go back to it. It was waiting for me. All other responsibilities became a distraction and a burden. I couldn’t get the story out of my mind. So, I decided to just get it over with. With everyone in bed, and a pile of unfinished work waiting for me, I sat down to devour the rest of the story.

I love the book. I hate the book. The story and its characters will forever haunt me now. I can’t unread it, and I can’t forget it.

The narrator—Death—marvels at the duality of human nature. I do too. Humans are capable of so much evil and so much good. As much as I study Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, and other atrocities, I still cannot fathom how it was allowed to happen. How could hatred grow so thick and hot in so many people? How could fear imprison a nation? But it happened. The ugly side of human nature speaks louder than the beautiful side. It’s easier to give into. It doesn’t require as much work, and it provides fuel in the form of anger and hate.

I don’t want to see myself in the book. I don’t want to see myself in these people’s stories. But it could just as easily have been me. I just got lucky in the decade and country of my birth. I identify with the characters. The people. They are real. We all have basic needs—food, love, comfort, companionship. We are all born with a will to live and overcome—to escape death. I am Liesel, and Rosa, and every other woman in the story.

So now I’m left to pick up the fragments of my reality and piece it back together. I have to sweep up the dusty hope that settled to the floor and shape it into something I can believe in again. I have to leave the Book Thief in the cold basement on Himmel Street and turn my face toward the sun. She will haunt me in the corners of my consciousness, but I have to leave her there and not bring her into the light. She will be there in the quiet moments when thoughts wander. She will try to draw me in, but I have to resist. The guilt pains me. Ignoring her won’t make her disappear. It won’t unwrite the story. It can’t change the reality of what happened. But I have to believe that the ugly side of human nature won’t win. I have to cling to the hope that the beautiful part will. I have to believe that a flattened street of rubble isn’t the end. There are brighter days ahead. If I keep reading the story long enough eventually I will see the reason for all the suffering. Pain will be swallowed up in understanding and love.The last puzzle piece will be in place, and I can step back and see the entire picture. It will be beautiful. It will be made up of suffering and darkness in many places, but when they all come together, they will form something miraculous and hopeful.

Catch 22

Five months ago I was blessed with a beautiful, healthy baby girl. She has brought me so much joy in the past few months.

 However, joy isn’t the only thing that having a baby has brought me. It also brought me back the 50 pounds I lost pre-pregnancy, plus some additional bonus pounds. I am now the heaviest I have been (non-pregnant) in my whole. entire. life.

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 When I was pregnant, I blamed it on being pregnant. In my defense, I had low iron, which made me hungry all the time. I also got put on bed rest for six weeks. After delivery, everyone kept telling me it was just baby weight, and I would lose it. “Take it easy on yourself. You just had a baby,” they would say in consolation.

Well, how long is the post-partum time window for just had a baby? I have had my bundle of joy for 5 months now, and guess what? It’s time to face facts. I am overweight (again).
My wakeup call came when I attempted to put on the pants that I bought post pregnancy to get me through until I lost the baby weight. These pants are about three sizes bigger than the pants I was wearing when I got pregnant. Well, guess what? They. Don’t. Fit. I managed to button them, but to my chagrin, it was horribly uncomfortable when I tried to sit down. What happened? Did they shrink? I stepped on the scale and realized that it wasn’t the pants’ fault. It was mine.

I realized I have to stop making excuses. I was hiding behind the pregnancy. It seemed like a good excuse to eat. No one judges a pregnant woman, right? She’s eating for two.

I was hiding behind the bed rest. I couldn’t exercise. It wasn’t my fault.

I was hiding behind Post Partum Depression and anxiety. I was too dizzy to get on the treadmill. The medication made it worse. (Let’s face it. I was self-medicating with food.)

I was hiding behind the myth that the baby weight would just magically melt away after the just had a baby time window closed.

Let’s get real. At this point, it’s not baby weight. It’s MY weight. I did it to myself (again). I have to undo it (again).

The problem for me (and many other who struggle with weight loss) is that somehow body image is inextricably connected to self-worth. I hate to look in the mirror. Look at what I did to myself! I need to change! BUT I feel so horrible about myself that I feel like I can’t change. Actually, I don’t feel like I deserve to look better. 

What would it matter if I started trying to exercise and eat better? I’d still be a loser—just a smaller one….And the verbal self-abuse continues in a downward spiral. I’ll spare you the vicious details.

So I have to find a way out of the Catch 22. I need to find that mindset I had last year when I began my weight loss journey to lose 50 pounds. I did it before. I should be able to do it again. But I won’t--until I care enough about myself to want it. For me.

Life of Pi—A Book Review

I recently read Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
 
I wanted to like the book. It was a nominee and recipient of various awards, and the movie looks intriguing. The idea of an Indian boy and a Bengal tiger surviving in a life boat on the Pacific Ocean for over 200 days seemed like The Old Man and the Sea on speed. I thought it would have the excitement that Hemingway’s classic lacked.
In the end, I grew to appreciate the book, but I cannot say that I liked it. I will attempt to explain why without giving any spoilers.

The premise is that an author wants to write his next book and is looking for a story to tell. He travels to India, where it is suggested that he contact Pi who is now living in Canada. The adult Pi tells his story to the author, and thus the action takes place in his younger years with some breaks in the story-line that bring us to the current day Pi, the author, and their interactions interspersed throughout.

When Pi’s family sells their zoo in India, they board a Japanese freighter with the remainder of their animals. They intend to move to Canada where they will sell the rest of the wild animals. However, during a storm, the ship sinks, and Pi, a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, and a handful of animals are the only survivors in a lifeboat. Pi and Richard Parker survive for over 200 days before washing ashore in Mexico.

The beginning of the book was a bit slow for my taste. I kept waiting for him to get on the boat and get to the anticipated action and drama, but several chapters were devoted to describing his family’s zoo and the natures of the animals within. I wondered if I had accidentally picked up a wildlife book that explained animals’ behaviors, instincts and habitats. I lost momentum.

However, once he actually made it on the boat, I understood why the information was important. I still think he could have condensed it a bit to increase the pace of the story.

Here is the very personal reason I did not enjoy reading the book: Once he got on the boat, it was gross. I’m not ruining the story by letting you know that he was on the boat with a Bengal tiger and other animals. Eventually it is just him and the tiger. You can fill in the details with your own imagination. Later, as they were afloat for hundreds of days and trying to avoid starvation and dehydration, other details of his survival tactics were…well…gross.

Now, if you love watching survival shows, or the gruesome details of predator vs. prey documentaries, then that part of the book (half of it) won’t bother you a bit, and you may have a completely different reaction than I did.

Finally, the book was intended to be an examination of faith. I think the reader’s appreciation for this journey through faith vs. religion and finding truth will largely depend on her current faith and belief system. For me, I appreciate his statements on finding faith and religion. I commend the author’s craft, because it is very well-written. However, I found that it fell a little flat. He incorporated some of the major religions in the main character’s life, which I understand and appreciate, but I think he could have spent some time developing this a bit more before Pi got on the boat.

The end of the book threw me for a bit of a loop. I wasn't expecting it, and I love that the author was able to write an ending so surprising that it caused me to go back and re-read certain parts to see if they were cast in a different light with my new knowledge.

I appreciate the way Martel essentially leaves the reader with the freedom to interpret the story as she wants and to choose her reality in a sense. I think that was the statement that he was trying to make as he developed Pi’s character. We choose our reality, and faith is more than religion.

That last statement over-simplifies the concepts of the book, but I don’t want to delve much deeper and spoil the story. This is one of those books that is well-written, and the less you know about the story going into it, the more you can be immersed in the character’s world, and the more you can get out of it at the end.

Again, the book is well-written, and if you are interested at all in reading the book, I highly recommend you read it. The issues I had with it were very personal, and had I not had such an aversion to…well…to grossness, then I probably would have enjoyed it much more!

I would love to hear your reactions to the book!

AW FUDGE!

You may find this hard to believe, but I only regularly watch ONE television show--Biggest Loser. Monday night for two hours my family can only speak to me during commercials. Unless it involves blood or broken bones, do not even try to talk to me during the show. The rest of the family gets the television for the remainder of the week. It seems only fair that I claim it for 2 hours on Mondays, right? I mean, it's not even two hours. I'm on mommy duty during commercials after all.

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Well, I watched it tonight as usual, but during this week's episode of inspiring fitness testimonials and emotional breakthroughs......

I ate homemade fudge. 

Yep. I watched those people running, huffing and puffing, and sweating their behinds off while I stuffed my face with melted sugar, chocolate, marshmallows, butter.....you get the point. And I loved every. single. bite.

Seems ironic, doesn't it?

Let me describe my day leading up to 8:00pm, and perhaps you may understand. It really wasn't far from being a typical day in my life, but you know how some days you just wake up with zero patience at all from the start? You wake up, start to get ready for the day, and realize that your kids don't even really know what they are in for today because the patience bucket did not get refilled during the night? Well, that was me. On a normal morning Grumpy Mommy has been replaced with Nice Mommy after a few hours of sleep.

Except this day.

The day began innocent and normal enough, but then I went to Wal-Mart for my typical weekly grocery shopping. It took me THREE HOURS to get out of that place! What?? My 4yo suddenly developed a severe case of ADD and also became deaf. I couldn't fit her and the 4mo old's car seat in the cart and still fit all the groceries, so I spent the entire time inviting, begging, pleading, bribing, counting aloud, and threatening her just to get her to keep up with me. I considered swinging by the duct tape aisle and seeing what I could come up with to keep her nearby, but I was afraid I'd end up on the People of Walmart page.

Before I made it home  out of the store I changed a poopy diaper and a wet diaper, made a bottle and fed the 4mo old, stood in line for.ever. for a free cookie at Subway. (See the part above about bribing.) I could have made cookies faster than they served them to me.

The 4yo begged for a Happy Meal as we drove out of the parking lot, and I was so tired by that point that I caved. Anything for peace and quiet and not having to make lunch. When we got home, she had eaten about three bites and said she wasn't hungry. (Did I mention that lack of patience thing today?) She ended up sitting at the kitchen table choking down cold chicken nuggets and apples whether she was hungry or not. There were tears involved.

(I think she might have been crying too.)

Then the dinner that I had started in the crock pot hours ago should have been finished up lickety-split in about 30 minutes after my DH got home. Just cook the rice, thaw the freezer-meal chicken, heat tortillas, and voila! Yeah. Two hours later we finally sat down to eat. Two hours?? Seriously? Where is Rachael Ray when I need her?

While making dinner I changed a poopy diaper and fed the baby a bottle while simultaneously burning the rice to the bottom of the pan. My darling little shortling must have called my name about eleventy billion times. And just when my head was about to explode on the elventy billionth "MOMMY!" (yelled from her room instead of coming in the kitchen to talk to me in a normal volume), I said yelled, "WHAT??"
Her reply: "I love you!!"
Ack! The mommy guilt! At that moment I just wanted a do-over and a pizza delivery place that would actually drive far enough to deliver pizza to my house.

Well, it was in this weakened state that I opened the cabinet and saw the bag of Nestle Toll House Morsels. I tried to ignore them, but they were calling to me. Somehow they ended up on the counter, and I saw the recipes on the bag. One of them said something about fudge and fast and easy. My head was spinning. I tried to ignore it, but everything became a blur, and a little while later instead of cleaning the table up after dinner I found myself standing in front of the stove madly stirring boiling sugar and evaporated milk...

...while the cat jumped on the dinner table and ate the leftover chicken that was supposed to be for tomorrow's meal. *sigh*...

So I did it. I made homemade fudge for the first time in my life, and I sat in front of those sweaty Biggest Loser contestants and stuffed my face with a big fat chunk of chocolatey  goodness (or maybe two...I really can't recall).

Yes. It was THAT kind of Monday. And I will end it by praying for a dose of patience on Tuesday. For everyone's sake.

If you want the recipe, you can find it here, or look on the back of the bag of Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Morsels. Be careful though. The other recipes look pretty dangerous as well.

Love Letters V

This love note was attached to a pack of chewing gum. Please feel free to print this and give it to your number one man to brighten his day.

Love Letters IV

I left this love note attached to a pack of sticky notes. Feel free to print these notes and leave them for a loved one to brighten his or her day as well!

Love Letters III

This love note was attached to a pack of highlighters. They have fewer calories than the chocolate I left before!

Love Letters II

This love letter was attached to a Snickers candy bar. I put it in my hubby's car so he would find it on the way to work in the morning. I love his sense of humor, and I wanted to let him know that.

Love Letters

I came up with a new idea for celebrating Valentine's with my hubby. I'm really excited about it. It's actually something that would be great all year--not just for Valentine's--and it can be adapted to fit any loved one. Every day from now until Valentine's Day, I'm going to leave little notes for my husband to let him know why I love him. I was going to wait until February 1st to start, but I got too excited about it, and I thought it was silly to put off telling him why I love him. So, I decided to start now, and I may just keep it going until I run out of ideas. 

I can't take full credit for the idea. My creativity was sparked from this blog post. Gotta love Pinterest for finding creative ideas!

Each love letter that I make goes with a little gift. I went to the dollar store and picked up a few things to give him and made up a little message to go with it. This note was attached to a can of Mt. Dew. Cheesy and simple, but I hope he knows the message is sincere. 

Stay tuned for more of my Love Letters. I'll share them here as I create them! I would love to hear some of your ideas as well. I'm always looking for little ways to let my loved ones know I care.

Bedtime Routine

Kids thrive on structure and routines. It's true. If you don't believe me, read this, or this, or even this. And if that's not good enough, ask any mom or teacher you know.

 As a teacher who has recently switched careers--resigning my teaching position to be a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM)--I have really been missing my structured day. While the pace seemed frenzied and hectic, (I think I had about 10 minutes to choke down my lunch most days) it still kept me focused. I knew what was coming up next. I was constantly planning for the next class, day, week, grading period.

Then, I had my second child, and routine and schedules vanished into thin air. My newborn dictated my schedule, and it was anything but structured!

That's pretty typical, but now that we have all gotten used to each other a bit (3 whole months later), I realized how much I have let my four-year-old's schedule get off track.

Now, I'm not a mom-nazi who thinks that we need to everything at the same exact time every day. I know I would never live up to that. I just feel better when I know what's coming up next. You  know...little things like remembering to feed my kid lunch, making them go to bed and stuff.

Here is a confession: Besides the painful act of waking up in the morning, bedtime is my Least. Favorite. Time. Of. Day. I feel a sense of dread as it looms ever closer. I admit it is mostly all my fault. Since I no longer have the pressure of getting up at oh-dark-thirty every morning to go to work, I have become a procrastinator at bedtime. I put off beginning the routine because it seems to take forever to get my 4yo through the process from start to finish. And the older she gets, the sneakier she gets. She requested no less than ONE HUNDRED hugs and kisses from me the other night. Where does she learn the art of procrastination so well?

The problem is that the nice mommy seems to go to bed way before the 4 year old does, and she's left with the cranky, impatient, over-tired mommy trying to force her to go to bed now. That's not exactly the image I'm going for.

So, in my effort to get her (and me) back on some sort of structured routine and avoid argument and frustration on both our parts, I created a Bedtime Checklist.

She loves lists. I suppose she gets that from me. She also loves dry erase boards and markers. (I have yet to meet a kid who doesn't.) So, here is what I did:

1.   I made a checklist in Microsoft Word complete with clip art for each step since she is just learning to read.
2.  I formatted it to fit inside the plastic cover of an old DVD case.
3.  I printed it and trimmed it to fit.
4.  I inserted it inside the plastic cover (as though it were the title cover of the DVD.
5.  I grabbed a dry-erase marker. (Yes, I have way too many of these because, you know, I'm a teacher, and we collect useless useful stuff like that!)

VOILA!! Hand dandy dry erase checklist.

Now, I know the list seems long. HOWEVER, I tried to make a shorter one, and my 4yo quickly informed me that I had left steps out of the routine. ((sigh)) I respected her wishes, and I let her help me create the final list. This also helped her feel ownership of the list, and therefore increased her enthusiasm, which in turn decreased the amount of begging encouraging I had to do each night. I call that win-win.

I also built in a reward system because I want to motivate her to be independent in completing this routine. What works right now (and is always subject to change) is receiving coins (pennies) for her piggy bank. For certain tasks on the list she receives a penny if she completes them by herself. We are currently working on the speed of the "Tidy Up" step, so I added bonus coins as incentive if she cleans up before I count to 10 (or whatever number is appropriate for the job.) This gets her moving more quickly--and consequently in bed at a better time. (Which also means my quiet time can start sooner!)

BENEFITS:

1.  My 4yo looks forward to completing the list for bedtime.
2.  We don't argue anymore. (at bedtime at least)
3.  We don't forget steps in the routine if we get sidetracked by a crying baby, ringing phone, barking dog, etc. She can keep herself on task even if I have to deal with other things.
4. She is learning independence and self-confidence.
5. She is building fine-motor and pre-literacy skills.
6. The other side of the DVD case is blank, so we can create unique lists for special projects or routines as needed. (Did I mention I have an entire library of empty DVD cases? But I can't get rid of them, of course. They could be useful some day.)

This type of routine could be helpful for children who have ADD/ADHD, fall into the Autism spectrum, or otherwise have issues that make focusing difficult. (Or, let's face it, most kids' attention spans are usually much shorter than we would like during transition times.) For children who have difficulty focusing or have trouble with multi-step directions, I would recommend decreasing the number of steps in the routine and adding the use of a timer for each step. Once they master the few steps, add another step--one by one--until you build up to the full routine.

 Build in positive rewards for timely completion of the activity, or record the time and try to beat the "best time" like a race. Some kids focus better when there is a bit of competition. By competing against themselves--and not siblings--they avoid the pitfall of comparing themselves to others, which can add to a negative self-image. 

Another idea that I have used: Create a checklist and insert it in a sheet protector. Award stickers for each completed task throughout the week. Build in daily and/or weekly rewards for completed tasks. If you buy the acid-free stickers, they will peel off of the plastic at the end of the week, and you can start over. The only consumables are the stickers. The DVD case is portable, but this method allows you to make it larger and more visible. Some kids like anchoring a routine to the same starting and ending spot each day (spatial learners). You can also get your child more engaged by picking stickers that he or she likes and allowing him or her to pick the sticker and place it on the plastic. You avoid marker on clothes and walls, and they are still building fine motor skills.

Still one more idea: Go magnetic. Create a checklist and either place it on a magnetic board or the refrigerator. Create two columns: To Do and Done (or Ta Da!). (Like the "in" and "out" boards in some offices.) Place a magnet by each step in the routine, and each day your child can move the magnet from the "To Do" column to the "Ta Da" column. This method is not as visually distracting, and it doesn't require quite as much fine-motor skills. If you have more than one child, you could put each child's name or photo on a magnet and use the same checklist so you know who has completed which task. Just make the columns and rows wide enough to accommodate more magnets. Soda or water bottle tops with magnets glued to the back are good for this too.

Our home is much more peaceful in the evenings since we have implemented this plan. I would love to hear what you have tried that works for you!