A few days ago I posted about my pink towel mommy tip. It’s been wonderful receiving emails from readers and hearing different ideas for making life easier. Today I want to pass on a couple of these fantastic ideas to you all. Tip #1 Marbles in a Jar: From Danielle at Loving Every Moment {this mommy has six children . . . . so pay attention! She knows what she is talking about!!!"} My mommy tip would be marble jars, they have worked really well for our family. Basically they are a reward system for our children, being that we have six children we can’t really afford to do allowances and feel that they should all help out because we are a family and not because they are getting paid to do it. Each chore is worth a certain amount of marbles, the less desirable chores obviously being worth more:) If they are misbehaving or fighting with each other , instead of me yelling I simply let them know I am removing a marble from there jars and the behavior will subside so my yelling has gotten to be a lot less. When their jar is halfway filled they have the option to either cash it all in and get a new book of their choice, or they can go all the way and wait until their jar is completely filled, which takes anywhere from 2 to 5 months depending on how hard the kids are working, they get to have a date night with mommy or daddy, or both all by themselves. This helps with not adding to our massive toy collection, ugh! There has been an amazing turn in our home, my three oldest children make their beds daily, worth one marble. At first it kind of bothered me that the beds weren’t perfect but I let it go and didn’t fix them, and now after having the practice every day their beds look amazing! I can’t get over it, my 9,8, and 6 year old children do an amazing job. I have also made chores age appropriate so that the little ones don’t feel to overwhelmed, their chores are more like taking their plate to the sink after each meal, washing their hands before a meal and using their manner words. I have even added Bible verse memorization to the mix lately for 3 marbles and my kids have been memorizing fools:) Thanks for this opportunity to share with you. 
image via etsy I especially love how the reward is quality time with Mom and Dad. Truly priceless. I am all about trying this with my toddlers. Tip #2: Towel Basket by Megan from Honey We’re Home: With Megan having a little one, she is constantly going through bib after bib as well as kitchen towels. Because her laundry room is on the second floor, she didn’t like how they were all piling up on the kitchen counter. Megan’s easy solution is to toss them into a basket or bowl throughout the day. After her son is in bed, she can easily take the basket upstairs and throw the bibs & towels into a load of laundry. 
Our laundry is upstairs as well so I have adopted this method. I think it works great no matter where your washing machine may be. I love that the my dirty dish towels are now confined to one spot before they head on up stairs to be washed. Thanks, Megan! {ps . . I have a similar bowl that I love but wasn’t using so now I get to have it out on my counter! It’s a win-win!} Tip #3: Labeling Snacks from Jenn over at Green Door Designs Jenn discovered an easy way to keep her child’s snacks from getting mixed up with other children’s treats at school. The school started requiring that the food items be labeled so she used leftover Christmas address labels. So smart and simple. Now that she has a batch of them printed from the computer, it is easy to label these for school lunches or snacks. You can read more about it here. 
I love this as every time I turn around there is a sippy cup or tote bag that needs to be labeled. Jenn inspired me to make some of my own and now I have them handy in the kitchen for when the kids need them. Hope you are all having a great week so far! If you have any more tips that you would like to share with other moms feel free to email me.
I love the marble idea. Going to have to start that.
Great ideas!! I especially love the marble idea. So easy—but makes so much sense.
I love the marble idea! Teachers use these methods in their classrooms, why not bring it home?! I will be using this one when lil man gets older.
Great advice… keep it coming! I'm not a mom yet, but I need to stock up on these awesome tips.
Great tips! I can see why the Marble Jar is effective!!
If you were in a bind as far as labels go you could also use those address labels that come free in the mail from places that are looking for donations. Since we pay our bills online and dont use them often I always have a ton of them lying around. Ive also used them when doing kids clothing swaps and every.single.item has to be labeled.
You can also use them for raffles and silent auctions. Just peel & stick. Very quick, very easy.
XO,
Sarah
LOVE this post, Courtney.
Danielle, what age do you recommend starting this?
Megan, our laundry is on 2nd floor with bedrooms too (which I LOVE). But definitely have the bib collection on the counter. GREAT idea!
Good tips lovie!
Like these a lot! I also think that the marble jar would be a great party favor idea, just substitute gum balls! Thank you for commenting over at Yoga Gal last week! The shoe shelves are great but I can't get my husband to flip around his shoes to where they are facing the front- its hard to break a 40 year habit! 🙂
Wow! What great tips. THIS is why I blog! By the time I have children I'll have so many tips from all you lovely ladies (:
These are such great ideas! I am a big fan of labeling sippy cups when we go to church and the gym… there are these awesome labels on inchbug.com that wraps around the sippy cup, its dishwasher safe and wont slip off. THey come in a pack of 4 so if you dont use them on a daily basis you can just get your last name on them and they work for multiple kids.
Those are fun tips. Wish I blogged when the boys were younger 🙂
-Rene
Okay that marble idea is pure genius! I'm pretty much willing to try anything to make the kids behave a little easier…(c:
Thanks for posting Courtney! I love the marble idea – I am so borrowing that – I don't want to pay allowance for doing this to be part of the family, but I think the marble idea is GREAT!
The marble jar is genius! Thanks for including my little tip too:)
Thank you so much for sharing my tip today!
I need to file these away for later when we have kids!
Those are great ideas! Thanks for sharing. My dad used to do the marble jar with us and it worked great. 🙂
Anna
http://www.askannamoseley.com
Great ideas! I do the towel thing, too, but with a twist. I got a HUGE mixing bowl for my wedding (10 years ago!) that never got used because it was so big, so I put it under the sink to catch all my towels & bibs. That way, it's not cluttering the counter, and it still serves its function. In addition to changing the towel every day, I also change my dishcloth every day to cut down on germs and smelliness. I just drape the wet dishcloth over the side of the sink at night, and by morning it's dry enough to put in the bowl without making a smelly mess. The bowl is big enough that I only take it up to the laundry room on Tuesdays, which is when I do my towels. Once a week works great for me!
I think the marble idea is great, but I do have a warning, my four year old son almost choked to death on a marble. we had to turn him upside down and hit his back and luckily the marble shot out, Don't worry he is now 34yrs old and a Dad. Just make sure you keep the marbles out of the reach of little ones. Marbles scare me!!! Just a little friendly warning, but the concept is wonderful!!
those are great ideas!! thanks so much for sharing. esp the towel basket