I’m about three pages away from completing my term paper, and I ought to be working on it, but I have to tell you about a brilliant idea that a friend shared with me this week. It isn’t about writing, per se, but it is about words in the form of a creative list …

A fellow mom of many created a bucket for wayward items that she “ransomed” from the kids. In order to retrieve a confiscated item, the kids have to draw a chore/assignment from the to-do list. I have put toys, etc., in “time out” before, but I love the idea of having to earn them back. Clever!

Since we have a currently unoccupied closet (not that it is empty, only that the owner is away for several months with the Army) in the master bedroom, I decided to make that the Ransom Closet. My hope is that the boys will clue into the system pretty quickly, and we can downgrade to a bucket, as well.

Ransom Assignment Jar

So, here’s the plan: They had yesterday & the rest of today to pick up and put away what they wish to keep. I intend to come home for lunch on Thursday and do a clean sweep of kids’ clutter throughout the house. Anything that doesn’t have a home is going in the Ransom Closet.

When they want an item out of the closet, they’ll have to draw a slip of paper. There are 50+ assignments ranging from vacuuming a room to pulling weeds to scrubbing toilets to rubbing my shoulders and apologizing for being slobs. There are also a couple of freebie/warning slips in the mix, for the sake of grace. I explained the system to them, and one of the older boys read the entire list aloud, so there are no surprises.

I also plan to have a max time for ransomed items. In other words, if it isn’t worth it to you to retrieve it in a certain amount of time (perhaps three days), then you obviously don’t care if I give/throw it away (or put it away semi-permanently and re-wrap it at Christmas). We also discussed – and they came up with the solution – what to do with items that belong to everyone, like video games. They agreed that everyone has to pull an assignment slip in order to get the item back for the group’s enjoyment.

Also, our church is having a garage “sale” (basically freebie) at our inner city mission next month, so I also encouraged the boys that this is a perfect time to set aside toys, etc., that they willingly want to give away.

Here’s to developing better habits (for all of us) and reducing clutter! Thanks, Tina, for passing along the great idea! I hope it will help. 🙂