Works for Me Wednesday - Fighting the Under Couch battle… March 26, 2008

I came upon quite a few new blogs during the recent Uganda Bloggers trip - one of my favorites being Rocks In My Dryer. I’m not usually into the whole “Mommy blog” thing, but well, I’ve actually FOUND rocks in my dryer so just the title intrigued me enough to check it out.

Anyhoo, she does this little thing called Works For Me Wednesday where people post their favorite tips that save time/energy in this lives. And with four kids, I’m always looking for a way to save time and energy. It gives me more time with the kids and makes sure I’m not ready to completely pull my hair out by the time that Chip gets home. So, I’m jumping in this week - mostly because I cleaned under the couch the other day and realized it might fit…

So, what works for me today? I hate moving the couches to clean under them. They are up on scroll legs and stuff is ALWAYS getting underneath them. And it’s been worse since we pulled up the carpet because now when you kick, say a hot wheel car, those little buggers will roll right under the couch all the way back to the wall.

I was fighting another battle about the same time that this really started to bother me. The fact that I had nowhere to store the couch pillows. They were great for decoration when we first got them, but I have four kids and well they’ve been used for much more than decor - pillow fights, knee boards to go sliding across the hardwood, etc… And they were ALWAYS on the floor. Driving me insane because I’d pick them up and 15 minutes later, one of them kids would be laying on all of them on the floor again.

Then one day it just clicked in my brain! Put the pillows UNDER the couch. I mean, they are already on the floor all the time anyway, so why not let them live there. The kids can still pull them out when they want to, but if they are out of sight they are less likely to be used for anything other than laying on. And they are pulled  forward enough that it prevents hot wheels and legos and sippy cups from getting kicked under the couch. Meaning that I can clean under the couch once a week now instead of everyday.