What A Kid Will Do For A Dollar...Literally

For those of you who may or may not know, I have been known to utilize the services of a housekeeper in the past. Even in the present. It started after I had the girls. I knew there was no way I was going to have the time to keep up on housework like I had before they were born. So I begged (see cried) and Dan agreed (see begrudgingly) to hire someone.
After about 4 housekeepers, it became apparent that nobody was going to clean my house like I wanted it cleaned. One day, after a particularly bad cleaning job followed by a particularly bad tirade, Dan told me I was either going to have to relax my standards or do it myself. A "put up or shut up," if you will. So I did what any self-respecting mom would do - I lowered my expectations. Incidentally, low expectations are also what makes a happy marriage according to Dan. But that is for a different post.
I have had a couple of cleaners in the past. One, as you might have learned from a previous post, was totally dishonest and the other quit. Something about her husband being sent to Iraq and she needed to be with the family....yada, yada.
I recently found another cleaner who I quite liked. But, with the tough financial times coupled with the fact that I want to spend my entire summer traveling, I have decided to buck up and, dare I say, CLEAN MY OWN HOUSE.
Dan and I talked and decided that if we both took a couple of hours each Saturday (kids included) we could keep things in check. Now the girls are great at cleaning up, but I thought a good pep talk and a little monetary incentive would be helpful.
My dear friend Emily once told me that when they clean the house, she reminds her kids how lucky they are to have toys to clean up, a house to clean, etc. I did tell them this, but it was hard to keep a straight face. C'mon. Be grateful you HAVE toys to clean up? I love you, Em.
Now for the monetary incentive. I told them I would pay them $1.50 (I know, we are cheap. Would it surprise you to know that Dan thought that was too much?) if they would do everything I asked of them. The other caveat? For every complaint a nickel was taken away.
Everyone was in agreement, but the concept of money being taken away eluded Maddie. She wanted to know how we could take money away. "Are you just going to tear off a corner of the dollar?" So I proceeded to find 30 nickels and lay them out on the bed. I then found 6 quarters, and finally and dollar bill and 2 quarters. From there we explained how all of this money was the same value. Side note: This little exercise reminded me so much of my Dad. He made sure we knew how to count money. It was something he spent hours helping me learn.
I am happy to say that all chores were completed with no whining, moaning and complaining - with the exception of me.
Maybe we will just stay home this summer.....