I AM a Motivated Mom (You can be too)!

What motivates you?  

You know, what really gets you going? 

I think it's different for everyone.

I am motivated by accountability.  I am motivated by results (positive or negative).  I am motivated by frustration.  I am motivated by others' successes or failures.  I am motivated by the calendar or the clock.  I am motivated by change.  I am motivated by stagnation.  I am motivated by a lot of things.

One thing that really motivates me, really gets me going, is a checklist.

I think I have my Auntie Dona to thank for that.  She's a list maker.  I hear that she makes lists of her lists.  (I don't know if that's true or not, but that's the story.)  I'm not quite that extreme, but I am a list maker for sure, and few things make me as happy as checking something off a list.  

I discovered one of my favorite lists a couple of years ago.  I've told you about it a couple of times.  I love it, in part, because I don't have to make it myself (although there is great joy in the making of the list).  I love it, in part, because it reminds me to do things I would have otherwise forgotten.  I love it, mostly, because it totally motivates me.

Are you curious yet?

Yep, that's right.  My amazing motivational list comes from Motivated Moms!

Motivated Moms is a "chore chart" for moms.  It's awesome.  It's wonderful.  It's terrible.  It's everything you need it to be.  It's...well...motivational!

Imagine a home in which laundry piles up for days upon days, where the kitchen floor gets a once-over with the broom once a week or so, the kids' nails get clipped when they get scraggly enough that the kids are actually asking for them to be clipped, the fridge gets cleaned when someone can no longer stand the grime...dreadful, isn't it?  Yeah, so ummm...welcome to my house.

Four months ago I started an amazing new job.  An all-consuming, exhausting, amazing new job.  I adore my new job.  I am amazed by how...amazing...it feels.  The trouble, though, is that it's all I have time for.  I feel like, between work, kids, and sleep, I have run out of time for anything...even beneficial things.

Beneficial things like, you know, cleaning.

So, as I sat here on my couch during Christmas break, contemplating what would motivate me to get my messy house (and perhaps life) in order, it's no surprise that I remembered Motivated Moms and the difference that printable calendar's made in my life the last two years!

I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was, to discover that not only does Motivated Moms have the amazing printable calendar I've grown to love, but they've got both apple and android apps now, too!  I don't know how you feel, but this was amazing news for me.  

You see, I love lists.  I love marking things off of lists.  What I don't love is clutter (although my house is full of it).  A binder of lists on my counter?  That feels an awful lot like clutter to me.  It's clutter that helps control clutter, I suppose, but it's always just been awkward.  We don't have tons of room on our counters.  The binder just takes up space.  The app, though?  Perhaps it's clutter on my phone or my iPod, but I don't see that when I walk by.  

I am so much more in love with Motivated Moms today than I was before I downloaded the app yesterday!  SO much more in love!

That house I described earlier?  It's still there.  It's still messy.  It's a work in progress.  But right now?  My bed is made (or at least straightened).  My LAST LOAD of laundry is in the washer. (Don't ask me about the folding, m'kay?)  My bathroom counter is cleaned off.  The top shelf of my fridge is clean.  My furnace filter has been changed.  I could go on, but I won't.

Give me a warning and 30 minutes, and my house will be clean enough for company!  

I couldn't have said that yesterday morning.

You see, Motivated Moms gives you daily chores to do.  Whether you choose the paper version or one of the apps, you get a list of daily jobs, mixed together with day-specific jobs.  Today, for instance, I made my bed (like every day) and wiped the bathroom sink (like every day).  I also cleaned the microwave inside and out.  I cleaned the top shelf of the fridge, which was actually yesterday's job.  Some days the list seems long, especially when you're just starting (or re-starting). Some days, though, the list looks so manageable.  Even on the days when the list looks long, it's really not so bad.  The longer you stay on the Motivated Moms "program," the easier it gets!  Faster, too.  

Motivated Moms actually has the option, now, to assign tasks!  If it's Little Lou's day to feed the dog, for instance, I can turn that task purple.  If it's Bugsy's day to sweep the kitchen floor, I can turn that task yellow.  It's an great way to monitor who else is doing their chores, too, not just Mom!

In fact, if you become a Motivated Mom, you very quickly discover that you've got an amazing amount more time on your hands than you ever had before...and a much much cleaner house! 

I choose to use the version with Bible reading as well as other chores.  I've chosen the paper downloadable version with Bible reading the last two years.  The app already comes with the Bible section, and you can choose whether you want to leave that turned on (I hope you will) or turn it off.  

Not only does Motivated Moms help you clean up your house, it'll help you clean up your life.

People, Motivated Moms is an $8 investment.  $8 will get you either the paper download OR the app.  Motivated Moms is worth FAR more than $8.  If you try it, you won't regret it!  

Speaking of trying it, there's a free trial version of the app!  2 weeks worth of chores for you to try.  What an amazing gift Motivated Moms has given!  You're going to love it so much, you're going to want the full version.

Ready to get started?  Head on over to Motivated Moms!

If you're in the mood to download the printable version, be sure you use the coupon code THISNTHAT.  You'll get $1 off the printable ebook, making it just $7!  That offer's only good through the 18th, though, so hurry!

Does WINNING motivate you?  It motivates me, too.  Leave me a comment below (we'll do this the old fashioned way) and let me know why you NEED Motivated Moms this year!  I'll choose a random winner from the comments on 1/19/2013!  The winner will be able to choose either the printable ebook or the apple app.  (Sorry, the android app isn't available for giveaway.)

Don't forget to purchase your ebook or app right away, so you can get moving in this new year!    Your house deserves it...YOU deserve it!!

I was given a copy of the apple app at no cost in order to facilitate a review, but I was going to post one anyway.  I was not compensated in any other way.  This is seriously an awesome app, and even if I hadn't been compensated, I would have said the exact same things.  

I know your secret. Motivated Moms review and giveaway.

I've been in your houses and they're all spotless.  I've walked in my stocking feet on your clean-enough-to-eat-off-of kitchen floors.  I've laid my coat on your freshly made bedroom-sanctuary beds.  Your kids' toys are all lined up neatly on the appropriate shelves.  Your carpets are vacuumed in perfect lines...

What's that?  I didn't just describe your house?  You have peanut butter smudges on your kitchen table and dog footprints on your back door, too?  Whew!  Thank you for telling me!

I'm going to tell you a little secret about me.  It might be your little secret, too.  Without moving from my seat here on the couch, I can see 9 pair of shoes, 2 pair of dirty pants, a dirty shirt, one dirty sock, half a dozen scraps of paper, a granola bar wrapper, 4 toy cars and a wooden train, 3 baskets of (folded) laundry, and...and...and...  It's true.  When you come to my house you won't see this kind of chaos.  It'll be clean..."company clean."  My kids' rooms will be picked up (but probably not vacuumed), the bathroom will be spotless, and the kitchen will be clean enough.  If I have time I'll actually mop the kitchen floor, but chances are I'll do a once-over with a Swiffer Wet and call it a day.  I'll load up all that laundry and plunk it on my bed, which you'll never see because it'll be in the one room in the house with a closed door.  You do NOT want to go in there!

Want to hear another secret?  I've had it in my head, for a LONG time, that I'm the only one that does this.  I've had it in my mind that the rest of you are perfect little housewives with perfect little clean houses.  Nothing is every out of place.  Nothing is ever left dirty in the kitchen sink.  Your kids are bathed every morning and they never ever forget to brush their teeth.  I've had it in my head that I'm pretty much the only slacker when it comes to the whole "caring for my home and family" thing. 

But guess what?  I'm not alone.  Nope.  I have a sneaking suspicion that one or two or a hundred of you are just like me.  Oh, sure, give me 30 minutes and I can throw together a "company clean" house that won't be an embarrassment.  Stop by unannounced, though, and I might just hug you at the door and send you packing!  I bet a few of you are just like me.  It's not the lack of know-how.  It's not the lack of want-to.  It's probably not even the lack of motivation.  It's more a lack of planning, for me anyway.  You see, when I go to bed at night I don't have a list made of what I'll do the next day.  When I wake up in the morning I don't have a plan before my feet hit the floor.  I should, though!

About a year and a half ago, I stumbled onto a website called Motivated Moms.  If I remember correctly, a friend on facebook mentioned that she is a "motivated mom" and had accomplished everything on the list that day.  I wanted to be motivated, too!  I looked up Motivated Moms and found a website claiming to have exactly what I already knew I needed: a mommy chore chart!  I ordered a calendar right away and set to work!

The Motivated Moms chore list is set up in kind of a weekly rotation.  There are daily tasks to do, but then each day of each week there are certain jobs to accomplish.  Some of them are things I'd never think of (rotate mattress?) and some of them seem so mundane you could never forget them (clip children's fingernails).  Sadly, those mundane tasks are the ones that seem to be most neglected around here!  The weeks come in a bit of a pattern, and before long you just know what to do.  "It's Tuesday!  I need to clean out my purse."  "It's Wednesday, I need to clip the kids' nails."  "It's Saturday, I need to water my plants."  How wonderful, though, to have that little box to tick off at each task!  The daily tasks are "no brainers" too.  Unfortunately, things like exercise and read my Bible are the things that get pushed to the back burner when life is hectic.  Not true, though, when I'm faithful about using my Motivated Mom chore list, because I have to tick off those boxes!

I admitted to you last December that I was kind of behind in turning my calendar pages.  I vowed to myself that I would do SO much better in 2011!  I told myself I didn't need a new calendar, I would just write the new year's dates over last year's and use the same calendar.  I told myself if that didn't work, I'd make up my own chart.  It would be easy.  But I didn't.  And I didn't.  You see, the beauty of the Motivated Moms chore list is that it's already made!  Someone has already tested it out.  Someone has already done all the planning!  All I have to do is turn the page!  I could do this myself, but I won't.  And my house will be messy.  And I won't be able to welcome you when you stop by unannounced, at least not without fear that you'll see my secret messes!

Speaking of messes, let me tell you a little about how amazing Motivated Moms is, at least for me.  I've already looked at the calendar for the first week of January, folks, and I'm scared.  That first Tuesday you know what I'm going to have to do?  Dust my bedroom.  Eek!  We've been down this road before.  It was the first job on the first day last time I did Motivated Moms.  And what did I have to do?  I had to clean my room so I could dust it!  (It was pretty protected from dust that first week, as everything had a pretty good cover of stuff.)  Guess what, folks? I'm going to have to do that again.  My room is definitely not dustable right now.  A couple days later I had to vacuum my kids' floors.  But guess what?  I had to clean their rooms so I could GET to the floors!  (They have room cleaning rules, now, and I won't have AS much trouble.)  I was washing a load of laundry EVERY day, unless there wasn't any to wash!  I was sweeping the kitchen and mopping the floors and and and...  And that first couple weeks was HARD!

But then something amazing happened.  I looked around one day and my house was clean CLEAN when I got up in the morning!  Sure, there were a couple toys here and there, but I was proud of my house!  That day when it came time for my chores, they took about 15 minutes and then I was done!  And the next day and the next day and the next day...15 minutes! 

People, it wasn't perfect.  I wouldn't have wanted you to come in with a white glove and inspect.  But it was clean enough that I would have been perfectly content to welcome any one of you into my home.  That's why I'm such a huge fan of Motivated Moms!  That's why I'm starting again, and this time at the end of the year I'll purchase another $8 calendar...because it's worth it!

I've got my 2012 calendar printed.  It's 3-hole punched and inserted into a binder.  There's already a pen in the binder pocket.  I am SO ready to get this Motivated party started!  I want you to join me.  TChore lists are just $8 from Motivated Moms, and you can choose which of several formats you prefer!  Who'll make a commitment to use a Motivated Moms calendar alongside me? 

(Want to commit, but don't have the $8 to purchase a calendar your self?  Enter below to win a Motivated Moms chore list!)