fairfarmhand Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 I made the kids give me a cup deposit each morning. They get the quarter back in the evening if they have used the same cup all day. This as a result of 6 people (including 2 parents who use the same cup all day) using 35 cups in a single day! It worked. Suddenly people are motivated to rinse and reuse the same cup! Quote
whitestavern Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Yeah, we went through this. Now each family member has their own colored silly band that goes around their glass, and that is what they use each day. Works great! Quote
fairfarmhand Posted February 20, 2013 Author Posted February 20, 2013 35 cups?!! Holy mackeral! :) insane! I know! I here I am washing all the extra dishes by hand because I am milking so much that I CANNOT go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink (having yesterday's dishes staring at me first thing in the AM makes me want to cry) And my goofy kids can't take 30 seconds to look for their cup on the counter rather than simply grab one from the cabinet!!! Yesterday, people were labeling their glasses...I didn't care what they did. They had to keep the same cup or they would pay me for washing the extras. Quote
Karen in CO Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 I don't actually have 35 cups. I think I currently have 6 coffee cups, 8 glasses and 4 wine glasses for the 4 people that currently live here (I have a box with more in the basement). A cup deposit is a great idea. Quote
cjzimmer1 Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Yeah, we went through this. Now each family member has their own colored silly band that goes around their glass, and that is what they use each day. Works great! We used to have matching glasses but years of little helpers took their toll on our supply. Since we needed more and I didn't want want my kids drinking out of plastic, we went to goodwill and each kid has their own pattern/color of drinking cups. Each kid has 2-4 cups depending on how many they had and how many we have lost but each kid got their set for less than $2.00 a kid. Since every person's cups are different everyone only needs 1 a day because there is no confusion over whose cup is whose (and since we only drink water there really isn't any need to rinse cups). Quote
windmillmarie Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 you all are brilliant. I need to work on one of these systems stat. Quote
Miss Peregrine Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 We have the rule of 1 cup a day. They won't follow it. Thy just get a new one if they can't find their own. It's maddening. Quote
TammyS Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 I had a friend who got so fed up with her kids that she locked away all of her real dishes, bought each kid a set of their own cheap dishes (FULL sets, cups, plate, everything) and makes them all keep them in their room They have to bring their clean dishes to the table each meal and stand in line at the sink to wash and dry their set when the meal is over. I think it's hilarious. Quote
Parrothead Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Well, it begs asking so I'll do the dirty deed. Why aren't your older kids doing the washing up in the evenings while you tend to the milking? Otherwise, I'm glad you found a system that works. Quote
fairfarmhand Posted February 20, 2013 Author Posted February 20, 2013 Well, it begs asking so I'll do the dirty deed. Why aren't your older kids doing the washing up in the evenings while you tend to the milking? Otherwise, I'm glad you found a system that works. My oldest does do the dishwasher work. However, I don't yet trust her to do my handwashing. She is 15, but with certain things she can be rather....flaky. Stuff like setting my cast iron to SOAK in the soapy water, or flushing my pulsator attachment (a tiny part of the milker that has to be carefully cleaned) down the disposal would be par for the course for this kid. I might however, make other people responsible for the other, less specialized miscellaneous hand washing...such as extra cups. :) Quote
Butter Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 We had cup issues so we got 4 cups in different colors from Target. Melody's is green, Wil's is orange, Adric's is blue, and Rory's is red. They always use those cups and only those cups. Best idea my mother ever had. Quote
JudoMom Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 My boys each have their own colored water bottle. They drink out of those 95% of the time. I'd go mad with the extra cups. Quote
nd293 Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 We have a spot of colored nail polish under each glass. I started that after washing 15 glasses one day - we're a family of 4. Quote
love2travel Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Now that is a great idea! Thanks for sharing! :thumbup1: Quote
Gisel_le Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Now that is a great idea! Thanks for sharing! :thumbup1: :iagree: Yes, wonderful idea. Quote
Unicorn. Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Well, it begs asking so I'll do the dirty deed. Why aren't your older kids doing the washing up in the evenings while you tend to the milking? Otherwise, I'm glad you found a system that works. I can answer that...... because the same children who can't remember that they have already used 3 cups today, and that at least one of them is probably 6 inches from their hand, can't remember that they have a cup, much less remember to wash it! OP- what are my kids doing at your house? My kids each have a cup with their name on it, written in permanent marker! Do they use them... do they remember where they put them? NO! I love the quarter idea- I think I'll make it a dollar though. Otherwise it won't be motivating enough, and they will just steal quarters from my change jar anyway. :D Quote
whitestavern Posted February 21, 2013 Posted February 21, 2013 Our daily glasses, the ones with the silly bands, all sit to the left of our sink...the entire day. If you want a drink, you drink it there. Or, if you want a drink with your meal, you bring it to the kitchen table and then put it back to the left of the sink when you're done. No losing glasses :) Quote
chickenpatty Posted February 21, 2013 Posted February 21, 2013 This is why I really want a water fountain! Quote
Miss Peregrine Posted February 21, 2013 Posted February 21, 2013 This is why I really want a water fountain! Brilliant! Quote
Pamela H in Texas Posted February 21, 2013 Posted February 21, 2013 We use color coded cups. That helps considerably. Well and a few months ago, Monkey started getting into the cups so we put them up in a higher cabinet. That way, all we do is put a set of cups on the table each morning. Easy peasy. But I do like the ideas of a deposit or water fountain :) Quote
Barbara H Posted February 21, 2013 Posted February 21, 2013 We had cup issues so we got 4 cups in different colors from Target. Melody's is green, Wil's is orange, Adric's is blue, and Rory's is red. They always use those cups and only those cups. Best idea my mother ever had. Great idea for sure. We also had our color of bath towels and wash cloths as well. Quote
Serenade Posted February 21, 2013 Posted February 21, 2013 We've used one cup per day since the beginning. My kids don't know any differently. This goes for mom and dad, too, unless, of course, we need a wine glass... Quote
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