Toys, toys and more toys

Sometimes I feel that I sound like a broken record with as many times as I am telling/raising my voice to the boys to pick up their toys.  I felt as if that's all I did so I had to come up with something.  Please someone tell me I am not alone?

I finally found this great little idea "Clutter Jail".

I give the boys a certain amount of time to pick up their toys and if the toys aren't picked up in that amount of time then the toys that are left out go to Clutter Jail.

The first time I did this, it made Brody so mad because one of the toys left out was his basketball.   They have gotten a little better about picking up their toys and I don't seem to have to tell them as much.  I still have to work on Trevor since he is younger.   If Brody would stop telling Trevor what to pick up then Brody would be ok as well.

I then had to come up with something in order for them to get their toys out of "Clutter Jail".  I came up with an envelope of chores for them to pick out of.  These chores range from cleaning up their room, cleaning the floor, pulling weeds, cleaning the bathroom, and dusting.  There are also a few funny ones like rub Dad's head and tell him what a great job he does working, a few Free ones, and the one they just picked out was go clean up the backyard (toys) do a flip on the trampoline and come in and tell mom that you are sorry for not picking up your toys.

They thought it was great.  I did have to explain that not all of them were like this.  We will see how long this will last - but for my sake I hope it lasts a long time.