Since school let out for the summer, we have been focusing on chores around the house and have assigned each kid a couple daily responsibilities. One of the teenager’s chores is to empty the dishwasher. She repeatedly claimed that she couldn’t tell if the dishes were clean or dirty. I was having trouble believing that excuse…until I accidentally tossed a peanut butter covered spoon in with the clean silverware…Oops!
I decided we needed one of those little clean/dirty magnets, but I didn’t really want to pay for one. Plus, I am totally an instant gratification type of person, and I hate waiting for things. I want them NOW 😛 Sooooo, I gathered up my crafty supplies and made one of my own.
Supply List
- Copy Paper or Construction Paper
- Markers (or you could use sticker letters if you have them)
- Tacky Glue
- Magnet
- Laminating Sheets
- Scissors
First, decide what size you want your magnet to be and cut two paper rectangles accordingly. You will also need two pieces of magnet in roughly the same size. I used a thin magnet that my insurance company sent that has been hanging out on my fridge for about 2 years.
The next step is to write “Clean” on one square of paper and “Dirty” on the other (or use your stickers). I am not much of an artist so I could’t do a lot in the way of decorating, but I did draw a little border around the words to make it a bit more festive.
Now we are on to the gluing. I used my tacky glue for this project, this is good glue for crafting. It holds quite well, but I will say, the bottle is awfully hard to squeeze. I know I am weak but come on! Anyway, I glued the two magnets together-back to back, and then glued the rectangles on either side of the magnet. So one side says “clean”. Flip. The other side says “dirty”.
The last bit is lamination. I bought these self seal laminating sheets for one of the little guy’s school projects, but we never used them so they were just on the bookshelf waiting to be magnetized. I carefully put the magnet on a sheet, folded it over, pressed to seal, and then cut off the excess. Make sure you are careful when placing your magnet on the laminating sheet because you won’t be able to adjust it without jacking up your paper.
Boom! A magnet on my dishwasher just 10 minutes after I decided I needed it.
How do you keep track of those dishes? Do you have a dishwasher magnet as well?
***If you make a purchase after clicking one of the amazon links, this blog receives a small commission. Amazon has no input on what I link, and I will only link to supplies I mention or products I own or use (or want to own). The price when clicking through my link is the exact same as any other path you use to find your way to Amazon. It just gives this blog a little appreciation for pointing you in the right direction 🙂 Thanks for your support!***
10 Comments
These are super cute! I’m missing something…glue them back to back? Then how are they two pieces? Help me understaaaaaaaaand. Is this one magnet? Does it stick both ways even though the magnet part is glued to each other? Soww. I’m a dumby. P.S. I love your Amazon disclosure wording 🙂
I’m not a good teacher 😀 It is one magnet with two sides. I cut the magnet into 2 pieces (well 3 really, but I threw one part away) and glued the “wordy” sides together so the magnet could be flipped back and forth to say either clean or dirty. Better explanation?
And the Amazon wording should look familiar…I kinda borrowed it from you…
My Hubs had to explain it to me. I swear there are ways in which I am halfway smart, and lots of ways I am not (that is why I can’t ever get out of those Escape Rooms – I am dead weight there).
That Amazon thing cracks me up so much. I was not being facetious at all! I saw it and I thought, “I really like that — better than I like most people’s”. Hahahhahha. I think most people don’t explain that you link to whatever you want. I had people ask me if Ammy told ME what to promote, so I added that. You changed it enough that your personality showed through. I almost wanted to copy it 🙂
Ooooooh, have you done an escape room before? I wanna try it!
Go ahead and copy it, only fair right? 😀
That is a great idea! I once put away the entire top shelf of my dishwasher before realized they were dirty, lol!
A lot of times the smell gives it away, but I would rather not have to sniff it 😀
I’ve unintentionally put away dirty silverware thinking they were clean. This would’ve helped me then. This is also a good chore tool for older kids to know when they should help out. Thanks for linking up with Funtastic Friday.
It is mainly my daughter’s job to empty so it works well for alerting her!
This is so cute! I love this idea because we always have the problem of knowing whether the dishes are clean or dirty.
We did too! It is working pretty well, although my husband doesn’t always remember to flip it when he empties the dishwasher 😀