Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Chore Charts

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Our chores have morphed a lot over time.  Mostly with the abilities of our children.  I wrote a little about the chore charts here, but I didn’t say what they were or how we used them.  A friend recently asked me about this and I decided a whole post was in order. 

My chore chart of choice is still Motivated Moms.  It’s just enough for me to do without being super overwhelming and reminds me to do things like clear out the freezer and flip our mattress.  Many of the daily chores have fallen to the kids however.  I have them do that and then I have time to set up their stuff for school that day… or nurse the baby.  Which ever is more pressing at the moment.

Each of the chore charts are on laminated on cardstock and stuck on the fridge for easy access.  They have magnetic clips at the top so that they can be taken down and flipped over to see what the daily chore is.  We have several white board markers so they can check off their chores and if my kids don’t have all their chores done by 9:30am then they do not get to watch TV that day.  That makes me sound like a horrible mean mom, but chores were often not getting done until noon or later.  Only when my children were asked to play with the neighbors did they go running to get their chores done. Chores like make sure the chickens have water.  That’s just not ok.  I am not happy when I am tripping over cats because they feel they are going to never be fed by these smaller humans and need back up to get their breakfast.

So at the risk of seeming more OCD than I already do, I present you with my children’s chore charts (that work beautifully for my OCD kids. ;) ).

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First comes the teens chores.  Considering he is 15 and can do nearly everything we can do (with a higher likelyhood of breakage), these are his chores.

Alex’s every day chores

Morning

  • Make your bed
  • Get dressed (with shoes)
  • Brush your teeth
  • Do your hair
  • Make breakfast
  • Empty ALL trash cans
  • Empty Dishwasher
  • Do daily chore from list

After Dinner

  • Load/run dishwasher
  • Pick up homeschool room
  • Shower
  • Pajamas (take dirty to wash)
  • Brush your teeth

Monday

Change all sheets on recycle week

Tuesday

Mow lawn on non-recycle week

Wednesday

Weed whack around garden beds on recycle week

Thursday

Babysit for mom and dad to do grocery shopping

Friday

Set timer, spend one hour getting your room clean

Saturday

Clean backyard

Sunday

Be ready for church

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Cyan is my animal girl!  She loves taking care of the animals but it is on here so she gets it done in a timely manner and none of our critters go forgotten.

Cyan’s every day chores

Morning

  • Make your bed
  • Get dressed (with shoes)
  • Brush your teeth
  • Do your hair
  • Feed your pets
  • Start a load of laundry
  • Do daily chore from list

After Dinner

  • Take dishes to sink
  • Put leftovers away (make lunches for daddy)
  • Take scraps to the chickens
  • Get the mail
  • Pick up livingroom
  • Pajamas (take dirty to wash)
  • Brush your teeth

Monday

Shake out all the small rugs

Tuesday

Water houseplants

Wednesday

Get the garbage out of the car

Thursday

Take a shower and wash your hair

Friday

Spend one hour getting your room super clean

Saturday

Clean backyard

Sunday

Be ready for church

(Now if you just read through ALL of my children’s chores (I would think you were slightly insane but) you would notice  that Saturday and Sunday are the same. They both are in charge of cleaning up the backyard on Saturday morning.)

Logan’s chores are MUCH simpler.  That is because he’s 4.  And none of them require reading.  His chart flips with morning chores on the front and evening chores on the back.  (Alex figured out that if he put two clips on Logan’s chore chart it would flip without needing to remove a clip each time.  It has worked out great!)

2011-07-27

I added in Turn on morning music and I think that is his very favorite chore.  He brings me the iPod and asks me to turn on something, and then goes and plugs it into the dock and proceeds to do the rest of his chores with Rockstar style.  It’s really cute!

There is a 5th list that we use as well.  We had a housekeeper come for about 6 months at the end of my pregnancy and I watched her as she did what she did that made SUCH a difference in the way my house worked.  I wrote those things down and then after we stopped using the service, we have begun doing that ourselves every two weeks.  This is that list.

Bi-weekly chores

Deep clean kitchen

· Put clutter in neat piles

· Remove and shake out rug

· Make sure there is no rotten food in pantry shelf

· Put all appliances away in cupboards except mixer

· Put all dishes in the dishwasher or cleaned and put away

· Wipe down all counters

· Spray and deep clean the stove

· Vacuum floor

· Spot mop floor

· Put clean rug back in place

· Put stove back together

· Do a once over and make sure it’s really clean.

Deep clean bathrooms

· Take out rug to hallway and towels to laundry

· Take tooth brushes out of the bathroom

· Tidy up (put hair things away, stuff in drawers, etc)

*Work top to bottom*

· Shelves and mirrors with microfiber cloth (Spray if needed)

· Spray counter top, toilet and shower and let sit

· Spray and wipe down sink.

· Clean tub with sponge ending with facets

· Wipe down toilet top to bottom ending with around the toilet bowl

· Clean floor around toilet with spray and cloth

· Put cloth in laundry

· Vacuum floor

· Put back clean rug

*Laundry Room*

· Put all dirty laundry in the laundry basket

· Put away any art supplies that have been left out

· Vacuum floor and shake out rug

Deep clean livingroom

· Put clutter in neat piles

· Put things back in their places (furniture, toys in baskets, etc.)

· Roll up rug

· Check under couch

· Vacuum couch

· Clean table in dining area

· Vacuum floor

· Straighten up desk area

· Put dining room chairs back in place

· Put rug back in front of couch

Deep cleaning bedrooms

· Strip beds

· Put clutter in neat piles

· Dust shelves and dressers

· Put new sheets on bed and make bed

· Vacuum floor

School room

· Dust shelves

· Clean off white board

· Put away art and school stuff left out

· Put tables back in place

· Pick up cat food and put it back in the bowls

· Vacuum floor

Finishing touches

· Sweep off front porch

· Put all back yard toys away

· Take all garbage out

· Put as many of the things in piles away as you can

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5 comments

Christi said...

Thank you for typing this up, Val! Do your kids get allowance? Is it tied to their chores? Do they do them willingly? LOL

Jennifer Howard said...

thanks so much for this! Great list. You rock!
Jennifer

SewingHappiness said...

This is so helpful! I've followed your template to get us started. My kids go to public school, so there's not much they can do in the morning but get ready to go.

I'm also curious about the willingness, reminders, allowance, etc.

Frannie said...

Once again you've inspired me to get motivated! just made my boys their chore charts this morning and they're loving it. And as for me, the motivated Mom's chore list is just what I've been looking for, something laid out for me & written down so I don't get so overwhelmed. Thanks Val

Val in the Rose Garden said...

SewingHappiness- I think the willingness just comes with habit. My kids don't have issues doing it. They sometimes need reminders to get it done in the amount of time allowed, but other than that, these are their pets, their rooms, their clothes... so most of them make their spaces better and after a while they know that. ;)

Blessings,

Val

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