Household chore breakdown

I have really felt like I had a better handle on things from the Fly Lady website – I love how she breaks things down into short segments. Even if everything is chaos I can listen to crying for 10-15 minutes(I’ll put the babies in the bed if I need to get something done). And when I fall off the wagon for a while I don’t feel like I need to do an 8 hour spring cleaning, I just hop back into the short tasks. I feel like when I have done those short tasks for the day I am gaining traction and not just falling behind. When we had our twins things started mounding up on me (literally). I decided it was time to let my oldest son (2 then, 4 now) start helping out more. He has daily responsibilites like clearing the table (all plastic dishes so he can do it), cleaning up toys every evening (no matter whos they are – the little ones can join in when they are older), putting all his clothes in the hamper when he takes them off. He also has a chore time in the afternoon – I made a list of things he could do like dust baseboards, wipe off cabinets, sweep the porch, dust mop under the table, etc. and I’ll give him whatever needs the most attention. I have also started letting him fold and put up his laundry. At first I thought I was being too drill sargeant with him by giving him all this to do – but turns out he loves it! He feels very grown up that he is able to do things his brothers can’t. I also had to let go of wanting everything so-so. His folding is not so great and the drawers look quite a mess, but he is learning and it really does help.

I agree with what’s been said already, that the youngest of kids can help in some way.  And the younger you start the more ingrained the habit is.  We only have older kids in our house right now (9 and up), but, like Leighann said, I’m a huge fan of lists!  Each of our three boys has a clipboard that hangs downstairs.  Every day they have a new list of all the things they need to get done in the day.  These things include hygeine as well as chores.  In our household, each of the boys are responsible for washing their own breakfast and lunch dishes everyday.  Each morning on child sweeps the kitchen and bathroom, one swiffers, and the other vacuums the downstairs.  In the evening, each child has to spend 10 minutes cleaning their bedroom.  Twice a week I do laundry.  The night before the kids have to bring theirs down and sort it, or I don’t do it.  I hang the clothes out most of the year, so I try to get this done before the kids are even up.  After I take down and fold them they have to put them away.  If they don’t, at the end of the day I take their clothes that are still sitting around.  They have to do extra chores to get them back.  One day a week, we clean the (only) bathroom.  Each kid has a different responsibility and I mop the floor.  Once a week, each of the kids has to sweep/vacuum and dust their bedroom.  We’ve found that this really works for the kids; they love being able to check it off, and instead of having to nag them about each an every chore, I can simply ask them if they’ve looked over their list.  Another thing that my husband and I do is that if toys are left out around the house they are taken until they can “buy” them back with extra work.

And lists don’t only work for the kids.  I love lists!!  It’s the only way I can get anything done.  I make lists, and I also have to put myself on a schedule.  I do laundry the same two days every week, or else it would pile up until we were all out of clothes.  The bathroom and the kitchen are the same day every week, etc. 

HTH!!

Even though I have been homemaking for almost 28 years now I still feel like I’m juggling household chores, too.

Having 2 almost 5 year olds couldn’t possibly have anything to do with it! 🙂

I second the Fly Lady. I don’t follow her religiously but I do use her basic weekly planning.  I continue to work with my two boys on emptying the dishwasher and keeping their rooms tidy.  That in itself was a huge undertaking and something that takes time.  I have set up my own Control Journal with weekly chores and zone cleaning to be done once a week.  I work towards teaching the little ones one new thing from that list at a time. 

I don’t think we should saddle any more than one new chore at a time for our kids and once they have that one down pat move on to another.  My house is a far cry from what it used to be but we have fun together and its manageable for them!

One of the things that I’ve just come to grips with, living with 4 guys (3 boys and a husband) is that things are just not going to be as clean as my husband and I would like.  As the kids get older we tend to be a little more pickier (for example: that they clean up the bathroom countertops after they are in there).  But, most of the time I just let things slide as long as they are not too out of control.  I do however, make them clean their bedrooms and make sure everything in the house is at least put in it’s place.  I feel like the kids need order, and I definately need it to keep my sanity with all of us in a smaller house!  Every night for ten minutes our kids pick up their bedrooms.  That way, when they wake up in the mornings everything is clean and it is a fresh start to the day.

Meagan