Mud. Dried mud. Technically it would be called dirt, I suppose. Whatever it’s called, someone tracked it all over my house this morning.
I won’t name names but I could tell who it was as I followed the path around with my vacuum after the kids were bouncing down the road on the yellow kidmobile at dawn this morning.
No big deal. It happens when it’s been foggy and soggy out and half of our property is an empty pasture. What did “get my goat” was what I saw as I was dutifully sucking up dirt.
- Soggy towels on the floor…again. Mixed with dirty drawers and socks.
- Four unmade beds.
- Clothes resting comfortably in the exact spot where they were last dropped.
- Clean laundry piled high in the laundry room.
- Garbage cans spewing everything from doodled copy paper to empty pizza boxes to banana peels.
- A gazillion and one granola bar wrappers scattered in various hidden and not so hidden places.
All of which leads me to a conclusion that’s been festering ever since sending the kids back to public school:
We need a new Chore System!
Don’t get me wrong, the kids have chores they’re supposed to do. At the bare minimum they have to do music practice, reading, and homework before any media or friends. And on a good day (at least a good day for me), they’re met after school with a chore list. And they’re not bad at getting their chores done when they know what they are. The problem?
Consistency
In the past I’ve tried a few different systems. When we homeschooled, I tried this one:
Which worked most excellently because the kids were home all day and had plenty of time to finish their lists.
We’ve also tried all sorts of handmade charts with pockets for “To-Dos” and “Dones”. They work for awhile but stagnation sets in or the cards accidentally get flushed down the toilet or thrown out with the trash detail, eventually rendering this system null and void.
We’ve done the chore wheel as well. But when the kids range in age from 4 to 13, it isn’t always a fair system when your 4 year-old gets stuck with “mowing the lawn” and your 13 year-old lucks out and gets “stacking the library books on the hearth”.
And what about reinforcement? We’ve taken away privileges, opened up a ChoreStore with goodies that can be purchased with ChoreDollars, and dabbled in allowance.
Nothing really floats my boat right now. I want something that’ll knock my socks off. A creative approach perhaps? Highly effective, definitely!
So, I am reaching out to you, Dear Readers, to help me out here. Do you have a chore system that you swear by, has changed your life, your sanity couldn’t do without? I am all ears.
In fact, I am so desperate for the perfect system (or at least one that makes life easier and more enjoyable) that I’m willing to giveaway something in exchange for some Chore Genius!
Here’s how it works:
Leave me a comment with:
- your system
- why you like it
- and how to go about implementing it
In exchange for airing your dirty laundry about chores (doesn’t really make sense but I couldn’t resist) you’ll be in the running for this:
A bottle of Mrs. Meyer’s All Purpose Cleaner. My very favorite! I love the way it makes my whole house smell. Not chemically and bleachy, but lemony and clean.
It’s hard-working, concentrated and an all-around generalist; Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Lemon Verbena All Purpose Cleaner is good for just about everything. Great on all non-porous surfaces such as finished wood and tile floors, countertops, walls, porcelain, bathroom fixtures, sealed natural and synthetic stone, and more.
All entries will be numbered. Commenting on my blog will give you one entry. Link this giveaway on your blog, comment again letting me know you’ve linked me and you’ll get another entry. Contest ends Wednesday night at 9:00 MST. The winner will be announced on Thursday morning.
Oh! I’m so excited to hear what you’ve got! Oh, and while you’re sharing, have you got a good system for meal planning? Hmmmm….
Happy Monday!
