Our Chore Chart 2012

A little while back I spoke of our new chore chart, but my camera broke. Here is a picture of it with an explanation for those that were wondering.

I know the chart is not quite Pinterest worthy, but what I've come up with is working really well.

What I did: I divided up all the chores I could think of that I like to have done on a daily basis. Then I colour coded them for morning, afternoon, and evening chores. For example, in the morning I have a card that reads wipe mirrors and sinks, and another for clean up breakfast dishes, and sweep kitchen.

I find it makes a huge difference to the cleanliness of our house, and my sanity if they are done every day. Then I wrote down all the chores that need to get once a week. Like water plants, wipe floors, clean toilets, clean room, dust living room, ect.

Since I have four children I decided to divide all the daily chores evenly between them every day. We hand out the cards FACE DOWN so it is a big surprise as to who gets which job. This makes it fun and this way no one is stuck cleaning a toilet all the time.

Now, obviously I do a million other things around the house, but when the kids help with these, I don't fuss all the time about messes. When I see a huge pile of shoes at the front door, I simply look at the chart to see who's job it is, and voila!!! It is done by them. LOVE IT!

I find it has helped me not to worry about what needs to get done, because at some point either during the day or during the week it will get done. This includes picking up the outside toys. I don't mind the mess as much because I'm not the one picking it up every day. The kids are also happier because the chores are even and they know what their job for the day is. As for Audrey's chores (she is almost 3), I pretty much do them, and she 'helps' me. So..when she gets toilets, I do the toilets right alongside the kids.

Since there is pretty much 6 people living here ALL the time, this chart has really...really helped my sanity. Have I mentioned my sanity??


Here is our chore chart on our fridge. I simply made up little squares. Some I found on-line, some I drew myself.  Then I glued them to the proper colour. Blue for morning chore, Brown for Afternoon chore, Orange for Evening chore, and Yellow for Weekly chore. 

For the Weekly chore, I simply divvy out 4 weekly chores a day. So that means by the end of the week at least 20 weekly chores are completed.

The fun part about the weekly chores, is that sometimes it does not need to be done, so the person gets a pass.  We also have FUN cards like Switch a chore, No chore, Kids choice and Room inspector. Not all chores are horrible either. There is help with supper, and Farm chores on there, and really that is only if I need help. I figure this would prepare them for when more farm chores come their way :)

Every child has a chart. I used coloured card stock, and put magnets on the back. In the morning after choosing their chores, they put them all in the To Do column.  Once complete it goes to the Done column.  This is sort of deceiving however, because if you are on sweep kitchen, it is your job all day :)

I tried to zoom in a little closer so you could see.  I laminated all the cards, and put magnets on the back. With all the cards comes an explanation of expectations. Morning vacuum for example just means vacuum the carpet in the living room and the couch  (because of the dog).  Wash windows just means wipe the smudges off the screen doors. 

The little double pocket locker thingy came from the dollar store.  It holds all the weekly chores on the left, and throughout the week as they are done they are taken off the charts and put on the right. This avoids watering the plants 5 times in a week.


Oh!! I can't forget about the star chart on the left!  That is the best part.

The kids get 1 star a day for completing their chores when I need them done by, and another star for ATTITUDE.

At the end of the week they get to cash in their stars for goodies. All the goodies are in the 'Reward Bin', and different things 'cost' certain stars.  The kids can choose to spend all their stars for the week on something (max.10 stars), OR they can choose to save their stars for something worth more.


So that's it! Our chore chart.