I didn't want to do it. I struggled against it for a long time before finally giving in. Not for myself, I said, but for the children. Whatever my reasons, it's done now.
I made up a weekly chore list.
It comes as no surprise to any readers of this blog that I've resisted weekly chore lists for my entire marriage. It was hard enough to get everything done without having a chart screaming at me to Get It Done or Else. Last week I decided to give it a shot, a trial run (of about half an hour) to confirm that I'd hate it. My motivation wasn't that the house was a wreck and I couldn't handle it: it was that the house had, miraculously and thanks to my husband's help, stayed clean for several days in a row. I wanted to keep it that way.
My aim was for simplicity: I wrote down one or two chores that I accomplish every day, then one extra like cleaning the bathroom or finishing two loads of laundry. Addie and Stuart have a couple of set pick-up times to keep the playing areas clean. And that's it.
It's been a week since I implemented it, and I'm chagrined to report that the house has stayed clean almost effortlessly. Not only that, but I got to utterly neglected chores like washing windows and cleaning out the shoe basket with half a year's worth of socks and outgrown shoes. In addition, Addie and Stuart have accepted the idea of set chores (we call them, um, "quests") to accomplish, after which they know they're off-duty again. To sweeten the experience, we've promised them a "treasure" at the end of each week: a gold dollar coin. It's a small price to pay for children who help keep the household going.
The real test will be in a couple of weeks when Darren is gone for several days. Darren is a key component in my plan to keep the house clean. He washes dishes, he does laundry, he cooks meals, and it is he who has taught the kids to pick up every evening. So will the house sink into chaos and clutter as usual when I'm on my own? With the chore system, it's just possible that it won't. And even if it does, now we have a system to return to when life gets back to normal.
-- SJ
Friday, August 22, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I think I speak for women everywhere when I say: I think Darren should hold training workshops for husbands.
Hmm I vote that it will fall to pieces--I know it would in my house (we last up to a week before chaos reins again).
I really need to implement something like this. Glad to hear it's working for you.
I am also learning that a little organization won't kill me. So far things have not fallen apart completely after Wondergirl's departure. But it hasn't even been two weeks yet.
I started writing out something like this a few weeks ago to give it a try too. So far I haven't implemented it. I like the theory, though. I was planning to use something I read about--diving chores into 10-minute increments, which makes it seem more simple. Maybe if I ever get around to implementing it, then I'll write about it on my blog. Ha!
Post a Comment