It's been working pretty well! Luke's totally into it! He loves to "get paid" at the end of the week and keep track of how much money he's earned! It's also been a great way for them to learn about tithing and giving! So far it's working well!
I am trying this same concept for myself. Just to be honest - keeping a neat, clean, dusted house isn't my strength. It never has been. So to that end, I'm trying something new this summer. I've added myself to the chore chart. I have my own row but instead of the same 4 (what would I do with myself if I only had 4 chores to do every day?!?!) chores each day, I'm taking a part of the house or an area or a "thing" and focusing on that area on that day!
For many, this is not a new concept, I have heard of people doing this for many years now, but it's newly implemented for me, so we'll see how it goes. Plus writing it down really helps. I'm a list maker. I love to make and work off of a list! I love to cross things out when they are done and move on to the next thing. So this is kind of like a daily small list.
Here's how it's working so far (it may change as time goes by, but for now this is what I have!) Monday, since it was a holiday we were all here in the morning before we went to the lake in the afternoon. We spend the morning cleaning. The kids did all their chores in the morning and David was a huge help with cleaning things I don't normally clean (like the mirror in our living room and the bathrooms!) as well as a bunch of other stuff. I was thankful for his help! So Monday we did a big house cleaning.
Tuesday - bathroom day. I took an hour to clean all 3 (2 and 1/2 really) bathrooms. I of course did the "usual" stuff. Tubs, toilets, sinks, but on Tuesday I did all the "extra" stuff too. I cleaned the outsides of the cabinets, the doors and all the baseboards! It didn't take me much longer than normal, and I felt like it was worth it, since those were the only rooms I was focusing on! It was good and it was nice to just be done when I was done!
Wednesday - kitchen day. Same idea as bathroom day. I did all the outsides of the cabinets and appliances (which were pretty clean, since David had just done all of them on Monday) and the baseboards. My kitchen floor is hardwood (all the flooring downstairs is hardwood) and normally I try to vacuum and mop all of it at the same time. It's a pretty big job, but instead of doing the WHOLE downstairs, I did just the kitchen floor. That's the area that gets yucky the fastest. Again, it was good to get it done and just be done for the day!
Thursday - Upstairs day. Again, just being honest, I don't spend nearly the time on the upstairs (other than the bathroom) that I should. It's just the kids rooms and the Office/bonus room. So it gets neglected worse than the rest of the house. So I just spent time vacuuming and such up stairs.
Friday - Catch up day. This is the day each week that I'll pick something particular - such as dusting the mantel and TV nook and baseboards in the living room area, or cleaning blinds and windows or cleaning/dusting the banister (you wouldn't think that was a big deal area - but the kids touch it all.the.time - and it gets GROSS!!) or something else like that.
I would like to say, that of course I am still doing all the daily things that keep the house "running"! You know, like laundry, dishes, picking up in all the rooms daily! But the "big" cleaning jobs that help keep the house looking nice, I'm trying to spread out so I can do a better job at it! And of course I look this good doing it too!
Part of the reason (and it's not a good reason, but it is one in my mind) I don't work as hard at keeping the house cleaned up and all pristine, is because I have 2 small children and it takes them about 2 seconds to successfully mess up several hours worth of cleaning that I have done. That's frustrating and so lots of times I just felt like, "what's the point?" But I think that if I try to keep the house cleaner, then the kids will (at least I'll be forced to help them) do a little better too.
Having a clean and orderly house makes me feel good at the end of the day. It's nice for David to come home too, and it's a good example for the kids. So this is a big weakness of mine - a big one! But I'm gonna try and do better! Find a plan that works for me and stick to it! Maybe one day I will have a cleaning lady to do all that for me! A girl can dream, right?!?!
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