Chore Cards

I got really lax last year about the kids doing chores. So lax in fact that the kids started behaving as if I was their maid with nothing better to do than pick up after them. They are all more than old enough to be doing their share so I have written up these chore cards to help keep them on task and accountable for what needs to be done. In additio

n to raising these 4, and homeschooling them I run a home daycare. The home must be clean clean clean yet it should not be up to me to be up until 2 am daily making it so. Which brings in the chore cards.

There are 3 types of cards. The black card lists the expectations for every child every day. The Blue cards are the daily cards and the orange cards are the saturday cards.

How it works

The black card has:

Put own laundry away

clean your room

general help as mom asks

These things are to be done everyday by every child. With a large family as ours there is laundry going every single day. The kids share rooms, boys vs girls and it is an old house so rooms are small. If not cleaned daily it gets too far out of hand too quickly.

In addition every morning each child randomly picks a blue chore card. I mark on my master chart what card they got so someone doesn't get the same one more than twice in a week to keep it fair. They do their designated chores twice each day, once during morning chore time, and again during evening chore time

Card #1 has

*pet care-feed/water all pets and scoop litter boxes

*Laundry switcher. At this point I load and run the washer still, but the switcher is responsible for emptying the dryer and moving the clean wet clothes into to get dried. Due to the age of the house, the washer is in the bathroom while the dryer is through the house in the back mud room so it is an annoying job for sure)

*vacuum the livingroom rug

*swish the toilet (this does not use cleaner, just give it a swish so no stains can set in)

Card #2 has

*dry the dishes and put them away (no dishwasher in this house)

*sweep kitchen and entrance(connected to kitchen)
*walk the dogs and poop patrol (meaning scoop the poop in the yard and on the walks)

Card #3 has
*Wash the dishes
*wipe the sinks (kitchen, bathroom, middle room-weird dressing room turned into home office with a sink)
*wipe off the washer and dryer

Card #4 has

*make sure shoes and coats are properly put away in entrance (no closet just hooks and shelves, if not neatly put away it looks like a huge mess
*fold the laundry

*Take out the trash

*clean livingroom

On Saturdays new cards are drawn, these are the orange cards

Card #1

*Clean the bathroom-wash tub, wash sink, clean toilet, polish mirror, sweep floor

Card #2

*Clean livingroom- vacuum couches, dust, fix pillows, polish glass, tidy up, sweep hard floor and vacuum rug

Card #3

*Sweep/shovel paths & sidewalks (depending on season)

*clean exterior entrance space

*Clean interior entrance- dust, straighten up, clean windows on doors, wash any dirty finger prints off furniture, shake out floor mat.

Card #4
*General help- strip bedsheets, polish middle room mirror, tidy up back mud room, clean cages/tanks with mom, pick game/movie and supper for family night

Every kid wants orange card #4 of course. Family night can not happen if the chores are not complete. We want to have fun as a family in a clean space and save Sunday for church and rest. With 4 kids and 4 weeks in a month every one will get each orange card once.

All the cards are kepted in a magnetic clip on the fridge when not in use.