First I'll start with myself (since my kids' chore system depends upon mine). I tried Flylady, and kudos to anyone her system works for. But it doesn't for me. I never could get beyond my shiny sink, and since that's supposedly where you're supposed to start...well...use your imagination. ;-)
At one point in time, I had a decent-looking house. Sure, it was 3 kids ago, and it was when my dh had normal working hours, but I also had a chore system in place that worked. Why I stopped using it, I have no idea. But that's beside the point.
What was it? The original card system outlined in Sidetracked Home Executives by Pam Young and Peggy Jones. (They have a newer book out that outlines a similar, but "improved," system, but I could tell right off that it wouldn't work for me!)
I sat down and came up with a list of chores for each room in the house. This took a long time, and I had to keep coming back to it to add more, but finally it was done. I listed the chore, how often I wanted it done (daily, every other day, weekly, biweekly, monthly, bimonthly, seasonally, semi-annually, or annually), and how long it should take to do the job. Then I went through all of those jobs and wrote each job on a separate index card. Pam and Peggy's method calls for different-colored cards, but I just went with white.
These cards go in an index card file. I bought some blank tabbed dividers and labeled them 1-31 and then Jan.-Dec. The month dividers are in the back. Then I started putting my cards in the file according to when they needed to be done. As I come to each new day, I do those cards and then file them in the appropriate place when I'm done.
For jobs that don't get done, Pam and Peggy have a different system than I do. But all I do is just file them away for the next time I will have time to do them. The perfectionist in me hates to do this (I am an all-or-nothing gal, and so if I don't think I can do it all the way, I don't do it at all!), but once I realized that even getting around to these jobs SOMETIME is more often than they are getting done currently, I felt so free!!! Life happens, so I don't stress it if I don't get the cobwebs vacuumed in the schoolroom on a particular day.
OK so that is my system. On any of those cards that my kids can do, I wrote their names on those cards. I did have to finagle quite a bit to make things "fair." Only the older 3 (ages almost 9, 7.5, and 5.5) have jobs right now. The almost 9yo does things like clean the toilet, clean the bathtub, vacuum the rug in the living room, etc. The 7.5yo has several dusting jobs, sweep the front sidewalk, straighten bookshelves, etc. The 5.5yo swiffers the floor, cleans the front of the stove and dishwasher, cleans the bathroom mirrors, etc. So on all of the chores that are in MY file, I wrote their names on those cards.
Then everyday I put them in their card pockets:
The top pocket has their name and "To Do", and the bottom pocket has "DONE!" on it. I made it using those little pockets that go in library books, for when they used to use date due slips LOL. (Got them at an educational supply store.) So everyday, those cards are in their pockets waiting for them.
We have a particular chore time during the day, when everyone is doing chores. They come to the pocket, pull one out, and go off to do the chore. When they are done, the put it in the done pocket and do the next one. At the end of the day I look at the ones that they have done and "pay" them.
Ah...pay. Such a controversial subject! LOL! We have decided to pay them for their work (some parents feel that chores are part of a family and therefore the child should not be paid...that is FINE...just not what we have chosen to do). But I didn't want to have to keep track of anything, and I didn't want to have to dole out money every day. So I pay them in poker chips. I have a bowl for each child, and each chip is worth a nickel. So everyday I dole out their chips.
When I run out of chips (typically once a week), I trade the chips for cash. At that time I help them separate out their tithe for giving, 10% for saving (as in, they will never touch this money until they are well into their teens or beyond), and the rest for spending. I recently got them all a Larry Burkett Giving Bank, with the 3 sections, and I LOVE them! So they've been earning roughly $1-2 per week (depending on how motivated they are ;-) ).
This is working SO WELL. My dh could notice a difference in our house the first week I implemented this new system. We still are struggling on Saturdays. That seems to be our "relaxing" day, but it should be the day that we do some pretty heavy-duty chores. I haven't figured out a way around that yet. But as I said, even just the things we ARE doing, even though they aren't all what I'm wanting to do, is more than what we WERE doing. So that makes it worth it. :-)
