Chore Chart

I spent quite some time making the kids' chore chart. I was up to my neck in the mess their room kept falling back to and it was literally driving me insane. Plus, I was and am worried that they will grow up to be sloppy people, nauzubillah. It was time to lay down some very strict rules, which I should have done ages ago, yet my own lack of will power and discipline hindered that.




At first it took me such a long time to come up with this table, even after browsing the net for ideas. Then, I looked back to my meager experience with Flylady and listed the chores that need to be done and that can be realistically done by the kids. After that, it was easier to come up with this table. The next hurdle was figuring out the method of putting up the chart. Do I print this weekly? Do I spend some money on buying a whit-board type chore chart? The idea is to have them mark off each chore as they do it each day and if I print the chart, I would have to do it weekly or have extra charts to be put up each week. We don't even have a working printer at home since hubby refused to buy the cartridge because it's too costly, so I racked my brains trying to come up with a more economical way to do this.

We went to Target and I did find a cute chore chart especially for kids. It was made exactly like the one I concocted. Surprise! Surprise! I asked hubby if we could buy it, or print the sheets every week. He opted for the former, as I guess, he would be the one printing those sheets at his office. Saved by the lack of cartridge? Hmm..maybe. Anyway, I got the chore chart.

How it works is that for every chore done, each child will put a magnetic star (according to his/her color) on the box corresponding to the chore for that particular day. We have been doing it for about 3 weeks now (they say it takes 21 days to form a habit) and alhamdulillah, so far it has been working. H especially would start his morning standing at my door looking at the chore chart.

"Trained like a soldier," said hubby.

As for me, instead of yelling, "Put the clean spoons away!" or "Somebody please dust the stairs!", I only need to say, "Done your chores yet?"

and they scamper off to do them. At least for now. I hope this lasts, I PRAY this lasts. Ameen. I NEED this to last.

Nevertheless, I noticed the chore 'sweep kitchen floor'was smudged and erased by a mischievous finger one day as I was checking the chart. They had complained about the difficulty of sweeping the floor into our stubborn dustpan. For now, I am ignoring the complaints, until I find a better solution. The idea is to get these kids to be responsible and carry their own weight around the house, of course, on top of cutting down some housework for moi.

"Why do I need to clean the sink? It's already clean!" complained one little smart mouth in the beginning.

"Well, would you rather be scrubbing a dirty sink or a clean one?" I asked in return.

"A clean one," the mouth replied.

S was the first to comprehend the hikmah of consistently cleaning a 'clean' something so it will stay clean, rather than waiting for it to look dirty before rushing to rescue it from dirt and grime. I have heard no more complaints so far regarding cleaning a clean mirror or bathtub.

Flylady taught me that to have a house that cleans itself, you have to clean it before it gets dirty. My constant obsession is the toilet bowl. I have never been able to tolerate cleaning bathrooms growing up, though I have cleaned worse toilets at boarding school. Solution: clean it before it looks vomit-inducing.

Coupled with decluttering, the house looks more presentable now and my mind is at peace alhamdulillah. You never realize how much a clean house really does clear your mind and boost your mood, until your house is clean, and when I say clean, I mean it's also clean under the rugs. I can tolerate untidiness, but I can't tolerate grimy kitchens or moldy bathrooms. I began to develop a habit of scrutinizing people's bathroom years ago, after I discovered how difficult it was to keep a clean bathroom, especially tiled walls. I actually rendered our shower walls in need or replacement before we moved out of our apartment in Ames, due to overscrubbing, with knives!
It was only quite recently that I discovered the wonderful tip of baking soda and clorox on bathroom mildew and mold. Amazing! Though I could have done away with the smell of clorox. No scrubbing needed. Just apply the paste of baking soda and clorox to the mildew, wait a few minutes (or hours, depending in how bad it is) and voila! You have yourself a mildew-free
bathroom.

Yes, for now, this is my daily obsession. I figured I might as well do everything now before I get too big to walk around the house telling the kids to pick things up.

So, chore chart: you are my sunshine, my lovely sunshine, you make me happy, throughout the day!