If you haven’t been to Crystal’s site, I encourage you to stop by and participate in Making Your Home a Haven Monday. I love this meme, because it always encourages me to take the extra step in making my home a place for people to gather.
Last week I worked on several house projects, but at the end of the week I realized I needed a better system to get it all done. I also needed a system to involve my kids, on a regular and consistent basis. We would spend a day cleaning, but then in a few days the house would look cluttered again because there was no system to maintain the jobs we had done.
I started to make my own charts for the kids, but then realized I also needed a chart for myself. While I strive to keep my home neat and inviting, certain jobs seem to be looked over, like watering plants and changing sheets.
I was thrilled to discover the Motivated Moms Planner. I purchased the Motivated Moms Chore Planner with Scheduled Bible Reading, but there are other options too. For each week there is a printed page detailing daily chores as well as weekly chores. You can download a sample page here. I just love this planner and it was only $4. I printed out two copies of each sheet, one for the fridge and one for my binder. For the weekly chores I put a child’s initial by the chores they are to complete that day. Since they view the entire week at once, they know that on Sunday, the jobs they need to do on Thursday.
I am using this planner as well as a weekly chore chart I made for my kids detailing daily and weekly jobs. You can view my chore chart here. This is our initial chore chart for the school year. It will probably change significantly once I see how the chores and school work together.
I posted my chore chart and the Motivated Moms chart on the fridge so everyone can view the charts. Sorry the pictures are so grainy, I am not sure why. Please ignore the cool fridge magnets!
If you look closely at the Motivated Moms planner you will see I have started to put initials by each chore.
The last thing I did was make sure I worked chore time into our daily schedule. In my opinion, kids are more likely to grumble and complain about chores when they are taken by surprise. If my children know that every day at 8am and 4 pm we have chore time the attitudes improve significantly.
I am hoping that my new system will avoid a pile up of housework. For some time it has been my goal that my house would also be ready for visitors. I want my home to be a haven for anyone would chooses to visit as well as my family. Keeping up with the chores on a daily basis is the way I hope to accomplish this goal.
Don’t forget to stop by the Homemakers Haven for more homemaking posts.
Kris says
Wow, that is organization!
lylah ledner says
stopped by way of crystals…great stuff you’ve got going on here! good job and blessings to you! lylah
Mayet says
when I was a kid my mother had a schedule drawn for her children (we are 4-but the youngest was exempted at that time) we would grumble about the chores we would do for a particular day, but now I am thankful that thru this work sched, we ended up knowing how to work at home and be responsible.
btw, I have also recently made up my own plan(Excel) coz I always end up with loads of laundry and clothes to iron.
Breanne Vasquez says
I am going to go check both out. Thanks.
michelle waters says
Good luck! It looks like you’ve got all the bases covered…
Katie @ 3 Blondes and a Redhead says
I love your ideas and this one is another I’ll be borrowing! Thanks for sharing…I hope this helps chores go a little smoother in your house. I can’t till mine are old enough to do more than put their own clothes in the hamper. 🙂
mom2my9 says
Hi Happy Homemaker! Thanks so much for entering this post in my carnival! This sounds like an awesome idea. I, too, have been struggling to include chores in the new school routine and I’m sure lots of readers will find this post valuable. Hope to see you again next week!
Carla says
How neat! And I guess you can just edit and re-print as needed! Nice and neat!
Ed says
There is something created for this that is large dry erase area, has a calendar and note pad. You can put your kids activities on it, kids friends phone numbers, neighbors numbers, Dr info, vet info, anything you can think of even mom’s shuttle service it’s at www dot momschart dot com
Sally Winkels says
I have been doing most of the money saving ideas for years. Another idea is: Shop the end of summer for great buys on clothes. I just bought my husband a $50 Columbia shirt for $6. I also shop the end of winter for great clothing buys too. I don’t mind going through clearance racks as you can save a bundle of $. Its not how much you make but how you manage it. Keep up the good work.