Works For Me Wednesday ~ Doing More By Expecting Less

Sometimes, in my ever-present quest to simplify and create more efficiency in my life, I actually end up grossly over-complicating it. I know, it's an enviable skill and you're probably wondering how, LOL. Read on folks, read on.

I'm a micro-manager from way back. I love making lists, planning, creating printables - if anything promises to offer the solution to whatever housekeeping crisis I happen to be embroiled in that week, then I'm all over it.

Ultimately, most of my 'pet projects' die a swift death, only to be replaced with a new organizing or homekeeping obsession. Some of these new projects are legitimate (menu planning, laundry routines and the like) and some are, quite frankly, a complete waste of time.

Here's an example, offered for no other reason than to prove that everyone is flawed, LOL.

My three children, angels though they are, have not received an allowance for several months. Both Talented Hubby and I agree that money is a privilege to be earned, and to be honest, not enough effort has been shown in the area of the kids' personal development lately to warrant being rewarded.

That's right. The Bank of Mum and Dad shut up shop.

Honestly, we expected little mini Mother Teresas to spring forth within a week, lamenting their lack of funds and promising to do better next time. But save for the occasional whine over this or that toy and a couple of terse replies that ran along the lines of "Sorry bud, but if you can't afford it yourself, it ain't getting bought", there wasn't much of a protest. For months.

Okay. So that backfired. Now what?

It was Mummy who broke down first. I mean, what's the point of having offspring if you can't exploit them every now and then? LOL. I decided it was high time we reintroduced - dum dum dum DAH! - chore charts.

I spent a couple of days mulling over strategies in my head. And, like any true micro-manager, I made lists. Lots of them. The kids would each have nine core tasks per day, plus four additional chores. Thirteen total. I would run their lives like a drill sergeant and by golly, they were going to like it or remain destitute for the rest of their days.

We lasted a day and a half.

Then I realised what I colossal mistake I had made.

For starters, I spent ten minutes out of every hour directing children to check their charts and referee-ing as to what could be ticked off and what couldn't. If they cleaned their room, could they count that as both a 'tidy your bedroom' and a 'room rescue'? If it rained today, did that mean they could eliminate 'water the plants'? And who exactly was on laundry duty again? I explained, at least twice that I can recall, why they could not give both of the dog's meals in the morning and thus tick off the entire day's duty. And I spent a hefty chunk of time breaking up fights because someone had taken someone else's cup to the sink when "it wasn't their turn, Mum!"

Deep breath.

My solution to the 'chore wars' was, in the end, embarrassingly simple. I sat down with a pen and some paper and had me a bit of a contemplation session. What skills did I especially want my children to develop and grow in? Was thirteen daily tasks, itemised in such a way for the poor little dears so as to induce an early ulcer, really what I needed from them?

Why no. No it wasn't.

I came up with a list of just five items. FIVE. This doesn't mean they only complete those five tasks and then they skip off happily to create havoc for the rest of the day - not a chance. It just means that these are our focus tasks each day. Many of them, as you'll read below, incorporate several 'mini tasks' anyway.

1. Homework or Reading

This is a non-negotiable item. If they don't have assigned homework that day (and oftentimes Moo, who is in Grade 2, doesn't) then they read for 15-20 minutes. No excuses. We've promoted this for quite some time unofficially and as a result, we have three great readers who consistently read for pleasure and above their age brackets. It warms a (voracious childhood reader) mama's heart :)

2. Tidy bedroom

Their bedrooms are their own domains. Mum just doesn't have the time or inclination to clean up around their complicated toy, game and 'blanket fort' arrangements anymore (an example? The other day, Boof and Moo decided to criss-cross each of their rooms with knitting yarn and decorate them with homemade Chinese paper lanterns. It kept them occupied for most of an afternoon, but I'm not going to clean it up!) They're all responsible for keeping their bedroom clutter to a reasonable amount (ie, daily pickup) with a deep clean whenever Mum deems it appropriate. Keeping a tidy room also includes things like daily bed making and putting laundry in the basket, both items that were kept separate on the previous chore chart disaster.

3. Special Area

This is a new approach for us. After reading about various chore systems on a myriad of blogs and websites, I came to the conclusion that perhaps I was going about the act of task allocation all wrong. My first attempt at reintroducing the chore charts this week included things like 'floor patrol' and 'dust patrol'. In other words, the kids were expected to flitter about from room to room doing the same job in each. Confusing for them, and ultimately hard to keep track of for me, as to tick of the item required several rooms worth of checking for Mum. The new routine includes assigning an area of the house to each child - for example, the loungeroom, the family room or the bathroom. For one week, they're responsible for tidying up, cleaning, vacuuming - whatever needs doing - in that one room. Eventually I'll post a checklist for each room so they know exactly what constitutes a 'clean' room. Because their Special Area rotates each week, over time they'll get to learn a good range of general up-keep skills, from dusting and mopping to straightening and vacuuming.

4. Kitchen Chore

This is pretty self explanatory. One kid is the Meal Helper, one kid sets the table and one kid clears the table. The Meal Helper is Mum's 'right hand' for snack and meal prep for two main meals per day plus snacks (they're already getting themselves breakfast most mornings - yay!) They keep this task for a week, just like their Special Area, and then they rotate. Simple. In the process, they learn beginner cooking skills, serving and cleaning.

5. A Good Attitude

If my kids could consistently achieve numbers 1-4 I'd be a happy woman indeed. If they throw in number 5 as well - then I'm sure manna would fall from the sky because a miracle would have occurred!

Special Focus Task

I think the kids are old enough now - even Moo, who is 7½ - to begin doing their own laundry, start to finish. Granted, this will take some time, and Mum will have to help quite a lot at first, but the expectation is that within a few months, they'll be able to sort their own washing, work the washing machine (including setting the right controls), transfer to the dryer or hang on the clothesline, fold or use hangers, and return the clothes to their wardrobes - all on their own. I'll write up a set of instructions and post them in the laundry room to make things easier, of course.

Keeping required tasks to just five items has already greatly simplified our lives, and we're only a couple of days into the new system. The kids are not randomly running around the house trying to complete an exhaustive chore list and I get to direct their behaviour and resourcefulness into the areas that I think they need to work in the most. And we're free to change things up as we go along.

For an easy printable chore chart with room for five tasks, check out this site. As they are, the charts print blank but hand them to your kids to personalise by colouring and they'll love it. You can also do 'save image as' to your computer and then re-open in Paint or Photoshop to 'colour' using the fill tool* before printing. Then drag out your trusty laminator (you've got one, right? They're a mama's best friend!), run it through and ta-da! You've got your very own wipeable chore chart (if you wait until after you've laminated before writing in the chores, you've got the option to alter them as your needs change from one week to the next, without having to reprint a new chart). If you don't want to use this one, there are plenty of alternative printable chore charts available on the net, so go to town!

Happy chorin'!

For more Works For Me Wednesday goodness, drop in at We Are THAT Family.

* I'm not sure if this will affect anyone else, but when I first went to use the colour fill tool in Photoshop CS3 (ie, the bucket tool), it coloured everything grey no matter what colour I'd selected. Talented Hubby told me to head to Image in the menu bar, then Mode. The option that was originally ticked was 'Indexed Color' - change this to 'RGB Color' and you're good to go :)