I want to be totally honest with you all (all three of you who are still reading my blog, that is):
I have a lot of trouble keeping house. The problem with that statement is that keeping house is #2 on the list of my full time jobs (#1 being child minding). So when I'm falling down on the job and it is one of my main responsibilities, things around here get a little hairy. Or a lot hairy since we have a long-haired dog, I am long-haired, and another member of this household is just plain hirsute. So the lack of housekeeping was resulting in the kind of tumbleweeds normally seen in the Southwestern United States, among other problems.
I looked at many, many printable chore charts and came away at a loss. I don't need a chart to fill in because I could look at a blank chart all day and just feel overwhelmed at filling in the first blank. It was the same way with actually doing chores. I would get the kids down for a nap, know that there were a lot of tasks waiting for me, couldn't pin point just one that was most urgent, so resorted to tossing in some laundry, picking up some toys and throwing up my hands. Not so productive really. Which chores should be done weekly? Monthly? What jobs should I give to my children? It was all too overwhelming for my little pea-brain. I finally realized I needed a chore chart that was already filled in. Someone needed to tell me what to do. I finally found one over at Motivated Moms.
The nice thing about their chore charts is that the daily tasks are all lined up on the left, and listed on the right there are a few manageable bigger jobs on the right. If you don't manage to check a box one week, the chore comes up again later. Getting even some of those little boxes checked off is, well, motivating. I can manage to keep my house clean and not spend all day cleaning house!
It does cost $8 (or $7 with the discount code giveaways). I would pay the $7 again knowing now how well this system works for me.
I have been using Motivated Moms with Managers of Their Homes for about 3 weeks now and things around here aren't perfect, but they are much better than they used to be. I still fall down on the job a lot. But something that has been key with each of these systems is that when I do fall down I have a place to start back up. I can look at my schedule or my list and gather up the kids and myself and head off again. It's really very encouraging!
