Establishing a House of Order: DIY Chore/Meal Assignment Chart
Above is a picture of our chore chart and dinner assignments. People tell me all the time, "I don't know how you do it with six kids. I can barely keep up with life having only one kid. Well, six kids does give me an advantage because I have more helpers. But no doubt, they also cause more mess. More than ten years ago we started implementing chores for our kids to do. The kids were a little ungrateful and not understanding of the time and effort to cook, clean, and keep an orderly home. We decided it was time to have the kids earn their keep.
I hunted for pre-made chore charts because I didn't want to put a whole lot of effort into making those grand yet beautiful ones you see on pinterest. But what I found didn't usually have enough space on them for the amount of people in our family or the pre-written chores weren’t exactly the ones I wanted covered. So I decided to make my own. I figured, I'll do something that might take a little work at the get-go but would eventually pay off once things got rolling. Here are a few things I tried, what I like about them and why they didn’t workout:
Paper chore charts/Spreadsheets
I used Microsoft Excel to make my own family core chart. Chores were laid out for the whole week then we would change out chores daily so nobody had to do the same thing forever. We hung it on the fridge and followed it. Check marks were issued when chores were completed.
What I liked: Everything is written out. When you complete a chore you checkmark it. It helps the kids to see what days they forgot and gives a bit of accountability and satisfaction when the "checkmark" was issued.
The problem: Paper runs out, ink runs out, printer breaks down, I forget to update and print a new one and... hey where did the chart go? Somehow it magically disappeared or got thrown away.
Whiteboard Calendars: Again everything was laid out on the whiteboard calendar and this time for a whole month!
What I liked: I didn't have to update the calendar as often, the whiteboard was too big to go missing plus it was hung on the wall so that kinda stops it too. It looks neat and orderly. It was hung in a high traffic area (the kitchen) so everybody saw it.
Problems: It would get smudged so chores and assignments got wiped off, I would forget to change out the calendar with a new month so the kids would do it and forget to add chores, whiteboard markers always mysteriously disappeared (we must have a ghost).
Individual whiteboards: Surely, this time it would be the perfect solution. They were inexpensive because I bought them from Dollar Tree. We decided to keep the same chore for a whole week at this point because it was easier to remember to do it if you had to do it for seven days in a row.
What I liked: We wrote TO DO and DONE on the boards so the kids could keep themselves accountable. The kids liked them because there was still room on them to write their own reminders or priority lists. This is what they looked like. Everyone has their own board, it was hung high enough not to get smudged and every board has its own dry erase marker. 
Problems: Dry erase markers went missing...AGAIN! ALL EIGHT OF THEM! For goodness sakes Casper! And, come on, they were from Dollar Tree so did I really expect them not to break? Yes, yes I still did expect that. Like an idiot. We would still forget to rewrite the chores. Sometimes we would erase a chore to write a new one then couldn't remember just what we erased.
*Did you see the MOM "To Do" list? Yeah, I was really in my feels that day...
Okay last but not least..
Magnets: I went to Walmart and found the magnet strips that had a sticky back side. They were only .97 cents for a small package. I typed up everyone’s name, every chore, days of the week and column headings. Then I cut them up, took off the strip covering the sticky backing of the magnets and put on our strips of names, columns, chores and days of the week.
This is what we’re currently using.
What I like: Doesn't require any markers that will or will not disappear. Don't have to remember who is supposed to rotate where or which chore is next on the list because we just moved the whole chore list down by one person (except Nifai because he's only 3 years old so I can't expect him to clean the bathroom. OH--we also added a "FLOATER" to our chore chart. The FLOATER is the person who covers the chore for the dinner person on their assigned day of cooking. We found that after cooking for eight people, the last thing we wanted to do afterwards was the dishes if that was your assigned chore. So whoever is assigned to cook that day, gets a day off from their regular chore. David came up with that idea. Sheer genius.
Problems: right now, none. At least not with the chart. It's easy, simple, neat. The problem is the kids remembering to do them or doing them thoroughly. But they're kids. They're still in training. So that's where David and I step in and tell them "you HAVE TO MOP the bathroom floor!" and other such things.
DINNER ASSIGNMENTS
We let the kids tell us which days they would prefer to cook. If something changed long-term, like their volleyball games are every Tuesday, then they would swap for the duration of the season with someone else. I picked Sundays because I like having plenty of time to cook a hearty and family style meal without feeling rushed.
Other things that help with order
On Sundays we usually hold a family council. We talk about everyone's week, how chores went, if there were any problems the past week with anything and we discuss openly and with hostility, how we can fix it. I want to laugh at the part "without hostility" but it is SO important. If the kids feel like we are coming down hard on them they won't be comfortable enough to open up and voice their concerns or ideas. Our family council, chores, dinner assignments and EVERYTHING we do is always a work in progress. We have to adjust where adjustment is needed and be consistent where consistence is needed. This is also a good time for us to find out what is coming in the week ahead so we can make adjustments to assignments or schedules as needed.
We used to reassign chores on Sunday but we try not to do too much cleaning on Sunday because its a day of rest and worship time dedicated to Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ. So we do more resting and worshiping than cleaning Sundays.
We tried rotating chores on Mondays but it was so hectic with it being the start of the week, school, work, homework, games, and everything else that distracts from regularity.
David made the decision to start our new rotations on Saturdays. Everyone is off from school, its the day we try to deep clean the house anyway. We figured if we started on Saturday with a deep clean it would help the kids do light spot cleaning with that same chore throughout the week. Again, another brilliant idea from David.
Whatever room you are assigned to means everything in the room is included. Living room must dust, vacuum, sweep hardwood floors, straighten book shelf and piano. Bathrooms must be mopped, tubs scrubbed, mirrors cleaned, sinks and toilet sanitized and bathroom rugs washed. Dishes must wash ALL dishes, even the heavy and large pots and pans, sink drain cleaned and rinsed out. Where ever the dogs eat, it is the person's responsibility in that room to feed the dogs too.
Final Thoughts
Lastly, I just wanted to include the complete view of our chore chart, calendar and family notes and elaborate a bit on that.
This board lives in the tiny transition space between our dining area and kitchen. EVERYONE sees it. EVERYONE uses it. If there are volleyball games, church activities, lessons, due dates, they go on this board. Under the NOTES section we wrote down some things that we learned were needed when people start arguing. It was getting annoying to hear the same group of kids arguing about the silliest stuff. The things you see on the board "say positive things, service talk through it, quality time, be humble" were all things the kids had remembered from their scripture study that helps people to follow Christ.
You see a smaller list squeezed in there with a brown dry erase marker? Those are the things we decided together during one of our Family Councils that we wanted to include in our family fast for this month. All of the kids participated, except Nifai. Even 7 year old Tava participated in our fast. We did not force the kids but we did talk about how when we fast as a family, we have more strength to do so and and we can support each other throughout.
I hope these tips help you establish a little order in your home. Remember, we are not perfect, we are a work in progress. But as long as we continue striving to become perfect by doing all we possibly can do, the Savior's grace will carry us the rest of the way.
Happy Sabbath ya'll!
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