Domestic Engineering: The Big Picture of Chores

Some days I rush to get lots of tasks done and end up doing a poor job on all of them.

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Other days I remember that I'm to do my best and be content with what I get done.

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Every day the Lord's love for me is based on Christ's work and not my own performance.

Welcome back! We are about to hit the ground level practicals of household chores.

Today will be the broad overview of chores and subsequent posts will focus in on different areas.

My goal is to include 3-4 of the following in each post:

• The How-To: Practical tips I've found when researching or picking friends' brains. 
• Include Your Kids: Suggestions on how to get your children involved.
• Reality Checks: Little examples of how real life might differ from the ideals.
• Favorite Resources: Helpful finds that encourage me to pursue loving my family well by managing my home well in the area of chores.

So without further ado let's talk about the big picture of chores.

The How-To in Two Steps

Step 1: Start With a List

After scouring Pinterest, I came up with the following monthly chores list for our own home.

At the beginning of each month, I copy the chart into my bullet journal to reference for the entire month. Other people I know have their list posted on their fridge or saved in an app on their phone.

The main reason I recommend a list is to keep track of how you are doing so certain tasks don't get neglected.

Since each month starts and ends on different days of the week I use a four-week monthly schedule. This allows me to have a bonus week four times during the year.

The items in bold are my priority weekly tasks. I also give myself the fourth week of each month to catch up on all the various one-time tasks I didn't get done.

Step 2: Have an Implementation Plan
In a later post, I will address what quarterly and semi-annual chores I do.

While your list may vary from mine, there are three main ways I've found people schedule chores.

• Method 1: Assign Tasks to Days of the Week
• The primary advantage of this option is that it is predictable and easy to make into a routine. If you struggle with being disciplined, this is the method to start with.

• The disadvantage of this method is that you can end up neglecting a specific task multiple times. If you have three crazy Mondays in a row, you'll need to accommodate your Monday tasks another day of the week.

• Method 2: Looping - Go Through Your List Then Start Back Over 
• This option works great if your schedule is unpredictable and you care about a clean home.

• The downside is that long gaps can occur between tasks if you aren't disciplined to clean each week.

• Method 3: Schedule Your Chores Each Week
• If you love planning and hate falling behind on cleaning, this method is right up your alley. By planning out a week at a time, you are able to plan your chores around commitments you have.

• The disadvantage is that you have to actually take the time to plan chores out.

Play around and figure out what works for you. I've done all three at various points and currently do a combination.

Include Your Kids

I'm an expert at trying to do more than I should. This tendency also applies to how many chores I want my children to learn at once. To temper this I've broken down training my kids into two steps.

Step 1: Build Chores Into Their Daily Routines
At the moment, my girls don't know what chores are. But, they do know that they are responsible to do certain tasks during the day.

To make it easy for them, I made simple pictures of their routines and have them posted around the house. An example of such routines is shown below. You can access all four pages I've created here: Routine Charts for Kids.

Step 2: Spend 3 Months Focusing on 1-2 Chores
Training kids how to do a chore well takes lots of repetition. To keep it from being overwhelming, I choose 1-2 chores to focus on during a three month period. We don't necessarily practice them every day but the goal is proficiency by the end of three months.

Currently, we are learning how to sort and fold laundry. We've mastered folding towels and shorts. Shirts and pants are still a work in progress.

In the queue for our next three-month stint is washing our wood floors per my daughters' request. I'm already anticipating lots of opportunities for me to grow in being patient.

Reality Check

The above list I shared with you is what an ideal month looks like. I can't remember the last time I've come close to checking every box off on it.

Over the last couple of months, we've had a lot of changes in our family life to where I've been in a bit of survival mode. As a result, the following image shows what life has really been like around here lately:

While seasons like this aren't my favorite, keeping my home spotless isn't a top priority for me. Loving my family well is the goal, and being diligent with household chores is just one practical way to do so.

God isn't surprised when I can't stay on top of our home the way I would like to. Lately, he has been kindly using my weakness to reveal areas for me to grow in. By his grace, I'm justified because of Christ's work - not because I've perfectly managed my home.

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* Photo by Tirachard Kumtanom on Pexels.