I have been thinking about how I approach delegating work around our house. I thought this info might be helpful to some of you as you think through these things for your family. None of this works perfectly in our home. I still need remind people to do their jobs. But overall, I am very happy with this approach.
I start by thinking of the things that totally clog up family life if they are not done. I delegate as much of those things as I can. And then, as I am able, I help out in those areas. This way the system is automated to work without me, but sometimes my kids go to do their chore and find it already done! Or sometimes I work alongside them. When I do pitch in, my kids feel that I am helping them. When I can't get to it, things still hum along.
By delegating I free myself up to be a more loving and available wife and mom and to do things that only I can do.
In our house, and most others I would guess, the kitchen, the laundry, and the trash are the three most important things to keep up with. So I put one person in charge of loading the dishwasher, one hand-washing the dishes, one wiping off the counters, one taking out the trash, and one doing all of the laundry. The laundry sounds like a big job (and it is!), but they enjoy having it because they can listen to audiobooks while they do it! The ones with the kitchen jobs are not allowed to have earbuds in because there are other people working with them. They play music or talk while they work.
I can hear you say, "What about cleaning the bathrooms or sweeping the floors?" Well, I do currently have a person that sweeps the whole upstairs every morning. But, we can keep going without the floors being swept. We can keep going if the toilet isn't sparkling inside. We can keep going if there are splatters on mirrors. But, we can't cook in the kitchen if it's a disaster. And we can't wear clothes if they are all dirty. And you can't throw something in the trash if the trash can is overflowing.
A few other things:
On Thursdays I do Room Checks. I got this idea when my oldest son went to college! This means that the people in each bedroom are in charge of tidying their room and cleaning their bathroom (and vacuuming and dusting on a good week). I require varying degrees of cleanliness in the bathroom. Occasionally I tell them to deep clean it. But usually, they hit the areas that NEED to be cleaned. Our house only needs to be as clean as we need it to be. I'm not going for a white glove inspection! I want it to feel, smell, and look clean. So the baseboards don't get wiped off every week. :0)
On Mondays we usually blitz the house. We put everything back in order after the weekend craziness and I make a list of whatever cleaning we need to do. I put the list on the buffet and people do something and cross it off as they finish it. That removes the need for me to nag people. If the house is really bad I will cut our morning circle time a little bit short to absorb the time the extra tidying takes so that it does not cut into the kids' personal school time. If we need to blitz the house and it is not Monday, I just let the kids know that I need everyone to work for 10 minutes. We can do a lot if we all work for 10 minutes!
I assign each person a jurisdiction. About once a day they put everything away in that area and make it very tidy. This will only work if you have a home for all of your stuff. They can't put things away if there is not a designated place that they belong. A place for everything and everything in it's place :0) Even if it is just a big bin, let the kids know where things go. When we are blitzing the house, people usually start with their jurisdiction.
When assigning a place for things, keep in mind what your family already does. I got this idea from The House That Cleans Itself. If you family always kicks their shoes off by the door put a big basket by the door to receive the shoes. This works better than trying to train everyone to take them to another room.
We do take all the trash out every day even if it is not full and even if it is not enough to fill up a trash bag. Using one whole trash bag every day to empty all the trash cans in the house is a small price to pay to have them emptied regularly to avoid overflowing trashcans and get rid of smelly trash. The two big ones in the kitchen get emptied as needed.
I have to remember to give jobs to the little kids as they get bigger. With a little training kids can learn to do a lot of things! But, if the house is really bad I let the tiniest kids play something in one area instead of trying to train them to clean. Sometimes train, sometimes do what works.
When blitzing the house, I recommend playing fun music! Remind people what a blessing it is to be in a tidy house where we are not tripping over things constantly. Thank and praise them!
Currently the list looks like this:
Morning Chores
Brooke (4): Feed and water dog
Zach (7): water plants outside
Olivia (8): put all clean dishes away
Oliver (11): take out all the trash
Remy (15): sweep all upstairs floors and spot mom as needed
Riley (17): gather all laundry from hampers and wash it
Kitchen Jobs (before meals and after meals)
Brooke: get silverware and clear the table (we all take our own dishes and help with big pots)
Zach: get serving utensils and wipe the table
Olivia: get cups and put clean dishes away
Oliver: get plates and load dishwasher and clean out sink
Remy: fill water pitcher and sweep floors and wipe off counters
Riley: fill 2nd water pitcher and hand wash all dishes and clean out 2nd sink
Jurisdictions
Brooke: mudroom
Zach: playroom and music room
Olivia: rec room and tile downstairs
Oliver: living room and entryway
Remy: porches, yard, and garage
Riley: school room and upstairs bathroom
One last note. We only switch chores every 4-6 months. People get in a groove and it is easier to stick with what works instead of trying to remember who is doing what.
