Chore Chart Revisit
October 25, 2022
In our home we have a chore chart. It has had several looks and undergone several overhauls as the children grew. It isn’t an assignment chart. It’s an extras chart.
The current look is a board Christina bought for her 18th birthday party and was going to donate. I took extra pages from several old Cursive Writing Skillbooks and created background papers to “wallpaper” it. The girls write in extra chores done. On Saturdays or Sundays I calculate the addition to their running totals. If schoolwork is current for the week, they can choose to “cash out” their chart money into their respective savings account or as actual cash (pending availability from mom-bank).
Christina and Becky don’t really write chores on the chart anymore. It doesn’t mean they have stopped helping. It wasn’t a demand or even a request by us, either. As they started doing their own jobs, choosing to serve with love, they chose to not write their chores down on the chart (I’ve heard one of them tell the littles, “mom and dad don’t put stuff on the chart”). In my mind, it shouts the understanding of household sharing (we all share the home, the chores, the responsibilities for each other, etc.).
Most of our chores are things like $0.25 for cleaning the table (our table doubles as everyone’s desk, game table, and food presentation location) or vacuuming the carpet or sweeping the back porch. Deep cleaning the bathroom is $2.50 for a great job or $1 for a partial clean. Mowing the tiny yard is $5 if you can beat dad to it. Vacuuming, cleaning out, and washing a car is $5. Washing walls is $0.25 per room (entryway, hallway, kitchen, etc).
I budget $20 a week for chore chart. Sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less. They use this money to practice money management.
Big siblings act like my sisters did to them (i.e. Becca, Stacy, or Mary with Christina, Becky, and Kimberly) with adding in extras sometimes too – Christina will occasionally pay them to clean her car or to do some chore. Jaquline is great at getting Lucas and Thea to do stuff by promising to make cookies or doughnuts. No one makes fresh fried doughnuts like Jaquline (except Louis, who taught her).
I’ve never liked the idea of an allowance because it feels like you are owed something just for being there. Nope. I like the idea of everyone in a family works together as a unit. Everyone also participates in family fun activities together. You don’t pay your mom for cleaning your bedsheets or Daddy for making dinner. Everyone works together. If you do extra work, you can get extra money. Becky raises birds. Jillian raises Guinea Pigs. They have raised chickens for sale in the past. (One of the odd-jobs used to be $0.05 a quarter for plucking chicken) The girls do crafts, nails, tutor, babysit, or work odd jobs to make extra money. In the home, we all work together and when mom asks you to help, you help.
I like to think the way we use our chore chart is to help train simple concepts like working for goals, learning to understand money basics, taking pride in your work, and cooperation. It also reinforces the idea that learning is paramount (i.e. no cashing out if you aren’t current with schoolwork for the week). At least, that’s what I hope our tool helps teach. How to you incorporate money management or tackle chores, allowance, and fun money in your house?
Thank you for reading!
Type at you later,
~Nancy Tart