Works For Me Wednesday: The Chore Basket

We've been working on creating new, good habits around here to go with our new home. So far, pretty good. One thing I decided on is an oldie-but-goodie tip that you'll see in a lot of places, but it never hurts to repeat - because someone, somewhere, surely has not heard of the goodness of The Chore Basket (Or jar. Or box. Or, you know - whatever.)

I came up with 6 chores that I want the kids to help with (I only have two children, so 6 chores is plenty for now) and that need done regularly, wrote them on slips of paper and put them in a basket. If you want to know, ours are:

• Clean your room for 15 minutes
• Use the stick vacuum to go over the living room, kitchen and dining areas
• Pick up any stray trash from the living room, straighten any loose videos and remove anything that belongs to you
• Start a load of laundry
• Empty the dishwasher, or start a new load if the washer's empty
• Clean the bathroom counter and sink

The rules are 1) you can't get the same chore that your sibling pulled out 5 minutes ago and 2) you can't get the same chore that you got yesterday. (If the sibling got it yesterday, that's fine.)

Sometimes I have to watch them because they have a tendency to peek to try and get a chore they prefer rather than a random one, but mostly it works out okay.

This way, most of these things get done two or three times per week. I don't have to nag or beg because it's part of our morning routine and they know it needs to be done.

Oh, and if you're wondering, we do it Monday through Saturday, they don't have to do this on Sunday.

Be sure to visit Shannon's blog for more great tips - they're always wonderful!