Are you looking for some new ways to divide the daily chores and house cleaning? This weekly cleaning schedule teaches kids to participate in household chores and helps them learn valuable life skills. Use these free printable chore charts to motivate your kids to participate in achieving a clean home and learn how we have taught our kids to help at all ages of life.
Before I launch into our household routines, I just want to acknowledge that we are all in VERY different places, both mentally and physically, since this pandemic has descended up on our world.
For me, I have been very consumed by worry for our family’s health, a growing concern for my sister who works in healthcare, and about our extended family members.
This pandemic, in fact, became so all-consuming that I reached out to my physician for some anxiety medication and have found a heightened sense of insecurity with my own safety being out in our world.
Although this week is better, I do find myself hitting big waves of grief, anger over others not doing what they are supposed to, and frustration with communication from politicians.
I do believe these waves will continue, especially as more and more people around me have been diagnosed or as jobs are lost and financial struggles have increased.
What I do know is that, FOR ME, I was also feeling really unprepared with everyone being here all day, the endless food preparation, and our home feeling more and more chaotic.
Can you relate?
My husband said it would be incredibly helpful if I would start making a list of all the things that need to be done around our house and begin to split these duties.
When the kids were young, I was big on the weekly chore chart and even made these punchable tickets for tackling chores and reducing screen time.
When I started to have health problems, we decided to hire a cleaning service to help me with our weekly cleaning tasks.
Anyone who has had the privilege of hiring a cleaning service knows that a lot of preparation is required before the cleaning.
I would, honestly, spend an entire day prepping for their arrival and welcomed this as part of our bi-weekly routine. #whiteladyproblems
Hiring them was more about the accountability than just the help with the harder physical tasks of cleaning.
I fully acknowledged, without this visit, our house would start falling apart.
Now that we are all home together (and practicing social distancing), I needed to figure out chore lists that would give my kids responsibilities and divide up tasks evenly so that all the chores did not fall on me.
For the record, my kids are 17 and 14 so they are more than capable of pitching in to assist. I don’t have to worry as much about kid chore charts or making sure they are age appropriate chores, they really are becoming mini-adults.
What I DID have to do though was teach them how to do these tasks so that we could all enjoy our space.
If anything comes out of this awful time it is that my kids are learning some very valuable life lessons about caring for a home, preparing food, and working more as a family unit.
I am sure these are all things that we could have been doing before, but having the space to do them has really helped our family a lot.
examples of tasks for my 17 year-old
examples of tasks for my 14 year-old
examples of tasks my husband is assisting me with
examples of tasks I’m doing each week
Creating a Weekly Cleaning Routine (Free Printable Charts)
Make a List of Tasks That Need to Be Done
I started with a lined sheet of paper and wrote down every chore that I would like to see happen throughout the week.
Chores around the house were jotted down, as well as more general tasks like laundry, menu planning, changing the air filters, checking our water softener, moving the cars around, and grocery shopping.
Divide Routine Tasks So They Don’t Fall on One Family Member
Instead of telling one kid that they need to clean out the kitty litter box, for example, each family member is rotating a day on that single task.
This means that we all get a turn cleaning up our cat’s poo-poo.
How fun is that? Hahaha!
Figure Out How You Can Do These Tasks In Tandem Together
The idea of working as a family unit is that no one person is responsible for everything.
Instead of just one person working in the living room, for example, each person is assigned a task in that room or a task that is on that level in the home.
To tackle cleaned bathrooms, for example, we have the family divided working in our two bathrooms and doing one or two elements of that routine.
One person is quick vacuuming the floors, swiping sinks, and emptying trash.
Another person is cleaning the tubs, washing the throw rugs, and restocking bathroom supplies.
We do have to work together to nail the order down of task completion, but this system is already proving to be really effective in not weighing one person down.
To make this happen, I also did have to purchase some more cleaning equipment (welcome to your new cleaning caddy, kids!) so that we all had the tools that we needed.
If you are looking for a good online source, this is the site that I would recommend for doorstep delivery. (affiliate link, but should give you a free 5-piece cleaning set to get started!)
Try to Make Daily Standing Routines
While practicing our social distancing, I’m trying not to fall into a complete slump with personal hygiene, getting dressed, and moving. We made a list of things that are important to us (like, a daily walk!) that help keep us moving and help us manage our day better.
This was inspired by this incredible guidance on how to reduce anxiety while we are quarantined.
It really is incredible how much this helps.
I also will say that limiting myself to a coffee hour and a virtual New York Time subscription has allowed me to feel informed and not consumed.
These don’t have to be productive routines, just routines that you know will work well for your mental and physical health right now.
Don’t Be Afraid to Rotate Tasks
Even though I have tried to make things as evenly as possible, in our home, I have offered that the kids can switch roles monthly so that they don’t get stuck doing the same tasks over and over again.
If your kids are liking their habits though, don’t switch it up unless it is necessary.
Allow Room for Rest
I don’t want to clean on the weekends and feel like we ALL deserve to put our feet up on the weekend. That means that our routines are just outlined for Monday-Friday. This gives us Saturday and Sunday with the freedom to allow for rest and relaxation.
Once again, you do NOT need to be doing chore charts if you don’t care about this right now.
YOU DO YOU.
For me, establishing routines (even if it is just 15 minutes a day) makes me feel normal and helps give flow and purpose to this time.
I hope this helps inspire you to create your own routines that help you feel a little more like yourself too.
Sending loads of love and protection over each of your families.
Click here to download my blank chore chart
Click here to download our printable chore or tech time tickets
Click here to read how we did our chore charts when our kids were small
Looking for more help around the house? Check out these articles!
How have your cleaning routines changed now that you are all home together?
