Chores - Who wants to do 'em?

Laundry, dishes, dusting, laundry, dishes, dusting, laundry, dishes, dusting...the list goes on and on and on. The daily necessities of life. All the things we need to do but it is all so, well, repetitive.

I have to admit that part of me gets a little frustrated sometimes, when I stop and look at my laundry or my dishes. I think, "I know I just washed this yesterday." If I allowed it to, it could leave me feeling very frustrated. Instead, I try (not always successfully) to be thankful that I have a family who can make me smile when they run, play and get dirty! And I've gotta admit, that hubby gets the dirtiest!

Last year, as I began to home'pre'school my son, I decided it was time for him to start carrying his weight in the house! LOL He had been doing certain chores, but I decided it would be beneficial to document it and so we began a chore chart. I talked it over with hubby and we decided on certain 'chores' we felt he could handle and that he should do everyday. We also chose chores that didn't have to happen everyday, but he should get rewarded for doing.

Here is the chart we established:

Each time he completed a chore, he marked it on his chart. The 3 chores at the top: making his bed, cleaning up toys and brushing his teeth are the 3 we had him do each day. If he did all 3 for 7 days, he received a chore dollar. With the 4 "extras," he needed to do 10 total from the bottom of the sheet for another chore dollar. I don't do laundry or dishes everyday, so I didn't feel it was far to make them an everyday chore. Also, we only did preschool 3 days a week, so I didn't have that every day either. I thought about making his memory verse daily, but I felt that I needed a break too!

Here's a sample of our chore dollars:


He could use his chore dollars to purchase parent-approved items when we were out and about. He worked very hard, saving up several weeks for some much-wanted items. One chore dollar does not equal a real dollar. In fact, I'm not sure if we ever did set an amount that they were worth, but hubby and I always discussed purchases first. One time our son used one chore dollar for a pencil and one for an eraser. One time, 4 chore dollars bought a new DVD, one we were planning to purchase as a family. We liked the idea that he worked for the movie.

For our family, this has been a way to make chores more fun. Each family needs to decide what chores their children are able to do, but here is a great article to help get started: Children’s Chores ~ The Heart and Mind of A Servant

And here is a book to help you put it all together. I have personally not used it, but I know many who have and speak highly of it, so I wanted to pass it along: Managers of Their Chores by the Maxwell Family

As our son gets older and along with his siblings, I would like him to start learning how to save money, by having a "bank" for savings, one for "spending" and one for "tithing." For more about this topic, visit Crown Financial's website. They also have a 2-part article about children and finances: here and here.

We'd love to hear your ideas for your children and their chores or about how you teach them to save money!

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TRD

I am sooo tired!! I don't even know of a word to better describe my exhaustion!! A former pastor used to say "I am TRD. Too tired to spell it." Ok, corny.. I know, but that is how I feel.

For the past two mornings I have only awakened out of duty and not from being 'rested'. You know the kind of tired where you are vaguely awake but your eyes are in complete denial. Your eyelids gain 100 pounds and are defiant! They know you shouldn't be among other humans, not yet. They know you are merely a zombie. But you do it anyway. You get out of bed and walk among the living in a fog.

We moved on Wednesday, last week. We began the journey on a huge win but by noon our win became an utter catastrophe!! Well, that sums up our Wednesday to a T! My kids were at a friends house while I busted it to finish anything left undone. I stopped for a burger, after much work that morning, and as I was eating I thought 'This is the best move ever - we are really rolling and things are great'. Cue phone ring.

My husband tells me he forgot the key to the new house, he was on his way with the first load of stuff and needed to unpack the truck to keep up the pace. I was 30 minutes away from him and only had 1.5 hours left until I had to get the kids. The kids were on the same side of town as our new home, so my going across town required having a van full of stuff to prevent the trip from being a waste. And the opportunity to pack up the last minute stuff that ALWAYS comes with moving - that is a huge LOSS!!! No way to do it before I left. I was feeling the beginnings of a let down.

Cue second phone ring. The two teens helping us move, they were carrying ALL two of our TV's and DVD players.. they had a wreck! They had a wreck! They were fine, little damage but we had to wait on them because my husband cannot lift everything on his own. I make it across town, we are unloading my van when.. cue phone ring. They cannot come now - teen A's SUV is not drivable. So now hubby has to drive and pick up the TV's but the good news is teen B can stay and help. Two hours later, we are able to finally unload the truck and I now have two ankle biters in tow. ****

So it begins.. 'No don't touch that! Daddy doesn't need your help! Get off the ramp, daddy and his helper are trying to unload the truck and may step on you and fall. Watch out - get out of the way.' The list goes on and on. So I drive to the former home to try and pack up the remaining stuff with two kids in tow. Did I pack anything?? If you have kids, you know the answer to this question!

They were so tired - no nap because they were at a friends house. Who sleeps when visiting friends? So they were cranky, tired and overly excited! They were out of control and it wasn't their fault.

We finally load the truck a second time and drive to our new home to only find that it is storming. We've needed rain for sometime .... but not now!! I mean - POURING RAIN!!!! I MEAN REALLY REALLY RAINING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We can't stop for rain because the guy helping us has to get to work soon. So, we unload a truck and a van in the pouring rain and as we drag take the last thing off the truck (I knew it would happen) - it stopped raining. That is just WRONG! My husband and teen B were soaked, we were all tired.

Once the truck/van were unloaded I realize something - 5 o'clock traffic is in full force and I left my cell phone at the former home. Along with the kids clothes and the bathroom stuff. We were sure going to need our toothbrushes and soap tonight! By 10 pm we had the kids beds put together and were working on ours. We had eaten dinner and felt like we were about to fall over. But we were swimming in a sea of boxes and I hate to admit that in our haste to get all the heavy stuff before teen B left... we still had more to move from house number 1. So our weary day was over but the move was to be continued! Now THAT is a long day!

So what grand advice do I have to offer after all of this?? We packed here and there for about a month before the move. We thought we were ahead of the game, and we were. But you should always be ready for a plan B. You never know when plan A will become a nightmare!

In the midst of this 'Mommy Chaos' I had a moment of choice. I was actually praying and giving thanks for our great progress earlier in the day when my husband first called me. My first response was one of defeat and aggravation. One of disappointment and accusation for not having thought things out better. After I regained my thoughts, I realized that God was in control of our day that morning and He was also in control of our day that afternoon/evening. He knew how the day would progress and He had us in His hands when we were winning and when we were losing control. Frustration added nothing beneficial and so I intentionally shut my mouth and thanked Him again for being in control even when the circumstances turned downward.

As the song goes "He gives and takes away, He gives and takes away. My heart will choose to say Lord blessed be your name!" That moment was one I can proudly say I CHOSE to let God shine in the chaos. I have not mastered this task - I am human. But that day, in that moment - I had a private win in the midst of my chaos! The long drawn out chaos was in His hands all along, I just decided to acknowledge it this time. Boy am I glad I did!

**** Is it wrong to mention that our TV is now on the fritz?? Oh well.. c'est la vie! Right?





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