You’re an adult.
Your significant other, roommate or live-in cousin? All adults.
So why is it that there is still always a battle over dishes, trash, vacuuming – all the stuff we need to do to keep our pad cozy? Because if you can get away with not doing something and making someone else do it, you might totally try. “No way dude, I DID the dishes two days ago, it’s your turn.” And on it goes in a circle of selective memories for all parties.
Here is what the hubby and I have done to solve this problem.
We draw straws, in a way. By writing each chore on a Popsicle stick and then drawing it out of a jar, we are leaving completely to chance the chore assignments. No one can resent or dispute their chore, they pulled it themselves. Care to try it yourself?
You’ll need:
- Popsicle sticks
- Chore ideas
- A jar or container that can hold the sticks (I used a sugar shaker I got at a dollar store)
- Markers
- A pen
Write each of your chores on a Popsicle stick. Make sure that the total number of chores listed can be divided evenly among the people participating. For example, with my husband and I there are two of us. Ten chores total? Sweet, that’s five for each of us! But if there were eleven – someone has an extra one and that’s not exactly fair.
After that, divide the chores by level of difficulty or time needed :
- Easy (green)
- Medium (yellow)
- Hard(red)
Then color-code the ends of the Popsicle sticks accordingly. When you draw, make sure each person ends up with an equal amount of hard, medium, or easy tasks.
Each person should take a photo of their list of chores (example above, please ignore my helter-skelter handwriting ) and you should agree upon a deadline.
For us – we do this weekly, draw the chores Saturday morning and each person has the weekend to complete them. How and when you do your tasks is up to you.
If a person does not complete the task, they inherit it for the next week, which may mean an even crazier load of dishes. 🙂
We’ve done this for over three months now, and it definitely helps keep things in order on the reg. Let me know what you think!
Introvertanista 