We’ve tried just about everything when it comes to chore methods and routines – schedules, white boards, rewards, allowance. We’ve never found anything that worked. It would fall apart somewhere.

I’ve typically focused our chore list on the essential tasks that need to get done to keep the house going – dishes, laundry, and basic cleaning. But it seems no matter how organized I am and even if we got a good start to chores in the summer, either the kids wouldn’t be able to keep up once school started, or I wouldn’t be able to keep up with who had done their chores and who hadn’t. Or if they did do their chores, I would loose track with paying them their allowance, and they would get discouraged. Or we’d have something extra in the week and something essential wouldn’t get done. But I had to figure out something. I can’t do it all myself and chores and home responsibilities are good for kids.

So this year, I pulled a classic classroom management technique out of my back pocket. It’s so simple it’s almost embarrassing that I haven’t done it before. It’s so easy. There are no schedules and I don’t have to keep up with any allowance.

Easiest Chore Method EVER!

I had these little colored mason jar shot glasses sitting in the back of the cabinet. I assigned each kid a color and each time they do chore they get to put a little gold toy pirate coin in. Whenever the jar gets full, or the kid asks for their allowance, I count up the coins and give them the money they earned. Each child has a different monetary amount assigned to each coin based on their age and the difficulty of the chores they do.

But, what about the chores you might ask? How do they know what to do each day? Well, that’s the genius part of it. I’m not making any schedules. Each morning when we get up, I simply look around and see what needs to be done that day the most and assign each kid a task. If they do their task, they put a coin in their cup. Keeping it to one job per kid keeps it simple and the kids don’t forget what they are supposed to do or feel overwhelmed with multiple tasks. I don’t have to keep track of what I owe them, and the most essential tasks get done.

Not having a set schedule also means that if we have something unusual that week like an extra activity or company coming to visit, any extra cleaning or prep for guests isn’t a problem because that just becomes their task for the day. So far, this is the best method we’ve tried. I like it better, and the kids like it better. But most importantly, the chores are getting done and that is the key.

Need a different chore method?

Carolyn Thomas with Homesteading Family has a very thorough Home Management Class. She used a method where each child has an area of the house that they are responsible for. If my method isn’t your jam, check out her class. It might be just for you.

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