Chores at our house - today anyway

I was inspired by this post at Our Busy Homeschool to tell you about where we are with our chores.

I have done every chore chart out there and let me tell you - keep it simple!  Let me first tell you what we do.

8 year old (just turned) boy
Unloads the dishwasher every other day
Wipes down (cleans) the bathrooms every 2-3 days or as needed
Makes his bed
Picks up when asks
Helps vacuum when asked

5 1/2 year old girl
Unloads the dishwasher every other day
Wipes down little bathroom as needed (unless brother has already done it)
Makes her bed and helps her little brother make his bed
Cleans her room
Helps dust when asked

3 (almost 4) year old boy
Unloads silverware from the dishwasher every day
Makes bed with the help of sister
Picks up toys when asked

*Notice I put "when asked" because as of yet, my kids don't do things like pick up unless they are asked.  My daughter will occasionally pick up the living room without being asked and I treasure it when she does.

As far as the weekly cleaning - I don't do a schedule.  I wipe down the kitchen counters everyday (try to).  I steam mop the kitchen and living room/hallway as needed.  My husband usually does the bedroom vacuuming.  We don't really have that much to dust in the kids room and in our room (we like it that way - less to clean).

I dust the living room when people are coming over or when I see it getting too dusty and the kids will help me with this.  I also do mirrors as needed - not on a schedule.

We don't have a huge house - about 1400 square feet so we try to not have a lot of stuff - we declutter constantly and we are finally down to a manageable amount of stuff.  We could always do better of course.

I used to have a checklist for the kids and we may go back to that someday but I'm all about easy right now.  So I just put initials on the calendar for unloading the dishwasher.  Everything else is just done as needed.  I'm not a slave to a schedule anymore.  If it is dirty - we clean it.  We don't clean it because its Tuesday and Tuesday says we should clean the bathrooms.

This is easy.  It works.  Things get done.  As far as laundry - we are spoiled.  We pay my mom a little money to help us fold and put away our laundry for us.  We do the laundry and pile it on our futon for her and she comes twice a week to fold and put away.  It is the best investment!  I have paired the kids clothes down for her though. 

And let me say a bit about perfectionism - stop it.  I don't expect perfection when it comes to bed making.  I am thankful they do it.  I do point out if it is really messy but if I see they put forth effort I thank them and move on.  My son is not the best at bed making.  My daughter could make a career of it - she is excellent at it.  As far as the bathrooms - I go over how to do it the first several times they do it.  I go back and look at their work and point out if they missed something but again - I do not expect perfection.  I just try to keep reminding them of how to do it but praising them as well.

I could be better.  I could be stricter.  I could be more consistent.  But right now, our house is clean enough for company and can be picked up pretty quickly.  There you have it - our chore system for today anyway.