Chore Chart Day 1

I decided it was time to do a chore chart. I am sick and tired of sounding like a broken record every single day and butting heads with my girls! I'm sure a lot of parents can relate.

So I got an idea in my head of what I was looking for, headed to Michael's and left completely defeated. I don't have a crafty bone in my body...wish I did, but it's just not me, so I was completely lost in there and overwhelmed.

My mom and I had to make a trip to Target, so I figured why not see if they had anything I might be able to use. I still wasn't seeing much, but then...

I found this!!! :)

I was so excited that it was such a great price and exactly what I was looking for that I said excitedly, out loud, "Oh! Thank you Target! Thank you!!" LOL

My mother said she was officially embarrassed, haha!

I didn't exactly use it the way it says. I wrote on the sides the chores they are to do as follows:

Put toys away

Make bed

Put up clothes

Dinner dishes

Brush teeth morning and night

Lay out school clothes

These are the things I battle them on daily! Loren wanted red magnetic stars and Miranda wanted the blue ones. So they get a star for each chore they do on each day of the week. At the end of this week if they get all their stars I will let them each pick a DVD from Redbox. That will cost me $2, yay! They are so excited about this that they got home from their dad's at 5pm yesterday, ate dinner and got all their chores done by 6pm!!! WOW! I was very proud and excited! lol, I just pray it lasts!

Now, I did consider all the possible rewards for their chores, an allowance, $2/week? $5/week? etc. I even read another blog that said she doesn't give allowance for chores because they are expected to be done, but she does for their behavior. Well, I think my girls are very well behaved for the most part, but not a day goes by they don't get into it so they would NEVER get an allowance, lol!

I do think they should do their chores without expecting something, but it's just not working in our home. And $5/week sounded good, but then I started adding up how much that would cost me monthly, and as a single mom, I just can't afford that! Nope, not gonna happen. So then I figured $2/week was doable, but then I realized my girls don't really care about money, they don't even take care of the money they do have. So I opted for this system instead: If they get all their stars they get a treat of some sort. This week the dvd rental, next week may be a sundae at McDonald's, the following week a toy from the dollar store each...and so on. If at the end of the month they have done all their chores consistently then I will take them for some fun!

They love this idea and it works perfectly for us...for now!