Polyamory for the Practical

Polyamory and Chores

Don't laugh too hard at this.  I know chore charts are as dippy as can be, but with six people and six different schedules, it seems to be the way to make sure the house doesn't get to be too much of a wreck.  I wish I could say that we are meticulous about following this.  We're not.  Deadlines and a kid's broken leg will distract from perfect chore performance.

But, be that as it may, we do post this silly thing on the fridge every week. Each person who performs a chore just takes her marker color (The Goddess of Giggle uses purple, I use pink, The Prince uses green and The Beast uses yellow, if anyone cares), and highlights that particular chore.  It becomes fairly evident who does what and tends to be self-correcting to make sure chores get done and everyone is doing his share.  We don't fights about housework, I am happy to say.

Sunday, August 31, 2003 -- Update

I want to caution you against all or nothing thinking here.   When I wrote this, we did follow this chore chart, mostly.   Now, things are very different in the house.   We had two people at home all the time, and a very different set up for the house.   Three years later, three people working, two in college full time and two kids in school have changed things a bit.   We are not keeping the house Martha Stewart neat, I can tell you.

Does this mean we've thrown out the chore chart? Well yeah, we have for awhile.   Dinner still gets cooked every night, and we still have to make sure the kids are clean, and that dishes get washed.   Laundry still needs to get done, and it does -- more or less.

Deep cleaning has fallen by the wayside, however.   What I have discovered, thanks to Flylady, is that doing a little lick of housework on a regular basis does really make a difference.   As she comments, housework does not have to be done perfectly to be effective.   Each day, one of our nine rooms gets a half-assed flutter through straightening, dusting and changing the sheets (if it's a bedroom).   Each room gets hit every nine days and the house never looks too out of order, and we don't need to spend a lot of time on it.   I can do a room, including using a wetjet on the floors, in about fifteen minutes.   Anyone can find fifteen minutes to do a little bit.

If you want to take more time, though, here's the chore chart we used to use.

If you want more tips on housekeeping in general, you might want to try:

I've found it more than a little useful.

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