Sunday, June 26, 2011

Homemaker Monday: Consequence Chores

Welcome to the 131st weekly edition of...


Thank you for joining us! If you're new to this carnival and would like to enter your post, please check HERE for the rules and regs.

YOURS: This week's "YOURS" goes to Art+Food+Life for her AMAZING post on how to make strawberry lemonade! And independently of each others knowledge, both my mother and I clicked on her link last week and went out and got the stuff to make this. I ended up taking mine to a birthday party, where it was a HUGE hit, so thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Art+Food+Life, for your inspiration. Here, maybe if you look at the picture, you'll see why my mother and I were lured in....

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Isn't it lovely? For Art+Food+Life's recipe, go HERE. Thanks so much for your link last week, sister, and we'll look forward to hearing a lot more from you in the future!

MINE: Consequence chores...

It's a new word my kids are learning to hate, like jurisdictions, and kitchen quadrants. This is how it works...

I have come up with a list of 40+ chores, each requiring ten to thirty minutes to complete, one of which will be assigned for almost any infraction, such as....

Name-calling
Lying
Hitting
Whining
Not finishing a chore during an allotted time
Coming home past curfew
Leaving messes
General disobedience

....and the list could really go on and on.

When the kids saw my consequence chore list, they staggered at the fact that I could think of so many mundane things for them to do. As the 14-year-old boy was reading the list out loud in astonishment, the 11-year-old boy said, "Put it down, 14-year-old boy. You're just encouraging her."

So here's the list. Feel free to make one of your own. It's easy. As you're walking your home putting things away, just observe something dirty that's bothering you, such as a dirty light switch or a finger-printed door frame, then write it on the list. It's fun! Here, take a look...

1. Dust 2 ceiling fans with the ceiling fan duster
2. Vacuum under the sofa cushions of one sofa
3. Dust and clean 2 food storage shelves
4. Pull weeds for 10 minutes
5. Sweep my bedroom
6. Clean and sweep twins' room
7. Clean my toilet
8. Care for Baby Hippo for 20 minutes
9. Clean microwave, inside and out (For a microwave-cleaning tutorial, go HERE.)
10. Clean out van
11. Clean guest toilet in big bathroom
12. Pick up dog poo for 10 minutes
13. Dust hallway closet doors
14. Clean french doors
15. Clean windows on entryway door
16. Clean glass of cabinets in entryway
17. Pick up toys and trash in courtyard
18. Sweep courtyard patio
19. Clean playroom
20. Sweep and dust mop playroom floor
21. Clean silverware drawer, including crumbs
22. Windex all large silverware appliances
23. Iron one twin church outfit
24. Iron one 5-year-old boy church outfit
25. Iron one Baby Hippo church outfit
26. Clean range hood
27. Clean right stove top
28. Clean left stove top
29. Clean window over kitchen sink
30. Make cookies
31. Clean trashcan, inside and out
32. Match 15 pairs of little kid socks
33. Clean wall behind high chair
34. Clean wall next to baby table
35. Windex stainless steel canisters
36. Clean behind stainless steel canisters
37. Windex snow cone machine
38. Clean popcorn machine with Mr. Musculo
39. Clean doors for 10 minutes
40. Clean light switches for 10 minutes

...and finally...

41. Read the twins books for 20 minutes

Lastly, you may be wondering how I could possibly choose from such a comprehensive list of chores. The answer is random.org. I simply list my minimum and maximum chore numbers, then hit "Generate". Or, if something dirty is really bugging me, I simply assign that specific chore. 

Now that summer's here, and my kids are home to mess up a lot, my house is so clean. :)

Thanks for listening.

YOURS: Okay, now let's see what homemaking tips, recipes and know-how you have to share with us! Can't wait, and thanks so much for your visits and links. Have a great Homemaker Monday!



P.S. My sister and I are finally getting skinnier!

See how we're doing it HERE! :)

13 comments:

  1. Thank you for hosting a great party!
    Boy that is a long cleaning list. I have a toddler, so I clean an area a day and pick up all say, then it get messed up the next day...its a vicious cycle!!

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  2. Hi Jen :-)

    I could see why one child requested their sibling not to encourage you o;-p

    My your list inspire them to guard their behavior!

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  3. I love that consequence list. Do you think I can can enforce it with my husband?

    OOPS -

    If I try that, he might make one for me!!

    Better not!!!!

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  4. Hah, the last comment about your house being so clean cracks me up :)

    Thanks so much for hosting!

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  5. Hi! I'm new to your blog and to your blog hop! I've already found some really great crafts and ideas by looking at your past hops - you've got some incredibly talented readers!

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  6. Love the consequence chores!! What a great idea. I'm filing that away for when my kids are older.

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  7. Thanks so much for the feature! I am really happy you liked the lemonade. I made the recipe up completely from scratch so it is great to hear that it turned out well for you!

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  8. This is a fabulous idea Jen! I have been having major problems with my 6 year old and doing jobs lately. I asked him to hang up some laundry on the drying rack the other day and I just walked into the laundry room this morning, and the basket of towels was still in the basket untouched....grrr...I am totally doing this. I think I will just type up all the chores and then put them in a jar and he can choose one. He has also been SO whiny lately so this will be a good motivator to stop that. I hear a whine- he does a job! Great idea!!! thanks!

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  9. I love the consequence chore list! I do something similar in our house, but I never gave it an official name or had an official list. I usually just give them a chore that needs to be done and I don't want to do it! In fact, I usually get excited when I catch someone watching TV without asking(a no-no in our house)because some work gets done :)Boy, any one else reading this may think I am a tyrant--but, really I am not!!

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  10. we also did this but had bible verses that fit the crime for each offense that they had to write number of times as well worked nicely for us hope it does for you as well

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  11. Oh - how - absolutely - perfect...

    This is a list required in my home immediately.......

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  12. I don't have kids but I can see that your chore list is a great idea!
    I shared two recipes today because after I linked to the Strawberry Pudding I realized that I had already shared it here. I also linked to my Arugula Salad With Pork And Fresh Cherries.
    Thanks for hosting!

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