Dirty house vs. Mommy and the chore chart

It seems that somehow having 4 little boys, a husband, and a mom that isn't always so great at picking up after herself, is a combination that equals a dirty house nearly all the time. I'm sure most moms can commiserate with the overwhelming feeling of trying to get everyone one else, well anyone else for that matter, to help clean up so you don't have to start every day with a mess, but you also don't have to stay up all night by yourself cleaning so that you don't.

So enter the Chore Chart. I'd seen charts like this on pinterest before, of course isn't that where all the cute ideas come from now?

I found a store on Etsy where you can buy the chart and cute little glass magnets all finished for you and ready to use, but I figured I have the sheet metal, vinyl, and a computer, so why not just do it myself?

So I had this large glass bookcase door that I got at IKEA years ago for $2 in the as-is department. I had put a phrase on it with vinyl lettering and until now it had been hanging in my bedroom. Fast forward, bedroom rearranged, no more room for wall hanging, so time to reuse it.

I had some 8x10 sheet metal panels I got at Home Depot for less than $1 each, and some black vinyl and my handy cricut. I decided to make my magnet pieces on power point to I could add the clipart and the words. I tried to make them easy to understand by the pictures and added simple words for my beginning readers. I uploaded the pdf Here for you if you want to download and print your own.

I printed multiples of the bottom rows so each child would have one and then I cut them out, laminated them and put some magnetic tape on the back.

I made each child a section for their chores with sections for To Do and Done. Then I had more room so I added a section for daily chores in general for Mom and Dad and then a menu and a grocery list. I also added a strip of the magnetic tape along the bottom of the frame so I'd have a place to put the extra magnets. 

So after 3 days of use I have to report its going really well! Now give it a few weeks to not be so exciting and we'll see, but so far the kids love it, I haven't had to even ask them to do their jobs, they just do them and move the magnets over. Parker and KC have even been trying to help Clay do his so they can move his magnets over. And It's help Aaron and I remember what we are responsible for that day so that if life gets busy, which it always does, then we can go back to the chart and at least everyone thing gets attention from someone. 

So now we have our little station with our chore chart, homework clipboards, calendar and reminders so hopefully we can be a little more organized and actually get something done around here.

Now that its done and in action I've found there are a few more magnets I want to make, like feeding the chickens :) prayers, and scripture reading to name a few. If I get around to it I'll post the new ones here also. 

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and have to say it makes me feel pretty crafty :)