Previous Lessons
- Lesson 1: The Big Five: Creating a Workable To-Do List
- Lesson 2: Interruptions
- Lesson 3: Scheduling
- Lesson 4: Ideal Time vs. Idealized Time
- Lesson 5: Eliminating Clutter
- Lesson 6: Ordering Clutter
- Lesson 7: Sabbath Basics
- Lesson 8: Eliminating Irritants
- Lesson 9: Goal Setting Basics
- Lesson 10: Evaluating the Day
- Lesson 11: How to Say “NO!”
- Lesson 12: Batch Processing
The Chore Deck, An Almost Effortless Way to Keep Your Home Clean
This is one of my absolute favorite tools. I have shared it with numerous friends. Families who have adopted it and use it regularly love it. One mom said to me, “John Arnold, thank you. You have eliminated arguing in my family over chores.” You definitely will want to visit the two original blog posts about the chore deck from my blog: More God, Less Stress and Clutter and Additional Thoughts on The Deck. In the first, I have a video showing my original deck right in my home and in the second I list every card in my deck and tell you some thoughts for adapting your deck. This tool is particularly awesome for families with young children. As I always tell my family, “The deck works, if you work the deck.” I hope you enjoy it.
Streaming Audio
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Resource Links for Downloading
- Video
- Audio MP3
- Transcript PDF
- More God, Less Stress and Clutter. This is the original chore deck article and video from my blog.
- Additional Thoughts on The Deck. Be sure and look at this because in it I list every card in my actual deck
Tasks
- Make a list of everything you would like to see done in your home. Break it down into relatively easy tasks. Include some fun items or breaks.
- Create a deck from your list. I would suggest not doing more than three items a day. If you divide your the number of cards in your deck by 3, how many days will it take you to do everything? Is it an acceptable amount? If not adjust your deck. double up easy tasks to one card, if needed.
- Enjoy your steadily cleaner home
Accessing the Resources
You may choose to watch these videos by streaming live from the web, downloading the MP3s to your computer or MP3 player, or by reading the text transcript.
To get the most out of these lessons focus on taking action every day, no matter how small that action may be. Small actions add up more rapidly than you may realize. Much of the battle of time management, conquering clutter and getting organized is purely a matter of consistency.
You can save any of the files to your computer by simply right clicking on a link and selecting “save as” or “save target.” Mac users use a control click and select “save linked file to downloads” or “save linked file as…”
All PDFs in the lessons require Adobe PDF reader. The videos require the latest version of Quicktime. Both are free downloads.