My prior post and video regarding the chore deck has elicited a fair bit of response and questions. It seems that struggling with time, order and clutter is epidemic. So, here are a couple of follow-up thoughts in response to questions that arose.
What if people slack, don’t finish chores, etc?
I haven’t had too much of an issue with this. Breaking the tasks down into very doable pieces eliminates a lot of resistance. For example, I mentioned in the video something like cleaning the bathrooms isn’t one card, it’s five separate chores: 1) wipe the counter and mirror 2) empty the trash 3) scrub the tub 4) mop the floor and 5) bleach the toilets.
Another factor has been the priority I have made it. Sometimes other activity is on hold until we finish chores, i.e. “You can go over to Jake’s house but first you need to finish your three cards.” Sometimes when we want to watch a television show we will use commercial breaks to pop out our chores. That’s kind of fun because it feels almost like a race as you try to get everything down in the commercial pauses.
The randomness of drawing also eliminates some of the psychological drudgery of chores. You never know what you are going to get, so it’s kind of hard to dread it. Drawing cards is kind of fun because there is always that chance that you will either get the day off or have something really light.
Lastly, regarding slackers, there are time that I just have to point it out. The other day I sat the kids down and said, “Hey, you are getting sloppy about finishing up chores. You are getting things done, but then leaving out cleaning supplies or not putting your cards in the discard pile. When you do that I don’t know what’s complete or not. Your not finished with a task until you put things away and discard your card. Also, if you haven’t a chore like help with laundry don’t just grab one arm load of clothes from your room and ignore everyone else’s. Be genuinely helpful and take a few minutes to do enough to make a difference.” They heard me, responded and that was the end of it. I have been using the card deck for two years and that’s the first time it really was an issue. I think mainly because of being in a new place we are still tweaking our deck and we don’t necessarily have great routines yet.
A family of two asked me about adjusting it for a smaller family.
My original deck for a family of four was 72 cards. We had a four bedroom house with 2 baths and four other functional spaces. We each drew three cards a day in the summer. That got us through all 72 cards in 6 days.
With two people you don’t have as many hands to do the work, but you don’t have as much space, laundry, or clutter. Off of the top of my head I wouldn’t do a deck half the size. I would probably do a deck some where between 48 to 52 cards. If you each did 3 a day and took a day or so off a week, then you would get everything done in about a week and half. I would make about 10 of those cards special cards or really simple tasks.
Stacking the deck
Sometimes I adapt the deck to meet the moment. If we have gotten off track and things seem a bit cluttered, I may go through the deck and pull out a bunch of cards that are low priority. Then when we draw the deck is disproportionately heavy in 10 minute tidy’s.
One last miscellaneous thought
Give it time to work when you try it. I just re-instituted our deck in our new home. We had to use it for a week or two before I consciously recognized what a difference it was making, but then it was rather remarkable. Now I am having to make some adaptations to our deck to fit the needs of our new home. It will probably take me a week or two to recognize the gaps and changes that need to take place. I can pretty much guarantee you that if you apply this tool for thirty days, your stress level about your home will decrease significantly and the general order of your home will increase substantially. The key is in consistently doing your 2 or 3 chores daily.
If you are trying to make a deck and struggling with it or have questions, then drop me an email at thepracticaldisciple@gmail.com. Blessings to you, John Arnold
p.s. Here is my current deck
Kitchen
1. Wipe Kitchen counter
2. Sweep Kitchen floor
3. Orange oil or dust a section of kitchen cabinets
4. Mop Kitchen floor (note: the floor gets swept before mopping, but I have an additional sweep floor card because the kitchen seems to get hit hard in that way.)
5-7. Empty and Fill Dishwasher (3 separate cards)
Den/Living Room
8. Vacuum Den
9. Dust furniture in Den
10. Dust bookshelves in Den
Dining Room, Guest Bedroom, Mom and Dad’s Bedroom, Ruth’s Room, and Matt’s Room each have two cards: Vacuum and Dust, for a total of 10 cards on those rooms (11-20).
Bathrooms (we have two and a half)
21. Bleach toilets
22. Empty Bathroom trash
23. Wipe Bathroom Counters
24. Mop Bathroom Floors and Entryway
25. Scrub Tubs
26. Clean Mom and Dad’s shower
Misc. Cleaning
27. Vacuum Hallway
28-30. Strip and Remake a Bed (3)
31-33. Orange oil 1 item of furniture (3)
34-37. Ten Minute tidy (4)
38-39. Gather Dirty Clothes and Sort (2)
40-42. Help with Laundry (3)
43. Pick a partner and make everyone’s bed
44-45. Light Candles and use air freshener (2)
46. Orange oil section of woodwork
47. Clean glass on front door and patio doors
Special Cards
48-50. Help with Dinner (3)
51. Help someone with a harder day than you
52. Reinforcement card, The bearer of this card has the right to recruit someone to help them with a chore. The card must be used by the end of the week.
53. Water Albert and Allison (these are our plants)
54. Sack it! Fill a grocery sack to pitch or donate.
55. Get a card off today!
56. Get the Day off, Everyone draws an extra card. You may not repeat this card until everyone has a day off.
57-58. Wild Card (2)
60. Organize in garage for 10 minutes (we still have stuff from our move to get in order)
You may have noticed that our new deck is only 60 cards. I have trimmed and consolidated some cards in order to give us a five day deck. You may have also noticed that the “Pay Bill’s with Dad” card is gone. The kids have their own bank accounts now and have a fair idea of what things cost. Also, once I shifted most of my bills to bank drafts and/or on-line transactions, I hardly ever have to write a check anymore. Blessings to you.
What a great way to have spring and summer year-round
Deck Lights
I particularly find the “Sack-it” card, to be like a year around spring cleaning. If you really need to purge, I recommend doing 40 bags in 40 days during Lent. I first did this two years ago and it was (not to sound cliche’) life changing. It reoriented my relationship with material goods and caused some discipline shifts. Thanks for your comment improvedliving.
Pingback: More God, less stress and clutter - The Practical Disciple