Job Chart System

So I think its so important to teach kids the importance of work and contributing around the home, but I also think its important to teach them they have to work to get money and earn things and that things should not just be given to them  The other thing I wanted was to limit my kids TV/video game time or at least make them earn it and I wanted to somehow connect all these things together.  So, I've been searching for the perfect job chart system.  In all my searching I couldn't find what I wanted, I found some cute things along the way that could help with it, but I decided to come up with my own system.  So here it is:

 When I was a child my mom had this circle wheel thing that hung in our kitchen that was a rotating job chart and each week my siblings and I would be in charge of a different room for the week and then she would rotate the wheel and we would have a different room the next week. During the week we were responsible for keeping that room straight and then on Saturday we were to super clean that room.  If we had the yard that meant weeding, cleaning up dog poop and being in charge of taking out the trash.  I knew I wanted to do the same type of thing.  I feel my house is messy all the time and I can't keep up.  My kids are getting old enough where they need and should help with this chaos.  So I didn't make the wheel thing like my mom had, but I found this idea off Pinterest for a Family Chore Chart at Super Saturday Crafts and made one myself and changed it a little bit to make it how I wanted it to work.

 

 But just that wasn't going to do the trick, having them be in charge of cleaning on room a week, was not all that I wanted them to do.  There are things that I want them to get in the habit of doing like saying their prayers, reading scripture, making their beds, brushing their teeth, cleaning their rooms, etc.  So I found this handy dandy chore chart printable at Pinch A Little Save-a-lot.  I liked it because I could input each of my kids names on them and customize the chores to each kid.

 

 Here is my son Brock's chart, so each item he would do each day he would put a check mark. If you notice on there is "Weekly Job Chart Chore", when they straighten the room they are in charge of for the week they could check it off here.  I put the charts in page protectors, that way we could wipe the chart clean each week.  Now comes my points/ reward system, which might seem a little complicated but this is what has made this whole system.  So, for every check mark my kids get they get a point.  Each week I count the number of check marks on their personal chore chart and then I transfer the points to a white board we have in our laundry room and I wipe their personal chart clean to start a new week.

See, points written on white board (my son thought his baby brother should get points too, that is why his name is added to the board, but since he's only 18 months he's exempt from this system for now ;)  ).  So what do we do with the points you ask?  Well the points can work two ways.  First they can use the points for money to earn allowance, it took me awhile to figure out how much each point should be worth (and you could decide whatever you want for your family), but for mine we decided that each point is worth 5 cents. That way if they did all their chores each week they could average around $3 a week (my kids are 9 and under so I thought this was age appropriate).  My goal was to give them allowance each week.  Sometimes there is a bigger gap and they get it once a month (that's because mom usually doesn't have cash on hand).  The 2nd way they can use their points is for TV/video game/computer time, I decided for every 1/2 hour of electronic time that would cost them 15 points. For movies I made it an even 45 points, figuring most movies are about an hour and a half.  I do allow them 1 free hour on the weekends (mainly for Saturday mornings so they aren't waking me up, when I want to sleep in) and they get one free movie on the weekend too.  This system has totally motivated my kids to do their chores.  Both my boys want a DS, I personally do want my kids to have them, I won't buy them for gifts, I tell Santa he's not aloud to get them one, but I told them I can't stop them from buying one with their own money (though the points system still applies to them playing those), so this has totally got them on board to doing their chores.  The nice thing is when I want extra things done around the house, or if I want the car cleaned out or I'm too lazy to run upstairs to get the baby the diaper I can just ask them too and offer them points for doing so.  So they can earn extra points on top of their regular everyday chores.  Today I wanted my kitchen cupboards wiped down, I offered them 20 points if they did and they were all over that.  It truly has been a successful system for our family.  Hope that it can help you out.

(NOTE: so my 4 year old wasn't grasping or getting excited about the whole money thing and points for TV time so I had to find some other motivation, so what I have done is I bought a couple of toys and wrote down the number of points it will cost for her to get that toy. So a $10 toy would be 200 points being that each point is 5 cents and I've put them in a clear box, so she can see whats inside so she is motivated to do chores.  So whenever she fights me on cleaning her room I say, "Don't you want that Lala loopsy doll in the box?  You can't get it without earning points."  This has totally worked on her.)

Kid's Artwork Display Board

I have had this idea in my head for over a year and a half now of creating an area on this small wall in my kitchen to display my kids art.  My children are constantly creating.  I have one son that draws me several pictures a day and I hate to throw them away and chance hurting his feelings, plus I'm proud of his beautiful artwork.  But, my fridge just can't hold it all.  So I had it all planned out in my head what I wanted to do, I kept telling my husband about it and I think he would get a little annoyed.  He gets an idea about something and gets it done right away.  I process it forever, I knew I wanted it to be magnetic, but did I want to paint chalkboard paint on it, did I want to use sheet metal or paint directly on the wall with magnetic paint?  I couldn't decide.  My husband kept saying, "stop talking about it and just do it!".  Well I finally did and this was the result:

 I loved how it turned out.  I just went to a local metal place and asked them to cut me a 6' by 2' piece of sheet metal (I tried to find sheet metal this size at Home Depot and Lowe's, but had no luck).  They did this for me and only charged me $15.  I then went to Lowe's and bought some moulding and painted it black.  My husband and I then screwed the metal into the wall through the studs and then we nailed the molding on top.  I then had my friend, who has her own vinyl business, cut me some vinyl that said "Masterpieces" inspired by this art display I saw here.  Sorry I don't have step by step pictures, I'm not season with posting projects like all those craft bloggers out there.  You can comment if you have questions.

The finished product now with my children's beautiful artwork displayed on it.

Kids Command Center-Part 1 of My Laundry Room Makeover

I don't know about you, but my house was getting quite cluttered with all of my kids school stuff.  We had no official place for their backpacks so they would always just end up on the floor.  I had so many papers from school that I needed, but couldn't file away and they were just piling on my counter, on top of flyers and newsletters and homework folders.  For a long time I have been wanting to create a command center in our laundry room to organize all that stuff.  It took me a little bit to figure out just what I wanted, but then I had it all figured out in my head I just had to do it.  And that took a long time.  My husband kept telling me to stop talking about it and just do it.  So I got my self in gear, painted the room (it was a plain cream color before) and now I finally got my "Kid's Command Center" wall done!  I'm not a very organized person, but I know when I do try and organize myself my life is a lot less stressful and I think this is going to help me out a lot!  So, this is part 1 of my laundry room make-over and here it is:

I was at my friend Vanessa's house and she had the first letters of her kids names on the walls with hooks screwed into them to hold their backpacks.  I just had to do this.  She only had a single hook, but I wanted my kids to be able to hang their backpacks and jackets so I bought the two prong hooks from target.  Pretty much everything you see here is from Target except the letters.  I got the letters from Michaels (just the white ones) and painted them black, hung them on the wall and screwed the hooks in.  The storage bins are from Target, part of their "Re-do" line and were just $10 a piece.  I absolutely love the Pottery Barn organization system you can check out here and I was kind of inspired by that, but I definitely had to take the cheaper route.  I had my friend who has her own vinyl lettering business make me vinyl with all my kids names in a typewriter font.  The cork board and white calendar board were also from Target.  I'll use the bins to store each kids papers and homework folders.  The cork board will hold school newsletters and flyers and birthday invites (pretty much anything that involves the kids).  The calendar is just for events that involve the kids.  My oldest son loves this, he really likes to know whats going on and he'll just stare at the calendar and study what we have going on for the month.  Just this wall has cleared out so much clutter out of my kitchen.  It has been so nice.  I like when there is a place for everything.

So, I still have more that I want done in my laundry room, so there will be more to come.