Job list in our house

Oops, I only just saw a comment on my post in May about household jobs and negotiating with teens. My friend asked me to post our list of jobs. 

Of course, they would differ for every household. Each family runs slightly differently and different things cause more stress than others, plus different ages and differences in schedules change how you do things. For example, when the boys were younger, two of them took turns to vacuum under the table after dinner. This was mostly because I struggled with how messy that place got and with the feeling of crumbs under my feet drove me crazy. Plus each family is made up of people with different preferences and limitations. 

We also do things differently here than in Australia for various reasons, for example, rubbish sorting is more intense here and we wash more often than we might in Australia with a rotary clothesline because the hanging space is smaller.

Here's our list of the regular jobs done to keep our household running:

These are shared by Mum and Dad

Make breakfast (7 times a week)

Make lunch (7 times a week)

Make dinner (7 times a week)

Set table for breakfast (7 times a week)

Set table for dinner (7 times a week)

*Clear table after breakfast (7 times a week)

*Clear table after dinner (7 times a week)

Breakfast washup (weekends)

Dinner wash-up (7 times a week)

Put clean breakfast dishes away (7 times a week)

Put clean dinner dishes away (7 times a week)

Rubbish collection inside (incl. replace bags)

*Rubbish – take out (3-4 times/wk)

Toilets clean (once a week)

Vacuum whole house (once a week)

Clean bathroom basin and mirror (every 1—2 wks)

Cleaning shower and bath and shower room (periodically)

Grocery shopping (2-3 times a week)

Washing clothes (~5 times a week)

Washing towels (once a week)

Washing sheets (once a week)

Bringing washing in (~5 times a week)

*Folding washing (~5 times a week)

Refill heater with oil (winter)

Ironing (periodically)

Mending (periodically)

Boys’ jobs

Hanging up washing (~5 times a week)

Breakfast wash-up (5 times a week) NOTE: This has recently been renegotiated and been replaced with the jobs that are asterisked above.

From high school: wash own clothes

Jobs we all do 

Get ourselves up on time

Shower ourselves

Clean our teeth

Manage our personal items like bags, lunchboxes, medication

Take care of ourselves by eating and sleeping well

Strip our beds and remake them

Keep our rooms tidy

Take care of our “work” responsibilities, including homework and schoolwork.

During the summer holidays we've added the job of planning and making one meal a week.