Living in a fast-paced, metropolitan area like Eastside Seattle can be time-demanding and exhausting. Of course, trying to keep up by yourself with the household chores is a recipe for disaster—or maybe just for a dirty home.
Instead, you could try to get more helping hands to tackle the chores. Here is how you can get your entire household involved with the cleaning!
Who is supposed to clean the home?
Before making any changes in your routine, it's important to understand that there is no ideal way to organize household chores.
For example, maybe someone in your family spends most of their time in a demanding job. Also, young children or older people might not be able to contribute in the same way as other household members.
Each home is unique, and every household finds its way to having a clean house. If you decide to pass on some of the chores, here are some tricks to do it smoothly!
First, prepare to delegate chores
Organizing the cleaning tasks is a challenge, and you need to be in the right mindset to do it. These considerations can help you, whether you need to assign chores to children, a significant other, or any other member of your household.
- Talk about cleaning expectations: What is messy for you may be "clean enough" for your significant other. Be explicit about your expectations and ask the other household members about theirs. Reaching a middle ground is essential before continuing.
- Involve the children too: Don't overlook the children! Surely they can help, but not in the same way as adults. However, while they may not make a massive difference by helping with the cleaning, it teaches them important skills to use later in life!
- Celebrate small achievements: As mentioned already, not everyone has equal cleaning expectations, skills, and time. Celebrate every small achievement, even if you don't set a perfect chore division.
- Ask for help if you need it: Even if you are supposed to keep up with the chores, there's nothing wrong with wanting help from other household members. Cleaning is a demanding job, and sometimes one person isn't enough.
How to divide the chores with your family
As mentioned above, the way you distribute household chores is not written in stone. Dividing the cleaning duties is a challenge that involves communication, responsibility, and (why not?) creativity!
Here are some ways you can assign chores to your household members.
1. Assign specific chores to each one
One way to divide the cleaning chores is by assigning specific tasks to each household member. It could work out because the person in charge of the task feels responsible. Besides, you could find that other people don't mind doing the chores you dread the most.
Organizing the cleaning routine with children is easier. Just remember to consider your children's age when deciding which chores to assign them.
On the other hand, assigning duties to other adults can be a whole different story. The best approach is discussing it and picking up the chores each person can manage until all the tasks are taken.
Also:
You can assign spots of your home to specific members of your household instead of delegating tasks. For example, someone can be in charge of cleaning the living room or the dining room table.
2. Write down a schedule and leave it visible
Many people already have a schedule for their daily activities. In the same way, you can organize the household routine with a written plan. If other household members already participate in the cleaning chores, following up their tasks with this schedule will be easier.
You only need to decide the task, day, and who's in charge. Once you assign chores to the household members, make the weekly schedule and place it where everyone can see it—like on the fridge. If you are giving assignments to children, be a little creative to get their attention.
3. Rotate the chores that nobody likes
Assigning the most dreaded chore to one person can seem unfair. Rotate the tasks so everyone is happy! Rotating the duties is especially crucial in households where all members are in similar conditions—for example, everyone works full-time.
First, you need to discuss which chores will rotate with the other household members and how often. For example, doing the dishes can be assigned to you one entire week and another person the next.
4. Teach what you already know
Kids often see cleaning as a tedious task, but teaching them why cleaning is essential can be enough to get them interested. Talk about bacteria, hygiene, and responsibility! Letting school-age children help with household chores is a way to prepare them for the future.
You can even approach it like a course, and the time they spend on the task is the practice!
5. Use incentives for your kids
Even if you try to convey the importance of cleaning to your children, making them do the chores can be a challenge. On the other hand, a reward will work like a charm to get things moving.
However, be careful not to overdo your reward system. You don't want your kids to help just because they can get something in return. Also, a reward doesn't have to be an expensive toy; try first with praise and recognition after well-done work!
Tip:
If you have school-age children or young teenagers, cleaning chores can teach them a few things about hard work. You can let their allowance depend on the household tasks they do.
6. Make cleaning fun!
As mentioned above, rewards are not the best approach to teach your kids the importance of cleaning. Then, what's the best way to do it? You can let your children help by playing a cleaning game! At least they'll be in for the ride.
A cleaning game can be as simple as two kids racing against each other to see who picks up the toys faster. Here are some examples if you need a little inspiration.
Maybe it's time to call Rain City Maids
If you live in a busy household, you might struggle to keep up with the chores, even with every member helping out. Luckily for you, Rain City Maids is ready to deliver high-quality cleaning services in Eastside Seattle.
You can book recurring visits, so you won’t worry about cleaning anymore.
