Share the Load

An employed woman with an outside work commitment of at least 40 hours a week still spends an average of an additional 26 hours per week on housework.  Devising a family plan for housework is a must for any household combining two income-earning adults and family.

Here are some ideas to utilize in developing a family plan for housework.

• Be sure that everyone in your family understands that housework is a responsibility for ALL family members to tackle.
• Hold a family meeting.  Brainstorm on ways to handle chores.
• Be creative.  Tasks can be divided up in a variety of ways:  Make a list together, and then whoever gets up first on “chore day” chooses a chore, and whoever wakes up last gets what’s left.  You can rotate chores or leave them to the luck of the draw.
• Include standards and regular evaluations; with consequences if a person doesn’t do his or her share or doesn’t do well.
• Even very small children can be taught to help in numerous ways.  They can care for the family pet, take out garbage, water plants, dust or sweep, set and clear the table, put dirty clothes in the hamper.  Fortunately younger children enjoy doing chores.  What starts out as fun may become a habit.
• Whenever possible, make chores fun, or at least less burdensome.  Add music; work together as a family; build in a reward or special activity when chores are done.  Recognize improvements as well as excellence.  Frequent praise and mutual appreciation will help your system work.

If you happen to be living with an addict please remember this fact:  there is no type of person more goal oriented in the world than an addict.  The only goal is to stay in the addiction.  It is not that the addict cannot achieve goals; it is that the addict only knows how to achieve one goal repeatedly.  So it is extremely important to be very specific with what you want.  Unless you know what you are looking for you won’t know it when you see it.  Give the addict the goal to achieve that is separate from the addiction!

“Be the gardener.  Create order.  It is yours to do…”  –  Anonymous