Experiment No. 31: Making Chore Charts Work For You
Blog Post
Aug. 2, 2021
To read about how Amy Cesal and Alexander Furnas created their waffle chart and this experiment, click here.
The Basics
We’re Trying to Solve: Chore ruts and unfair chore distribution
Target Audience: Adults, Everyone
Category: Household Chores
Estimated Time: 1-2 hours to begin, follow-up throughout one month
Difficulty Level: Moderate
You’ll need: Markers or something else to color with, this spreadsheet, and a personal waffle chart page for each person in the household. To customize the spreadsheet with your family’s info, you’ll need to open the link, click “File” and then "Make a Copy" or "Download" and select the appropriate file type.
Directions
- Get everyone together to brainstorm all of the chores and other tasks that need to get done in your household each month. If you can, have everyone take some time before meeting to write down the details of tasks they are involved in or have noticed. Take notes on how much time each one takes, the level of difficulty, frequency, etc.
- Sit down with your partner or the whole family and agree on what the final list of chores and tasks is for your household. Then build your chart, using these online tools. Together, make a copy of this chore spreadsheet template, by opening the document, then clicking on File and “Make a Copy.” Then you’ll be able to make your own changes to it. Add in all of your chores and other tasks, along with the frequency and time each one takes. If you don’t know exactly, just start by guessing. You can always come back later and amend the categories once you’ve tried it out.
- Decide who gets what for the month! As you start, people should choose the chores they prefer, and then mutually decide how to distribute what’s left over. The goal is to distribute the chores just about equally between everyone taking part. This is also the time to discuss the standard of cleanliness for your household. (Refer to Fair Play author Eve Rodsky’s concept of Minimum Standard of Care, also mentioned in this video.) As you divide up the chores, feel free to make notes about the standards for each task that you all agree on. Write down the chores you’ve been assigned on the side of your personal waffle chart page.
- Now that you have your chores and the frequency of each one detailed in your spreadsheet, and listed on your waffle chart page, use this data to fill in your personal chore boxes. Each box represents a 5-minute increment of time. Assign each of your chores a separate color. Fill in the 5-minute blocks necessary to cover each of your tasks. For example, if doing the laundry is assigned the color and it takes 20 minutes five days a month, then fill in twenty blocks with purple. Then, every time you do the laundry, cross out the number of blocks corresponding to how much time you spent on it. We highly recommend hanging up your Chore Waffle Charts on the wall or fridge for visibility and accountability, as Amy and Alexander do.
"Printing out and coloring the chore charts helped us physically connect to the routine. They are framed and on the wall so we can cross off tasks as we accomplish them!"
- Amy Cesal
- Try it out! Get to know what falls on your chart and get to work. Cross off the boxes that represent your assigned tasks throughout the month as you complete them. When you see your partner working on one of their tasks, and you aren’t busy, check your chart and see what you can get done. If you’ve only got 5 minutes, take the opportunity to work on a quick task, or add any supplies you’ll need to complete a longer task to your shopping list. If you’ve got a whole rainy Saturday ahead, maybe it’s time to get rid of one of those mega-block tasks like deep cleaning the kitchen.
- Reflect. At the end of a trial month, gather together and talk about how it went. How did the waffle chart work for you? Did this make it easier for your household to get through your day-to-day? Did it give you added peace and organization throughout your month? Did it feel fair to everyone at home?
To read about how Amy Cesal and Alexander Furnas created their waffle chart and this experiment, click here.
Connect With the Better Life Lab
Are you going to try this week’s experiment? Do you have a story about how you and your own family solved a problem with the work at home? Is there a specific challenge you’ve been trying to tackle? Please let us know via this form, at bllx@newamerica.org, in our Facebook group for BLLx Beta Testers.
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