Living With Roommates - Creating The Perfect Housework Chore Schedule
"Many hands make light work" is a great way to describe the benefits of a chore schedule but do you know how to create the perfect one for your household? Creating a housework roster that works for each roommate lets your household complete chores quickly and with a minimum amount of fuss. It gives everyone plenty of free time to enjoy the activities they really wish to do.
The key to creating the right chore schedule is working together with your roommates as a team to design a roster that fits in with each roommate's work commitments and lifestyle. It's important during your meeting that each roommate provides input and gives their opinion and preferences. This lets household chores be distributed evenly and fairly among all roommates. Each household member should support, be willing to commit and sign off on the final version of the roster. Your final chore schedule should be easily readable so there are no misunderstandings and placed in a central location where everyone can see it, like on the fridge door.
So, how can you create the chore roster that's right for your household? Take a look at these 5 steps that can help guide your household through the process.
1. Compile A Chore and Roommate Preferences List
This list should include the housework duties to be completed each week and the approximate time that is needed to finish each one. Once the list has been drawn up, roommates should nominate the chores that they prefer to carry out.
2. Roommate Timetables
Each household member's weekly schedule should be written down for easy cross-referencing. It lets you check each roommate's availability against their chore preferences and the timetables of other household members. For example, you might notice that it's not possible to assign the same roommate to wash the dishes each night as all household members have at least one afternoon or night shift per week.
3. Assign Housework Duties
Every roommate should be assigned at least one of his or her preferred chores. To ensure housework is distributed evenly, each roommate's chores should take the same amount of time to complete. This may involve giving roommates one large chore or alternatively two or three smaller ones.
4. Create A Chore Chart
The easiest way to display the housework duties each person has been asked to complete is through a grid style chart. This involves placing the days of the week as column headings and the name of each roommate on the left hand side in the rows below, beneath one another. Once you have completed your grid, simply write each housework duty at the cross-section of the day of the week it is to be completed and the name of the roommate to whom it has been assigned. This lets household members easily find their name on the chart and run their finger along the row to see if any chores need to be completed on a given day.
5. Make Adjustments
It's a good idea after the first week to hold a brief meeting to see if any changes need to occur. Adjustments may need to be made due to scheduling conflicts, time needed to finish duties and the ability to complete chores.
These 5 steps can help you and your roommates create a housework roster that's perfect for your household. By involving each roommate and working as a team, your household will have many hands to make housework light work and give everyone plenty of free time.
Enid Steiner is a Director of www.flatwithme.com.au, an Australian online roommate service. Flatwithme.com.au lets people find their perfect roommate and provides helpful share accommodation resources including calculators, questionnaires and articles.
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