Thursday, October 6, 2011

household chores & an omelet

Who does the chores in your house?


I really got to thinking about our house and chores when I saw this about Chores or Acts of Service?  Don't you just love crosswalk.com?



As you know I am a stay at home mom.  Gary is a work from home dad.

I feel as if we split the chores fairly equally.

I do all the major cleaning.  I clean the bathrooms, vacuum, dust and I do all the laundry.

Gary mops after I vacuum.  He cleans the shower and takes out the trash. He is usually the one that empties the dishwasher.  Of course he takes care of the yard and all the outdoor chores excluding my flower beds. 

We have a system that works for us.  

Gary likes to cook breakfast.  This morning he made omelets.



I love he loves to make breakfast ;)  heehee!


We both make lunches, and at night one of us cooks and the other usually cleans up after dinner.  Sometimes we tag team it to get it done faster.  Some  nights one of us cleans up after dinner while the other one does kid baths.  We usually both help with kid baths.  It just goes by faster.  Layla pretty much does it all herself, but we help wash her hair.  Gary and I both do bedtime together.  We all read books and say prayers together.  Then Gary will spend time with Hayden while I spend time laying with Layla and then we switch.


With Gary and I there is a mutual respect.  We are buddies.  I am so lucky to have a husband that helps and is an active father and husband.  Even when he worked outside the home he helped with the chores.  We like to help one another and he is very good about taking the load off of me if he sees I am overwhelmed.  There is never bickering about who does what chore and why. We pick up each others slack all the time.  That being said, I do not like to mop. He doesn't like to do laundry.

***

When it comes to the kids...they help a lot.  They are both old enough to keep their playroom and bedrooms clean.   

I do help them quite a bit, but I am trying to teach them at the same time.  I try to make it a game for Hayden otherwise he doesn't know how to clean up. Layla just wants me to do everything for her because she doesn't quite now how to organize things yet.  She is a mess, but our kids know they need to do their part to make our house run smoothly.  Layla does well when she gets rewards for cleaning. 

They know to put their shoes in the mud room, usually I don't have to ask them to put up their shoes.  It is understood.  They know to drop their cloths off in the laundry room.  They take their towels to the laundry room after their bath.  We enforce cleaning and organization because I want them to know that this isn't Gary and I's house alone.  It is our family house and we want our kids to love their home.

Gary and I also want to be good examples for when Layla and Hayden grow up and have homes and families of their own.

We all need to do our part to make our house a clean place to live and a fun place to call home! 

5 comments:

Kelli said...

We try to be a team too. Rondell does bathrooms & mops and I am the one who mainly does the kitchen. Other things we share. It works well for us. Sounds like it works well for you guys too :) Um, that omelet looks delicious.

Traci said...

For the last year we have a lady that comes in & cleans our house every 2 weeks. She has a "team" & they do the dusting, floors, bathrooms, etc. All the major cleaning. Dean is the cook at our house, except for lately when I do crock pot stuff. He gets home from work before I do. I normally clean up the kitchen & like y'all sometimes we both do it to save time. We both do laundry & unload the dishwasher. Dean does the the outside stuff, I do the weeding & watering. I'm the organizer in the house too. It works great for us.

Love from Texas said...

You and Gary's split sounds a lot like ours! I do all the laundry, bathrooms, major cleaning/organizing, and most of thecooking. Although James does a good breakfast, and if we're grilling he takes care of the meat while I do the sides. He's also really good about helping with the kitchen after dinner and helping w baths. A lot of times we'll do the "you take one, I'll take the other" deal too... And he does the showers (for the muscle power), yard work, trash, vacuums the stairs, and sometimes mops while I sweep and vacuum. Works out well!

I need to get better about expecting Knox to take part too. Maybe bc he's my first we just aren't quite there yet. He does take his dishes to the sink, clothes to the hamper, and help "clean up, clean up" when I ask him to.

I love hearing about how other families do their housework :)

Jenna said...

I love this - I've even thought about writing something similar! Chris and I are much like you and Gary. We pretty much split everything up, and he acknowledges that just because I don't "go" to work, I am working full time to! Great post!

Perfectly Imperfect said...

We split most things as well. Although I will admit that I do most of the cleaning. However, he handles cooking, the kitchen and BG's bedtime rituals. So I clean while he does that. Plus, I'm obsessive about my cleaning and he doesn't want to even try and get involved ;) I think a husband and wife should be a team!