Tips for Dividing Household Chores
Dividing up household chores fairly isn’t as easy as it might seem, especially if you have a big family. For this reason, and to avoid uncomfortable conflicts and arguments, we’re going to present a series of useful tips so that everyone is happy with their assignments.
When several people live in the same home, it’s important to establish rules concerning household chores and tasks in order to achieve a healthy coexistence. This is regardless of who you live with and no matter if it’s roommates, parents, children, students or even newlyweds, or other couples.
Read on to find out how to effortlessly maintain harmony, order, and cleanliness.
Five tips for successfully dividing household chores
It’s a common misconception to assume that there aren’t that many household chores or that the head of the household complains too much! However, by diving chores, each resident has a responsibility in terms of helping out and contributing to a happy living environment.
In the long run, and in addition to fostering a collaborative spirit at home, everyone will work together to ensure that the home remains clean. Take careful note of these tips!
1. List all your household chores
The first tip is to list all the household tasks and chores that need to be completed on a regular basis, before dividing them. To do this, the head of the household can make a list, before sitting down with everyone else to go through it.
This list should include the general tasks and the names of each member of the household. You should list everything such as cleaning each room and even washing the dishes or loading the dishwasher. It’s key that no tasks are left out.
2. Assign a person to be responsible for each chore
Now that you have a clear list of all the household tasks you regularly need to complete, it’s time to divide and assign a person responsible for each activity. Ideally, read the list aloud and ask each person to volunteer for each role.
If you don’t have much success encouraging volunteers, then hold a raffle to avoid disputes. To do this, write the name of each person on a piece of paper, and put them in a bag. Shake the bag and draw a random name against each household chore.
3. Open space for considerations
As this isn’t about forcing people to do things they don’t wear to do, you should try to maintain a good atmosphere among each resident. Even if you’ve made a draw in your raffle, don’t close the door to negotiations. To keep your home neat and tidy, you should also consider individual skills.
For example, cleaning the roof is too risky a task for small children. In this case, you should ask other members of the group to reconsider some of the tasks already assigned to them.
4. Set days and times for tasks
Another tip for dividing household chores concerns assigning the days and hours in which they must be carried out. Most chores can be done in groups on the same days and at the same times.
Others, such as washing the dishes or taking the dog out for a walk, are daily and need to occur at specific times. As such, they must have a different assignment that you should take into account when making the division.
5. Consider hiring help in the face of disagreements
By putting into practice the above tips for dividing tasks, different things can happen. Either everyone complies with the agreement and harmony reigns. Or disagreements, failure to comply, or complaints can surface.
In the worse case, and only if you have the necessary resources, the best option is to hire someone to do the chores a couple of days a week.
This last scenario means you can make the decision with your partner and split the cost. If you have children, you could also teach them that since they don’t want to cooperate, they should contribute part of their allowance towards the cost of hiring someone. However, this depends on you and how you feel about doing this.
Learn how to divide household chores and avoid inconveniences
As you’ve read, these tips for dividing household chores are simple but valuable. The goal is that you approach the subject in a calm and pleasant way and seek mutual support from the other members of your household.
Having a sparkling clean home is synonymous with physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. So take the initiative to execute these steps and enjoy your home without feeling overloaded.