Magnetic Family Chore Chart (for a Multi-child House Hold)

Having a large family means more things to do, less time to do them and MORE mess. One simple solution is to enlist the help of your children. By doing this you will teach them important life skills, build a family bond by working together & just spend more time with them. This easy to throw together Magnetic Family Chore Chart can help get you organized!

Step 1: Make a "Zone" List and "Task" Sub-lists

Gather your family. Put pencil to paper and make a list of all the common areas aka 'Zones'  that need to be cleaned & tidied. (Bedrooms are not included in our chart because private areas are left to the individual/s . . . to a certain degree. If I can't walk through the door and easily reach each bed and window I'm coming in there with a trash bag!)

Keep in mind that this chart is rotational and it's easier to rotate chores if there are the same number of 'zones' as there are people that will be doing chores. This can mean having to combine zones like we did with the floors & outside zones.

Our zone list:
   Kitchen
   Living room
   Dining room
   Bathrooms
   Floors & Outside

Five zones for five people of chore doing age. (Our youngest likes to "help" everyone else.)

Now make a sub-list for each zone. All the tasks that need to be done to consider that zone clean. Think of things that need doing daily and weekly and keep them separate. (You don't want to be cleaning out the fridge every day for instance.)

Our task lists:

Kitchen
Daily: wash dishes, draining board, sink, counter top, stove top
Weekly: microwave, oven door, refrigerator, cabinets

Living room
Daily: couch, toys, shoes, coats, stairs, trash, recycling
Weekly: sanitize trash can, recycle bin, door nobs, light switches, phones, stair rail

Dining room
Daily: dry/put away dishes, table, chairs, floor under table
Weekly: craft/game shelf, walls & radiator around table

Bathrooms
Daily: keep floor clear, towels, wipe sink, stock toilet paper
Weekly: scrub toilets, sinks, floor, mirrors, walls, radiator, tub/shower

Floors & Outside
Daily: sweep, water garden or shovel walk (whatever is season appropriate)
Weekly: floor mats, mop floors, weed garden

Make sure everyone knows how to do every task in every zone. If you have a wide range of ages of children you may want to keep some of your tasks off the chore chart and just do them yourself. Like cleaning the oven or grill or dusting when you have lots of valuables that could be easily broken by clumsy little hands. Use your own judgment. Only you can know what your kids are able to do.

Step 2: Gather Supplies

Supplies you will need:

paper & pencils, pens or makers
card stock
computer & printer (optional)
scissors
magnets of some kind
tape (optional)

Step 3: Type & Print

Take all your family's hard work over to the computer and type it all up in columns like so, leaving the top half of the page blank for later. Now print!

If you don't have a printer you can just write it all out the old fashioned way with a pen or maker.

Step 4: Make Name Magnets

Type everyone's name in their favorite color. Print them out on card stock and cut them into strips. (Card stock is sturdier than regular printer paper and can take being handled a lot more.)

Cut small pieces of the sticky backed magnet strip.
Peel the protective paper off the back of the magnet.
Stick the magnet to the card stock name tags.

Alternatives:
  You can use button magnets and hot glue.
  Cut up business magnets you may have cluttering up your fridge & glue names to them.
  Instead of names try cutting out photos of family members.
  Or print directly to those cool printable magnets made by Avery.

Step 5: Set Up & Use

Tape up or use magnets to put your chart on your fridge (or in our case, white board).
Figure out in what order you want your rotation to be and then place your name tags accordingly.
Pick a day to rotate your chores and on that day just move everyone over.
Now everyone knows their duties and who to blame if the toilet roll is empty. :o)