Homemade Chore Chart

After spending all her hard earned money ($5.00) at the Flea Market last weekend, I wasn't surprised when Makenna wanted more money this weekend for some new and exciting treasure. There is a Flea Market every Sunday from May-October in Goderich and I like to wander through it. Of course she likes to tag along, but being 6, feels the need to buy something, anything, every time. With no loose teeth at the moment, there was no promise of Tooth Fairy money anytime soon. So while we were wandering through the market this morning we discussed how she could bring in some money. She came up with the idea of doing chores on a regular basis. I agreed, but clarified that I wanted her to do chores all week to earn the money - not just making her bed here, sweeping under the couch there... and then expecting a big pay out on Sunday mornings. This was to be a regular, routine expectation, if she was hoping to get money every week. She agreed and we came up with a chore chart.

I found a customizable template here which allowed us to choose the title, font style, size and colour, choose the number of chores and specify what they were, and we could even add a cartoon character picture, or other picture if we wanted. Anything from Blue's Clues to Spongebob, Angels to Teddy Bears. I chose not to add one of their pictures as I had another idea. Once I inputted the information, the website made the chart for me to print out.

With a gluestick I mounted the chart to some card stock and added her school picture. The pink lettering, pink cardstock and pink outfit she was wearing in her school picture all went together so well.

Then I went through our huge inventory of stickers and chose some that I thought might work for this project...

And added them to the chore chart.

Then I got some contact paper (from Dollarama), cut it to size and covered the chart with it.

Now that it is "laminated" we can just write and wipe off the check marks, smiley faces,etc as she completes the tasks from week to week.

I used Sticky Tac to affix this to the fridge.

Each Saturday night we will review the chart. Makenna decided a fair amount to receive each week if she completed all chores would be $3.00. (Phew!) So, each individual task she completes is worth $0.10. If she completes each task each day, at the end of the week she will have earned $2.80. So, if she completes them all by Saturday night she will receive a bonus $0.20 to give her the even $3.00

Yes, I am very glad she is satisfied with $3.00/week,a nd yes I realize this satisfaction likely won't last long.

Now, it's on her. She knows what is expected of her, we can track it each day, and at the end of the week she'll know how much she has earned and why.

We'll see how it goes!

Do your kids get allowances? Have Chore Charts?