Project: Daily Chores Organizer

Since moving into our new house I've had a really hard time keeping up on housework, partly because I felt really overwhelmed with everything and partly because I kept letting myself get distracted with other (way more fun) things. The problem now is I'm starting to hear things from the hubby that I hate hearing, such as:

"Hey hon, do I have some clean underwear somewhere?"

or..

"Are all the spoons dirty?"

or the very worst..

"The living room floor is so sticky!"

Anyone else gone through this? Please tell me I'm not the only one!

Well I finally decided yesterday that I need to get organized and make myself a list of things to clean every day before I can do anything fun. So basically I'm attempting to discipline my inner 13-year-old.

The first thing I did was sit down and make a list of things that need to be done daily, every other day, bi-weekly, or weekly. Then I divided those tasks among each day of the week. I think the key here is to be realistic and take into account what your schedule is like and how dirty certain things get in your house. For example, I've got to sweep my kitchen floor daily and mop at least every other day. Reason: I have two small children who throw (or "accidentally drop") so much food on the floor on a daily basis that we'd be host to an entire ant colony if I didn't clean up regularly.

So once I had my list made I started thinking about a way to display my list in such a way that 1) I could see it on a daily basis, 2) it wasn't an eyesore, and 3) I could see my progress through the week and easily keep track of what I had done and had left to do. The solution: A framed "chore chart" hung on my kitchen wall:

Here's how I made it.

I dug through my craft supplies and found this 16x16" frame I bought a few months ago when a local craft store chain went out of business. It only set me back five bones! Can't beat that.

I took the pretty (ugly) butterfly artwork out of the frame and decided to use the cardboard insert for my chart since it was already cut down to the right size. I found some cute vintage fabric in my stash and used spray glue to adhere the fabric to the cardboard, smoothing out any wrinkles and creases.

Then I flipped the cardboard over and used some hot glue to adhere the fabric to the back. Easy peasy.

I cut eight pieces of white cardstock into rectangles that would fit well on the board and then transferred my daily checklists to each piece of cardstock. It probably would have looked nicer if I'd printed the lists off, but it was just easier for me to write them out.

Using duct tape (I know, super fancy) I adhered the lists to the fabric board. The eighth piece of cardstock is a blank list for other miscellaneous things I need to get done during the week, such as deep-cleaning specific areas of the house, washing windows, or running errands.

Then I just popped the board back in the frame and voila!

Now I can use a simple dry erase marker to check off tasks as I do them, erase the board at the end of the week, and start all over again! I think it looks so great on my kitchen wall, and I know it will help me stay a lot more organized and will keep my husband fully-stocked with clean underwear and spoons.