Printable Chore Chart

Does anyone else use January as their month to get organized and back on track? This month has been busy for our family as I've been going through our house, room by room, and de-junking.  Getting rid of excess always makes me happy (ok, yes, maybe that's weird…)!  And it seems that my kids are happier to when they have less "stuff" bombarding them in their bedrooms. We've already made several trips to donate items at the local thrift store, and we have sold other items and pocketed some extra spending money.

Beyond organizing our physical surroundings, we've also been working harder on building better routines and habits. As part of building better habits, I made this printable chore chart that we've been changing out every week. 

In the blank gray squares I write their new chores for the week, and when it is done, they get to color in the arrow. For all of my boys I've used the first three squares to give them chores that should turn into habits. For example on my Kindergartener's chore chart, square 1 is "Make Your Bed"; square 2 is "Pick up dirty clothes and toys in bedroom"; and square 3 is "Hang up coat and backpack after school".  I am hoping that as they routinely do their chores, it will become a habit for them to make their bed first thing in the morning, pick up their room (haha, I think its a life long work in progress to keep a tidy bedroom!), and take care of their items after school.  When these do become habits, I will be removing them from the list and giving them new habits to learn.

I've used the last two squares to assign out household chores such as setting the table and taking out the garbage.  Where my boys are so young, I think that two chores a day is an optimal number. As they get older and more responsible (and have their habits and routines in place) they will be given more chores.

To print chore chart, right click, save to your computer, and print! Enjoy!