Chores for Teens Made Simple: The Easy Plan That Worked Best

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Teens and chores…seems like an oxymoron I know but hang on.

I’m going to take you through what we did this summer and how this one tweak of our system of chores for teens dramatically changed our household.

I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for 17 years and a work-at-home mom for 10. 

But in the spring I decided to take on a temp job outside the house. It was only supposed to be for a week or two. 

Yet, it’s August and I’m still there. 

The job is pretty easy, but the time away and the change in my schedule has kicked my butt. 

If I sit down on the couch once I get home, I’m sure to fall asleep. It’s only 2 pm!

So I once I knew I’d be staying, at least for the time being, I knew I needed help.

Over the years the kids have helped with many of the household chores, but it was usually on an as-needed basis.

I’ve made chore charts and nagged. 

Complained that I was overwhelmed, overworked, and stressed.  Nothing worked.

So what finally did? 

I gave them all the chores for the summer and divided them not by day or week or even with a check-off list. 

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The chores for teens system that finally worked

I made written instructions and assigned them each a whole month to each zone.

3 kids, 3 zones, 3 months. 

Hmmm funny how that worked so well.

Here’s how the cleaning zones were split…

• Kitchen

• Laundry Plus

• Bathrooms

After explaining how it would all work, I posted the lists on the refrigerator and an additional print of the laundry instructions were taped to the washing machine.

Each person had a total of 4 weeks and then it would switch. *HINT* huge key to success!

On each list was also the dates each kid was assigned to the task. 

June

• Teen #1 – Kitchen
• Teen #2 – Laundry Plus
• Teen #3 – Bathroom

July

• Teen #1 – Laundry Plus
• Teen # 2 – Bathroom
• Teen #3 – Kitchen

August

• Teen #1 – Bathroom
• Teen #2 – Kitchen
• Teen #3 – Laundry Plus

I put in a buffer weekend in between each switch.  During that weekend I would take back the chores and teach each of them their new job.  

This kept miscommunications low on how and when to do their assignments.  As well as a chance to adjust anything that didn’t work during the last rotation of duties.

Each of them was also required to:

• Put their clothes at the laundry area  
• Strip their beds every Monday and put it at the laundry
• Keep their room picked up

Below is a copy of each page of the chores for teens by zone.

Of course, yours might be different especially since I have written directions specific to our model of washer and dryer. 

Maybe you actually have a dishwasher rather than a kitchen built in 1956.

Kitchen

• Dishes – Wash, dry, put away
• Sink – Empty drain and rinse the sink after doing dishes
• Counter and Table – wipe and dry counters with clean linens
• Trash – take out when full and put barrels on street on Tuesday night, take back after pickup on Wednesday
• Floors – sweep
• Dinner – helper
• Grocery – helper
• Microwave – wipe inside and out

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Laundry Plus

Washer

1. Add clothes to washer, do not overstuff
2. Add ½ cap full of laundry detergent
3. Turn to Normal Regular 9
4. Pull knob

Dryer

1. Turn to Energy Preferred and push button
2. Empty Lint Trap
3. Fold neatly when done and deliver to each person

The laundry person will also be responsible for:

1. Vacuuming the porch, living room and dining room.
2. Dusting -including the hallway floor
3. Watering the indoor plants

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Bathrooms

Use Spic and Span. Spray everywhere except inside the toilet and dry with paper towels.

Do not put paper towels in the toilet

1. Toilet – In bowl use Clorox Gel, leave while cleaning the bathroom. Wipe seat, both sides, handle, lid, cover, and rim, outside bowl
2. Sink – faucets and basin, and counter
3. Doorknobs, light switches, mirrors
4. Change hand towels, empty trash, sweep the floor and if needed fill the soap dispenser
5. Go back and scrub the bowl with the brush

So how well did the chore assignments actually work?

Pros of Our Chores for Teens System

This was amazing! For real. Now I didn’t say perfect, but it was so fantastic to come home to all the housework done.

Now I’m sure part of the reason was that my husband worked nights so he was home.

Although he was asleep, the incentive that he wouldn’t get on their case when he got up was motivating for sure.

And since we expected good results and cooperation we got it.

Now I suppose things could have gone wrong if the kids didn’t follow through.

If that happens, that’s a bit of a different problem that requires appropriate consequences like, “until chores are complete you can’t go out with friends” or something of that sort.

Potentially missing out on social time is a great motivator around here.

• Very little complaining.

I wasn’t here to hear it, but they also don’t complain to their father. If there were duties to be done after I got home, they were still pretty good about it.

• All the kids now know how to do all the chores.

Yes, it’s true they had helped with all of them before. But this time they were “in charge” of it and therefore responsible for it. And they stepped up.

Each kid had jobs they liked better than others and wouldn’t you know, those chores were done a bit better and with less prompting.

• They each realized what it’s like to have to do household duties time and time again.

That it’s not fun or fair when someone dumps a bunch of laundry at once or fills the sink with endless cups instead of reusing them.

It made them appreciate the jobs required as part of a family and they certainly appreciated someone else taking care of it when they realized what a crappy job it was.

They often helped each other to get jobs done faster so they could go have fun.

Cons of our chores for teens system

• Needing to let go of the outcome.

This really was the only downside of the whole summer chore experiment.

Because each one of them had preferences, strengths, and weaknesses, some jobs were done more timely than others and sometimes the quality wasn’t quite what we wanted.

The first part of the summer they seemed to get chores they were better at and enjoyed more and the last month they all seemed to get ones they didn’t like so much. Ah, such is life.

Given their ages (17, 13, and 11) and the easy nature of the chores the standards could be raised quite a bit than if they were much younger.

Some things simply required a bit more instruction or practice.

Like folding so clothes don’t look like you sleep in them, lol.

Other times it was just a matter of patience letting them do them within a reasonable timeline or their way rather than swooping in and taking over.

For instance, chores don’t have to be completed the minute you get up, but you’re not taking off for the whole day without doing them.

It also stood out that sometimes they did the job frequently enough but not quite the best. Or they did a great job but not often enough.

In conclusion

In my opinion, the reason it worked the best was the length of time for each assignment. It was long enough to give them time to get better before moving on to something different. Also, there was never any question as to whose job was whose or what they were responsible for doing.

All and all it was such a great change in our family.

The summer is nearly done and the kids return to school in just a few weeks.

I will still be working (and doing the blog thing) so I’m not really sure what will happen since my workday will be shorter than their school day and they also have homework and sports so…*sigh

Need more help…

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