Chores are necessary but not always fun. Throw in a few inconveniences and mistimed bouts with traffic and chores can be dreadful. Those who have done chores for decades strive to find ways to complete them smarter not harder. Here’s how to stay on top of the must-dos.
Go Shopping at Off Times
Very few people go in grocery stores after 8 pm. It makes sense since most have eaten dinner and have no immediate need to go at that point. However, going after work, when all others are doing the same, can be a stressful time to get shopping completed. You may find that going at 8 pm is not immediately useful yet saves time.
Find a Friend
Friends do things together like take walks and go to the gym. Can’t you find a friend to help you clean, etc? You can do the same for them, and while you could argue that you may not be saving time, the chores could be less cumbersome and easier with two people. Two heads and four hands are better than having to do chores alone.
Take the Weekends Off
People work during the week and don’t feel like doing more unwanted deeds at that time, the reason you’ll find most running around doing errands first thing Saturday morning and beyond. Doing chores on the weekends is like driving home at 5 o’clock – everyone is doing it. Divide your chores among the five weekdays and you’ll find that you can do things a lot quicker.
Invest in Quality Kitchen Equipment
Those with big families work proportionally harder than those with smaller tribes. Aside from cooking more and shopping for added clothes, there’s increased cleaning involved. Imagine preparing a feast for seven people and then having to clean the dishes for the gang too! Dishwashers take a lot of the workload and stress away from busy working parents and homeowners.
Use the Pomodoro System
It’s theorized that work and chores get put off due to the anxiety involved. Who wants to ‘work’ for hours straight? Therefore, the Pomodoro system was engineered to change perceptions about the work at hand. Rather hours of interrupted work, the system suggests chunking chores and to-dos into 40-minute units.
Get the Kids Involved
Kids like to take charge and have more responsibility. Why not allow them to feel in charge while they help with chores? Give them allowance, favor tokens, stickers, or just a hug as compensation for helping you vacuum, take out the trash, mow the lawn, feed and walk pets, etc. Even better, get your kids to employ their friends to help out with some light chores.
Hire Help
It costs more money to employ help, but for some, free time is worth more than money. And in some cases, having free time to do your own work more than pays for the $10 per hour a house, baby, or pet sitter would charge. Perhaps it’s worth more to you to see your child play soccer on Saturday mornings, so hiring someone to do chores is a small fee to pay in exchange for more time.
