I have one kid who is extremely helpful and doesn't mind cleaning (and frequently offers to help out on her own!) but I have another kid who sucks at it. I'm not being mean - it's true. He's just not into it. Sadly - those are my genetics. I'm not big on cleaning either. It's boring. I get it. But here's where we all learn the valuable life lesson that it has to be done anyway.
I bought 2 blue magnetic chalk boards from Target, just so the charts would look somewhat decent in the mudroom since it's a place so many people pass through. I didn't want to deal with dry erase markers for many reasons - kids hands brushing the writing off, the kids having to make sure the pens are capped (judging by their regular marker collection, apparently this is rather challenging for them). So I thought the magnets would be a good fit for us - they simply slide the magnet over when the chore is complete. Easy peasy! There are also chalk pencils attached so we can make any notes for the week (such as deducting .25 cents if they didn't complete their tasks that day).
So here's the finished product:
So the downside is I'll now be out $2 a week, but the upside is - I will have super independent children with tidy rooms (well worth $2 a week, right?!) - and they are actually EXCITED (and motivated!) about this new allowance thing (as it turns out, shiny quarters are a pretty big deal for little children). Parenting win! (I think I just earned myself a glass of wine.)
So get started!! :)