Chore Chart

When we started our year off we kind of decided we wanted to make a way the kids can earn money.  It helps us in 2 ways: they have some responsibility in helping me around the house and they have to save for things they want instead of us just buying things.  Amelia got a dollhouse and is saving for "rooms" to fill it.  She is so motivated it is unbelievable.  This is what we came up with.  Please don't giggle too much at my first grade drawings, but I wanted Ben to be able to read it without reading it.  Then I taped the actually money they would earn so we can easily change it without having to make a new chart.  I am hoping they will learn what coins are and their value with this too.  We have already adjusted the amounts according to their degree of difficulty.   And still need to make some.  And don't giggle out how low we are paying them.  We decided to start out small now, when it really doesn't matter so we are not having to pay out too much when they really get the value of money!!
 This is what they have to do for each catergory:
Laundry: it's 10 cents for every load.  So they help me bring all the laundry to the laundry room, sort it, put it in the washer, switch it to the dryer, take it out and fold or hang up.  Now, most of the time I just make them help in a few of those steps. Since I do laundry like once a week it makes about 6 loads in a day. They can help do the sorting and the putting in the washer for all of the loads, or hang up all the loads, or any combo, just as long as I feel they are helping in a majority of the steps.  I pay them as a load is complete so we are not later trying to figure out how many they helped with.  If they do it together, then they split the dime.
Bathroom:  They have to clorox wipe the sink, toilet, bathtub and floor.  I typically scrub the toilet and shower to avoid any mishaps with bleach and cleaners.  We do this a few times a week.
Dusting: I have these dusting mittens they can put on and wipe down everything.  Bookcases especially (we have like 4) but Amelia's great at the windows, decorations, walls, anything really.  She just loves wiping stuff with the mitten.  I lift her up to get the high places.  We do this as many times she asks, usually 2 or 3 times a week.  It does get that dusty because we leave the windows open a lot because it is beautiful weather most of the time.
Trash: gather trash from the bathroom and kitchen and take them to the outside garbage can.  Put new trash bags in both cans. Take out the recycling.  Usually one does trash, one does recycling but I still pay the full amount each.
Bed: obviously, make their bed.
Leaves: sweep (since we don't have a rake and our backyard is concrete) the leaves off the yard.  We live under a HUGE oak tree that drops leaves by the hundreds.  We mostly put this up to give them something to do outside while I work in the back house.  I never expect any big progress and don't mind because we have a weekly gardener that comes with the house who gets all the leaves with a leaf blower. 
Schoolwork: this is a workbook for preschoolers and if she does 2 pages she gets paid. She hasn't done it in months, so I think I need to move her up to the next level and give Ben the preschool one. 
Book: Amelia can read a book to one of us all by herself  (she got the beginner BOB books so they are her level and I am so proud that she is reading words everywhere we go now) 
Noodle jar: is our other "earning" project we have been doing for a long time.  They earn noodles for things like good behavior, sharing, helping with stuff not on the chore chart, going to bed without fights, eating all of their dinner without complaining or negotiating, etc.  It's basically whatever behavior we are trying to work on improving at the moment. And I am pretty liberal with handing them out.  When they fill the jar (they are tiny little mason jars), they can pick a prize out of a bag that has a number of things I get on sale that I know they like.  OR they can earn $2 for their piggy banks.  Amelia wants the money, Ben wants the prizes.  It's great because the prizes are probably around $2 on average so it's the same to me but they feel in control of it.
Car: Help one of us either wash the outside, or vacuum out the inside of one of the cars.  This is going to be changed to $1 or more.  Ben did this last week and it took a lot of work so it should be rewarded much more handsomely!!

I am loving it.  Amelia has earned $6 in almost a month.  She will probably earn her $10 goal for her dollhouse room by the end of the month. We kind of set a cap at $10 for those and we will just eat the cost if it's more.  We thought anything more than $10 may seem like an unreachable goal and we don't want her to get burnt out.  I think the key is it's always an option for them to help or not.  Sometimes Amelia says she doesn't want to earn any money today and that's fine. Sometimes I like doing the chores alone so I am secretly relieved. But I always say that if I do it, I am not paying her and she doesn't throw any fits about it.  Ben typically doesn't wan to help.  He is really unmotivated by any system but I try to get him involved anyway. I like that it is something we can do together so they aren't bored while I am keeping the house clean and I don't have to feel guilty for not buying them stuff or for spoiling them. Plus, I hope I am teaching them a valuable lesson about keeping a house clean, the value of hard work and saving for something.  We'll see.