Our chore system [Part 2]

You know all those household jobs that don't need to be done on a daily or even weekly basis but it would be nice if they got done once in awhile?  Things like wiping the oven door or dusting the baseboards?

(If those items happen to be on your weekly cleaning list, you're all kinds of amazing.  I don't even have a weekly cleaning list.  Basically, we clean Before People Come Over and occasionally in-between those times.  And we do quite a bit of daily tidying up.  But that's it.)

Anyway.  Then there are the areas of our home (maybe yours, too?) that just need a whole lot more help than others.  I've tried to zero on some of those areas and break them into quick little jobs, like: pick up three things from the bathroom floor and restock TP in the bathrooms.

This year I created a chore jar to account for all of those types of jobs.

The jar itself needs a name.  Mark and I spent probably an hour one evening trying to come up with one, and laughing all the while at all the silly names we came up with, things like: Helper Hub.  Teamwork Tub.  Jar o' Joy.  But we haven't settled on anything we actually want to call it.  (Any and all suggestions welcome.)

Twice a week, the kids will draw a job out and do it.  Most of the jobs will only take a couple of minutes.  So, while these jobs are in addition to their regular chores, they're quick- and they're only doing it twice a week.  AND- the best part?  There are "jobs" in there that aren't really jobs at all, but fun things, too.  Tucked in there right beside the slips of paper saying find three pencils to sharpen, check for cobwebs, and sweep the front porch is one that says go choose a snack from the snack bin.

Here are just a few of the other non-jobs:

Go for a swing outside
Help the person who drew right before you with their job
Eat a chocolate chip
Read a picture book to the younger girls
Go say hello to the chickens

The kids know there are some surprise non-jobs in the jar, although they don't know just what they are, which makes them eager to draw-- seriously. they LOVE this!-- in the anticipation that they'll draw one of the fun slips of paper.  And now those little random jobs are getting done occasionally.   (I also have blank slips of paper tucked into the jar so that I can keep adding as I think of new fun things or see things that need to be done.)

Why NOT make chore-time fun?