Easy Peasy Chore System {review}

Our house is a disaster. It’s a little worse than usual right now because of a month or two of “light duty” (for Mama), followed by a month of new baby. But it’s usually a disaster – just maybe not quite as big a disaster. I get tired of “riding” my children to do what they already know full well they’re supposed to do. (Seriously. My children literally throw trash on the floor. What’s up with that? Clutter I can understand, but trash?! We do own trash cans.)

Anyway. We need something that works, and doesn’t require Mama to spend the whole day following three different people around while they do their work. For one thing, it’s not humanly possible to be in all three places at one time. For another, I can’t do my work and follow a child around at the same time. (I know there will be times when training is taking place. But there needs to be a time when training – at least on a particular task – is completed, because I have be able to count on somebody else to get something done some of the time; I can’t do it all!)

So when I heard about Easy Peasy Chores (part of the Natural Mothering bundle this week), I wondered if it was that miracle tool we’re looking for. I also wondered if it would compete with my mom’s Everyday Family Chore System, and create something of a conflict of interest for me to encourage you to buy it.

As it turns out, it’s different from the Everyday Family Chore System, but I think the two can be used to complement each other nicely.

Easy Peasy Chores

The Easy Peasy Chores system is built on the premise of making all of the necessary tasks visible for accountability. So each task has a card – sort of a “title” card (with a picture, for non-readers) – and these are all laid out in a grid format. Then a particular system is used for “cycling through” and marking the tasks, depending on whether they are not-yet-completed, completed-but-not-inspected, or inspected-and-approved.

This marking system is quite cleverly designed, and I love that it’s intended to be permanent/reusable. (That is, it’s not a chart system with stuff you have to throw away and replace every week. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – ‘though it may not be the most eco-friendly option – but it requires being organized enough to always have new charts on hand!)

Alina Joy Dubois (the author) uses button magnets for her marking system. These are a great idea, but they can get a little pricey. ($5.37/50, which she says will typically “cover” about 2 household members.) Also, they only work, of course, if you’re putting your charts on the refrigerator or some other magnetic surface. I have been trying valiantly to not put a bunch of stuff on our refrigerator, because it looks cluttered and makes me stressed. (Plus, when people open and close our back door, stuff tends to blow off of the fridge.)

I think it could serve the same function for a little bit smaller investment – and not require a magnetic surface – to use small binder clips, like these. ($5.38/100 – or if you prefer 5 assorted colors, $7.75/100)

The Everyday Family Chore System

The Everyday Family Chore System (along with having some good information about just getting your kids to help at home, in general) relies heavily on the How-to-Do-It cards.

You might think that because they both use cards, they’re in conflict, but they’re really not. The Easy Peasy Chores cards show what task is to be completed; The Everyday Family Chore System cards show exactly how to do each job. Now, the one potential “conflict” is that the How-to-Do-It cards are too large to fit into the Easy Peasy Chores setup. But there are two options (that I can think of). 1) You could fold the How-to-Do-It cards in half so they fit behind their appropriate “title” cards. Or 2) You could store the How-to-Do-It cards nearby in a pocket or pouch. (This is how ours were stored, anyway, when I was growing up.)