A Housekeeping Chore Box

Years ago, after reading Survival for Busy Women, I went out and bought all the accoutrement to make a Homemaking Chore Box. 

Emilie Barnes calls it part of the Total Mess to Total Rest system. A box with all the cleaning details I needed to do around the house each day, week, month, etc. Somehow it didn’t grab me. It wasn’t cute enough and I found much better success with keeping my household details in a binder.

Zoom in on today. I’ve been crafting a little lately and while I still love my homemaking binder I find myself wanting to make a cute housekeeping chore box.

You can follow my saga on the blog but for practical purposes I thought you might like a few details on how to put one together.

Very similar to the system outlined in the book Sidetracked Home Executives, Emilie Barnes' system does not require as many cards and includes a section for keeping track of stored items. I’m not sure I’ll use the stored items section as I tend to write on our boxes in the garage what is inside.

Supplies

1 3x5 index card box
7 tabbed dividers
index cards of various colors

Directions

1) First label all of your dividers as follows
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Quarterly
Twice Per Annum  (or year)
Annual
Storage

2) Next go to your first section, Daily. Make an index card for every housekeeping thing you need to do on a daily basis .

3) Go to your weekly section and make an index card for each day of the week.  On those cards put the items that need to be done on that day. For example on Mondays I clean the household bathrooms (why, oh why?). Wednesday and Friday are errand days. Keep it simple. You can always make more cards as you find if the system will work for you.

4) In your monthly section label an index card for each month and then on that card put the items needed to do for the month.

5) Repeat the same process in the Quarterly, Twice per Year, and Annual sections. Write up what you will need to do during those times. For example changing furnace filters, or preparing for the garden are seasonal items you can fit in here.

6) The Storage section comes into play with labeled boxes. After decluttering Emilie advises you to pick up what she calls “Perfect Boxes” and use them for your storage. Label the boxes 1 through how ever many you have. Then make an index card for each box. Put the name on the top of the card. You know, “Box 1” etc. Now list what you have stored in each box and and where the box is located. Now when you need something you’ll know where to look.

What I’m going to change:

Instead of just an index card for each month I would like to have a tab for for each month.That will keep my monthly cards from being overloaded. Then I will make an index card for each thing I do that month...I think.

How to use them is also a subject that has been roaming around in my head. I've thought to pull out the cards needed for the next day, the night before. And then put them in the front of the file to pull out, do, and file back the next day. We'll see. The idea is so cute though and if binders don't work for you, you might give this a try. No need to go through all the painting and such that I have. You may have what you need right in your home.