DAILY HOUSEHOLD BINDER: Kids Daily Job Lists

Back when I was a cRazEd pregnant Lady and I was craving some structure in our home I created this Daily Household Binder.  It sits right on the desk in my kitchen as a big reminder to me daily: "USE ME".  I DO NOT like a lot of clutter on my counter tops but I make an exception for this because I refer to it so often.  It is basically our household bible.  

 

Inside I have 8 different tabs: 1- Schedule, 2- School Info, 3-Job Lists, 4-Fitness, 5-Phone Lists, 6-Family Outing Ideas, 7-Take-Out Menus, and 8-Cleaning Recipes

Ok so I don't use all these tabs really.... if I was super cool I probably would.  Like I really want to make all my cleaning supplies, but right now in that tab are about 12 sheets of paper: All Blank!!
AHHHH someday when I am supermom....

In the SCHEDULE Tab I have our daily family schedule, which I have since changed and keep posted on my wall, but that is another post.

In the SCHOOL INFO section I keep all the school info that must be kept all year. 
-Right on the divider I have taped the School schedules: school start, stop times and bus pick up and drop off times. My kids have early outs on Fridays and they are at 2 different schools so it is way way way way way too many times and numbers for this brain to handle without a cheat sheet.  I also have taped to the divider the Middle school class schedule with the start and stop times of their 8 classes and lunch breaks.  Then I can quickly refer to it if I need to know when my 2 older kids are between classes and need to check them out or sneak in to write love notes in their lockers.  Ok so I just made that last part up, but wouldn't it be cool if I actually did that!!  I would show you a picture of all that, but then anyone could stalk my kids.....and we can't have that!!  I also keep this info in the notes section in my I-phone (along with their locker combinations).  That is soooo handy.

On the back of the divider is a pocket that I slip my preschoolers monthly calendars in after I write all the important info on our Posted Family Calendar.  Then within the tab I keep the School lunch menus and each child has a sheet protector with info I need to keep for them all year long... Like the middle schooler's year long list of classes they will be taking, class and teacher info, etc.

Next is my favorite The Job List Tab. Which is the whole reason for this post.  I end up changing our job tracking system every so often because the kids loose steam or it just isn't working right, but this has been working for a while and I really like it.  I just plop this baby on the counter in the morning and the kids are supposed to mark off their jobs.  (In all reality I forget a lot, or they slide under the radar, so I am in the process of revamping to help them be even more accountable.)  I pay them each day if they got EVERYTHING done.  Inside it looks like this:

(I only have jobs in here for my oldest three because Miss Lulu is only 4 and she needs something more fun!!)  There are 6 pages... each time you turn a page is a new day.  So in the picture above the first column is for Tae, the second column is for Mr. J, on the other side is Miss P's column and next to that is my zone job list.  The zone job list is actually in a sheet protector I cut in half lengthwise and taped on the side to seal it back up.  I then have it taped at the top of my last weekday page so it can lift up and be put over the page you are open to.  You will see why in a minute. 


Here are examples I have blown up for you to get a better view... I put a different day of the week for each kid so you can get a better idea of how it works. 

Ok so the Zone list:  Each week each of the older 3 are assigned a zone, and then we rotate zones on a weekly basis.  So at the top where is says 1, 2, 3 in a triangle I write in the child's initial by the zone number, so we remember who is on which zone. We use a wet erase marker for the zone sheet and a dry erase marker on the daily job lists (comes right off over the sheet protectors).  In the binder I actually have M,T,W,Th,or F written in the box next to the job so they know what days I want them to do what.  The Main zone job, they are in charge of 3 days and the other days they have different jobs.  

 

You may have noticed that I have times next to certain things on their To Do lists.... this is more of a guideline than a rule :)  Honestly I am good at making lists and not so good at following through with these lists...  Plus a lot of the time there just isn't time in the day to do EVERYTHING, but that is ok.  I really think that if you have the bones of the structure in place then at least once in a while things can run smoothly...... Once in a GREAT while!!!  Its a work in progress, and I will keep you updated as I tweek the system to encourage personal accountability. 

 

(P.S. if you are looking for an electronic way to keep track of your kids daily jobs, check out Chore Pad for your I-pad, I-pod, I-phones.  We used that for a long time and it worked really well.  Lulu still uses it but the older 3 got sick of it.)

 

Back when I was a member of the local Gym, before my daughter went to middle school an hour earlier then the other kids and totally turned my world upside down, I kept the Group Fitness schedule under The Fitness Tab........... oh Zumba, how I miss you....!  So anyway its pretty dusty in there!

 

The Phone Lists section has emergency numbers, as well as Dr's and Family and Friend contact info.

 

The Family Outing Ideas section has a list of localish places we could take the kids if we were fun parents.  Right now I have 3 items written in there.  Yep, I am totally fun!

 

The Take-Out Menu section has, well, Take-out menus.

 

And I think I have already told you about the final, totally used, Cleaning Recipe section.

 

Now you may be wondering why I have shown you this Binder that is only half useful to me right now; well it's because these are things I hope to do someday.  Plus "Its not a goal until you write it down" or in this case make an elaborate binder for it :)

 

What do you have to keep your family life on task and organized?