Deck of Chores

I admit it. I’m a bit compulsive about housecleaning. I am really stressed out by a messy house. (If it’s my own. Please don’t not invite me to your house because you’re worried it’s too messy.) However, I am also very busy. (Isn’t everyone?) There is a tendency for the most "urgent" things to get done while letting other tasks be neglected. To keep that from happening I have a schedule. Not only do I have a schedule, but I have 4 helpers to get the housecleaning done. (OK, really only about 2-1/2 helpers.) We’ve been plugging along on our same assigned housecleaning duties for a year now, and we’re a little bored with the routine.

Recently I found something to help add variety to the mundane chores around the house. It’s called Deck of Chores.

Deck of Chores is a deck of sturdy, over-sized playing cards. On the face of each card is a chore. There are 12 different chores plus 1 Parent’s Choice card. These are repeated for each of the four suits in a standard deck of cards.

The selection of chores ranges from the common – vacuum, dust, clean bathroom – to those that are usually done less frequently, like cleaning the refrigerator or organizing the garage.

So how can Deck of Chores make doing chores more interesting? Deck of Chores can turn doing chores into a contest or game. There are many ways of using Deck of Chores. For example:

• You can shuffle the cards and deal out everyone’s chores for the week. Just adding variety helps, but you could also make the first person to finish their weekly chores be the "winner" with associated benefits. (prize, money, or bragging rights)
• You can play a card game like rummy or go fish in which players collect cards. The cards each player collects would be their chores for the day or week.
• You can play a game and the winner is rewarded with no chores for the week.
• You can allow trading of chore assignments.

One of the other advantages is that the cards are a physical reminder of the chore. Making the stack of cards shrink as chores are completed can be a rewarding to children. (And to adults too! I know I love checking things off a list.)

I received a set of cards to review. You can purchase Deck of Chores at www.deckofchores.com for $14.99.