I mainly try to keep my floors clean to where nothing crunches on the lineoleum. No kids here, so I might, MIGHT mop once a month. Mostly I keep surfaces dusted. I'm not a cluttery person, so it's easy for me.

I am fanatic about my bathroom sink though, I use windex on it about every other day to keep it shiny. Disinfectant once a week. But then I have a lot of hairspray and stuff that would build up.

I have no system now that my girls are grown and gone. The Wonder Husband and I just attack whatever needs done, when we see it needs done. (Many times we are re-doing the "cleaning" that my mom has tried to do--very similar to re-doing after a 5-yr-old.) When the girls were home, we had a timer-system. I'd assign everyone a task then I'd set the timer for so many minutes and you had to get as much done as you could before the timer went off. Then there would be some kind of reward for everyone. (Usually it was "free" reading time. Bunch of bookworms in our household!)

I used to threaten them with bodily harm, but that tends to be frowned upon by others...:)

Now I have an ingenious system!! I call it the "Reverse Chore System". Basically, any time they are given something to do and I end up having to do it, they owe ME money!!! I will take a dollar for every time I have to put away a stack of laundry.....etc.

Money is a great motivator of children......

I have a system. It works fairly well because I have 6 kids who are fully capable of doing most any chore, therefore, my chart is for Monday through Saturday (6 days). For instance, let's take sweeping the kitchen. On Monday, that chore is assigned to one kid, all day. If it needs to be done 10 times that day, then that child is responsible for it each time. That way, I get no arguments about who made the mess. The rule is: if you make a mess, clean it up. However, the bottom line is that whoever is responsible for that chore on that day must be ultimately responsible for that area. On Tuesday, another kid will have that chore, so no one gets an unfair burden. Dish duty is assigned to one person for a whole week. Also, if something is particularly hard, I assign it to a pair: one older and one younger.

I made spread sheets on my computer, printed them out and posted them on the fridge. Actually, I have 2 charts...one is arranged by day and chore. The other is arranged by day and person. In other words, if a chore is not done on Monday, I can look on Day/Chore chart and see that on Monday little Johnny was supposed to do it. Then I know who to "encourage" to do their work. Or, if I want to know what little Johnny is supposed on any particular day, I can look at the Day/Person chart and under his name it lists all his responsibilities for that day.

Everything is assigned to kids: sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, cleaning bathrooms, wipe and sweep in dining room, dishes, laundry, etc. My job is to fill in any holes, pick up any slack and do the "deep" stuff that kids just don't seem to notice.

I know this must sound complicated, but truly, it is not and it has made things so much easier around here. Everyone knows what their responsibilities are on any given day, and things get done...maybe not how I would always do them, but better than not at all!

Email me if you would like me to send you a copy of my charts, just to give you an idea of what it is like.

Oh, and I forgot to say, when things get out of hand, I make everyone stop what they are doing and we all do a 10 minute (or 15 or 20) tidy. When we do that, I tell everyon to first make sure their chores are done, then look around and do whatever else needs to be done to put the house back in order. No one quits until it is in shape again. The faster we work, the sooner it is done and we can go back to doing what we want to do! ;-D

we don't have a system. it doesn't get done unless I do it. Sometimes the same two (one big, one little) volunteer to help, and sometimes not. Sometimes I make the other two help, and sometimes not. ;o/

On the plus side, we're all still alive and healthy, and having survived a similar system growing up, I'm not sure it permanently damaged me....!

system? you mean yelling down the hall- "time to clean up your room and bathroom!" isn't what i should be doing?

those two jobs are theirs alone and anything extra like folding clothes or picking up the baby's toys or mopping are things that get tossed in during the day as they come up.

LOL! If it ain't dirty, don't clean it. I think you've read this before from me. ;-) Maybe I should have a system, but what we do works for us so far.

I'm assuming you mean weekly chores, not daily. So when things need done, I write them on the white board and assign a person to do them. Or just tell them, "Do this now." And it's done. But we don't clean all the time. We just keep things picked up and put away.

I have two teens, a preteen and two younger ones, but the youngest is still over 6. The basic chores are:

Cooking - each person cooks two meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, dessert)a week, I cook the rest.

Cleaning up after meals - you cook, you clean the kitchen afterward.

Laundry - I do parent's, towels and miscellany, oldest girl does girl's, son does his own.

Cleaning kitchen - right now oldest girl does a big once a week steam clean, but that will be passed down to next oldest child on his birthday.

Cleaning bathroom - we do a morning wipe down, an after bath wipe down, and a weekly steam clean. I help the littlest two with the master bath, the oldest and middle girl clean the girl's bathroom, and the boy cleans his own.

Cleaning bedroom - we all do a pick up in the morning and before bed and larger jobs are on the monthly clean.

Daily vacuum - before hubby comes home we vacuum the house. It's the one job that he says makes the whole house look clean. taking care of our cavies and doing a monthly chore. Each day someone different does this job.

Cavy care - Filling food and water dishes, emptying and refilling litter corner, sweeping cage is done every day by a different person. Once a week, oldest girl helps me trim nails, and three times a week she completely cleans and disinfects the cage.

Once a month we do things like organize kitchen or bathroom drawers, clean switches and handles, take the vacuum attachments to the baseboards, ceiling fans, etc.

We have a few permanent assignments, like the oldest girl takes the trash cans down on trash day, the youngest gathers all the trash from all over the house a couple times a day, the middle girl unloads the dishwasher, the next-to-littlest sets the table for dinner and the boy takes the trash out every night. These are moved on to the next youngest when mastery is proven.

Do I like it? eh. It's a lot to keep track of. Zones would probably be easier, but didn't work as well for us. We don't pay allowances, or pay for these regular jobs, but doing them correctly without complaining "earns" them electronics minutes.

ha ha ha ha My system falls under the "Big Gaps" method. Sadly, sadly, very sadly. That's life.

We do have weekly and daily chores and certain things get cleaned on a weekly basis but even with those things being done my house usually looks so messy! Big Gaps.

Then I get blessed, so blessed, with the time and energy to clean up one area, one patch of the messiness, and I'm so elated. I'm elated until a week or two later and I notice that while I'm trying to work on a new patch of messiness the first patch of temporary tidiness has fallen again into MESS. Really our problem is clutter. I've read the books, I've bought the boxes, I've tried and tried. I will keep trying.

Interesting and encouraging aside: When my children were all away, once, for three days, my house was spic-and-span. It was great. I'd rather have the children than the spic-and-span house, OF COURSE, but at least I know it's not all my fault!!! ROFL

what, me clean? we hire someone to come in once a month, altho she does not do my private rooms, which are a disaster!!! i'm no help.