New Home, New Chores | Setting Up Chore Charts & Our Philosophy on Kids Doing Chores
Moving into a new home comes with a fresh start, new routines, and, of course, new responsibilities. That means it’s time to update our chore charts! If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I regularly adjust our chore system—usually at the start of a new school year. But this time, our New Home, New Chores update is happening mid-year because our space and needs have changed.
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Age-Appropriate Chores & Household Expectations
We’ve been homeschooling for eight years, and with a seventh grader and a third grader, our chore expectations have evolved. In our home, there’s a clear distinction between basic responsibilities and extra chores that contribute to the household running smoothly.
Household Norms vs. Chore Chart Tasks
There are certain things my kids are simply expected to do as members of this family. These don’t go on the chore chart because they’re just part of life:
- Making their beds
- Picking up their own laundry
- Keeping their personal spaces tidy
- Putting their laundry away
The chore chart is for tasks beyond these basic expectations—things that help keep the house running.
Chore Charts & Allowance System
In our New Home, New Chores approach, we reward completed chores with an allowance. Right now, that’s $10 per week for our oldest and $5 for our youngest, though we may adjust this since their tasks are balancing out more. Allowance is only paid if their chores are consistently completed. If they haven’t kept up with their basic responsibilities, they don’t get paid—plain and simple.
Bonus Bucks for Extra Effort
We also have a system called Bonus Bucks, which are earned for extra work beyond regular chores. This might be things like:
- Helping pack or organize for a move
- Tackling bigger cleaning projects
- Reading assigned books for extra incentives
This is a great way to encourage extra effort while keeping things fun and motivating!
How We Structure Chores
- No Weekend Chores (unless catching up)
- Balanced Tasks: Each child gets an appropriate mix of easy and harder tasks
- Flexible Assignments: Some chores are assigned specific days, while others are open-ended
- Manageable Time Commitment: Everything should be doable in about 20 minutes
We keep things reasonable—these are kids, not employees! If schoolwork or extracurriculars take priority on a certain day, chores can wait. We adjust as needed.
Chore Chart Design & Organization
Because I love a good theme, our chore charts are customized to my kids’ current interests. I create them in Photoshop, laminate them, and we use dry erase markers to check off tasks. This makes it easy to update or tweak things as we go.
Each week, we reset the charts on Sunday night, and my husband handles moving the allowance money into their accounts. Everyone is involved, everyone knows what’s happening, and my kids stay accountable for their tasks.
Why Our New Home, New Chores System Works
This approach keeps our home running smoothly while teaching responsibility, time management, and work ethic. My kids have even learned to leverage chores to negotiate privileges—offering extra tasks in exchange for more screen time or a family movie night.
At the end of the day, chores are about teamwork. We all live here, so we all contribute. Keeping it flexible, fair, and manageable helps create a system that works for everyone!
