PINSPIRATION: CHORE STICKS

I’ve been searching for years for a chic way to display a chore chart.

There really isn’t one.

Well, there isn’t one that I could make and didn’t cost $100. I didn’t want a chart or something that would take up my whole fridge. I didn’t want something ugly or that would be really obtrusive. And it needed to be for THREE kids and easy to use.

So after browsing pinterest for months, I finally found this one that uses craft sticks.

Now, bless her heart, that girl can CRAFT. She even MADE the HOLDER. With a saw and a drill and all. I can barely cut paper straight, so I decided to skip that part. She also did highly stylized craft sticks, staining them so they are very shabby chic. I skipped that too.

Mine were much simpler. I just designed my own chore stick template on my computer and went for it. It only took me one evening, so it was definitely worth tackling. (Now if this is too crafty for you, you could just buy Colored Craft Sticks and write on them with Sharpies!)

I picked up a pencil holder at Target and we were good to go! This little thing sits in our kitchen and the kids know to check it every day. Each of my three kids has a compartment with their chores and I also added a “For Hire” section, with chores that can be done to earn extra money. (I will eventually get a nicer holder, but that was the bast I could do for now.)   SUPPLIES: Jumbo Craft Sticks Mod Podge (Matte Finish) sandpaper scrapbook paper First, type up what jobs you want your kids to do. (As the blog suggested, I broke my jobs up into time increments – Occasional jobs (chevron), 15 minute jobs (ivory), 10 minute jobs (red), 5 minute jobs (green) – I liked that idea so the kids could see how much time was expected. It also helps when someone has three small jobs and another has one big one.) Here is the chore stick printable I made up, with the jobs around our house. Use or make your own in Word!  I printed the jobs up on scrapbook paper Cut the jobs out into pieces bigger than the craft sticks. Mod Podge the craft stick, then place the scrapbook paper piece on top, carefully, smoothing out as you go. Let them dry for a few hours. Then I took a sandpaper block and sanded the excess paper off the sticks. And voila! What have you tried from Pinterest this week?