Chores...Postie Style!!

I have got to tell you!! We are on Spring Break this week--and it's always a hassle to find activities to keep the kids occupied for the week--let alone the nightmare of actually getting them to help me with the housework!! But I devised a plan!!

When they woke up Monday morning there was a huge cork board on the wall. There were white envelopes covering the board. Each envelope had a yellow sticky note attached--and a dollar amount written on them. Inside the envelope--the cold hard cash that was written on the envelope. On the sticky note--the job that must be accomplished in order to remove the money from the envelope. There were the regular $1.00 Ops as well as a couple of "big money" Ops of $5.00 available!

The mission: Each child could only take one "Op" at a time--remove the yellow sticky note to 'reserve' it for themselves, and when they finished the "Op" they could remove the money and choose a second one! I also threw in a few "postie patrol" quick money jobs!! For example--2 minutes to gather all of the shoes strewn about the house and put by the front door--$1.00. All of the video games and DVD's picked up and put in their cabinet in 2 minutes--$1.00, etc!!

I have to say--I had my Jake, who has proclaimed himself "Not the chore type" running around the house earning money! Each child (3) earned $5.00. I got 2 bedrooms cleaned--the living room and family room picked up, the bathroom clean--and the vacuuming done!! For $15.00---I think I made out like a bandit!! We are going to try it again today--although, I don't have much left to do!! I guess it will be $1.00 per load of laundry that gets done!! Wow, with just that--it will be another $15.00 day!!

If you have kids who don't help out--give this "immediate gratification" route a try--it was amazing!! Let me know how it works for you!!