Just moved in with your favorite person? Not sure how to design a structure that ensures everything gets done? A household chore list can help you solve this problem. This simply refers to a list outlining all the tasks that transform your apartment into a clean, organized, and functional space. A customized list of household chores for couples specifically outlines and assigns household duties to individuals in a relationship while considering their strengths, interests, and professional work schedule. Now let’s dive into what couples should have on their household chore lists.
What Should You Include in a Household Chore List?
Household chores vary in frequency. While some need to be executed daily, others can wait a week or a month. Therefore, this list is intended to give you an idea of how to come up with a list of chores. Tailor it to suit your apartment’s needs.
Mandatory Daily Chores
These include those chores that you can’t afford to skip. If you do, your house will end up dirty, cluttered, or disorganized. When curating your list of chores, you should give this the most attention. Daily tasks tend to cause arguments between most couples since their timeline intersects with our professional timelines. Such chores include:
- Making the bed
- Preparing meals
- Taking out the trash
- Washing the dishes
- Cleaning the kitchen
- Sweeping or mopping floors
- Feeding pets
- Taking out your pets’ litter boxes
- Drawing the blinds
Weekly Chores
The majority of the house chores that fall in this category are aligned with deep cleaning. These tasks are tedious and time-consuming, hence requiring days when you’re off professional duties. They include:
- Deep cleaning the bathrooms
- Laundry
- Shopping for groceries
- Organizing closets
- Cleaning out and organizing the pantry
- Cleaning the car
- Watering plants (You might need to do this twice a week)
- Cleaning rugs, carpets, and curtains
- Changing bedding
Monthly or Occasional Chores
Also known as seasonal chores, these are chores that contribute to sprucing up your home yet you can’t perform daily or weekly. Most of them are heavy-duty and might require you to rent equipment.
- Mowing the lawn
- Cleaning or vacuuming furniture
- Decluttering the house
- Window cleaning
- Cleaning and changing window blinds
- Vet and grooming appointments for the pets
Additional Tips for Handling Household Duties with Your Significant Other:
Come up with separate lists for daily, weekly, and annual chores
- When deciding who picks up what task, consider each other’s strengths and weaknesses. For instance, it wouldn’t make sense for you to take up household budgeting when you don’t like math.
- Get help if you need it. After creating your list of chores and it’s too long, consider delegating. Get someone to mow the lawn, or hire a cleaning service for those super-tedious cleaning sessions.
- Remain flexible. A household chore list shouldn’t be set in stone. It’s safer to leave some wiggle room for adjustments when things are not working.
- Communicate with your partner! If you’re not okay with the household chore allocation, bottling it up only sets the tone for future resentment and fights.
- Give your partner room to perform tasks in a way that suits them. Do they prefer washing the cups first then dishes? Let them. Giving them space to operate optimally creates a seamless flow of work while reducing friction between the both of you.
See? Coming up with a list of household chores for couples isn’t taxing. Not only does it introduce efficiency into your home, but it enables you to get creative with your duties since you’ll be doing stuff you’re good at. And the best part is, a list of chores is also helpful among siblings and housemates. Speaking of which, if you’re looking for a roommate or somewhere new to move, consider using the Roomi App! Not only does it allow you to conduct background checks on potential roommates, but you can also leave reviews as well. The Roomi App is without a doubt, an efficient room and roommate finder thanks to these features and more.
