When I was growing up, we had daily chores that had to be done everyday before school. We also had a list of Saturday chores that were to be done on the weekend. They were always a pain, and there are no words strong enough to describe my feelings towards these chores. Hatred? Loathing? Abhorrence? Nope. Still doesn’t do it justice.

Knowing that we all hated our chores, but also wanting our house to be clean, my mom came up with a pretty awesome system. This was just for special occasions, and only happened about once a year, but we loved it. Yes. We loved doing our chores.

Here’s how it went down… On the counter, my mom would display 3 jars. Each jar was filled with slips of paper containing chores that needed to be done. They were divided into 3 groups, based on level of difficulty or time it took to complete.

Behind each jar is where it really got good. She would display all kinds of treats that we could earn by doing the chores. Behind jar 1 (the easy jar) was a pile of small treats, candies, and toys. But mostly treats… because she knew the way into our hearts.

Behind jar 2 was a pile of even bigger and better treats, and behind jar 3? Well, that was the stuff of legend. The 6 pack of kool-aid with the twisty tops that we were never allowed to drink? Yep. A full 2-liter sized bottle of soda? You betcha. {Ok, so maybe they weren’t the healthiest, but that part you can customize to your own liking!}

I remember being in awe that we could earn food that we didn’t have to share. Coming from a family of 6 kids, you have very little claim on anything. It all gets passed around and split up between siblings. So this was a big deal.

So big, in fact, that we would spend an entire Saturday burning our way through those chores. We had to move fast, because there was only one 6-pack of kool-aid and we all knew everyone else had their eye on it. But to prevent us from doing a sloppy job, my mom had to come inspect our work before we got the go-ahead to pick out our prize.

It was an awesome set-up. Clean house, happy kids (who might go into a sugar coma later, but still happy…) and memories that I will never forget.

So to help y’all out, I came up with a list of chores and treats you might want to use. You can download that HERE. The great thing is that you can completely customize it to your own liking. Don’t feel like handing over a giant bag of doritos to your 8 year old? No worries. Throw in a book or some art supplies.

In the spirit of making your kids earn their toys, I would supply fun things that you were planning on buying them anyways. I know I’ll give my kids bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and water balloons to play outside in the summer… Why not make them work a little for it? 🙂

**Head on over to A Mom in the Making today to check out a podcast of my interview with Theresa! She is so great and it was a lot of fun. Go HERE to see a video interview as well. Take a look around her blog, you’ll love it!**

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