A Job Jar for Family Weekend Chores

I can’t remember where I first heard of a job jar for kids, but it was successful in my family.

One day, I realized I could spend eight hours every Saturday getting organized and doing chores.

I listened to my lounging children discussing their weekend plans: “We’ll play computer games and read our fantasy books!”

I narrowed my eyes and contemplated my plans: laundry (two loads daily), raking up monkey pods, vacuuming, picking up the (small) house, returning library books, mowing the lawn, planning menus, and cooking meals.

With the boys at home, I wouldn’t get time on our one computer (Family history, letters, stories to write). I couldn’t lie around reading my novels.

Was that fair?

As I glared at them, I realized if everyone in the family devoted 60-90 minutes each Saturday to chores, everyone would have free time!

We might even be able to go to the beach or do something fun as a family.

With those figures in mind, I scribbled a chore list and announced a new addition to our weekends: the family job jar.

What is a job jar?

That’s what they asked.

I wrote out all the needed chores for that weekend: one task on each line.

I then cut along the lines to make paper strips, each listing a chore.

Folding each strip in half, I put them into a jar, shook it, labeled it “Job Jar,” and held it out.

We have smart kids.

They looked suspicious.

“We’ll go in a circle,” I explained. “Each of you will pick a slip of paper from the job jar until all the paper slips are gone.”

Their father watched, amused.

They reluctantly stuck their hands in the jar, one by one, reading “their” chore until the papers were gone.

“But I don’t want to do this.”

They complained. But I wanted to put fun into the task and introduce a little competition.

“You’re welcome to trade your jobs,” I said. “I don’t care who does the tasks on each slip as long as they get done.”

My husband, who was playing a computer game, upped the ante. “If you finish by 11, we’ll go to the beach.” (We lived in Hawai’i at the time).

The three oldest children began swapping their slips of paper in no time.

Our toddler, who loved doing anything the older ones did, also loved the job jar. She kept putting slips of paper in the jar and taking them out again.

While the brothers negotiated, “I’ll sweep the monkey pods off the roof if you’ll vaccuum,” the toddler and I read what she and I would do together.

(I swapped, “mow the lawn,” for “mop the floor.”)

What sorts of jobs went into the job jar?

Each family will have different needs.

Here are the types of things I wrote down:

• Make two beds. (Two slips said that. We had four beds).
• Fill and start the dishwasher.
• Collect all the recyclables.
• Sweep the lana’i.
• Vacuum the living room.
• Vacuum all the bedrooms.
• Clean the hall bathroom.
• Water the house plants.
• Clean out the cat litter box.
• Sort and fold the clothes out of the dryer. (Two slips said that. I moved laundry in between.)
• Collect all the finished library books into the library book bag.

Having introduced a ticking clock, my husband sat back and watched.

They finished all the chores in an hour.

I shook my head, amazed. We made it to the beach–including the time to make and pack a lunch–by 11 o’clock.

What a surprise! With the job jar emptied, we all had a lovely, mom-not-complaining weekend!

The most recent job jar.

Another generation, another job jar.

But, this time I needed to make it fun. Three Adorables were visiting and not expecting to work.

These are the types of things on last Saturday’s slips.

• Put five pieces into the jigsaw puzzle on the kitchen counter.
• Pick ten strawberries and put them into a bowl.
• Clip back the pumpkin plant.
• Sweep off the front porch.
• Collect all the picture books and put them on the shelf.
• Pick twenty pea pods into a bowl.
• Find the Roomba and turn it on.

They ran about the house, finding things, putting things away, picking fruit, and harvesting vegetables.

The older girls laughed the whole time, racing to see who would finish first.

The five-year-old loved it. They completed all the tasks in less than an hour.

Then it was time to play.

Why not try it at your house–if the need applies?

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A job jar to get the Saturday chores done–in a fair way. Click to Tweet

A job jar for inspiration, completed chores, and happier families. Click to Tweet