Me < Them

Well, the formula for the title of this post still isn't true, as I am still singly doing more than "them" combined in my household, but as I look at "Less" for myself this year, it's clear that part of that effort means "More" for my husband and kids.

During the winter break I did a lot of journaling and talking about what I currently do and what I could stop doing. We didn't find any really unnecessary tasks on the list, other than things that feed my soul, such as keeping this blog, writing in my journal, or doing yoga in the morning. Doing "less" of the things I love is not the intention of the whole "Less" theme for the year.

So instead of canceling tasks, I have created a family organizer and assigned some of them out. It wasn't really hard to create the binder: print out the month off my google calendar and stick that in the front, a free menu planner template from organized home, a chore chart from here for each member of the family, and a lesson plan template to organize our afterschooling.

I've given each family member a different daily chore, and everyone has something different do throughout the week. So we are taking turns with evening dishes, vacuuming, taking out the compost, etc. Other tasks that I still do all by myself (cooking, packing lunch boxes, laundry) still seem easier when I have a plan laid out in front of me.

I always feel less internally stressed when there is more exterior structure. It lets me stop thinking about it anymore, and just follow the plan. The rest of the family isn't exactly thrilled by the new chores, but at least my husband is supportive of the effort to make things more fair.