After Dinner Jobs

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My kitchen is usually clean. Of course, we aren’t robots, so you’ll occasionally find a mess. Most of the time, though, the kitchen is pretty clean. That is no small miracle considering the abuse the kitchen takes every day from all of us that live here. The secret to being mostly clean are habits.

The habits that make a difference:

Dishwasher: We run the dishwasher every day and it is one of my kids’ daily chores to empty it. The person with that chore rotates week to week.

Weekly Deep Clean: I recently shared on instagram about my Monday habits. And of course, I’ve talked about a weekly cleaning routine endlessly over here on the blog.

Every Monday, I give my kitchen a little shining. I – ☑️ clean out the fridge and microwave ☑️ wipe down the counters, appliances, and even the trash can ☑️ sanitize the sink and ☑️ mop.

This routine helps me start the week feeling in control. Then, when I grocery shop (every Monday night after the kids are in bed), I like unloading groceries into the clean fridge and tidy space. This simple routine brings me so much peace!”

After Dinner Jobs: This is the big habit I’m mostly sharing about today. The summary of this habit it to make sure the kitchen is clean right after dinner. Do not leave the mess for after the kids are in bed or after you’ve watched a few chores. It goes so quickly when it is done right away.

The other night our older kids complained about the after dinner jobs. Even though it has been a habit for years, kids still test boundaries every now and then. Their main complaint was that they had so much homework, they didn’t have time to clean the kitchen. I said “I understand, you’ve got a lot of homework, please just give me 10 minutes of hard work and that’s it, you can get back to your homework.”

Guess what? Spoiler alert: the kitchen was completely clean in 10 minutes of everyone helping out. Technically, it was only about 8-9 minutes.

I’ve shared this printable before, but I added a 3rd page, where you can write in the jobs that make sense to you. We go a little beyond these jobs, though, our philosophy is that everyone keeps helping until everything is done. So, if you finish your job quickly, you help with another job until all the jobs are done.

The chart helps to make sure kids are learning and experiencing different jobs, not always just doing their favorite thing.

**This comes together super easy. All you need is to print out the pages, then use a paper fastener for the center of the wheel.**

Download the FREE After Dinner Cleanup Printable.(For personal use only. Feel free to share a link to this blog post with friends or family who may like this printable.)

Download the NEW After Dinner Cleanup Printable – it includes a blank wheel so you can add your own chores. (For personal use only. Feel free to share a link to this blog post with friends or family who may like this printable.)

Help them be helpful!

When kids are young, they need a lot of help to be helpful. It can feel like it’s not worth it to have them help, but trust me, it is soooo worth it. You are giving them life skills and creating a sense in them that they are an important part of the house running smoothly.

Telling our kids they are awesome only goes so far to affect how they feel about themselves. Real work is what creates real confidence.

And there’s more …

I created this to match the Clean Routine Printable.

I hope this helps make a difference for you! A clean kitchen is such a mood-boost!

From my home to yours,
Mary

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