Changing How We Do Chores & Technology!

Oh how I dislike chores . . . hence the reason they are called chores - "An unpleasant, but necessary task" . . . yes, yes, they are!  And what a love/hate relationship I have with technology!  So, why do a post about both of them?

I am trying to rethink the way we here at the Gorbics house do chores and use technology and am going to try and process that here on my blog.  It was much easier when the kids were younger - they loved helping out and technology didn't surround them nearly as much as it does now.

As much as I dislike chores, I do like a clean, orderly home.  And as much as I dislike some aspects of technology, I do use it quite frequently for learning, communicating, finances and to find out all sorts of information.  And yes, I wouldn't be able to blog without the wonderful world of technology.
BUT, how many times have I chosen to ignore the accumulating dust on my entertainment center to check in with Facebook, real quick?  And how quickly that "real quick" turns into much longer.  And not just for myself, but it appears my kids have this tendency also.  Shocking isn't it?!  There are times I see them with spare time and they quickly turn to an app, the computer, Netflix or a video game.  I have no idea where they get that from - - - > (ME!).

So, I've been perusing the technology world, aka Pinterest, for some ideas to help out in both of these areas.  Here is what I've found:

I am not the only parent with this problem!  Aaaah, there is comfort in knowing you are not alone :)

There are a LOT of great ideas out there! And . . . I am going to try and implement some of them and then update you on how it goes.

While we use the Gorbics family as guinea pigs, there are a few things I need to keep in mind.

• We do expect some chores to be done with no reward, monetary or otherwise.  I feel it is important that we all contribute to the running of our household.  
• My kids are more than capable and do not need a reward for being part of the family.  
• That said, I also think that using some sort of reward system can be a great learning tool (how to budget time and money, thinking long-term, etc) and we can all use some external motivation at times. 
• I will be adapting some of the sites below to implement my own system that will get our chores done, allow my kids to earn money and/or tech time and hopefully, make our home run smoother overall!

I liked these sites in regards to managing technology:

Near Normalcy

Sports Mom

Mudpies and Make-up

They all have great ideas and PRINTABLES!  I just love printables.  I like having something tangible to look at and to implement.

For some age appropriate chores, charts and how/when to do them:

My 3 Monsters

Money Saving Mom

Happily Unprocessed

Again, it is so helpful to read through their ideas and glean what may work for us.  And more PRINTABLES! :)

And, with anything, please do not let these add to your list of "things I should be doing" or "yet another thing I need to do", but use these resources as ideas, motivation to lighten your load, not add to it!

Hopefully I'll be updating soon with how we've been implementing these!

Rita