POCKET MONEY CHORES

Domestic chores are my least favourite occupation. Cleaning is a necessity I appreciate, but for me, if it’s clean enough to not be a health hazard, then I’m happy. I think it’s the repetitiveness of it all I find dull, plus I can always find many more exciting things to do. I can gain a huge amount of satisfaction from a deep spring clean and love rearranging the furniture, but every day? Forget it. Max and Charlie are now massive contributors to the daily carnage in our home, grubby shoes, dirty clothes, teenage magazines everywhere, soggy towels, not to mention the squalor of their bedrooms. I decided it was about time they made a contribution to the clear up. About time! I hear you shout.
I gave a summoning yell to the pair of them (which always makes them slightly nervous) and suggested they sat on the sofa while I delivered my ‘helping me with the cleaning speech’. Up till now Max and Charlie have been happily sticking out their little hands for cash every Saturday. A nice little earner with no strings attached known as ‘pocket money’. A generous sum I’ve always felt and for no real effort on their part. I gave it to them succinctly.
1. All dishes to be taken to the kitchen and placed on top of the dishwasher (can you imagine the mess if they dumped them inside?)
2. Beds to be made every day.
3. Every Friday night, bedrooms must be tidy. No dirty laundry, no mess.
4. All dirty clothes to be placed in the laundry basket in hallway by washing machine – NOT dumped outside Charlie’s bedroom on landing. (It’s become a bit of a habit.)
5. I reserved two other chore options to be delivered later. (Thought I’d keep a couple back, always good to have the upper hand.)
I finished it off with a ‘I expect them both to be generally supportive and tidy, blah, blah, blah’, which in hindsight was waffly and weak. That small indiscretion is going to come back and bite me big time.
Max was the first to respond with a snappy retort.
‘You want me to carry all my plates out to the kitchen after every meal?’
‘Yes Max, it’s something you do very well already, so just keep it up and you’ll be fine.’
‘So, if I eat more food and carry more plates out to the kitchen, I get more pocket money?’
‘Nice try – but no.’
Charlie had been silent for too long and his negotiations predictably arrived.
‘How many reminders can I have?’
‘No reminders Charlie. (I figured go in hard to show you mean business and then slacken off.) Step up to the mark, or forgo the cash.’
They both looked quite bemused. Although I have to say things are going well, but then, it’s only day three.