Division of Household Chores

E and I have lived together a sum total of a little over 2.5 years (obviously this is subtracting the year we lived apart).  Before we lived long distance from each other and really before we moved to Boston (and I was a stay-at-home wife for a month and 1/2), Erik and I were in a really great groove.  Sundays were chore days and we each had our own tasks.  My preference would have been chores first thing Saturday morning so we could enjoy the clean apartment for the rest of the weekend but marriage is about compromising.  In contrast to my point of view, E's POV is that he has 2 days to do it so he'll stretch it out the entire weekend. This has been the subject of many fights and I assume it will continue to be.  He also does not like doing any chores on Fridays (but who can really blame him for that one).  Because I find cleaning cathartic (and honestly waaay better than bar study more recently), I end up with more chores and although this isn't completely equitable, I'm okay with that.

The biggest hurdle to overcome when dividing up housework is not getting into the nagging wife or "mother" role or, in the resister's case, the "petulant child" role.  It kills any romance. Seriously.  When we first moved in together, there was definitely an adjustment period.  I'm very organized and clean by nature—Erik is not necessary messy but more just doesn't see things or prefers to do other things with his time (in grad school, that was working in the lab).  The odd thing is that he prefers it to be clean but just needs help seeing the things that need to be straightened up.  At the beginning, before we sat down and divvied the chore list up, I would get angry at him and he would be, like, "it looks fine to me!" So, we talked about it and came up with a list of chores that we could each do every weekend (sometimes pushing things off if grad school was too insane).  Fortunately, a lot of the things I really disliked Erik would do and vice-versa.  Erik also told me that he really likes lists.  Rather than me tell him what I wanted to do, he would rather I put it in list form and just hand it to him.  Made him feel better about getting nagged, I guess. :) 

So, every weekend, I would make a list of everything that needed to get done that weekend with two columns for him and me.  Recently, and through some pinspiration (credit: keight, I totally stole this word from her because it's amazing) having to do with calendars and menus in frames, I came up with a similar idea for our chore list.  Our daily and weekend chores have little variation so I opened up Word, made these puppies and then put them into document frames we had lying around:

The font that I used was Zapfino.  I downloaded it ages ago from a free font website to make our honeymoon album.  Thought the font would bring some good vibes to the chores.

I put them up in the kitchen next to our cork board (used for coupons, apt. notices, etc.).  Also, this way they are in a visible place but aren't glaringly obvious for when we eventually make new friends and then invite them over. 
Side note: I've had that poster on the left since I was 11 years old.  I'm still impressed with my 11 year old self.

I know they are rather plain jane but I wanted to do something quick and dirty.  I kind of like the simplicity of them.  And besides, it makes the chores easier to read!  As you can tell from the photos, we color-coded them (pink and blue—how typical).  Since I'm the family "manager", I take care of assigning chores on a daily basis (usually the night before).  These have saved me a bunch of time so far and are more environmentally friendly that using a notepad every time!

Anyway, I'm sure all of you are wondering what Erik thought of all this.  I, frankly, was really concerned that he would be offended and feel like I was treating him like a child with a "chore list" available for the world (okay, our guests) to see.  I broached the subject very carefully with the ominous, "I made something today, and I'm not sure what you are going to think about it..."  Yeah, I know how to bring things up well, right?  His immediate reaction was, "We need to pin this!"  Isn't that cute?!  I was so relieved.  I think this is better for both of us for many reasons, not the least of which is staying organized and seeing what the other person is doing.  These two chore lists also are helping us more effectively communicate and run our little household.  So, yeah, yay us! :)  I should also note that Erik has been awesome the last month while I've been studying for the bar.  I study during the weekends too and had been getting stressed about the chores (hence this craft project).  Last weekend, he ended up doing a lot of the chores on my list (which he could clearly see thanks to our new set up), which was a huge relief.  I guess I'll keep him around for awhile.