House Manager, any ideas?
 

Hello All! I have just become House Manager for my sorority and was wondering if anyone has any good ideas for making my office fun or getting girls to do house duties/clean up or just wants to let me know what other sorority House Managers do?

Try contacting the other House Managers on your campus. Sometimes, they have an email listserv or meet up occasionally to discuss ideas, etc. This group may also be a great resource:

http://www.mgca.org/programs/housedirector/

If cleaning is an issue, find out the going rate of a cleaner and see if the women would want to spend the extra money, or conversely show them how much money you're saving that can go towards lower dues or fun things.

If you're also involved in food (some house managers are) try and get input from women about the menu or theme nights so they feel as if they have a stake in what's going on. Maybe a "rant, rave, crave" board where they can share what they don't like (rant) what they do like (rave) and what they'd like (crave).

Lastly try and "green" your house up a bit (with help from your house corporation and maybe the local utility companies) by working on using less electricity, less water, and recycling to cut down on trash. My campus has a Sustainability Center that could be utilized, maybe yours does too. If you can sell aluminum cans back perhaps they can be collected and the money given to philanthropy or the house fun, and if you have a computer lab with a printer encourage women to print double sided and have paper recycling.

Love the Rant, rave, crave idea. I'm passing that on to our House Manager.

One more thing. The house manager needs to work closely with the House Director. It is a team deal. No House Director, then the House Corporation Board are your new bff. Just got off the phone with my HM finalizing move-in and making sure all our ducks are in a row. Welcome to psychology 101. You will learn so much about human nature in your year as House Manager. Good Luck!

The House Manager at the chapter where I volunteer makes a monthly calendar for cleaning duties and posts it, along with the cleaning duty lists, in plain sight. She and the chapter president are on the cleaning calendar right along with the other girls- in fact, a little more often than the other girls- so they're not exempt from dishes and trash!