House Chores

[rjuchno]

So for next year I am the House Manager aka RA for my sorority house. On my campus, we have a greek village made of 7 houses that the university owns. With the university owning the houses, we have weekly housing inspections. This leads to having a chores system that the girls in the house must do so that we can keep our house clean and so the university doesn't fire me.

So what I'm asking for is some help if anyone has been in the same situation, and if you have been, could you suggest a possible chore system? Our current one is confusing and our house is always a mess. The areas that we are responsible for cleaning are: first floor living room/dining room, kitchen, and basement.

Thank you so much for your help!

Rachel XΩ- ΞΔ

[AOII Angel]

Are only the girls who live in the house responsible for chores? I was House Manager for the AOII dorm when I was a freshman. We had everyone in the chapter in the loop for chores since everyone came to the dorm and used the common areas. It wasn't fair to expect just the girls that lived in the dorm to do all the cleaning since girls who lived out would come in a make a mess. Basically, each week I would have each job assigned to a different member. They would come on Sat or Sun to do the chore. If it was not done, they would be called to standards, but you could have them get points for doing it, have points subtracted, pay a fine for not doing their chore, etc. Depending on how many girls are in your chapter and how many chores need to be done determines how often members have to do chores. Members who live in obviously do them more often.

Also, people need to not be animals. Pick up after yourself and have respect for others. There is no need for any of the common areas to be dirty or messy if you just pick up after yourself. Those areas are not your own personal space so don't treat it as such. As soon as it is made clear that this is the policy, the chores should be fairly easy-- vacuuming, dusting not picking up sisters' crap!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by rjuchno

So for next year I am the House Manager aka RA for my sorority house. On my campus, we have a greek village made of 7 houses that the university owns. With the university owning the houses, we have weekly housing inspections. This leads to having a chores system that the girls in the house must do so that we can keep our house clean and so the university doesn't fire me.

So what I'm asking for is some help if anyone has been in the same situation, and if you have been, could you suggest a possible chore system? Our current one is confusing and our house is always a mess. The areas that we are responsible for cleaning are: first floor living room/dining room, kitchen, and basement.

Thank you so much for your help!

Rachel XΩ- ΞΔ

As far as what AOIIAngel said, it really depends how much the house is used by all the members. If we had tried to foist "house chores" on women who lived off campus, it would have never worked. Just make it known that if anyone who doesn't live in comes over and cooks or anything, they have to clean up after themselves immediately.

How many people total live in the house?

Maybe break it down to:
Dusting - first floor
Dusting - Basement
Mopping or Vaccuuming - first floor
Mopping or Vaccuuming - basement
Mopping - Kitchen
Clean stove and sink - Kitchen
Clean fridge (i.e. just throw out old food) and wipe off tables and countertops - Kitchen
Everyone does their own dishes, unless you have a dishwasher - then just have everyone put their stuff in and run it once a day at the end of the day.
Also have a "free week" and make sure everyone gets one at least once a semester.

The bathroom is usually the worst so be thankful you don't have to deal with that.

Hope that helped

[ree-Xi]

First, I wish you luck! Getting any number of people to pitch in can be a challenge! I love everyone's ideas.

Depending on how many girls there are, it might be difficult to make individual chore lists. I don't know how many girls live in/out but what about splitting up each ares by pledge classes or academic years and rotate them?

Week 1:
freshmen - kitchen
sophomores - dining room
juniors - living room
seniors - basement

Week 2:
freshmen -basement
sophomores - kitchen
juniors - dining room
seniors - living room...and so on.

If there are more of a particular class or two living in, say sophomores and juniors, can you set up four groups by assigning several rooms to a group and doing it that way? It sounds like the most egalitarian way. Each "class" can have one or two people who schedule and keep the girls accountable. If you have the power to assert sanctions in the case of not getting the job done, then more power to you.

During mid terms and finals, you'd have to be more flexible, but really, keeping the place clean shouldn't take up THAT much time, especially if they pick up after themselves.

It might sound mean, but call out particular messes (as in, the girls who made spaghetti sauce on Tuesday left dried tomato bits all over the sink, or, whoever always leaves banana peels on the counter has attracted fruit flies) and girls might feel a little shame in their habits.

I'm not a neat freak but I can't stand dirt or food messes. >gag<

Good luck!!

[madeline21]

In my chapter we have a system that works really well!
Every Tuesday and Thursday the "house girls" do chores, and it's split up so half the house girls have chores on Tuesday and the other half do theirs on Thursday. So for example every Thursday I have to do my chore. House girls are responsible for cleaning the part of the house that they use the most, like the kitchen and upstairs bathrooms ect.

Every Monday and Wendsday "town girls" have chores. They clean up the common areas.

We have a sheet in our kitchen with our chore for that day and it is usually something small like "sweep kitchen" or "clean upstairs sinks". It works out so that if everyone does their housejob, everything gets cleaned twice a week!

I know it is a little confusing to explain and understand but I hope this helps! Good luck!

[louisianagurl]

Just out of curiosity. How big are your houses? How many girls live there as opposed to how many girls you have in your chapter?

[CeresGirl]

Originally Posted by madeline21

In my chapter we have a system that works really well!
Every Tuesday and Thursday the "house girls" do chores, and it's split up so half the house girls have chores on Tuesday and the other half do theirs on Thursday. So for example every Thursday I have to do my chore. House girls are responsible for cleaning the part of the house that they use the most, like the kitchen and upstairs bathrooms ect.

Every Monday and Wendsday "town girls" have chores. They clean up the common areas.

We have a sheet in our kitchen with our chore for that day and it is usually something small like "sweep kitchen" or "clean upstairs sinks". It works out so that if everyone does their housejob, everything gets cleaned twice a week!

I know it is a little confusing to explain and understand but I hope this helps! Good luck!

could you link us to an example or copy of the chore list?