Drastic with the Dishes

After being just SICK of never being able to get all the dishes done unless I do them myself, and after reorganizing the dish shedule again and again, with no success, I decided to go drastic. Family night a week and a half ago I introduced the new plan...

 Each person got to pick a set of dishes they wanted for their own. We first tried duct tape, but it came off too quickly so we used fingernail polish to write an initial on the bottom for identification. It is each's responsibility to use only their own, and be responsible for keeping them clean. We can tell who left their meal or snack dishes out - just look for the initial/s. Everyone got assigned a spot in the cupboard and we put most of the other dishes aside in a box, accessible as needed, but not to be used unless we have visitors or mom needs something for food preparation/serving, then she can pull from the few kept on the top shelf of the top cupboard.

(Utensils were not included in this plan, but the parents decided to set aside their own of those too, so as to never be without.) We don't have to keep all our glasses in the cupboard, 'cause we keep 'em here on the end of the counter - we've been doing that for about a year.  Gregory, where's yours? Oh, I found it in the first picture above. Dad has always kept his over above the stove.

Then we have a dish schedule for the rest of the dishes - pots, pans, food containers, etc. - as well as clearing and loading the dishwasher. Another schedule shows who unloads the dishwasher. It's working! really working, the dishes are getting done every day, (although I still need to tweak the dishwasher schedule,) and I don't have to do it. 

Actually the kids were all game, and wondering why we didn't do this earlier! Even Dad likes it. :)

 

Here's the other fun thing that we have going. It's a message board. I got the idea from a friend. I found an old picture frame with glass in it at DI, and I usually write a different message (dry erase marker) on it each day.  "Jesus loves you more than I do - WOW!" or "Smile - it increases your face value!" - you get the idea.  This time Kimberly wrote this one - one of her Dad's old logic jokes. The figuring below was about a related logic problem...go ahead, see if you can figure out what the question and answer were!