Homemade Chore Chart

(click on pic for a close-up)

Well, I think most chore charts are homemade, and made out of desperation so that you don't have to keep repeating their chores every single morning. I suppose that's why I made this one.

I've been working on this board in my head for about 3 months now and there's so many components that I just couldn't get it all together. So thanks to my little sis, Ellen, who helped me synthesize my thoughts and get them out into real life.

I'm totally ecstatic with how this turned out! Not only does this thing track chores on a weekly basis, but it runs a tally of allowance and extra money that can be earned for doing crappy chores that I hate to earn money (aren't I smart?), and also good/bad behaviors and rewards/consequences for each. You can probably see why it took me so long to figure out how it would look.

The beauty of this board is that everything is removable and can be moved around. I changed my mind about vinyl and went with magnetized laminated words because realistically, I doubt this board will be in affect for more than a couple of years and maybe I can reinvent the board for Tink when she comes of age - the age when she can slave for me (yay!) As chores are completed, Bugs will just take a magnet and put it on the square for that day. I had to make all of those magnets! That was one of the most time consuming parts.

About the Naughty/Nice section, depending on the behavior, Bugs can take a Naughty/Nice dude out of the "or" box and place it in its appropriate box. When either box is full she will get either a reward or the consequence (there's only one: no TV = UTTER DEVASTATION). Do you like the Naughty/Nice dudes? Google eyes and green pom pon noses. So cute.

But here's the most awesome part of this board! I traded a friend of mine for a Cricut a few months ago and have used it a couple of times but always feel frustrated and limited by the expensive cartridges. So Ellen (yay Ellen) told me about "Sure Cuts a Lot" the software that lets you use whatever fonts you want to cut on your Cricut. So I hacked came across the software last night and spent the better part of several hours getting it loaded and figuring out how to use it. This software is amazing! And thanks also to Amanda at Fonts For Peas, I was able to use some extremely cute fonts for FREE. You need to check out her site. Tons of totally cute fonts that you can download for no cost (ok, thanks again to Ellen for telling me about it - I'm starting to wonder who I'd be without her!)

In actuality, this project ended up taking me most of the weekend so if I'm going to paint, it will be this evening, and I just might do it.

If you're interested in this project, I recommend you make a sketch of how you want it to look like. It helped it all come together. Oh - there's a dry erase marker with velcro wrapped around it that goes stuck to that little white patch on the bottom of the chart. Where did the pen go?

Happy Crafting!

p.s. If you like this board and would like the directions & supply information, please just post a comment with your email address and I'll gladly send them to you. The only caviat is that I have been inundated with requests so now I will charge for the directions. Please send $7 for the directions, supply list and word file with the templates for word strips and fonts I used although Sure Cuts A Lot is no longer available for use with the Cricut, to my utter devastation. You may Paypal to the_nielsens2000@earthlink.net. Thanks!