chore sticks, lazy girl style

I fell madly in love with the idea of chore sticks.  Not only would they be something tangible that could be moved around to indicate a job is done (something my tactile kiddo needs), but they could also be adorable. So I started off this saga with free printable ones I found online that are simply drool worthy.  The down side of these beauties?  I had like 5 made after 30 minutes.  Yeah, I am far too lazy and seeker-of-instant-gratification-y to be down with that.  It was also a couple days into summer and I was sick to death of our lack of schedule and organization and becoming wildly desperate.

Cue the paint and Sharpie fest.  Did I mention I have a thing for Sharpies?  Um, yeah.  Disappointed that I really could only use black and silver pens, I had some fun with the colors of paint.  I did these chore sticks in conjunction with my even more desperately needed "I'm bored" sticks.  More on those later though.

So I started off with creating a list of chores that evil Mom and slave driver Dad expect done daily, weekly, and then all the other stuff we would like done that we think is kid safe (no changing lawnmower blades or checking the AC unit on the roof).  Then I put them into categories, color coded the categories, and hit Hobby Lobby for paint and craft sticks.

paint one side, then the other

let them dry

admire your pretty colors

write chores on sticks

figure out what to do next

Once I had them all made and written out I needed a system for actually using them.  I could have done separate cans, but I happened to have this horrible looking utensil holder from Hobby Lobby in a lovely shade of eye bleeding orange ... so the next part of the project was to make that not look hideous ... more to come ...