It’s Cleaning Madness This March!

This time of year, it’s all about basketball and brackets. Even if you’re not totally into the madness you can still take part of the fun. Instead of choosing top seeds and Cinderella teams, make family chore brackets complete with rewards. 

Here’s The Idea 

The official NCAA Division I Bracket includes a list of all the teams that made it to the big dance. These teams face off in the first round and the winner moves on to the next round. Eventually, the teams whittle down to the final four, then the championship game where the winner is crowned.  

 To adapt this for cleaning, put household chores in place of all the starting teams. The NCAA bracket consists of 68 teams from four of the country’s regions, but you don’t need to get that in-depth. A nice round number of 10 to 20 will work. Keep in mind the chores aren’t going head-to-head with a winner advancing, so you’ll need to fill out the entire bracket. (See the illustration below.) 

Examples Of Chores 

When deciding which chores to list, we suggest including tasks for everyone. Kids are always more motivated to clean when you make it fun! Some examples of kid-friendly chores include putting clothes away, dusting low surfaces, picking up toys and games, making beds and taking out the recycling. For older kids, put emptying the dishwasher and vacuuming on that list. Read our complete list of age-appropriate chores here. 

 Since spring is right around the corner, use this opportunity to make up a bracket for spring cleaning. Break down big chores to make the task more manageable. For example, instead of writing “clean out the garage,” list clear trash, recycle empty containers, reorganize shelves and sweep and mop floor. Partitioning tasks gives everyone a job and direction to get it done. Spring cleaning is a big job that most of us aren’t excited to tackle but making a bracket with a nice reward at the end is a definite motivator.