House Chores (Separate List or At Home List)

Joshua

Registered
Do you have a separate list for chores or does that just make things more complicated instead of including them in your At Home List?

I use Asana to manage my GTD system. I use My Tasks for a complete list of open loops and projects. My next actions are captured in subtasks. I use tags for Next Actions, At Home, Waiting For, Phone, At Computer, etc...

Right now I have a Chore List in My Tasks, but I'm thinking about eliminating this list and just tagging each chore with the At Home tag and then making them recurring tasks to recur x amount of days each time I mark them complete. The Chore List is not really a project, and it seems to be complicating the flow of my system.

I know there are many ways to handle these types of things, but I'm looking for some insight from someone with more experience with GTD. I've only been using the methodology for about 4 months.
 

Cpu_Modern

Registered
It depends on the particular chore, it isn't really relevant that it's a chore. Some I do have on the @home list, others I do have in the Tickler.
 
Do you have a separate list for chores or does that just make things more complicated instead of including them in your At Home List?

I use Asana to manage my GTD system. I use My Tasks for a complete list of open loops and projects. My next actions are captured in subtasks. I use tags for Next Actions, At Home, Waiting For, Phone, At Computer, etc...

Right now I have a Chore List in My Tasks, but I'm thinking about eliminating this list and just tagging each chore with the At Home tag and then making them recurring tasks to recur x amount of days each time I mark them complete. The Chore List is not really a project, and it seems to be complicating the flow of my system.

I know there are many ways to handle these types of things, but I'm looking for some insight from someone with more experience with GTD. I've only been using the methodology for about 4 months.
In GTD terms, I would say that each of your chores is an action that needs a context, and if you can only do a chore at home, then @home is the context, wherever you list chores. I use Omnifocus to track projects and actions, and it would allow me to have a Chores list and have recurring actions within that, so not mutually exclusive. I sympathise with you wanting a separate list for chores, and even tried putting mine on a separate app (Home Routines) - quite nice, and even gave me a little gold star each time I completed a chore! But I decided to keep chores in Omnifocus, so that I only had to look in one app for everything. On a separate tack, a GTD tool you might find useful is checklists. For instance you could have a recurring action to do house cleaning and a checklist covering all the things this entails. Some of my chores appear in checklists for morning and evening routines, but that's another story.
 

cfoley

Registered
I heard somewhere David Allen say that you don't need to track things that the universe reminds you of. Most chores fall into that category for me. I'll see that something is dirty or out of place and I'll just fix it: doing work as it shows up.

Exceptions for me are:
  • taking the bins out for collection which is on my calendar.
  • if guests are coming round I'll block some time to clean and tidy everything.
If it's just to keep things ticking over then cultivating the habits of doing things as I see them, and leaving things in a better state than I found them works for me.
 
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John Ismyname

Registered
you don't need to track things that the universe reminds you of. Most chores fall into that category for me
This is funny and true! When the universe (or my wife) reminds me to do a chore, I still have to schedule it. SO, why not make yourself a list of chores that have to be done at regular intervals and schedule them in a @ list?
- @ Saturday (weekly house clean, weekly car maintenance, update financial records)
@ every other Saturday.
@ first Saturday of the month
 

cfoley

Registered
If the universe reminds me at the wrong time then yes, it goes on a list.

Some examples:

Brushing my teeth: It's a habit. Not on a list.
Buying a new toothbrush. It's just not on my radar. I'll happily go 1 year with a worn out brush. It SHOULD be in my ticklers.

Feeding the cats: Another daily habit (but also the cats remind me). Not on a list.
Buying cat food. I get reminded at the wrong time. It's on a list.

Hoovering the carpet: I will be reminded at home, with the carpet and hoover handy. Not on a list.
Washing the shower screen. For some reason I am blind to this. It's on a list.

Putting rubbish in the bin. Another habit. Not on a list.
Taking the bins out: time sensitive. It's on a list.

If any of this stuff is on my mind when I am doing something else then I'll capture it. But if it's not got my attention, then why would I spend time capturing, processing and reviewing it?
 

cfoley

Registered
This is funny and true! When the universe (or my wife) reminds me to do a chore, I still have to schedule it. SO, why not make yourself a list of chores that have to be done at regular intervals and schedule them in a @ list?

If the wife asks, and you say you'll do it than you have a commitment. In that case, I would track that if I didn't do it immediately.

The list of chores could be a good approach to keep on top of things. If it works for you then great. Personally, I would try to turn most of that list into habits so that I wouldn't need the list.
 

ERJ1

Jedi Master
TickTick just added their habit tracker and I was THRILLED to be able to add, "wash dishes" to it. It's just a helpful nudge to do something I might otherwise procrastinate on! For bigger chores, like a house clean (I usually just freshen up before company comes) I have checklists stashed away so I can refresh myself on all the steps.
 

John Ismyname

Registered
Personally, I would try to turn most of that list into habits so that I wouldn't need the list.
I can do habits daily maybe every other day but if something less frequent than that , I need a check list triggered by a reminder system. For household chores, the most effective way is to pic a day and time and knock them all off in one go.
 

dominicanhorse

Registered
Of course, I have a list of household chores; without this, I would forget many details I need to do in the house and in general in real life. In fact, I advise everyone to read the diy chore chart article because it can help you do your business much faster and more efficiently. Also, many probably have children, and they will not listen to you if they just talk about what they should do around the house. Still, I made a diy magnetic chart from the Internet guide and wrote everything children should do around the house.
 
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