Managing chores and the responsibilities of your home while balancing other parts of your life gets easier when you figure out a schedule and what works best for you. Think about which chores are most important and how often they should be done to keep your home clean, safe and organized. What are errands that you need to run or use a delivery service for, like grocery shopping?

Learn why typical chores are important for safety to help you prioritize them. For example, cleaning the bathroom regularly prevents mold, keeps things from needing to be repaired as often and helps us avoid getting an infection.

Coordinating Chores and Errands with People You Live With

If you are living with a spouse, romantic partner, family or a roommate, it is helpful to have regular tasks that each person does. Make sure you are clear with each other about what you expect from them and what they expect from you. Discuss how you will take care of the things on your list.

Some people are neater than others. Agree on what the most important chores and errands are and how often they need to be done. Decide together if you will use a home cleaning or delivery service and for which things.

It can be frustrating if someone doesn’t do something you thought they would. Or they may get irritated if they think you didn’t do something they thought you would. Talk politely to each other about the issues and do your best.

Having a schedule for who will do what and how often can help. It can be helpful to have a list or chart of who does what. There are easy to find schedule formats if you search in Windows or Google.

Ask for help if you are not sure how to do something.

Different people may have different ways of doing things. For example, when doing laundry some people separate and sort dirty clothes by darks, whites, and towels, sheets and pillow cases. Others don't sort at all or only sort lights and dark clothes. There may be differences in how people dry, fold or hang and put away clean clothes. People often have preferences for how to load the dishwasher.

Staying Organized

Setting up places to keep specific kinds of things can make it easier to find things and keep your room or home clean. Occasionally cleaning out drawers, cabinets and closets for what you do not need anymore, and setting them up to meet your current needs can make everyday life easier. You can give away or re-sell things that you don't want anymore, clothes that don't fit or that don't fit into your life.

You can make chores more fun by listening to music, a podcast or a video you enjoy.

Organize your things in different areas of your room or home so you keep similar things in a particular place. This way when you put things away everything is together and you can find things easily. You can use inexpensive plastic bins or carts to store pens/pencils, tools and keys for example.

Grocery Shopping

Adding things you need to a grocery list in a list app on your phone or on a piece of paper clipped to your fridge makes it easy to see what you need when you’re at the store. Putting your groceries away in an organized way will help you find things. You could set up shelves in your pantry with labels for foods you like for snacks and different meals.

If you find grocery shopping and the costs of it challenging, ask your family or close friends who you think are good it for suggestions on

• Where to do your grocery shoppiing to find good food at reasonable prices
• Tips for saving money
• How to pick out food at the store to make healthy meals and snacks.

The Eating and Nutrition for a Healthy Life article in the Milestones Autism Planning (MAP) Tool has more information.