Put Alexa in charge of it
In our home, we have a list of chores, and everyone pitches in. But sometimes I spend so much time “reminding” them that it would be easier to do it myself.
So I put Alexa in charge. By setting up a Chore Blueprint, she can remind everyone when it’s their time to pitch in, and I don’t have to feel like I’m nagging, which is the absolute worst! Here’s how it works.
- Go to the Alexa app and tap More on the bottom right.
- Tap Blueprints. (If you don’t see it, you may need to tap See More to access it; it’s located on the main list, under Skills & Games.)
- Tap Chore Chart, then tap Make Your Own at the bottom and follow the prompts.
- On the first page, fill in the names of your household and the chores you want done. (The template has suggestions in place.) Just type over to enter your whatever you’d like to replace them with, and hit the x to delete any you don’t want. Tap the Assign button to move on to the next step.
- On this page, use the dropdown menus to select the person, the chore (along with the days of the week and time it should be done), and the device where you’d like the chore announced. When you’ve done the assignments for one person, tap Add person to move to the next one. Do this for everyone on your list, then tap Experience.
- Choose what Alexa should say at chore time. You can select a default suggestion like “It’s chore time!” or create your own. Then do the same for the encouragement that follows the command. (I like “Better get cracking,” but she has a number of them.)
- Add what she should say when the chore is finished.
- To finish, tap Next: Create Skill. It may take a few minutes to set it up, depending on how many people and chores you have.
When you’re ready to use, say Alexa, open Chore Chart. You can ask her the chores of the day, log when someone has finished a chore, and even check the score chart of who has done the most chores. (It’s typically me—some things never change.)