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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is to change it up. We're back to school.

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Speaker 1: September is a great time to revisit your household chore distribution.

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Speaker 1: No allocation of responsibilities works forever. You are probably changing

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Speaker 1: lots of routines right now as the seasons change, so

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Speaker 1: this can be a great time to shift anything that

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Speaker 1: has to get done. Most households wind up dividing and

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Speaker 1: conquering with a lot of chores. I cook, you wash up.

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Speaker 1: One person is in charge of laundry, and the other

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Speaker 1: is in charge of trash. One person walks the dog,

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Speaker 1: one buys the groceries. If there are little kids in

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Speaker 1: your household, you may have established teens for splitting childcare tasks.

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Speaker 1: If the children are older, they may have their own chores.

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Speaker 1: If all is going well, then carry on. But if

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Speaker 1: things feel unequal or people are getting really tired of

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Speaker 1: their current chores, then the back to school season is

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Speaker 1: a natural time to redistribute these tasks. Even if you

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Speaker 1: don't have school aged kids, this time of year tends

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Speaker 1: to bring new rhythms for everyone, so it's a great

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Speaker 1: time to experiment with new chore rhythms as well. There

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Speaker 1: are lots of ways to do this. First, look to

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Speaker 1: see if any chores aren't being done consistently or adequately.

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Speaker 1: These are chores that may be ripe for a new owner. Also,

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Speaker 1: ask the people in your household whether there are any

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Speaker 1: chores that they are tired of, or any tasks that

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Speaker 1: they'd like to take on. If you have little kids

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Speaker 1: in your family, pay attention to what they can do

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Speaker 1: now that they couldn't do a year ago. A ten

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Speaker 1: year old might take pride in being able to roll

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Speaker 1: the trash and recycling binds to the curb on trash day.

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Speaker 1: If you notice that his height and strength make that

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Speaker 1: possible for him now and it wasn't six months ago,

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Speaker 1: you may be able to let go of a chore

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Speaker 1: that you're grouchy about. He'll be excited about taking out

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Speaker 1: the trash, and you will be excited that you are

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Speaker 1: not taking out the trash. As you redistribute chores. Also,

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Speaker 1: consider whether there are any chores that you could eliminate

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Speaker 1: now that your kids are older. Could they walk to

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Speaker 1: school or bike so that no one needs to drive them?

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Speaker 1: Can they simply be told to showers, so you don't

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Speaker 1: have to actively supervise this. Can they do their own laundry,

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Speaker 1: or at least put all of their laundry away from

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Speaker 1: the dryer. Maybe they can make their own lunches or

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Speaker 1: figure out how to read the lunchmen you and buy

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Speaker 1: on certain days. How important is it to you that

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Speaker 1: your car darkling clean? Maybe you could wash your car

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Speaker 1: when the mood strikes, instead of thinking of it as

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Speaker 1: something that has to happen often. You might also automate

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Speaker 1: things as a way of lessening the mental load. Rather

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Speaker 1: than meal planning. Each week, you decide that Monday is pasta,

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Speaker 1: Tuesday is tacos, and Friday is pizza. Now you only

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Speaker 1: have to think about Wednesday and Thursday each week. Or

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Speaker 1: maybe you can come up with a template for those

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Speaker 1: days too. Or conversely, maybe you are working a different

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Speaker 1: schedule or several of your kids have left the nest

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Speaker 1: and you have more time for planning elaborate meals. You

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Speaker 1: could decide that Wednesday is new recipe night and then

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Speaker 1: have the leftovers every Thursday. The point is that just

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Speaker 1: because you have been doing something a certain way doesn't

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Speaker 1: mean you have to keep doing something a certain way.

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Speaker 1: The back to school season offers a fresh start for

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Speaker 1: routines and schedus jules, so use this time to figure

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Speaker 1: out if your current chore distribution is working for you.

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Speaker 1: With a little refresh, you may find that chores get

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Speaker 1: done effectively and almost painlessly, which would be a nice

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Speaker 1: way to start a new school year if you change

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Speaker 1: things up with chores. I'd love to hear how it goes.

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Speaker 1: You can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

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Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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Speaker 1: that's b E the number four then breakfast p. You

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Speaker 1: can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts

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Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out

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Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I look

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Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

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Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,