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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 for when you are sharing responsibilities with a partner, roommate,

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Speaker 1: or kids, consider whether a longer cadence of trading off

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Speaker 1: chores might make your loads feel lighter. So oftentimes, when

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Speaker 1: we are sharing responsibilities, we take turns on short timeframes.

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Speaker 1: You cook one day, your partner cooks the next, and

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Speaker 1: then it is your turn again. This week. Your daughter

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Speaker 1: sets the table and your son takes out the trash,

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Speaker 1: and then next week they swap chores and your son

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Speaker 1: sets the table and your daughter takes out the trash.

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Speaker 1: Roommates likewise might cycle through a schedule where one person

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Speaker 1: cleans the kitchen and the other vacuums the second floor,

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Speaker 1: and then they switch for the next week. If short

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Speaker 1: turns like those are working in your household, that's great,

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Speaker 1: carry on. But if you are feeling frazzled with doing

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Speaker 1: chores or with reminding other people in your household about

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Speaker 1: what chores they need to do and how to do them,

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Speaker 1: consider whether a longer cadence could help. That is, you

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Speaker 1: don't trade off for many weeks. Or possibly even months.

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Speaker 1: A few things happen with a longer cadence. First, each

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Speaker 1: person develops knowledge and expertise. If your youngest child is

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Speaker 1: in charge of setting the table for this semester, she

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Speaker 1: has plenty of time to get confident about what goes where.

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Speaker 1: She won't ask you every single night whether the fork

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Speaker 1: goes to the left or the right of the plate.

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Speaker 1: Or maybe your spouse is in charge of laundry for

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Speaker 1: the summer. After a few weeks, maybe he or she

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Speaker 1: will realize that everybody has what they need and life

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Speaker 1: isn't consumed with laundry if it mostly happens on Sundays,

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Speaker 1: with just one extra load of athletic clothes on Thursdays

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Speaker 1: so that the kids have clothes for weekend sports practices

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Speaker 1: and games. You may find that a longer cadence creates

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Speaker 1: unexpected other efficiencies as well. I know of one couple

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Speaker 1: that went from one person cooking the first half of

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Speaker 1: the week and the other cooking the second half of

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Speaker 1: the week to one person cooking the first half of

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Speaker 1: the month and the other cooking the second half. They

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Speaker 1: reduced their food waste and grocery spending by a lot.

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Speaker 1: They realize that whenever one person's turn in did food

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Speaker 1: that person had bought but hadn't used tended to go

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Speaker 1: to waste. With the longer cadence, they changed turns less frequently,

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Speaker 1: so they used more of the food they bought, and

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Speaker 1: less food ended up languishing unused in the back of

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Speaker 1: the fridge. Of course, choosing a longer cadence for chores

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Speaker 1: doesn't mean a chore is yours forever. If you feel

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Speaker 1: you have to rake the yard, or give the dog

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Speaker 1: a bath, or do the dishes forever, that could start

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Speaker 1: to feel burdensome. And if it's been ages since you

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Speaker 1: were in charge of a given chore, you may forget

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Speaker 1: what you can do to make the chore easy for

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Speaker 1: the person responsible for it. For instance, my hunch is

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Speaker 1: that the person who is in charge of dishes is

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Speaker 1: much likelier to use the same water glass all day

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Speaker 1: than a person who hasn't done dishes in years and

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Speaker 1: doesn't think twice about getting a new glass yes every

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Speaker 1: time she's thirsty. Switching chores keeps a given chore from

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Speaker 1: wearing you out, But we may not need to switch

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Speaker 1: chores as frequently as we assume, So if you and

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Speaker 1: others in your household, are feeling burdened by chores, consider

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Speaker 1: a longer cadence, perhaps taking on a given chore for

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Speaker 1: a month, a season, or a semester at a time.

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Speaker 1: By taking turns on a longer cadence, you have time

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Speaker 1: to develop expertise and efficiency without feeling like you will

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Speaker 1: never be free from the chore. How do you and

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Speaker 1: your family members or roommates share responsibilities? You can let

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Speaker 1: me know at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In

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Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's

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Speaker 1: to making the most of our tasks. Hey, everybody, I'd

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Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E

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Speaker 1: the number four then Breakfast pod. You can also shoot

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Speaker 1: me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com.

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Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much, should I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts

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