20 Chores a Young Adult Can Do While Living at Home
There are a number of reasons why a young adult may be living at home with their parents. Maybe they didn’t go to college, they went and withdrew, or they made it all the way to graduation and decided to return. No matter the situation, it’s important to have house rules or expectations in place for when they’re under your roof. It’s not for the sake of controlling them, but rather directly communicating and advocating for expectations around respect, and contributions. All in the name of peace! So if a young adult lives at home rent-free or with reduced expenses, contributing to household labor is essential for building real-world adult responsibility and keeping the living arrangement fair.
Assigning specific, owned chores rather than just asking for help on an ad-hoc basis gives the young adult full accountability for keeping the household running and puts them in a roommate role, rather than slipping back into a parent-child dependent dynamic. If you’re a parent and aren’t sure where to start with chores to ask of your young adult, here are my top twenty ideas:
Menu Planning and creating a grocery list.
Grocery shopping. Bonus points if it’s in a budget.
Cooking Meals.
Clearing the table, washing dishes and/or keeping kitchen clean.
Loading, starting, and unloading the dishwasher.
Wiping down inside the refrigerator, and cleaning it out of expired foods.
Deep cleaning the stovetop and inside the oven, emptying the toaster over tray, and cleaning out the microwave.
Clean pantry, which includes tossing expired foods.
Deep cleaning shared spaces like living room, dining rooms, hallways, and entryway by vaccuming, dusting, sweeping, mopping floors, wiping down countertops, etc.
Taking full charge of keeping their own bathroom (or shared) clean which includes wiping down, scrubbing, and disinfecting the shower, sink, and toilet. Also restocking toilet paper, and switching out to fresh towels.
Keeping their personal room. This includes a number of chores which is not limited too but might include making their bed, switching out bedsheets, keep items off the floor, doing their own laundry, removing any food items properly, emptying the trash, etc.
Picking up the mail from the mailbox or Post Office box.
Outdoor or yard maintenance like mowing the yard, raking leaves, shoveling snow, weeding garden beds, trimming hedges, clearing gutters, or sweeping a patio, deck, or driveway.
Seasonally switching out screen windows and doors. This includes cleaning them, installing them, and putting them away properly.
Managing Trash & Recycling. This requires emptying all bins from the house into the resepticles that are then placed by the road for weekly pick-ups. It also requires putting new trash bags in trashcans. It also requires bringing bins back to their resting places for the week.
Washing, drying, folding, and putting away shared household linens including bath towels, kitchen hand towels, dishcloths, bed sheets, comforters, etc.
Random household maintenance repairs such as replacing lightbulbs, smoke detector batteries, touching up paint, wiping walls, making sure headlamps are always charged, or handling minor DIY fixes around the house. This likely includes knowing where tools are located, names of tools, and how to use them.
Helping with tech maintenance or support for family which could include resetting router, reconnecting wifi, signing in to all streaming platforms, helping with laptop tech issues, or replacing toner in a printer.
Running household errands for your parents that could include picking up prescriptions, dropping off or picking up dry cleaning, picking up food take-out, taking vehicles in for oil changes and inspections, handling returns, or driving a sibling to/from school or activities.
Pet Care is not to be left out! This includes daily feeding, walks, cleaning litters boxes or cages, picking up dog poop, grooming, purchasing pet supplies, and helping with vet visits.
Be specific on the timing of each task. You can require it “after every use,” or “once a week.” It’s also important to show a young adult how you want a task done. There is nothing that will shut a young adult down faster than not leveling up to their parents expectations when the expectations were never clearly communicated (or in this case, shown). This will also avoid your own resentments for your child’s efforts.
If your child is commits to helping but then doesn’t follow-through, that’s a different conversation altogether.
For questions or comments contact Joanna.
