why play if you don't keep score

My husband and I are both competitive. We've carried that into our marriage and say things like "who's team are you on anyways" -- yeah, I know, not very good practice.

Here's the deal.... I work Tuesday - Friday but I still take the girls to daycare on Mondays. It's my cleaning day or in Joey's words "my day off". I cook, clean, pay bills, grocery shop etc. There's no way I could get it all done with them here so, to daycare they go.
Joey often speaks of "my day off". Saying things like - well you have Monday's off so you are able to get more stuff done. UGGH! ANNOYING. I guess he thinks that the 8 load of laundry that I do every Monday just magically make their way from the hamper, to clean and hanging in the closets! and the groceries magically make their way from Kroger to our fridge, and he probably thinks that we're just really clean people cause our floors, showers, sinks mirrors etc somehow stay clean week to week... WHATEVER!

Most of the time I do really well with a lot on my plate but occasionally it all catches up to me and a few weeks ago I sort of blew up. Joey asked why I was so stressed out and I let him know just that. . . via a 2 page list of things that I have yet to do, or have done, or want done etc.
So after the weekend blew over, I wasn't pissy anymore and decided that I'd get back to my routine. I decided to make a to do list. Not just any to do list but an official one, typed up on a spreadsheet.
I divided the list up into 3 categories - Reoccurring Weekly Chores, This week, and This Month. I put 2 check mark boxes next to each item on the list and you guessed it... One was for me and one was for Joey. I printed that bad boy off and hung it on the fridge. Like I said in my title... I like to keep score.
The get done This Week list includes things like "book hotel for next weekend" or "make dinner for friends who just had baby". Things that don't have a time requirements like "re-do shelving in garage" go on the This Month list and the Weekly Chores include things like Laundry, wash sheets, clean bathrooms, meal plan, grocery shop. Each chore has details.
Laundry = wash, dry, iron, fold, hang & put away.
Bathrooms = shower, tub, floors, mirrors, toilet.
All together there are 28 things listed on the weekly chore list. Of the 28 Joey consistently does "trash" and "recycling" oh and don't let me forget... he changes out the air filters when needed. YAY for Joey :-)
Now - with all of that being said Joey is a HUGE help with the "daily chore list". That's the list that I have in my head. I don't' dare print that one off cause he does a lot of those chores. I would still "win" but I don't want him to realize that he even comes close. :-)
The list has become my motivation to work my booty off on Mondays. I come very close to checking all 28 items off of the weekly list and it feels great!

I highly recommend this system to all of you!