It's Chore Day in the Loud house, and Lincoln is the one who has to take out the trash. However, he notices that his sisters' chores aren't as bad as his: Leni's chore is cleaning the hair out of the bathroom sink and shower (which obviously doesn't take much effort), Luan, Lynn, and Lucy all share a chore by working together to do the dishes, Luna's chore is vacuuming the house, Lana's chore is picking up after the pets (though Lincoln sees it more as a hobby for her), and Lori's chore is doing all the laundry, and that has a machine do all the work for her. Trailing the trash outside on the walkway turns out to be the last straw for Lincoln as he demands that one of his sisters swap chores with him. They refuse, prompting Lincoln to go on strike until his demands are met. His parents, believing that the children will settle this debacle themselves, decide to construct a jigsaw puzzle rather than intervene.
Overtime, the house becomes littered with trash until the girls can no longer stand it. Eventually, his sisters come up with a plan get him to end his strike: go on strike themselves. Lincoln refuses to do so and soon, the conditions of the house severely deteriorate; among other problems, Lynn gets caught up in a ball of sink hair, the trash has mixed with Lisa's chemicals to create a trash monster (whom she names "Trashy"), a raccoon has moved into the house, Lola's behind the scenes interview for the Miss Cute N' Mean pageant goes bust and Clyde receives a message from Walt that Lori wrote that was meant for Bobby and Lisa not paying the bills leaves the house without power.
The girls finally have enough of the mess and urge Lincoln to give up his strike, but he still refuses to do so... until he hears Lily crying. Finding that she's not in her crib, he concludes that she must be hidden somewhere in the gigantic mess. Feeling ashamed, Lincoln finally ends his strike so that he and his sisters can clean the house and find Lily. After the entire house is spotless again, Lily still can't be found, but it turns out that Lily was with Mom and Dad the whole time (since they knew better than to leave her surrounded by filth).
The kids strike again for cash.
When Lincoln takes out the last of the trash to be picked up by the garbage truck, the Louds' next-door neighbor, Mr. Grouse, informs him that the truck won't be coming because the garbage men are on strike for more money. Hearing this, Lincoln realizes that he and his sisters have been doing all the housework for free. Enraged, Lincoln and his sisters go on strike once again, this time to get their parents to pay them for their chores. Rather than deal with them, they decide to continue with their jigsaw puzzle, much for their father's amusement.
The music that plays during the title card is unique, because it doesn't play for any other episode.
This episode reveals that Clyde only acts nervous around Lori because she already has a boyfriend, and feels braver to confess his love to her when she's presumably single.
Moral: Doing your fair share creates harmony among others.
References
Chore and Peace - The title is a parody of Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace.
Pokémon - Trashy has some characteristics similar to that of Muk and Garbodor, two foul smelling Poison-type Pokémon that consist of rotten materials, such as sludge and garbage.
Edwin Starr - At one point, Luna said "Chores! Huh! What are they good for?!" Which is a reference to the 1970 hit "War".
Errors
Lucy's mouth disappears for one second.
When the Loud Kids (except Lily) are on strike again for cash, when the camera gets on Lucy, she is not chanting and holding up her sign, yet her mouth is open.
Several times, the slash on Lincoln's picket sign switches sides.
Running Gags
Mom and Dad considering intervening on the kids' strike, only for them to let them handle it themselves, and waiting it out by doing jigsaw puzzles.
