My kids (5 & 7) have responsibility charts and chore charts. The responsibility charts are not tied to their allowance, they are expected to do those things because they are members of the family. We sign off on them daily, if they don't do them then they cannot participate when we have a family activity - walk to park, bowling, bike ride, board games, etc etc. Some of the responsibilities are: brush teeth, make bed, pick up toys, put laundry in hamper, bring hampers to laundry room, wipe counters after use, etc.
Chores are tied to allowance in our house. Their allowance is $1 per year of age and the amount they get paid for the chore depends on the difficulty and time required. They are required to do chores but are not allowed to do them before their responsibilities for the day are complete. some of their chores are: washing mirrors, dusting, sweep/vacuum, empty trash, put away laundry, pick up dog mess, etc.
So far it's working well. We have weekly printouts on the fridge, hubby & I sign off for each responsibility/chore when it's complete and the chore chart has a running tally so they can see how much they've earned per week.
I REALLY liked the idea of one set of responsibilities not tied to allowance, but if they don't do them and Mom has to they have to pay me - but hubby hated that idea so we broke the chores & responsibilities up.