Cleaning rota

A cleaning rota on everyone’s phone

Write the jobs once, put a name against each and give them a day. Everyone has the same rota, sees what is theirs, and can see who has already done their bit.

A list of house jobs with dates, repeats and who each one is for
The history of a list: who added and ticked off what, and when

How a cleaning rota looks

Group the jobs by room or by how often they need doing, with a name and a day on each.

  1. 1Make a rota listAdd a category for the weekly jobs and one for the monthly ones.
  2. 2Add the jobs with names and daysGive each job a person, a day and a repeat.
  3. 3Share it with the houseSend the invite link in the group chat, or show the QR code.
In the app

What makes it work

A House jobs list with weekly jobs assigned to Jamie and You, an overdue boiler service and important flags

Jobs that are someone’s, and come back on their own

Assign jobs to people, set them to repeat daily, weekly, monthly or on chosen days, or a set time after they were last done. Overdue jobs turn red and important ones are flagged.

Why a shared list helps

Everyone sees the same rota

The rota lives on everyone’s phone, not on the fridge, so there is no arguing about what it said.

A name on every job

Assign each job to someone, and each person can see their own jobs at a glance.

Who did what

The list keeps a history of who ticked off what and when, so it is clear who has done their share.

Reminders on the day

Give a job a day and a reminder, and the person it is for gets a nudge on their phone.

How to set up a cleaning rota that lasts

Start by writing down every job, not just the obvious ones: kitchen surfaces, the hob, bins and recycling, the bathroom, hoovering, mopping, changing towels, and the jobs that only come round now and then, like the oven, the fridge and the windows.

Then decide how often each one needs doing. Most homes have a short list of weekly jobs and a longer list of monthly ones. Keeping them in two groups makes the weekly rota feel manageable.

Share the jobs out so the time is fair, not just the number of jobs: cleaning the bathroom takes longer than taking the bins out. Give each job a person and a day, and swap the names round every few weeks.

Finally, put the rota where everyone already looks: their phone. A rota on the fridge works until someone stops looking at the fridge. With reminders on the day and a history of who did what, the rota keeps going without anyone having to chase it.

Reviews

Loved by the people who use it

4.8from 94 ratings on the App Store
“It takes the stress out of shopping and my family love it too! The categories are really useful for navigating the supermarket … This has also been really great for the family chores... especially because you can assign tasks to individuals on your list (no excuses!).”
App Store review, December 2020

Questions

How do you make a fair cleaning rota?

List every job, decide how often each needs doing, then share them out so everyone has a similar amount of time each week. Swap the names round every few weeks so nobody is stuck with the bathroom for ever.

Can jobs repeat every week?

Yes. Any job can repeat daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, or every few weeks, and the repeat shows on the job.

Do my housemates need the app?

Everyone on a list has their own free account, on iPhone, Android or the web, so the rota shows who did what.

Is there a cleaning rota template?

Use the example on this page as a starting point: the weekly jobs with a day and a name each, and the monthly ones below. Change the jobs and names to suit your home.

Start your cleaning rota

Free on iPhone and Android, and in your browser. Everyone you share with is one invite away.