In most homes, one person carries an invisible second job: noticing what needs doing. The chart on this page makes that job visible — and shared. It is a person-by-day grid: each row is one person's chore, each column a day of the week, and a tick in the cell is the promise kept.
Twelve example rows for a two-adult, two-child household are filled in, from weekday table-setting to the Saturday bathroom clean. Edit the names, swap the chores, print it for the fridge door, and the question changes from "who was supposed to…?" to a glance at the grid. Start with fewer rows than you think you need — two per person is plenty for the first fortnight, and a small chart that survives beats a grand one abandoned by Wednesday.
The short version: the table above is a working template, pre-filled with 12 realistic example rows. Edit the examples into your own, add rows as you need them, and print or copy the finished table. Your entries save on this device automatically. The example table is also written out below, so the page works printed or saved.
The Filled-In Example
| Person | Chore | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex (Dad) | Kitchen counters + hob wipe-down | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | — |
| Alex (Dad) | Bins out + recycling | — | ✓ | — | — | — | — | — |
| Alex (Dad) | Vacuum downstairs | — | — | — | — | — | ✓ | — |
| Sam (Mum) | Bathrooms — quick clean | — | — | — | — | — | ✓ | — |
| Sam (Mum) | Laundry — wash, dry, fold | — | — | ✓ | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Sam (Mum) | Vacuum upstairs | — | — | — | — | — | ✓ | — |
| Mia (12) | Set + clear the dinner table | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Mia (12) | Feed the cat | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mia (12) | Sort the recycling indoors | — | ✓ | — | — | — | — | — |
| Leo (9) | Shoes + coats straight by the door | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | — |
| Leo (9) | Water the houseplants | — | — | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Leo (9) | Dust living room shelves | — | — | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
Build the Grid: Jobs First, Names Second
- List the week's jobs before assigning anyone — Write every real job with its days first — counters daily, bathrooms weekly, bins on collection eve. A chart built from the house's needs survives; one built from who usually does things just freezes the unfairness.
- Keep daily jobs small enough to survive bad days — A weekday chore should take ten minutes or less. Daily rows that demand real time collapse by Wednesday and take the chart's credibility with them.
- Put the heavy jobs on the weekend columns — Vacuuming, bathrooms and laundry belong in the Saturday and Sunday cells where time exists. The grid should mirror the household's real week, not an ideal one.
- Give every person at least one daily anchor — One small daily job each — table, pet, shoes — keeps everyone inside the system every day. People with only weekly rows drift out of the habit and the argument returns.
- Leave one chore-free day per child — A column with no ticks for a child is rest, designed in. Charts that demand seven-day perfection teach kids that the chart is the enemy.
- Print it where the week is lived — Fridge door or hallway — the chart works where eyes pass it ten times a day. A chart in a drawer is a historical document.
Assign Fairly: Age, Time and the Rotation Rule
- Match chores to age by capability, not tradition — Ages 5-7: shoes, dusting, pet water, table setting. 8-11: laundry sorting, vacuuming a room, recycling. 12+: bathrooms, cooking help, full laundry cycles. Capability grows; the chart should grow with it.
- Rotate the unpopular jobs weekly — Bathrooms and bins change hands on a fixed rotation written into the chart. Rotation is what makes "fair" a fact instead of a feeling everyone disputes.
- Balance minutes, not job counts — Three two-minute jobs are not equal to one twenty-minute job. Add up each row's rough minutes per week and balance those — children spot minute-injustice instantly and accurately.
- Let kids choose between two jobs — Choice inside structure: "plants or dusting?" A chosen chore gets done with half the reminders of an imposed one, and the grid loses none of its coverage.
- Adults take rows too — visibly — The chart only governs the house if the adults' jobs are on it, ticked with the same pen. A chart that assigns children while adults improvise teaches exactly the wrong lesson.
- Write swaps down instead of arguing them — Can't do Tuesday? Trade a tick with someone and edit the grid. The rule is simple: the cell is never just skipped — it is covered, swapped, or the chart itself gets fixed at the reset.
Run the Week: Ticks, Gaps and the Friday Reset
- Tick at the moment of doing, in the chart pen — One pen lives with the chart. Ticks made later, from memory, drift into fiction by Thursday — and a chart nobody trusts is worse than no chart.
- Read gaps as design faults first — A chore missed three weeks running is usually misassigned — wrong day, wrong person, wrong size. Fix the grid before blaming the human; the chart exists to fit the week, not fight it.
- Hold a five-minute reset, same time weekly — Friday or Sunday: glance at the ticks, praise what is covered, rotate the bad jobs, adjust one thing. Five minutes of maintenance keeps the system alive for years.
- Reward the grid, not individual chores — If you reward anything, reward a fully-ticked week for the whole household — a film night, a chosen dessert. Team rewards keep the chart a game the family plays together.
- Retire chores that no longer need doing — Seasons change the house: no muddy shoes in summer, no leaves in spring. The reset meeting deletes dead rows so the grid never pads itself with fiction.
- Start embarrassingly small — Two rows per person for the first fortnight beats twelve rows abandoned in week one. A chart that survives grows; the reset meeting can add a row whenever the current ones are boring.
Pro Tips
- The chart's real product is not clean floors — it is the end of one person being the house's memory. Protect that: when someone asks "what needs doing?", the answer is always "check the grid".
- Use two pen colours: one assigns the week on Sunday, another ticks through it. At the reset, planned vs done is visible at a glance.
- Photograph the completed grid each week for the first month. The streak of fully-ticked weeks motivates better than any speech about helping out.
- Name chores by their finished state — "counters clear and wiped", not "kitchen". A row that describes done cannot be half-done and argued about.
- If a teenager negotiates, negotiate in the open at the reset: swaps and rotations are legitimate, silent non-doing is not. The grid records agreements, not orders.
Frequently Asked Questions
What age can children start on a chore chart?
From about four or five, with picture-simple jobs: shoes in a row, cushions straight, pet water bowl filled with an adult nearby. Keep their rows few and daily, and tick with ceremony — the ritual is the training.
Should chores be linked to pocket money?
Households differ, but a common split works well: chart chores are membership of the house and unpaid; extra jobs beyond the chart (car washing, deep garage help) can be paid. Mixing the two usually makes every tick a negotiation.
How many chores per person is right?
Start with two or three rows per person — one small daily anchor and one or two weekly jobs. Add rows only at the weekly reset, and only when the current grid ticks itself without drama.
What if someone keeps missing their ticks?
Assume design before defiance: wrong day, wrong time, too-big job. Move it, shrink it, or swap it at the reset. If the reshaped job still fails, that is a conversation — but most "laziness" is a chart that never fit the week.
More Templates, Lists and Guides
- All Home Checklists, Calendars & Idea Lists — every list and template in one place
- Pet Care Schedule Template — Feeding, walks, medication and vet jobs on one shared schedule with done boxes that prevent the double dose.
- Home Maintenance Log Template — Each job done, what it cost, who did it and when it is due again — the home's service history in one table.
- Weekly House Cleaning Checklist — the task list this chart divides among the family
- Monthly Cleaning Calendar — the bigger jobs the chart leaves to the monthly rhythm
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