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Build a chore chart that rotates automatically and shows how many turns each person gets.
A chore chart sets out which household jobs need doing, who is doing each one, and when. The useful ones rotate, so the same person does not end up with the same job every week, which is usually the argument the chart was bought to settle.
| Chore | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dishes | Alex | Sam | Jo | Alex | Sam | Jo | Alex |
| Tidy the kitchen | Sam | Jo | Alex | Sam | Jo | Alex | Sam |
| Take the bins out | · | Jo | · | · | · | · | · |
| Hoover downstairs | · | · | · | · | · | Alex | · |
| Clean the bathroom | · | · | · | · | · | Sam | · |
| Change the bed linen | · | · | · | · | · | · | Jo |
Even, give or take one turn. That is as close as the numbers divide.
One spreadsheet, three sheets, ready to print. Nothing you type is sent to a server.
1. This week
One row per chore and one column per day, with a name in every cell the chore is due on. Prints on a single page.
2. Four week rotation
Who has each chore in each of the next four weeks, so a month can go on the wall at once.
3. Turns each
How many turns each person gets across the four weeks. This is the sheet that ends the argument.
A daily chore shows the whole week's run of names in the rotation sheet rather than one name, because a single name there would be wrong about six days out of seven.
Excel
Double click the download. If Excel shows a yellow protected view bar, click Enable Editing so the formulas calculate.
Google Sheets
Upload it to Drive and open it, or use File then Import then Upload inside an existing sheet. Formatting and formulas both carry across.
Numbers on a Mac
Open it directly. Numbers converts the workbook and keeps the totals working, though the yellow header fill may shift slightly.
Formula
who = people[(chore index + day + week) mod number of people]chore index = stops two chores on the same evening landing on one person while everyone else has nothing
day = spreads a daily chore across the household through the week rather than fixing it to one person
week = stops the pattern repeating, so whoever had the bins this week does not have them next week
turns each = the count per person over four weeks. A spread of nought or one is even; anything wider means the numbers do not divide
Worked Example
Three people, bins on a Tuesday
Did you know? A rota only divides evenly when the number of people and the number of chore slots share no awkward remainder. With three people and seven daily slots a week, the pattern takes three weeks to come back round, which is why the turns sheet counts four weeks rather than one.
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