A family chore chart that updates itself
The fridge chart works until someone stops ticking it. Fair Dinkum Shop-Share gives every member a live chore chart on their own phone — recurring chores roll forward, hours are tracked per person, and an 8am reminder does the nagging for you.
What's on the chart
Recurring chores roll forward
Set daily, weekly or fortnightly and the chore reappears on its own — with a fixed number of cycles or no end date.
Calendar or list view
See a 7-day week at a glance, stretch out to 14 days or 12 months, or flip to a plain list when you just want what's coming up.
Multiple assignees
Some chores are a two-person job. Assign several members to one chore and split the hours between them.
Workload bar chart
A stacked chart of the next seven days per person shows at a glance who's carrying the load.
Morning reminders
A push notification at 8am in your own timezone with what each member has on today.
Weekly family report
SarAi writes a Sunday wrap-up of what got done, who did it, and hands out a trophy or two.
Jobs kept separate
One-off jobs like 'fix the gate' live apart from the weekly chore rhythm, so neither buries the other.
Guest members for kids
Add kids without giving them an account, and still assign them chores on the chart.
How to split chores fairly
Almost every argument about chores is really an argument about how much time each person is putting in. Counting tasks hides that — one person can tick five two-minute jobs while another spends an hour on the yard. Put an estimated duration on each chore instead, then look at the week as a whole. The stacked workload chart adds up the hours per member across the next seven days, so an unfair split shows up as a taller bar rather than a Sunday night blow-up.
A few rules that hold up in practice: rotate the chores nobody wants instead of permanently assigning them, keep the total hours roughly proportional to age and availability, and let people swap between themselves without asking permission.
Age-appropriate chores for kids
| Age | Chores that work |
|---|---|
| 3-5 years | Pack away toys, feed the pet with help, put clothes in the basket, carry their plate to the sink |
| 6-9 years | Make the bed, set and clear the table, sort the washing, take the bins out, water the garden |
| 10-13 years | Vacuum, load and unload the dishwasher, hang out and fold washing, tidy their room, walk the dog |
| 14+ years | Cook one meal a week, mow the lawn, clean a bathroom, do their own laundry, do the grocery run |
Kids don't need their own account to appear on the chart — add them as guest members of the household and assign chores straight to them.
Chores versus jobs
A chore repeats — the bins, the dishwasher, the dog. A job happens once — fix the gate, book the car in, clean out the shed. Mixing them into one list is why most chore charts collapse: the one-off jobs pile up and bury the daily rhythm. The app keeps them apart, with chores on a rolling calendar week and jobs on their own board underneath.
Setting up your chart in five minutes
- 1Create a household and invite the family — kids can join as guest members without an account.
- 2Add your recurring chores with a day, a rough duration and how often they repeat.
- 3Assign each one to a member, or to two members if it's a shared job.
- 4Check the workload chart for the coming week and even out the tall bars.
- 5Turn on 8am reminders so everyone wakes up knowing what's theirs.
Questions families ask
What is a family chore chart?
A family chore chart is a shared plan of who does which household task and when. Traditionally it was a printable grid stuck on the fridge; a digital chore chart does the same job but updates itself, rolls recurring chores forward and reminds each person on their own phone.
How do you divide chores fairly between family members?
Divide by time, not by task count. Ten minutes of unloading the dishwasher is not the same as an hour of yard work. Fair Dinkum Shop-Share tracks estimated hours per chore and shows a stacked bar chart of the coming week per person, so an uneven split is obvious before it becomes an argument.
What chores are age appropriate for kids?
Ages 3-5: put toys away, feed pets with help, carry their plate to the sink. Ages 6-9: make the bed, set and clear the table, sort washing, take the bin out. Ages 10-13: vacuum, load and unload the dishwasher, hang out washing, tidy their room properly. Ages 14+: cook a meal a week, mow the lawn, clean a bathroom, manage their own laundry.
How do I make a chore chart that kids will actually follow?
Keep it visible, keep it specific and keep it short. Name the chore in plain terms ('empty the dishwasher', not 'kitchen'), set a day, and let kids tick it off themselves. Kids who don't have an account can still be added to a household as guest members and assigned chores.
Should chores be tied to pocket money?
Most Australian families split it: a baseline of unpaid chores because you live here, plus paid extras like washing the car or weeding. A chore tracker makes that easy because you can see exactly what was completed in a week before payday.
Is the chore chart free?
New households get 20 days free with everything on — chores, jobs, shared shopping lists, pantry, activities and the SarAi assistant.