Repeating chores

Set it once. It comes back.

Bins every Tuesday, the cat every morning, the towels on Saturday. A repeating chore is written once and comes round on its own, with no retyping and no nagging when a day slips.

Actual Ducks in a Row to-do form with a chore set to repeat on weekdays
How it works

Three small steps.

1

Pick a rhythm

Every day, weekdays, every week, every two weeks or every month. A grown-up sets it when adding the job, once it has a date.

2

Leave it up for grabs, or give it to someone

“Up for grabs each time” lets whoever is around take it. Put it on Jack’s list and Jack gets this one every time.

3

Tick it off on the day

The next one appears when this one is ticked off, or when it comes round again. That is the whole routine.

What you can do

The little things, in detail.

The day, not the time

“Before school” might be due at 6 p.m. and done at seven in the morning. The tick counts on the day the chore is for, in the household’s time zone.

Not yet, says the duck

Tick tomorrow’s chore tonight and a duck answers rather than an error: “This one is for tomorrow. Tick it off on the day and the Duck Bucks are yours.”

A missed day closes quietly

A chore nobody did closes unpaid at the end of its own day and the next takes its place. There is no copy about it; unpaid is the whole incentive.

One-offs are untouched

Doing a one-time job early is simply doing it early. Only chores that repeat wait for their day.

Worth it every time

The Duck Bucks a chore is worth come round with it, so a daily job earns daily.

Stop it without erasing it

Stopping a chore leaves the one in hand and every finished one alone. Stopping a chore is not erasing who did it.

Decisions, not preferences

No override, for anybody

A repeating chore is ticked off on the day it is for. Grown-ups included.

  • Ticking early is refused kindly, with the day it is for
  • Nothing says “missed”, “overdue” or “skipped”
  • Changing a chore’s rhythm in place is not built yet; stop it and make it again
Good questions

Asked about repeating chores.

How do repeating chores work?

Set a chore to repeat, daily, weekly or on the days you choose, and it comes back on its own. A repeating chore is ticked off on the day it is for, in your household’s time zone. If a day is missed, that one quietly closes and the next takes its place, with no nagging.

What does “up for grabs” mean?

A job without an owner is up for grabs, and anyone in the flock can choose “I’ll do it” to take it on. A grown-up can also put a job straight on someone’s list. The app never scolds: there is no “overdue” and no “you failed to”.

All the help questions

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