Cleaning rota

Let people choose

Assigning jobs top-down works for children. Adults do better choosing. Someone who travels every other week can pick the weeks they are home. Someone who hates bathrooms can do more bins. It all evens out if everyone takes the same number of turns.

Count the jobs, count the weeks, divide by the people. Four jobs over four weeks is 16 turns. With four flatmates that is four turns each. Say so in the description and set a per-person limit to match.

Define each job

"Kitchen" is the most argued-about word in shared living. Write a short checklist for each job in the sheet description:

• Kitchen: wipe counters, clean the stovetop, clear the sink, mop the floor
• Bathroom: toilet, sink, shower, mirror, restock loo roll
• Bins: take out on collection night, rinse the recycling, new bin bags
• Floors: hoover the shared rooms, mop the hallway

When the job is written down, "done" stops being a matter of opinion.

Shared spaces outside the home

The same pattern works for an office kitchen (one person per week to run the dishwasher and clear the fridge on Friday), a church hall after Sunday services, or a club room after training. Keep the jobs short and specific, and name the day they should happen by.

A month at a time

Set the rota up for four weeks, then make the next one. A four-week sheet is easy to commit to. A year-long sheet gets ignored after February. If you duplicate the sheet each month, people can carry on picking the weeks that suit them.

Swaps and reminders

When someone's away, they swap to another week from their own link, or cancel so someone else can take it. A reminder at the start of each person's week does more than a passive-aggressive note on the fridge.

A ready list

The starter text above is a four-week rota for four jobs. Paste it into Dibs, rename the jobs to fit your space, and add the checklists to the description. Everyone picks their turns from their phone with no account and no ads, and you can print the month and stick it on the fridge.