Turn a Chore List Into a Fair 4-Week Rotation
The fight isn't about chores — it's about the same person quietly getting the worst one, every week. This turns a chore list and a list of names into a four-week rotation with the load per person printed beside it, and the heavy chores moving week to week. Local only; nothing about your household leaves the tab.
- Rotation
- Chores balanced and rotated across 4 weeks, in your tab
- local
- What it replaces
- A chore chart that assigns but never balances
- $0.00
- Input
- Chores and names, one per line
- no card
- Output
- A 4-week grid with per-person load
- recomputed
What you pay otherwise
| Route | What you get | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Chore / family app | Charts and reminders, plus an account for everyone | $5–10/mo |
| Magnet chore chart | Static assignments that never rotate | $15 |
| The usual argument | Same person, same chore, same fight | weekly |
| This page | A balanced, rotating 4-week board | $0 |
The workflow
List every chore, then weight the heavy ones
One chore per line. Mark the heavy ones with a star — 'trash bins *' — so the rotation knows which jobs to move most. Weight is what makes the load column honest.
List the people who can actually do each job
Leave out the toddler for 'deep-clean oven'. The balancer only assigns what's possible, so list names per chore if some chores are adult-only — otherwise paste one list for everyone.
Read the load column before you read the grid
The per-person total is the fairness proof. If one person's column is heavy, add them fewer chores or swap a weight. The board makes the imbalance visible instead of felt.
Rotate weekly, and let the board be the referee
Week 2 shifts the heavy chores to the next person. When the fight starts, point at the board — the rotation is the agreement, not the person who made it.
Worked example
Sample: 6 chores across 3 people over 4 weeks Chores 6 (2 heavy: bins, bathrooms) People 3 Load per person equal after weighting Week 2 heavy chores rotate to the next person Uploaded nothing — balanced in the tab
Numbers above are sample data produced by the tool's own pre-loaded example, run in the browser — not averages or measured benchmarks.
What breaks this
Listing chores without weights makes the load column flat even when it isn't — star the heavy jobs. Assigning a chore to someone who can't do it is how boards collapse; list names per chore where it matters. Re-balancing the board every single week by hand is fine, but the rotation exists so you don't have to — run it once a month instead.
Try it now
Six chores across three people are loaded and rotated. Change the names and watch the load column re-balance.
Open the rotation board →Go deeper: the printable board
The rotation is free forever. The $4 one-time tier adds:
- Printable board — the 4-week grid on one sheet for the fridge — estimate: ~12 min saved versus drawing it by hand.
- Saved household shelf — keep chore lists for up to 3 households — estimate: ~10 min saved per season of re-pasting.
- Week check-off — tick chores done and the week clears — estimate: ~5 min saved per check-in.