Household Jobs and Who Does What Sheet

Who this is for

The jobs that keep a house going, and whose they are. One row per job records the area of the house it belongs to, how often it happens in your own words, who does it, who covers when they cannot and when it was last done.

Households where the same person does everything because nobody wrote down that anyone else could — couples, families with older children, shared houses and anyone handing the house to a sitter or a relative for a while.

What this helps you track

• Every regular job in the house, grouped by area
• How often each happens, as you actually do it rather than as a schedule says
• Who owns each job and who is the backup
• When each was last done, so the gaps are visible
• What would be missed if the usual person were away

How to use it

1. Write the household and the date the sheet was agreed at the top.
2. List the jobs one area at a time — kitchen, bathrooms, bins and recycling, garden, cars, pets, admin — using the area column so they group together.
3. Write how often each job happens in your own words: daily, Sundays, when the bin is full, before winter. No frequency is suggested here.
4. Agree who does each job and who covers it, and write both names. A job with no name against it is the sheet telling you something.
5. Fill the last-done column when you next do each job, and keep the sheet where everyone can see it.
6. Redo the sheet when the household changes — a new baby, a child old enough for a job, someone working away.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The online version keeps what you enter in your own browser and builds the completed PDF on your device.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

Is this a chore chart?

Not quite. A chore chart is a week of ticks against tasks. This is the agreement behind it: what the jobs are, who owns them and who steps in. Write this first and the chart follows from it.

Does it say how often anything has to be done?

No. The how-often column is yours, in your own words. Some households clean the oven monthly and some when it smokes, and the sheet does not take a view.

What is the backup column for?

The person who does the job when the owner is ill, away or working late. Writing it down before it is needed is what stops the bins being missed.

Can it be used for a shared house?

Yes, and it is one of the better uses. Names against jobs, agreed at the start, save a great many notes on the fridge.