A cleaning rota template for a share house

Agree the jobs before the names

In a share house, most cleaning fights are about what a job includes. Sit down for ten minutes, ideally with something to eat, and agree what “bathroom” means at 27 Grove Street: shower, toilet, sink, mirror and the floor, or just a wipe? Write the answer somewhere everyone can see.

Then decide what’s nobody’s job, because it’s everyone’s: your own dishes, your own room, the stuff you leave on the couch. Those don’t go on the rota. The note line on the example says it plainly.

How the rotation works

Each week, every name moves one column to the left, and the first one wraps round to the end. Four people and four jobs means everyone does each job once a month. The bathroom never sticks to one person.

• Five housemates, four jobs? Add a column called “Week off”. It rotates like the others.
• Three housemates? Combine floors with the kitchen, or rotate the fourth job as a fortnightly extra.
• Someone away for a week? They take the next free job when they’re back, and the person who covered for them gets a week off later.
• New housemate? Start them on bins. It’s easy, and they learn the bin night.

The flatmate chores guide covers the awkward conversation when one person keeps skipping.

The rota that lives on everyone’s phone

A fridge rota works until someone moves out and the columns no longer line up. A FairTurns flatmate rota does the same thing on a link: each job becomes a position, the week repeats every Monday, and Fill gives each job to whoever has had the fewest turns at it. Housemates mark the weeks they’re away, so their turn goes to someone else and they pick one up later. When the house changes, Redistribute shows who gains or loses a week before anything moves. Free. If you’d rather just print a fresh rotation, the chore roster maker makes one in a minute.

Questions