Flatmate cleaning rota
A flatmate cleaning rota the whole house can see
Kitchen, bathroom, bins, hoovering: FairTurns hands the jobs out between everyone in the flat, keeps count of who has done what, and puts the rota on one link for the house group chat.
Free, with no limit on people or dates. No card.
The rota on the fridge lasts about three weeks
Someone makes a rota in a spreadsheet, prints it and sticks it on the fridge. For a couple of weeks the bathroom gets done. Then someone goes home for reading week, the new flatmate never got a copy, and by Sunday the hob is crusted over and four people are each quietly sure it isn’t their turn. The tidiest one gives in and does it, and the resentment starts.
Usually nobody is being lazy. The trouble is that nobody can see the rota from the bus, and nobody is counting. FairTurns does both. The rota lives on a link everyone already has in the group chat, each job goes to whoever has done it least, and the tally is there for the whole flat to see.
When someone moves out in March and a new flatmate arrives in April, the rota adjusts without anyone redrawing the grid. Want a paper version first? The house share cleaning rota template prints in one go, and the guide to flatmate chores covers how to agree the list.
How FairTurns keeps the house share running
A job for each room
Give each job on its own day a team: bins, hoovering, the recycling. Jobs done on the same day, like kitchen and bathroom on Sunday, are positions in one team. Two bathrooms? Give the job two places.
Set once, repeats on its own
Bins every Monday night, kitchen every Sunday, a deep clean on the last Saturday of the month. Dates are kept up to a year ahead.
Whoever has done least goes next
Fill gives each job to the flatmate with the fewest turns at it, and the turns chart shows everyone’s count.
Home for the weekend
Each flatmate marks the days they’re away, and the next Fill leaves them off.
Moving in, moving out
When the flat changes, Redistribute shares the rota out again and lists who gains and loses a date before anything changes.
One link in the group chat
Share the public rota once. It opens on any phone, with nothing to download and no sign-in to look.
Set it up
- 01
Name the flat
Create an organisation for the flat.
- 02
List the jobs
Add a team for each cleaning day and a position for each job on it, with how many people it needs.
- 03
Add the flatmates
Post a join link in the group chat, or add everyone by name.
- 04
Pick the days
Click the day for each job, set a time and choose how often it repeats.
- 05
Fill and share
Press Fill for the term and share the rota link in the chat.
When you want it to run itself
Pro emails each flatmate who has joined a reminder before their job, and the whole rota once a week on the day you choose. Can’t do it this Sunday? They reply from the email and the next flatmate is asked. Pro is A$12 a year for the whole flat (prices are in Australian dollars), which split four ways is very little each.
A$1 a month per organisation, paid 1 to 5 years at a time. See Pro and pricing
Good to know
- Agree the job list together before you set it up. A rota everyone helped write gets argued with less.
- Flatmates don’t pick their own jobs; the rota shares them out, and anyone can be moved by hand.
- FairTurns shows whose turn it is. It doesn’t check the bathroom was actually cleaned.
- There’s no swap button: agree a swap in the chat and change the names on the date. Reminders are by email on Pro, for flatmates who have joined.
Questions
How does the rota decide whose turn it is?
When you press Fill, each empty job goes to the flatmate who has had the fewest turns at that job. Anyone already on a date stays put, so you can run it again whenever new dates appear.
Does everyone need to sign up?
Only the people who change the rota or want to mark their own away days. Everyone else opens the shared link from the group chat and sees the whole rota without an account.
What happens when someone moves out?
Untick them on the Fill page and press Redistribute. Their dates are handed to the others, and a confirmation page lists who gains and loses each date before anything changes. Then take them off the teams.
Can one person always do the garden?
Yes. Give the garden its own team with only the people who want it, and Fill only ever gives that job to them. Everyone else shares the rest.
Is it free?
Yes, with no limit on flatmates, jobs or dates. Pro adds reminder emails and replies for A$1 a month for the whole flat, paid a year or more at a time.
Free templates and guides
House share cleaning rota template
A cleaning rota for housemates: bins, bathroom, kitchen and floors, rotating weekly.
Flatmate chores
House rules, a cleaning rota that rotates, bins night and the supplies kitty: chores in a share house.
Free rota maker
A rota maker for the UK: names in, a fair rota out, ready to print or open in Excel.
Similar rosters
Bin roster
Whose turn to put the bins out, for units, townhouses and share houses, on one link.
Household chores
The whole family’s chores on one shared roster, with whose turn it is on everyone’s phone.
Chores for couples and adults
Two adults, or a houseful of them, sharing the housework on a roster you can all see.