Make a cleaning rota, step by step, for a home or flat share

Five steps to a cleaning rota

1. Collect tasks by room
2. Estimate the effort
3. Spread them over the week
4. Share them out: fixed or rotating
5. Make the plan visible and keep it up to date

Cleaning rota generator: a plan in one minute

If you would rather not start from scratch, enter two to six names and choose the tasks and the number of weeks. The generator hands the tasks out in turn, and every week each person moves on by one task. You can print the plan, save it as a PDF or download it as a CSV. Nothing is stored and you do not need an account. Add your own tasks and rhythms with the steps below.

Step 1: collect tasks by room

Write down what comes up regularly and assign it to a room. The more concrete the task, the less there is to discuss: “clean the bathroom” beats “hygiene”. Decide what it includes, for example sink, shower, toilet and floor. Give each task a rhythm: daily, weekly, every two weeks or monthly. The table shows an example for a typical shared flat, so strike out whatever does not apply to you.

Fridge and dishwasher

These two corners of the kitchen tend to get missed because they belong to nobody. Give them their own lines in the plan. Go through the fridge every two weeks: bin anything out of date and wipe the shelves. Empty the dishwasher daily and clean its filter now and then. If someone notices that something has run out, they add it to the list. In ManaWG the supplies show what is running low and suggest what to buy. More on that on the shared shopping list page.

Step 2: estimate the effort

Fair does not mean everyone has the same number of tasks. It means everyone cleans for roughly the same amount of time. Estimate the times for your flat once, together, and there will be fewer arguments about uneven loads later. Whoever takes the bins can also get the hallway or the fridge.

How much time does the rota cost per person?

Before you start, work out once what the rota costs. The four weekly tasks in the guide values above (bathroom, kitchen, floors, and bins and deposit bottles) add up to about 90 to 125 minutes a week. Shared between four people that is roughly 22 to 31 minutes each, with three people 30 to 42 and as a pair 45 to 63 minutes. Daily jobs and rare tasks come on top. If the sum for your flat looks clearly higher, cut tasks or stretch the rhythm rather than trying to save the rota with willpower.

Step 3: spread them over the week

Spread the tasks across the days so that not everything lands on the weekend. Keep one day a week free: it is a buffer for anything that slipped, and nobody has to clean on that day.

Daily, weekly, monthly: what is due when

A cleaning rota works on three levels: daily, weekly and less often. Everyone deals with daily jobs as they go, so only shared appliances such as the dishwasher belong in the plan. Weekly jobs make up the weekly plan proper and rotate between people. Anything less frequent is shared out separately, otherwise the week gets too full.

Rarely, but not forgotten: quarterly, half-yearly, yearly

Tasks that only come up now and then still belong in the plan, otherwise they get forgotten or stick to one person. Give them their own rhythms: quarterly, half-yearly and yearly. Do not put these in the weekly plan. Hand them out in turn instead, say one a month. That keeps the weekly plan slim, and every rare task still has a date and a name. Each person normally washes their own towels and bedding, but agree a shared rhythm for that too. The table shows examples. The intervals are rough guides and depend on your flat and habits.

Step 4: share them out, fixed or rotating

There are three ways to hand tasks out. A ready-made four-week rotation for four people is in the cleaning rota template.

Points system: counting effort fairly

With a points system it is not the number of tasks that counts but the effort. Decide how much time one point is, say five minutes, and give each task points using the guide values from step 2. At the end of the month everyone should have roughly the same number of points. This is more exact than a plain rotation, but someone has to keep count. Example for three people: Anna takes the bathroom for 8 points, Ben the floors for 7, and Cem the kitchen and bins for 7 together. Next week you swap, so nobody is stuck with the bathroom for good.

Step 5: make the plan visible and keep it up to date

Everyone needs to be able to see the plan, ideally where they already look every day: a sheet on the kitchen door or fridge, a table in a shared file or an app. Keep it current. If someone moves out or tasks stop fitting, talk it over at your flat meeting and change the plan.

The first four weeks: a trial period

Treat the first four weeks as a trial. Then sit down briefly and go through three questions: which task was put off most often? Are the estimated times right? Does everyone mean the same when they say a room is done? Change only what has really turned out to be a problem, and write the new version where everyone can see it. After that, a check every few months or when someone moves in or out is enough.

Things that come up in a flat share

• Time away: someone who is away is skipped and does not catch up on everything afterwards, more at holidays and time away
• Guests: whoever invites visitors makes sure the shared rooms stay clean
• Friction: if someone does not stick to the plan, say calmly what exactly was not done and do not judge the person, more at solving flatmate conflict

Ready-made instead of building your own

• The cleaning rota template to print comes as a table and as a CSV download. It has ready rotations for two, three, four and five people and a generator for your names.
• The cleaning rota in ManaWG repeats tasks every few days or months and works out who is next based on workload: assigned and overdue tasks count, overdue ones more. Anyone who is away is skipped, and ManaWG sends a push reminder for assigned tasks that are due.