How to split chores with roommates (and the one-off jobs nobody counts)
How to split chores with roommates: list every job, weigh it in minutes, give each person an equal share, and rotate. Plus the one-off jobs nobody counts, and what to do when they cost money.
The bathroom has been “about to be cleaned” for nine days. One of you thinks you do everything, another thinks you are all doing roughly the same, and the third has not noticed there is a problem. Nobody wants to be the one keeping score, so the score keeps itself, quietly, in everyone’s head.
Most advice on how to split chores with roommates stops at “make a chore chart”. A chart helps, but it only fixes half the problem. Split chores with roommates by time, not by count: list every regular job, estimate its minutes per week, give each person bundles that add up to the same total, and rotate them. Keep the one-off jobs on a separate list, because those are the ones nobody counts.
Why counting jobs is not enough
The first chore chart most flats make gives everyone the same number of jobs. It feels fair and it rarely is. “Clean the bathroom” and “take the bins out” are both one line on the chart, but one takes 45 minutes and the other ten.
Whoever ends up with the long jobs notices within two weeks. The fix is a different unit: minutes per week. Once each job has a number, “fair” becomes a sum.
The roommate chores list
Write down every shared job, with an honest time for a normal week.
Weekly jobs
- Clean the bathroom: toilet, sink, shower, mirror, floor
- Kitchen surfaces, stove and sink
- Vacuum and mop the shared areas
- Bins and recycling, out and back
- Tidy the living room
- Wash shared towels and tea towels
Monthly or occasional jobs
- Clean out the fridge
- Clean the oven
- Wash the bath mat and shower curtain
- Defrost the freezer
Washing your own dishes and cleaning your own room are not on the list. In most flats those are each person’s own business, and putting them on the shared chart invites arguments about whose mug it was.
Ways to split chores with roommates: the systems that work
There are three common ways to share out the list.
Zones. Each person owns an area, such as the bathroom, the kitchen or the floors and bins, and keeps it clean their own way. It is simple. It drifts out of balance when one zone is clearly worse, so it works best with zones of similar effort, swapped every month.
A rotating chart. Jobs are grouped into bundles and the bundles rotate weekly. Everyone does every job in turn, so nobody is stuck with the bathroom, and nobody can claim the other bundle is easier for long. It needs a visible chart and someone who remembers to move the names on.
Points or time weighting. Each job gets points, usually its minutes, and each person aims for the same total. People can trade freely: someone who hates cleaning the bathroom can take the floors and the bins instead. It is the fairest of the three and takes the most setup.
Most flats end up with a mix: weights to build fair bundles, then a rotation so the bundles move around.
How to divide chores between 3 roommates: a worked example
Nadia, Theo and Sam share a flat. Their weekly list, with honest times:
| Job | Minutes per week |
|---|---|
| Clean the bathroom | 45 |
| Kitchen surfaces, stove and sink | 40 |
| Vacuum and mop shared areas | 35 |
| Bins and recycling | 20 |
| Tidy the living room | 15 |
| Wash shared towels and tea towels | 10 |
| Total | 165 |
Their first chart gave everyone two jobs. Nadia had the bathroom and the kitchen, 85 minutes a week. Theo had the floors and the bins, 55. Sam had the living room and the towels, 25. Two jobs each, and Nadia was doing more than three times Sam’s share.
The fair target is 165 ÷ 3 = 55 minutes each. Three bundles hit it exactly:
- Bundle A: bathroom (45) + towels (10) = 55 minutes
- Bundle B: kitchen (40) + living room (15) = 55 minutes
- Bundle C: floors (35) + bins and recycling (20) = 55 minutes
They rotate the bundles every week, so each of them does the bathroom one week in three. Over any three weeks, each person has done every job once and spent the same 165 minutes.
If your totals do not divide neatly, get as close as you can and let the person with the lighter bundle take the next monthly job.
Where the rota lives
The simplest way to organize chores with roommates is to put the rota somewhere everyone sees it without opening anything: a chart on the fridge, a whiteboard by the door, or a repeating event in a shared calendar that moves the names on each week. Paper on the fridge is hard to beat. Donget does not keep a rota: it has no recurring tasks, rotation or due dates, and a weekly rota that rarely changes works best on the wall anyway.
What a rota handles badly is everything that does not repeat.
The one-off jobs nobody counts
Every flat has a second list that never makes it onto the chart, and it is often where the real resentment comes from:
- Buying the shared cleaning supplies when they run out
- Calling the landlord about the leak, and chasing it twice
- Booking the plumber, and staying in to let them in
- The bulk-trash run, or booking the pickup for the old sofa
- Replacing the broken mop, the shower curtain, the bin
- The deep clean before an inspection or a move-out
- Sorting out the internet when it drops
None of these fit a weekly rotation, and most fall to whoever notices first. Over a year, that person does far more than their share, and nobody sees it, because none of it was written down.
The fix is to treat each one as a task with a name on it. Put it on a shared list the moment someone notices it, let anyone claim it, and tick it off when it is done. A ticked list is also a record: it shows who handled the landlord this time, so the next one can go to someone else.
When the job costs money
Some one-off jobs come with a receipt: cleaning supplies, a new mop head, a fee for the bulk pickup. Those are shared costs, exactly like splitting groceries with roommates. Whoever paid logs it, and it is split equally.
In one month, Nadia bought cleaning supplies for €42, Theo paid a €30 bulk-trash pickup fee for the old sofa, and Sam bought a shower curtain and mop head for €18. Total €90, so €30 each. Nadia is owed €12, Theo is square, Sam owes €12. One transfer settles it: Sam sends Nadia €12.
These sit alongside rent and the utility bills; how to split rent and bills with roommates covers the bigger amounts, and settling everything on the same day each month keeps it to one or two transfers.
When someone does not do their share
Start with the list, not with the person. Check that the bundles really are equal in minutes; an unfair chart produces “lazy” roommates. If the chart is fair and the jobs still are not done, raise it once, early, with a specific job and a specific week. The same approach works for money: a roommate not paying utilities walks through asking once, in writing, with a date.
Some flats settle it differently: the person who would rather not clean pays toward a cleaner instead, and the cleaner’s bill is logged like any other shared cost.
Where Donget comes in
Donget fits the second list, not the rota. Every group has a Money | Tasks switch. Under Tasks, Add task creates a job like “Call the landlord about the leak” or “Buy cleaning supplies”. Under Who takes it? you can leave it Open, so it sits Up for grabs until someone taps Take it, or hand it straight to a roommate. Each roommate sees what is theirs under My tasks. If the job becomes too much, Give it back returns it to the list. When it is done, Mark as done ticks it, and the group list shows who did it.
If the job cost money, Donget asks Spent money on Buy cleaning supplies? right after the tick. Add expense opens the expense form with the title filled in; enter the amount and keep the split on Equally. Later, the same action is in the task’s menu as Add an expense for it. On the Money side, Settle up works out the fewest transfers for the month, and Remind lets you pick a message and send it yourself, through your phone’s share sheet or as a nudge inside Donget. If you are still choosing a tool for the flat, see the apps for splitting bills with roommates.
Frequently asked questions
How do you split chores with roommates fairly?
List every regular job, estimate its weekly minutes, and give each person bundles with the same total. Rotate the bundles so nobody is stuck with the bathroom forever.
How do you divide chores between 3 roommates?
Add up the weekly minutes and divide by three; that is each person’s target. Group the jobs into three bundles that hit it, and rotate them.
What should be on a roommate chores list?
The weekly jobs (bathroom, kitchen, floors, bins, towels, living room) and a separate list of one-off jobs: supplies, the landlord, repairs, the bulk-trash run, the deep clean.
How do you organize chores with roommates?
Put the rota where everyone sees it: the fridge, a whiteboard or a shared calendar. Keep one-off jobs on a separate list anyone can claim, and review both monthly.
What if a roommate does not do their chores?
Raise it early, with the list in front of you. Check the bundles are equal in time, then agree on one change, or agree that they pay toward a cleaner instead.
Should the cost of cleaning supplies be split?
Yes. Products everyone uses are shared costs: whoever buys them logs the receipt, and it is split equally, the same way as shared groceries.
The bottom line
Fair chores come from a sum, not a feeling. Weigh every weekly job in minutes, build bundles with equal totals, rotate them on a chart everyone can see, and keep a second list for the one-off jobs that would otherwise fall to whoever notices first. When one of those jobs costs money, log it and split it like any other shared cost.
Download Donget free and give your flat’s one-off jobs and shared costs one list that everyone can see.
