Chore wheel maker: a rotating chore chart for roommates, couples and families

The short answer

A chore wheel is two circles pinned together: names on the outer ring and chores on a smaller inner wheel that turns one slice each week, so everyone takes a turn at every job. To keep it fair, give each chore effort points, group the chores into slices with equal points and put the wheel where everyone sees it.

How to use the chore wheel

1. Add everyone who shares the chores. Two to eight names: roommates, a couple, or a family with older kids. Each person gets one place on the outer ring.
2. List the shared chores and give each one effort points. One point is about 15 minutes a week, so daily dishes might be 4 points and taking out the trash 1. Tap the common chores to add them, or type your own.
3. Keep Fair split on. The tool groups the chores into one slice per person with about the same points, heaviest chores first, and shows the totals.
4. Print the wheel or the table. Cut out both circles, pin them through the center and turn the small wheel one slice every Monday. Or print the rotation table, or save an image to share in the group chat.

How to split chores fairly with roommates or a partner

Fair does not have to mean identical. What hurts a shared home is one person feeling they do more than their share: in a survey of 10,236 people living with a partner, those who felt the split was unfair to themselves were less satisfied with the relationship, and that feeling mattered more than the exact percentages (Gillespie and colleagues, 2019). Housework sharing matters to most people: 62% of US adults rated it very important for a good marriage in a Pew Research Center survey.

• Count the invisible jobs. Noticing that the soap is low, ordering it, paying the internet bill and booking the plumber are work too. Research on couples calls this cognitive labor and finds it often falls to one person without anyone noticing (Daminger, 2019). Put it on the wheel as a chore, such as "Shared bills and supplies".
• Score effort, not the number of chores. Three small jobs can be less work than one bathroom. Points keep the slices even.
• Rotate the jobs nobody wants. A weekly turn means nobody owns the bathroom forever, and everyone learns how long each job really takes.
• Agree on what done means. "Bathroom" can mean a wipe of the sink or a full scrub. Write the standard down once, such as "toilet, sink, mirror, floor".
• Say thank you. In a study of 2,193 people living with a partner, an uneven split hurt satisfaction much less when people felt appreciated (Gordon and colleagues, 2022).
• Check in after a month. If someone's work hours change or a chore is always skipped, change the points or the slices, not the person.

Chore wheel or chore chart?

For younger children, use the chore chart maker: it sorts chores by age and has a picture chart for kids who cannot read yet. For the cleaning itself, the cleaning schedule maker lists what to clean each day of the week, and house rules help when the household includes kids.

Frequently asked questions

How does a chore wheel work?

Each person's name sits on the outer ring and the chores are grouped into one slice per person on the inner wheel. Line the slices up with the names, and each Monday turn the inner wheel one slice. After as many weeks as there are people, everyone has done every slice once.

How do you split chores fairly with roommates?

List every shared job, including the invisible ones such as buying supplies or paying the internet bill, and give each a few effort points (1 point is about 15 minutes a week). Group them into slices with the same total and rotate weekly, so nobody is stuck with the bathroom for good. Agree on what done means for each chore.

How often should a chore wheel rotate?

Weekly suits most homes: long enough to finish a full job, short enough that nobody is stuck with a disliked chore. Couples and households with very different schedules sometimes rotate every two weeks; just keep the same day so everyone knows when it turns.

What if we have more chores than people?

That is the normal case. Each slice holds several chores, grouped so the slices have about the same points. With Fair split on, the tool puts the heaviest chores in first and adds each one to the lightest slice. With fewer chores than people, someone has a free week in turn.

How do I make a chore wheel out of paper?

Print the cut-out wheel on card stock, cut out both circles, push a paper fastener (brad) through the two center pin marks and bend its legs at the back. Line the inner slices up with the names, then turn the small wheel one slice each week. Tape the back to the fridge or a door.

Does a chore wheel work for couples?

Yes. With two people the wheel has two halves and they swap every week, so each of you does every job every other week. If your work hours are very different, skip the wheel for a few fixed jobs and keep it for the ones you both dislike.

Is a chore wheel good for kids?

Older kids and teens can share a wheel with adults. Younger children usually do better with a chart they tick every day: the chore chart maker sorts chores by age and has a picture chart for kids who cannot read yet.

Is my chore wheel saved?

Yes, in this browser on this device: names, chores, points and options. Nothing is sent to our server and there is no sign-up. Print it, or save an image to share with everyone in the group chat.

Sources and evidence

1. Pew Research Center (2007): Modern marriage, "I like hugs. I like kisses. But what I really love is help with the dishes." — 62% of US adults said sharing household chores is very important for a successful marriage, third of nine items and up from 47% in 1990; men and women, and married and single adults, answered much the same.
2. Gillespie, Peterson and Lever (2019): Gendered perceptions of fairness in housework and shared expenses, PLoS ONE — In an online survey of 10,236 adults living with a partner, people who felt the housework split was unfair to themselves reported lower relationship satisfaction; feeling under-benefited mattered more than the exact share.
3. Gordon et al. (2022): Feeling appreciated buffers against the negative effects of unequal division of household labor on relationship satisfaction, Psychological Science — In three samples of people living with a partner (2,193 people, including 476 couples), doing more of the housework and seeing the split as unfair went with lower satisfaction, but much less so when people felt appreciated by their partner.
4. Daminger (2019): The cognitive dimension of household labor, American Sociological Review — Interviews with 35 couples describe the planning side of housework (anticipating needs, choosing options, deciding and monitoring) as work in its own right, mostly done by one partner and easy to overlook.
5. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: American Time Use Survey, 2025 results — On an average day in 2025, 35% of people did housework on weekdays and 40% on weekend days.