Free Household Chore Chart: Weekly Family Chore Chart, Chores by Person, and a Chore and Allowance Tracker (PDF, Word, Excel)

What is on the page

Chore and who

Each job once, in words a child can read, and whose job it is. Use pictures for children who cannot read yet.

Day tick boxes

A box for each day of the week. Kids tick, color or sticker them; seeing the row fill up is the motivation.

Rotation by person

On the family sheet, a column per person and a row per day, plus a row for weekly jobs. Swap the columns each week for an A and B rotation.

Pays and times done

On the allowance tracker, what each paid chore is worth and how often it was done. Excel works out the earnings.

Save, spend, give

The percentages for each jar. Excel splits the week's earnings using them.

Age-appropriate chores

Even small children can help, and they usually want to. Ages 2 to 4: put toys in a bin, clothes in the hamper, help feed a pet, wipe up small spills. Ages 5 to 7: make the bed, set and clear the table, match socks, water plants, tidy their room. Ages 8 to 11: empty the dishwasher, take out the trash, vacuum, fold laundry, help cook simple meals, clean a bathroom sink. Ages 12 and up: cook a family meal, do their own laundry, mow the lawn, clean bathrooms, wash the car, babysit siblings. Write fewer chores than you think at first; a short list that gets done beats a long one that gets ignored.

Making a chore chart work

Put the chart where everyone sees it every day: the fridge or the family command center. Show each chore once before expecting it done alone, and accept "good enough" while they learn. Tie chores to something that already happens (feed the cat before breakfast, pack the school bag after dinner) so they become routine. Keep the reward small and immediate: picking the Friday movie works better for a six-year-old than a big prize next month. Start a new chart each week; the old ones are a nice record of how much they have learned.

Sharing chores between adults and teenagers

The family rotation sheet is about fairness as much as getting things done. Write every regular job, including the invisible ones like meal planning, bills and booking appointments, then spread them across everyone old enough. Rotate the jobs nobody likes (bathrooms, dishes) on an A and B week so they're shared. Hold a five-minute family meeting on Sunday to fill in the next week. For the cleaning jobs themselves and how often each should happen, see the cleaning schedule.

Chores and allowance

Families handle money and chores in different ways. A common approach is to seperate "family" jobs that everyone does for free, like making their bed and clearing their own plate, from extra jobs that earn money, like washing the car. The allowance tracker records the paid jobs, what each is worth and how many times it was done, and Excel adds up the week. Splitting earnings into save, spend and give jars is a simple way to teach money habits early; 50/40/10 is a popular starting split. A savings goal at the top (a bike lock, a game) makes the save jar real. Older kids can track their savings on the savings goal tracker.

Editing the files

The PDFs are fillable: type the chores and names once, save, then print a fresh copy every week. The Word files are editable if you want to add pictures for younger children. The Excel allowance tracker works out earnings and the save, spend and give amounts.

Questions

What chores can a 5-year-old do?

Make their bed, put toys away, put clothes in the hamper, set and clear the table, help feed pets, match socks and water plants.

Should kids get paid for chores?

Many families separate everyday family chores (unpaid) from extra jobs that earn money. The allowance tracker supports that approach.

How much allowance should a child get?

It varies by family and budget. Some parents give about a dollar per year of age per week; the tracker works with any amount.

How do I get teenagers to do chores?

Give them real responsibility (a whole job like cooking one dinner a week), agree the jobs at a family meeting, and link chores to privileges like screen time or the car.

Can I edit the chores?

Yes. All versions are editable in Word and Excel, and every line in the PDF is fillable.