Create a Roommate Jar
Set up a Social Jar with 'Task Allocation' mode. Name it after your house or flat — 'Flat 4B Chores'.
Add All Roommates
Share the invite link in your house group chat. Everyone must join before tasks can be distributed.
List Every Shared Task
Add all recurring chores: 'Clean Bathroom', 'Take Out Bins', 'Vacuum Common Areas', 'Wipe Kitchen'. Be specific to avoid ambiguity.
Weekly Allocation
Every Sunday, the admin clicks 'Distribute Tasks'. The jar randomly assigns chores to each person. No negotiation, no favoritism.
Why Roommate Chores Always End in Passive Aggression
Living with roommates is great — until someone leaves dishes in the sink for three days and "didn't notice." A 2024 survey by Apartment List found that 68% of renters report household chore disputes as their biggest source of roommate tension, beating noise complaints and guest policies.
The core issue isn't cleanliness standards — it's accountability ambiguity. Without a clear system, everyone assumes they're doing more than their fair share. The person who vacuumed on Tuesday forgets that their roommate scrubbed the bathroom on Monday. Resentment builds silently until someone snaps over an unwashed pan.
Randomness Eliminates Favoritism
The Roommate Task Manager uses Spin the Jar's Task Allocation mode to randomly distribute chores each week. Here's why randomness works better than negotiation:
1. No perceived bias. When a person assigns chores, it feels subjective ("Why do I always get the bathroom?"). When the jar assigns them, it's the system — there's no one to blame.
2. Statistical fairness. Over 10 weeks, random allocation naturally balances out. Everyone gets roughly equal amounts of easy and unpleasant tasks. The data trail proves it — open the history and count.
3. Zero negotiation overhead. The weekly allocation takes 10 seconds. No house meetings, no awkward conversations, no passive-aggressive notes on the fridge.
Set up a Recurring Event for "Sunday Chore Drop" so the reminder appears automatically. Each roommate sees only their assigned tasks (allocation mode keeps assignments private), and the Announcements channel serves as a neutral place to post house-wide reminders like "Landlord inspection Thursday — deep clean."