Chore Cloud is an online chore checklist and piggy bank designed to make sure your kids know what chores to complete and helps make sure they get them done!
Main features:
- Schedule daily AM and PM chores
- Assign a daily allowance paid when a kid completes all chores
- Assess a penalty if any chores are incomplete or unexcused
- Send automatic text message notifications
Chore Cloud is
free to use, except for the text notifications, which cost $6/year for each phone number that receives text messages from the system.
You can create an account by entering a family username and tapping "sign-up" at the login screen. Creating an account is a one-click process, there is no password, email address or confirmation required. We recommend using your last name as your family username.
Every family account must have one or more kid enrolled in the system.
Each kid is assigned a daily allowance. We use 10¢ per year of age, so our 6-year-old gets 60¢ daily allowance.
Every day, kids are assigned their scheduled chores to their chore checklist.
Throughout the day, kids mark each chore as complete on their chore checklist
Each day's allowance is recorded as a line-item on the money chart. If at the end of the day no chores are marked incomplete, the kid's full daily allowance is credited to their money chart.
However, if even one chore is incomplete at the end of the day, a penalty is assessed. In our house, we assess the full daily allowance as the penalty (a penalty rate of 1.0), but the penalty rate can be adjusted.
The
chore checklist is the main interface for the website. Chores can be marked as Incomplete, Complete or Excused. A penalty is assessed when
any chores are marked Incomplete, and the full allowance is awarded when
all chores are marked either Complete or Excused.
If all chores are marked excused, there is no allowance paid or penalty assessed, and the
money chart line-item for the day is $0.
Scroll to the bottom of the chore list, and you'll find buttons for adding one-time chores, fines and bonus payments. One-time chores can either be required for earning the daily allowance, or can be assigned for extra money. Paid extra chores are not subject to allowance penalties. Extra chores for extra money are credited to the daily total when mark completed. Extra chores, bonuses and fines are all rolled into the day's line-item on the money chart.
The status of chores can be viewed or modified on later days using the day navigation arrows at the top of the page. Chore checklists are accessible (and modifiable) for up to 60 days by default, but the duration of the transaction history can be adjusted.
The
money chart is used to track kid's earnings and expenditures. Buttons at the top allow money to be added (deposit button) or removed (withdrawal button) from the money chart. Each day's allowance is reflected as a line-item on the money chart. Allowance, deposit and withdrawal transactions are kept for 60 days by default, and older transactions are rolled into the starting balance.
Tap a Withdrawal or Deposit line-item to edit or delete the transaction. Tap an Allowance line-item to go to that day's chore checklist.
Chore Schedule
In
Chore Schedule, you can view, update or add allowance chores. Chores can be assigned for a particular day and time (Monday PM) or for every day (every AM or every PM). We include both chore-like tasks (unload dishwasher) and daily responsibilities (brush teeth, do homework) on the scheduled chore list and require at all of these tasks be complete (or excused) to earn the daily allowance.
Tap a schedule chore to edit or delete the chore.
Family Settings
Use
Family Settings to add kids, delete kids, and modify daily allowances. You can also configure the Transaction History and Penalty Rate.
Configure Notifications
Go to
Configure Notifications to set up text message notifications. Before notifications can be added to the system, you must enroll a phone number to receive text messages. In order to support the back-end costs of sending text messages there is a $6/year charge per phone number enrolled to receive text messages. When adding a phone number, the system will redirect you to Paypal to collect payment.
Text message notifications can be set up as either "scheduled" or "event" notifications. Scheduled notifications are sent automatically each day at a specific time, and may include details about incomplete chores, chore status and can be specified for AM/PM or all chores. Event notifications are triggered when a kid marks a chore as complete or excused and certain conditions are met. For example, you can set up an event notification that sends a text message when a kid has completed all of their AM chores.
Having trouble with chore cloud?
Email me with questions or comments.
