Not sure about giving your child chores? You’re not alone. More than three in four children do no household chores, according to research from Mintel. Yet, Sue Atkins, parenting expert and author of Parenting Made Easy, says, “Setting chores gives children responsibility, which teaches them to become responsible. As parents, our job is to nurture and guide our children towards responsibility. To give them the ability to look after themselves so they are not helpless when they go out into the world.” Don’t forget, there are other benefits of chores, as many of them help kids to develop important life skills.
If you’re unsure what kind of chores would be best for your children, check out our age-appropriate chores for kids lists. The list can help you discover what types of tasks children can do around the house at various ages. The best way to encourage your children to take part in chores is to work with them to find chores they enjoy.
Summary of the best chore tracking apps
- GoHenry
- Cozi
- S’moresUp
- OurHome
- Rooster Money
- Chores and Allowance Bot
- Habitica
- Homey Chores and Allowance
- Revolut Junior
- iAllowance
Why use an app to track chores?
When it comes to encouraging kids to do chores, every little thing helps. Using an app to track chores:
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Can help you stay organised. With an app, you can easily create a list of chores that need to be done, and then assign them to different family members. This can help you avoid forgetting about chores, and it can also help to ensure that everyone is pulling their weight.
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It can help you track progress. An app can keep track of which chores have been completed, and when. This can be helpful for seeing how your family is doing overall, and it can also be motivating for kids to see how much they've accomplished.
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It can help you set goals. Some apps allow you to set goals for how often chores should be completed. This can help you to create a more consistent cleaning schedule, and it can also help to teach kids about the importance of responsibility.
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It can make chores more fun. Some apps have gamified features that can make chores more fun for kids. This can help to encourage kids to do their chores, and it can also help them to learn about the importance of teamwork.
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Last but not least, chore apps can be used to manage rewards for chores. For instance, with GoHenry, you can set paid tasks within the app and when the task is marked as complete, your child can be paid.
How to choose a chore tracking app?
If you’re looking for a chore tracking app, you’ll see that there are many to pick from. The most important thing is to find an app that works well for you and your family – don’t just pick one based on cost. Spend time reading reviews, ask other parents what they use, and decide what works for you. Consider:
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What reward features are built-in to the app. There are many different ways to reward children for chores – sometimes you might want to give them a treat like a chocolate bar or give them regular pocket money.
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How much the app costs
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Ease of use for both adults and kids
Best chore tracking apps
It’s not unusual for children to want to play, draw, read or do anything other than help out with ‘boring’ chores. Here are a number of apps to help you motivate your children to do their chores and make it fun for everyone.
GoHenry
Cost: £3.99 a month
GoHenry is a prepaid kids' debit card and app (available for kids aged 6-18) where kids can learn how to budget, save, spend and understand the difference between wants vs needs. The app lets you manage chores as ‘paid tasks’. It’s easy to set up tasks for your children within the app and when they are marked as done, you can reward your child.
You’ll also get all the tools to nurture financially healthy children such as their own prepaid debit card, app and access to in-app Money Missions, a financial learning tool with quizzes, videos and more.
Cozi
Cost: Free
A fantastic family sharing app that allows you to organise your family in one place. Cozi is simple to use and keeps everyone’s tasks and chores in one place so the whole family can share. It also remembers your to-dos, so you don’t have to. You can create individual chore lists for the kids, add as many lists as you want and reorder items by priority.
S’moresUp
Cost: Free standard version, which gives you 45-day access to the premium features (premium is £3.90 a month)
S’moresUp is a calendar app that lets you include household chores. You can set up a separate calendar for everyone in your family and track when tasks are complete. Having a set time to do chores can be useful and teaches good time management skills. Though you can’t link completed chores to pocket money payments and there are no other financial education features.
OurHome
Cost: Free version and Premium version £3.90 a month
OurHome is a calendar app that lets you combine calendars, shopping lists and other useful info, all in one app. It can be great for helping your children see what needs to be done. Tasks all have a point value, meaning that your children can keep track of how much hard work they’ve done and you can reward them for their effort.
Rooster Money
Cost: Free to NatWest customers or £1.99 a month
Natwest Rooster Money app is a family pocket money app and card for kids. Chores come with Rooster Plus where all you have to do is tap the (+) button to add a chore for your child. You then have access to a reward chart for younger kids, a virtual chore tracker, and chore chart to teach your kids about earning.
Chores and Allowance Bot
Cost: Free version and Premium version £7.79 a month
An easy, fun, and super versatile way to keep track of your family's chores, allowances, and savings goals. With Chores & Allowance Bot, you can automatically keep your whole family’s chores and allowances in sync across all your devices. Chores can be done for allowance, reward, and be rotated between multiple children. Kids can also receive chore reminders without having to open the app and you can send reminders to your kids at any time.
Habitica
Cost: Free
A good one for chore-reluctant tweens and teens, this app is a free habit-building and productivity app that uses elements to gamify tasks and goals. Habitica transforms tasks into “monsters” that your child must conquer. The more tasks they complete, the better they do in the game and the more gear they earn.
Homey Chores and Allowance
Cost: Free version and Premium version £3.90 a month
The perfect app to teach your kids about money through completing chores and working towards goals. It not only encourages kids to develop a strong work ethic, but it teaches kids how money is earned and encourages long-term goal setting. The app is easy to set up and will remind children what jobs they haven’t done yet. You can then transfer allowance and any money kids earn directly to their savings.
Revolut Junior
Cost: No fee as long as you have a Revolut adult card
Revolut Junior offers three key features. ‘Allowances’, enables you to set up a standing order to send a fixed amount of pocket money to your child on an ongoing basis. ‘Challenges’ allows you to set chores and to-dos for kids, each with a corresponding financial value, and ‘Goals’ allows you to create pots of money to help children save towards the things they want, track their progress and celebrate their achievements.
iAllowance
Cost: Free
iAllowance is an app that allows parents to set up an allowance system for their kids. Parents can create chore lists and assign chores to their kids, and then they can track how often their kids complete chores and how much allowance they earn. The app also enables you to assign individualised chores and goals for each child based on their needs and ability level. Available only on Apple.
Use GoHenry to encourage your kids to do chores today
If you’re struggling to motivate your kids to do their chores, GoHenry can help. With GoHenry, you can assign and keep track of chores with the paid tasks feature. This also allows you to set rewards so your kids receive pocket money when they mark tasks complete. This is a great way to encourage your teen to learn the importance of responsibility and the value of money.
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