The Tody method

The Tody method is a way of keeping a home clean without keeping a schedule in your head: break the home into small tasks, give each one a realistic frequency, and let Tody track how far along each is (its dueness) so you only clean what's due. You clean less, the home stays cleaner, and nobody has to be the person who remembers everything.

Why fixed cleaning schedules fail

A traditional cleaning schedule says "bathroom on Saturdays" — whether the bathroom needs it or not. Miss one Saturday and the plan is broken; follow it strictly and you waste effort on things that were still clean. Paper schedules and generic to-do apps share the same flaw: they track dates, not dirt. And someone still has to notice everything the schedule forgot.

What is dueness?

Dueness is how far a task is along its own interval: the time since you last did it, compared with how often it genuinely needs doing. A green indicator means it can wait; a red one means it's overdue. Do the task, and the indicator resets. Your daily list stays short and ordered by need.

The task view shows the whole story: the dueness graph over time, the frequency and effort you chose, and one satisfying "Just did it!" button.

A task in Tody showing its dueness graph over time, frequency, effort, and the Just did it button

How often should things be cleaned?

Tody suggests sensible starting frequencies for every task and lets you tune them to your home: pets, kids, and allergies all change the answer. Typical starting points:

TaskTypical frequency
Change bed linenEvery 1–2 weeks
Vacuum floorsEvery 1 week
Clean bathroom sink & toiletEvery 1 week
Dust surfacesEvery 2 weeks
Clean the showerEvery 2 weeks
Clean out the fridgeEvery 1–3 months
Clean the ovenEvery 3–6 months
Wash windowsEvery 3–6 months

And anything the library doesn't cover (changing an HVAC filter, descaling the coffee machine) takes seconds to add as a custom task with its own frequency, effort level, seasonality, and assignment.

Creating a custom task in Tody: Change HVAC filter, done every 9 months, with effort, seasonality, and assignment options

Break the home down until starting is easy

"Clean the kitchen" is a project; "wipe the counters" is a two-minute win. Tody structures your home as rooms containing small, concrete tasks, so there is always something you can finish in the time you have. Even with five minutes, you can finish one useful job.

How does Tody keep you motivated?

Tody makes both the dirt and your effort visible. Indicators fill up as things get dirty and melt away when you act, so cleaning has a visible result even when nobody else notices. Dusty, your dust-bunny nemesis, keeps it playful: leave things too long and he gloats; stay on top and you beat him. Miss a week and nothing breaks; the race starts fresh every month.

Share the load, not just the list

With household sync, everyone sees the same live plan and every contribution is recorded. The noticing and planning, the mental load that usually lands on one person, lives in the app instead. The asking, the reminding, and the score-keeping move in with it.

Inside the app

The features that turn the method into a habit.

Automated to-do list

Tody automatically generates a prioritized to-do list, guiding you to the tasks that give you the cleanest home with the least effort. Filter by person and see exactly who's on what.

Tody's automatically generated to-do list, grouped by room and filtered to one household member, with a dueness bar on every task

Every room at a glance

Tody's design is entirely visual: every room shows its state at a glance, no endless lists. You navigate the way you think about your home: area by area.

Tody's home screen with every room as a tile carrying a color-coded dueness indicator, plus the monthly race against Dusty

Easy setup

Setting up a room takes three steps: tick the tasks you want from the built-in library, set how often each one should be done, and give it an effort level. Sensible defaults are built in, so a whole home takes minutes, not an afternoon.

Step 1 of setting up a room in Tody: ticking tasks from the built-in task library
Step 2 of setting up a room in Tody: adjusting how often each selected task should be done, from days to months
Step 3 of setting up a room in Tody: setting the effort level of each task with a simple three-dot scale

Gamification that works

Dusty challenges you to a monthly race. You decide when and how much you clean. Along the way he's your benchmark and rival, gloating when he's ahead and complaining when you score. Nothing is settled until the end of the month.

Tody's focus timer mid-session: 44 minutes 57 seconds remaining, a pause button, and the focus task list below with due tasks per room

Focus timer

Pomodoro, but for cleaning: set a time frame, pick your targets, and power through a focused session with the built-in timer.

Built for the whole household

A shared home deserves a shared plan. Tody keeps everyone on the same page and makes every contribution visible.

Assignment & rotation

Assign any task to a household member, or let Tody rotate it automatically each cycle, so the boring ones never stick to the same person.

FairShare

Decide the split that fits your home, and FairShare turns it into a concrete contribution target for each member. Change the split, and every target adjusts. Nobody has to keep score.

FairShare in Tody ranking members against their personal targets for the agreed split: Sandy 15 done of a target of 8, Mike 11 of 11, Emma 12 of 17, Josh 0 of 19

Reports

Monthly and yearly reports show who did what: daily activity, each member's contribution, the hero of the month, and how the household did in the race against Dusty.

Tody's yearly household report for 2025: total effort points, hero of the year, monthly performance charts, leaderboard, and effort by weekday and areaTody's monthly household report for June 2026: total effort points, hero of the month, daily and total charts, leaderboard with contribution per member, and general insights

Assignment & rotation are free for everyone. Household sync, FairShare, and reports are part of Tody Premium+ (free 30-day trial).

Try the method on your own home

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play