The Idea

Chorizzo does two things:

• it provides a solution to organize the chores in a household
• it also helps motivate everyone to actually do their chores

Planning and logging your day-to-day activities has many benefits. For one, you know ahead how to schedule your day so that you could fit in everything you have planned. Sharing your plan with others lets others see when you're free or busy.

When you are living with more people in the same house or apartment it is a good idea to divide the chores. This way everyone feels useful and it reduces the feeling one may feel is doing all the work.

Logging the work you have done let's others know how you're progressing with your chores. If you're supposed to clean the dishes but can't do it now due to some unforeseen circumstances, then others can take over and do it for you. In exchange, maybe next time you'll do some additional tasks yourself.

There are numerous calendars and work schedule tools out there that let you plan and log your work. The problem with these is that logging chores often becomes a chore itself. When you're done washing the dishes and cleaning the sink you don't want to spend another 5 minutes tending to bureaucracy. Considering all the benefits, how does one become motivated to continue planning and logging the chores on a day-to-day basis?

According to Jesse Schell, professor at Carnegie Mellon University, people can be motivated by rewarding them with points. This is one way how, for example, online games can become attractive and addictive to a large audience. By doing quests in a game, players are rewarded with virtual points, which they can spend on virtual items like prettier clothes, a new car or better weapons. They also "level up": at first they may be a Level 1 Rookie, then Level 2 Apprentice, Level 3 Hero, Level 4 Master, etc. Leveling up gives a sense of achievement.

Using points to motivate people is not limited to games only. It has been shown that using this system in a school encourages students to study harder. You can watch the whole TED Talk presentation here.

First Steps

First you need to register. You can do this with your Google account, or any other supported account.

When you first log in, a new group will be created for you. You will also receive an invite link which you should share with other members of your household. With this invite link they will join your group.

It is recommended that you all belong to the same group. If you are in separate groups then there will be no real way to compare each others' achievements. The points you may earn only have value if others can earn them the same way you did.

Setting Up Work Types

In your brand new group, you need to setup the types of chores you are going to be doing. Typical examples include: washing the dishes, washing clothes, cleaning the toilet, watering the flowers ... It is recommended that you involve the whole group in defining the work types.

You also need to assign a certain amount of points to each task. For example: washing the dishes is worth 10 points. Cleaning the toilet: 15 points. Taking out the garbage: 5 points. If you're not sure how to decide which task is worth how much, don't worry, you can change the points later on. One good rule is to count the number of minutes it takes to complete one task and use that for points.

You can also set a default assignee to some tasks. If one person prefers to wash the dishes every time and doesn't want others to do it, you can set the default assignee to that person.

Plan Your Week

When you have finished setting up the work types, it's time to plan your first week. Schedule ahead the chores that need to be done this week. You don't necessarily need to assign each task to a person, you may leave it unassigned. In this case, someone in the group should pick it up when possible.

Unassigned tasks have a question mark next to them.

Do Your Chores

The chores assigned to you will appear on your TODO List at the top of the screen.

You have two options:

• After completing the task, click on "Done"
• If you don't have time to complete the task, click on "Won't do". Doing this will mark the task as unassigned (a ? sign will appear) and others will notice that it needs to be done by someone

Count Your Score

You can view your current score by clicking on the "Statistics" button on the top of the screen.

Further Questions?

Please check out the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Contact Us

Do you have any questions or concerns? Please write us an email.