Category: Lifestyle

A long-time ChoreBuster user, Eric, has done some very clever things to create a home dashboard that displays chores allocated by ChoreBuster:

“To give you some background I have 4 children and smart wall/calendar that I setup and installed off of my kitchen. I wanted the ability to easily add a chore chart to the screen and experimented in different ways of doing it. I’m pretty techy so at one point I had a postgres database hosted on my unraid server and was adding records for each kid and then querying the database via API to get JSON responses which I then formatted onto my digital screen. It was great except it didn’t pass the wife approval test (WAF). This led me down the road of looking for something that did this and I spent a good 6 months researching reddit, magicmirror and the internet looking for an easy to manage solution. I needed something that allowed me or my wife to do the following:

Need a web interface that allowed someone with no technical skills to easily add and edit chores and assign people
Need a way to query the resulting schedule by person to display on my wall calendar
Needed the response format to be parsable JSON
Wanted to ensure that any solution had a helpful developer behind it
When I found chorebuster I was a little leary if the software would actually work for my use case. I experimented with it for a bit but hit a few snags as there wasn’t direct API access and the ability to create a rotation of chores (not using points) was difficult to implement. I decided then to reach out to the developer to see what could be done and I was pleasantly surprised at the responsiveness. In the matter of a week or two I had working APIs and eventually a rotate feature that allowed me to easily create what I wanted.

I’ve been using chorebuster now for almost 5 years and I love it. Its a daily driver in my house to keep everyone on track with what daily chores they have to help with. I ended up going with Dakboard for my digital screen due to the headache of maintaining magicmirror (corrupt build’s on my server and the headache of making things look good). With dakboard all I had to do was write some simple script to pull the chore’s by person and display it. The code I use is attached for reference and a screenshot. You’ll see the chores in the right side of the screen which dynamically updates each morning.

Thank you for such a great app!”

We worked with Eric for a couple of weeks to build an API for him to use. That API is also used by the mobile phone app, too. If you’d like to make use of the API in your project, we’ll be happy to help.

ADHD affects millions of people worldwide. ADHD symptoms can manifest in various ways but the ones affecting home life and routines the most include disorganization, being easily distracted, not completing tasks, forgetfulness, and time-blindness.

You can go a long way with a simple calendar and todo app, like Google Calendar, Google Tasks and Google Keep (or their Microsoft equivalents). But there are several apps available that can take it to another level and really help individuals with ADHD manage their symptoms and stay on top of their daily tasks. Some, like ChoreBuster, help entire families to work together better rather than focusing on individuals alone.

Roubit allows you to define a routine for each weekday and then mark off items as you complete them. Good for building daily habits.

Notion is an all-in-one app for note-taking and data organization. Essentially, it combines a wiki with a database. It offers a wide range of functionalities that are difficult to describe concisely. You could use Notion for taking notes, managing to-do lists, planning purchases, working on writing ideas, and much more.

Todoist is good for tracking chores, if you have a lengthy list of recurring chores that need to be done on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. Notion is not equipped to handle recurring tasks effectively, and Roubit cannot accommodate tasks that occur less frequently than once a week. Todoist offers a clean and user-friendly interface for viewing upcoming tasks, and it sends notifications to a phone to help you remember to complete them.

ChoreBuster is similar to Todoist in that it sets up recurring chores although it also automatically shares them among members of your household in a fair way. Rather than focussing on the individual it treats the household as a group of people who can work together.

Cozi is a family organizer app that can help individuals with ADHD manage their family’s schedule and routines. The app allows users to create and share calendars, to-do lists, and shopping lists with their family members. It also has a feature called “Family Journal,” which allows you to record and share memories with your family.

Routinery (Android, Apple) creates a daily routine with large blocks of time set aside for each activity and alerts you when it is time to move on to the next activity. Great for time-blindness.

Blip blip is also good for time-blindness. It simply makes your phone beep on the hour (like an old school Casio watch, or other chimes) which is enough to gently remind us of the passing of time and snap us out of unproductive activities.

Trello is a free project management app that can be used to organize tasks and projects. It is an excellent tool for individuals with ADHD who struggle with disorganization and incompletion. Trello allows users to create boards, lists, and cards to organize tasks and track progress.

Forest is a productivity app that uses a gamified approach to help users stay focused and avoid distractions. The app works by encouraging users to plant virtual trees that grow while they stay focused on their task. If the user leaves the app, the tree dies, which helps to provide motivation to stay focused and avoid distractions.

Managing ADHD symptoms can be challenging, especially around the home. However, with the help of these apps, people with ADHD can stay organized, avoid distractions, manage their time better, and stay on top of their daily tasks and routines. These apps are not a substitute for professional treatment, but they can be a valuable tool for people with ADHD to manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life.