Free tools

Free tools for sorting out household work

Three things we've made free, with nothing behind a sign-up: a calculator that shows how the work actually divides, the full list of what running a home involves, and a one-page script for having the conversation.

Calculator 2 min · no sign-up

Chore split calculator for couples

Answer 10 quick cards about who does what. It weights every job by the real effort it takes, not by how long it looks from the outside, then shows you the split your household is actually running next to the split you each said would feel fair.

Best for: seeing the gap between what you assume is happening and what is.

Checklist Free to read and print

The complete household jobs list

All 68 jobs it takes to run a home, across five areas, with how often each one comes up and how long it really takes. Most versions of this list are sold as a deck of cards or a book. Ours is a web page you can read, print, and argue with.

Best for: agreeing on what the work even is, before you try to split it.

Printable PDF

The mental load one-pager

A calm, printable cheat sheet for raising the mental load with your partner: the three parts of every job, six steps with lines you can borrow word for word, the four openers that backfire, and sourced figures from Australia, the UK and the US. Designed to sit open beside you while you talk. The full walkthrough is in how to explain the mental load.

Best for: the conversation itself, when you don't want to lose your thread.

Why these are free

Lyven is a household app built in Melbourne by two people running one home. These tools work perfectly well as standalone things, so that's how we've published them: no account, no email wall, no trial. If they sort things out for you and you never come back, that's fine. If you want the split to stay sorted, that is what the app is for.

Prefer reading to clicking? The guides cover what the mental load is, how to divide chores so it holds, and an honest comparison of the chore apps, including where a rival beats us.

Start with your own split

Two minutes, ten cards, no sign-up. You'll see how the work divides in your home right now, and whether you both call that fair.

Open the calculator