How to Keep Track of the Chores That Don't Happen Every Day

Some tasks are easy to remember: they happen every day, or they're on a calendar with a due date. Then there's the other category: the stuff that needs doing every few weeks or months, on no fixed schedule, that quietly falls off your radar until something breaks or someone notices.

When did I last change the water filter? Has it really been that long since I called Mom? When did the car last get an oil change?

If you've ever caught yourself asking one of those questions with no real answer, you've met the "when did I last...?" problem. It's not a memory failure. It's a tooling failure.

Why to-do lists and calendars don't fix this

To-do apps want a due date. Calendars want a fixed recurrence. Both force you to guess at a schedule for something that doesn't really have one. Set the reminder too tight and you'll snooze it into meaninglessness. Set it too loose and you'll forget it exists between pings.

Notebooks and spreadsheets have the opposite problem: no friction to write it down, but also no friction-free way to check it later, and nothing reminds you a spreadsheet exists.

What actually works is a system built around one question: when did I last do this, and how long has it been? Not a due date. Not a checkbox. Just an honest, always-current answer.

The chores worth tracking this way

Almost anything that recurs without a fixed calendar date fits:

• Home maintenance: water filter changes, HVAC filters, gutter cleaning, smoke detector batteries
• Vehicle care: oil changes, tire rotations, wiper blades
• Health & self-care: dentist visits, skin checks, stretching, medication refills
• Relationships: calling a parent, checking in on a friend who's been quiet
• Digital & financial: rotating passwords, reviewing subscriptions, backing up photos

Reduce the friction, or it won't last

The system only works if logging is easier than not logging. A few things that help:

1. Name things specifically. "Change HVAC filter" beats "house stuff": vague entries are the ones you stop checking.
2. Log from where the chore happens, not from an app you have to remember to open. A home-screen widget you tap once, or a Siri command you say out loud while your hands are full, beats hunting for an icon. TimeSince also supports pairing a cheap NFC sticker with a chore: stick one on the actual water filter, and tapping your phone against it logs the change on the spot, no app-opening required.
3. Don't over-track. A list of 40 chores you never check is worse than a list of 5 you actually look at. Start small.
4. Let intervals replace guilt. The point isn't to hit some ideal cadence. It's to finally have an honest answer when you ask "when did I last do this?" Sometimes that answer is "longer than I thought," and that's exactly the information you were missing.

Once you stop trying to force irregular chores into a daily-streak or fixed-calendar shape, the whole category gets a lot less stressful to manage. You just check the number, and you know.