Schoolwork, groceries, appointments, and household chores can quickly become difficult to coordinate. A shared Todoist system gives your family one place to track responsibilities instead of relying on scattered notes.
When Todoist surveyed its users, around 32% said they already used it with their families. Their examples show how shared projects can support partners, children, and other family members.
Response to @todoist: One user said Todoist had become central to life with their wife, @sheetal_palav. They used it to organize their wedding, plan travel, handle daily chores and shopping, and keep watch and reading lists.
Response to @todoist: Another user described using Todoist with their husband, @mrjaypeasmith, for personal tasks, shared household responsibilities, and joint projects. They also reported using it with their work team at the University of Bath. #GameChanger
Coordinate Everyday Responsibilities
Recording daily activities, tasks, and appointments in Todoist helps everyone see what needs attention.
Schoolwork
Students can track homework and exams while parents stay informed about what they are learning and when they might need help. Building a productivity system also gives students a useful organizational skill.
Grocery Shopping
Create a shared grocery project that everyone can update. The list stays available across devices, so it need not be left behind on the fridge.
Response to @todoist: One couple kept separate sub-projects for stores such as Costco and Trader Joe’s. Each included a task listing essentials they regularly bought there.
Bill Payments
Use recurring tasks for regular payments, such as heating bills, and dated tasks for one-off invoices, such as a bathroom remodel. Tracking internet, utilities, car payments, and tuition fees can help prevent missed payments and late fees. Attach bill photos or PDF files in task comments so the paperwork stays with the reminder.
Response to @todoist: A user and @naomi_gallant shared a House/Bills project and a separate project for an upcoming move.
Appointments
Todoist’s 2-way sync with Google Calendar lets you see calendar items in Todoist, from dentist appointments to work parties.
Response to @todoist: One user preferred lists while their spouse preferred Google Calendar. They said combining Todoist with GCal worked for both pediatrician appointments and vacation planning.
Plan Major Family Events
Renovations, weddings, moves, and trips can disrupt an established routine. Dedicated projects make their many moving parts easier to organize.
Response to @todoist: One couple reported putting household DIY, shopping, Christmas gifts, holiday packing, and house moves into @todoist.
Travel and Packing
A detailed packing checklist can help prevent forgotten passports or missing favorite toys. Group items under section headers such as “Toiletries,” with subtasks such as “toothpaste,” “deodorant,” and “contact lens solution”.
The Vacation Planning template offers a starting point, including “organize pet care” and a place to collect plans under “Where to eat and drink”. Before leaving, add tasks to ensure your home will be in order when you return. Todoist’s Head of Marketing, Brenna, uses a “House on vacation” checklist before trips.
Renovations
A kitchen remodel can turn into months of contractor conversations, supply runs, and disrupted meals. Keep the work in a dedicated project so you and your contractor can stay aligned. Add an “inspiration” section to preserve the original vision and reminders to follow up if the contractor stops responding. Breaking the work into specific tasks makes progress easier to see.
School-Year Preparation
Create a back-to-school checklist and let your child contribute missing items. Supplies might include “whiteout”, “pens”, “5-subject notebooks”, “new backpack”, “textbooks”, and “colored markers”. Include preparations beyond shopping, too, such as repairing a jacket zipper or setting goals together for the coming semester.
Wedding Arrangements
Whether you are organizing an intimate gathering or a 500-person celebration, a shared project can help you and your partner manage the months—or years—of preparation.
Response to @todoist: A user planning a wedding with their girlfriend said Todoist helped them get things done and that they intended to keep using it afterward.
If you hire a wedding planner, ask them to collaborate in Todoist so everyone can work toward the same vision. The Wedding Planning template provides a ready-made starting point.
Make Responsibilities Clear
Uneven workloads can cause resentment. Assign tasks to clarify who is responsible, track requests, and see who last handled a job.
Household Chores
Use a shared project for work such as mowing the lawn, walking the dog, and doing laundry. Assign tasks explicitly, whether each person has a regular responsibility or you rotate duties. For a rotating schedule, duplicate the same tasks for each person and assign them accordingly.
To check who last completed a chore, open the project and select “Show completed tasks”. This provides a record rather than relying on everyone’s memory.
Response to @todoist: One user and their partner shared household chore, shopping, and weekly meal-plan lists, and had recently started a project for Xmas 2018.
Occasional Tasks
Assign someone to handle responsibilities outside the usual routine, such as buying a baby-shower gift, getting extra chairs for a barbecue, or resolving an unexpected tax issue. A named owner makes it clear who needs to act.
Save Ideas Worth Looking Forward To
A family task manager need not contain only obligations. Collect destinations, activities, and goals as they occur to you, then revisit them together.
Response to @todoist: One family described using Todoist for their home, cooking, and renovations, as well as a shared project for dreams and ideas that helped them focus on their main goals. They thanked @todoist.
Future Trips
Keep a project for potential destinations and invite everyone to add local or international options. When it is time to plan a trip, you will have alternatives to your usual vacation spots.
Time Together
A project for “couple plans” can hold date-night ideas, from dinner at home to dancing in the city, so your plans do not always default to the same restaurant.
New Meals
Save appealing, quick, easy recipes in a shared “Meal Ideas” project. Invite everyone to contribute, including picky eaters, to help break out of familiar dinner routines.
Gift Ideas
Record gifts people have requested, including details such as size, color, and model number. For those who prefer surprises or offer no suggestions, collect possibilities as you notice them. Keep surprise gifts in a private project if the recipient also uses Todoist.
Shared and Individual Goals
Create a “Goals” project for family, couple, and personal ambitions. These might include saving for a trip, volunteering more, or improving communication. Sharing individual goals can add accountability: if a spouse wants to take lunch to work 3 days a week, celebrate their progress and gently remind them when they drift off course.
Find Motivation and Opportunities to Help
A shared system may also save time, create a sense of calm, or make unexpected acts of kindness easier.
Keep Competition Friendly
Competing for Karma Points can make routine work more engaging. Family members might tackle laundry or mow the lawn while working toward Grand Master status, as long as the competition stays friendly.
Share the Load
Seeing another person’s workload can reveal when they need help. If you have room in your day, reassign one of their tasks to yourself. Clear ownership is useful, but household responsibilities can still be treated as shared work.
Response to @todoist: A user said they and their wife, @MCarr530, sometimes completed each other’s family tasks as a kindness. They described the relief of receiving a completion notification and having more mental space afterward.
Help Your Family Get Started
Not everyone will immediately want a new system. For family members attached to their current habits, suggest Todoist as an addition rather than a replacement. Tech-minded teenagers may appreciate trying an app they can use across their devices.
Show How You Use It
Let your own organization demonstrate the value. Explain casually how Todoist helps you manage work and life; that may encourage family members to download it and explore.
Offer a Guided Tour
When someone shows interest, walk them through the app and your projects. Then share resources they can return to:
- The Ultimate Guide to Todoist.
- For visual learners, YouTube channels from Todoist experts such as Carl Pullein, Francesco D’Alessio, and Chris Gmyr.
Invite Them to Collaborate
Invite family members to a project via email, assign a task, and add comments to begin collaborating. They can see only the projects they are invited to, so include everyone who needs access to shared chores, vacation ideas, or dinner recipes.
For families who prefer a Shared Inbox, the source points to Todoist Business.
Check In Periodically
If someone stops using the app, ask what has changed and help resolve the difficulty. A few reminders may help:
- Mention Todoist Integrations if they rely on other apps.
- Highlight the playful side of collecting karma points and progressing toward levels such as Enlightened.
Some family members may remain unconvinced, and getting everyone involved can take effort.
How One Family Uses Todoist
Benjamin Pollock said Todoist helped his family coordinate and keep everyday life running smoothly. Their ongoing projects include groceries, routine household errands, shared responsibilities for their child and cats, and a buying list.
They use the ‘@shopping’ label across projects to find relevant tasks while out. Recurring household chores live in their “Family” project.
Alongside these permanent lists, they create temporary projects for trip packing, volunteer work, and holiday thank-you cards. Once finished, those projects are archived.
Stay Coordinated Without Expecting Perfection
Shared projects give families a way to coordinate busy schedules and remember future plans.
Response to @todoist: One user and their husband, @kwanzer4, used Todoist for household chores, gift ideas for relatives and friends, and shared goals.
A joint system cannot remove every stressful situation, but it can create more room to pause, organize, and decide what comes next. You can start sharing projects with your family for free.
Family-use feedback was invited through @todoist.
