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How to Create an Online First Dibs Chore Chart

How to Create a "First Dibs" Chore ChartLots of parents ask us about the best way to set up an online “first dibs” chore chart system for the kids in their family.

What’s that?

Here’s a typical description from FamZoo Mom Elizabeth H.:

I’d like to create a chore checklist that is open to all of my children, and the one to check it off first gets the money associated with that chore. Is that possible? For example, if the trash needs to be taken out and child 3 does that, I would like for him to be able to check the box and get the money.

Yep, we can do that in FamZoo. Here’s how you set it up.

First, create a new checklist, give it a name, and share it with the whole family so that each of the kids can see it when they sign into FamZoo separately. Be sure to check the Rewards and Penalties option on the list to enable the assignment of payments for each chore.

Click on Create List Link Fill in Checklist Settings

Currently, chore payments must be assigned to a specific child’s account up front, so you’ll need to create a chore item for each eligible child.


Important Update: It’s no longer necessary to create a separate chore item for each eligible child. Just create one item and assign the reward to the Default Account entry. See here for details.

For example, suppose we have three children: Cub, LilSis, and BigSis. Let’s say that every Monday, the “take trash cans to the curb” chore is up for grabs. Start by creating a repeating item for Cub with the following settings:

  • Description: Take trash cans to curb (Cub)
  • Repeats: Weekly on Mondays
  • Expires: After the due date by 1 day
  • Reward/Penalty: Credit Cub’s Pocket Money $0.25 when item is checked

Create Checklist Items

Notice how we include Cub’s name in the description of the chore. Now, we’ll add another item that’s identical to this one except we replace Cub’s name in the description with “LilSis” and we pick LilSis’ spending account instead of Cub’s. Rinse and repeat with BigSis to create a third and final item.

The first kid to do the chore checks off their item to get the reward.

Check Off Item For Child Who Completed Chore

Checking off the item automatically makes a payment of the designated amount to the appropriate child’s account.

Checked Chore Automatically Makes Payment

If a child accidentally (or not so accidentally!) checks off an item, just un-check it to automatically reverse the payment. Do not delete the checked item because leaves any existing payment transactions in place.

So, that’s how your create a first dibs chore chart for your kids in FamZoo. Questions? Comments? Don’t hesitate to contact us.

Note: We plan to make this even simpler to set up in the future by assigning the payment account on the fly based on which child checks off the chore. That way, you’ll be able to have a single item for each chore that’s up for grabs. (Update: this is done. See here for details.)

79 comments:

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

Do you have a time frame on "...assigning the payment account on the fly based on which child checks off the chore?" Having to recreated every task for each kid every day is quite a long list.

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Brent, I don't have a definitive timeframe on that just yet since other features have been taking precedence for the time being. But, note that if you follow the recipe above, you don't have to recreate chores every day for each kid - by using the REPEAT field, you only have to enter the chores once up front for each child and the rest are automatically stamped out going forward. So, the data entry only happens once up front for each kid.

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

I have three children similar to the example above. I love the extra jobs (first dibs) option! Did I set it up correctly if the kids can all check off the chores each day. I have told them to see if someone else has checked it off...as I will only pay the first person to complete the job. It is a little confusing. Did I do something wrong?

Thanks!

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Hi Michelle,

Yep, you're doing it right! If one of the kids gets confused and checks off a chore already done, you can just un-check the box. That will also reverse any reward amounts that may have been inadvertently received. Note that you can also set up a text alert to yourself (and your kids if desired) so you can be notified whenever one of the kids checks off an item - that way, you can catch any duplicates right away. See this FAQ for how to set up checklist alerts: http://blog.famzoo.com/p/famzoo-faqs.html#checklist-alerts

Regards,
Bill

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

I have 3 kids and lots of first dib chores! It is such a pain having each chore 3x (1 for each kid), not for me, but my kids all have ADHD and seeing a huge list of daily chores (if I have 6 daily chores possible its a list of 18) makes them not even want to bother. I really wish it was set up like Brent suggested and whichever child checked the chore first got the money. I can't use a first dib list the way it's set up now, I just set up the chore and then go back and award the money after whoever did it, it makes it almost not even worth using the system.

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Hi Jamie, thank you for your feedback. While waiting for us to get to this feature enhancement, I have an idea for you (and others) that might work better with your kids:

* Change your current first-dibs list to just be visible to you via Checklist > Settings > Share With: Nobody
* Create another list that is shared with your kids that just has one entry per first-dibs chore but no associated rewards
* Set up an alert (Checklist > Alerts > Is Checked Off) to send you an alert every time someone els checks off an item

It turns out that our alert message identifies the child who checked off the item. When you receive the alert, visit your private checklist with the entries for each child and check off the corresponding one to deliver the reward to the right child. The nice thing about this approach is that it's like an approval process - you get to decide whether the child actually performed the chore to standard before delivering the reward.

Hope that helps!

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

Hi Bill,
Just curious if you had a timeline for when you will add the feature mentioned in the Note at the end of the article...
"Note: We plan to make this even simpler to set up in the future by assigning the payment account on the fly based on which child checks off the chore. That way, you’ll be able to have a single item for each chore that’s up for grabs."
Thanks... love your website and app!

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Hi Jason, Unfortunately, no, I can't pin down a timeframe yet for that enhancement. We've been pouring our development energy into prepaid card integration features lately. For example, right now we're working on proactively providing more info about declines on attempted purchases with the cards. Kids routinely forget to check their balances, forget their PINs, enter the wrong address/date info, etc. We're working on features that will let them learn those important card handling habits more swiftly. (Nobody likes declines!)

We do appreciate that we'll need to swing attention back around to the chore management side at some point, because we have lots of neat requests there. Apologies that I can't give you a firm, satisfying answer. :-(

Thank you for the kind words about FamZoo - much appreciated.

Bobby and Larisa Meeks aka The Blog Post Author

Agree this would be great. We have six kids, so replicating chores won't work for us... :(. Still great deal for us tho.

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Wow, 6! And I thought raising our 5 kids was exhausting :-)

Jeff Bunker aka The Blog Post Author

I'm not sure if there is any place to submit an official request to add my name to the list, but we would LOVE to have the "on-the-fly" payment to the appropriate account/split based on whoever checked off the item. I see it has been just over 4 months since the last post here. Has this moved up the priority list of features yet?

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Hi Jeff, it's definitely near the top of the chore area feature list. Lately the core prepaid card features and scalability work (to accommodate the growing family base) have continued to dominate our limited development resources, so I can't promise you a specific date. The feedback is much appreciated though, and the vote for increased priority is duly noted.

will aka The Blog Post Author

Looks like subscribers have been waiting two years for this feature that will make your app far more appealing, especially to large families! I really hope your team sees the value to customer retention to get this "on the fly assignment" capability done asap. It is a much needed feature and obviously in demand by parents. Thanks!

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Hi Will, Your vote is duly noted! This feature is definitely at the top for those families using chore lists. Still working on some of the behind-the-scenes scalability work mentioned in my Sep 4 comment above. The things competing for the next development cycle are: a more mature looking teen card option, a revamp of the desktop web app UI to freshen it up and appeal to both pre-teens and teens (FamZoo kids are half/half now), and some key chore checklist features like this one. Like Oprah says: "You can have it all - just not all at once." :-)

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

Hi there, I've just got started with FamZoo and just wanted to add my voice to the above that this is a must-have feature! So far it is the one very obvious limitation I have come across. On the whole it looks great though and my kids are thrilled with their new cards.

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

I would vote heavily for functionality over appearance. Checklist features please...

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Vote received!

David aka The Blog Post Author

Add my name to the list for our 6 kids.

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

6! Impressive. 7 votes received! :-)

Jan aka The Blog Post Author

One more vote for "assigning the payment account on the fly based on which child checks off the chore" please! Setting up our chores has been fun (not really) with 5 kids under 12 yrs. We're spending so much time getting set up we haven't even started the spending process yet! Also, is there a way to copy one checklist and move to another child so I'm not having to enter in each item for each child in each child's account? Tedious!! Overall we are so excited to finally get to fully implement this system! This is GENIUS!!!!! Thanks for all the hard work and effort to help us parents give the gift of financial literacy to our children!!

BethT aka The Blog Post Author

Another vote for implementing this feature! I love this site but because this doesn't seem to be implemented yet, I'm going to need to check out other sites and apps before settling down to this one. And I was so hoping that my searching was over!

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Hi Beth - vote acknowledged!

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

(And Jan acknowledged too - somehow missed your comment in December - thank you for the kind words :-)

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

Let's get this going soon! I have 5 kids and it is very tedious :)

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

I hear you. I've got 5 kids too, and only so many hours in the day to write code with our small team and run a self-funded mission-driven startup. :-) The bottom line: This item has hovered near the top of the priority list, but keeps getting nudged out by more pressing issues affecting more families. Every development cycle, we re-evaluate the top candidates. That's why I can't promise a specific time-frame. Apologies. Just being completely candid.

Bob aka The Blog Post Author

Ditto me for this feature. I'm just about to introduce my kids to famzoo and see how it goes. I'd love to have a first dibs chore list for my kids. Having to replicate the chores for each is a pain - plus then having to verify each kid doesn't check their box. By chance do you have an issue tracking system against which I can register my interest in this feature and track progress or future comments? I just happened to find this page while googling for a famzoo first dibs chart.

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Hi Bob, duly noted and apologies for the inconvenience in this particular use case. Unfortunately, we don't have an external facing issue tracking system for folks outside FamZoo to track progress on specific items. We'll certainly announce any updates in our monthly newsletter. (BTW, you'll find the chore list related capabilities and use cases - like this one - in the Checklist portion of the General FAQ: http://blog.famzoo.com/p/famzoo-faqs.html#checklists )

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

Ditto, we would really love the "first dibs" feature with only needing to add the item once.

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Hi Bruce, thank you for weighing in. Vote acknowledged.

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

A new user here. Super excited to get our debit cards and get rolling! Also wanted to add my vote for the "first dibs" feature since it looks like its been several months since anyone did so. ;)

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Welcome aboard Rachelle, and vote duly noted! -Bill

Anonymous aka The Blog Post Author

Me too - I've been using famzoo for about 6 months. We used it with penalties first and that worked for a bit, now the kids want to try a reward system. creating the list twice is time consuming... (for those of you with 3+ horrible!!). Keep this one moving up the list please!

Michelle White aka The Blog Post Author

Please, first dibs functionality! :)

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Vote acknowledged, Michelle. -Bill

Milton aka The Blog Post Author

Please count us in * 6! We would really like this feature to be easier to set-up and use. Also, above you mention the following: "The things competing for the next development cycle are: a more mature looking teen card option, a revamp of the desktop web app UI to freshen it up and appeal to both pre-teens and teens (FamZoo kids are half/half now), and some key chore checklist features like this one.". Any progress to share on those features? Milton Howard

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Milton, the teen card design has been approved by MasterCard and we are issuing the first test cards internally now. Probably 1-2 months away from general availability. We've had to shift resources to some behind-the-scenes tools for customer support so that we can maintain our high level of personal attention there with reasonable efficiency as our customer base grows significantly.

Milton aka The Blog Post Author

Thanks, Bill. Looking forward to the new and more age appropriate card design for teens.

Kelie aka The Blog Post Author

Any updates on this feature?!

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Hi Kelie, It's still being crowded out by more broadly used/requested features - like Transfer Requests between any two accounts which is what we're finishing up at the moment and the Teen Card (which we have a "secret" way of ordering now - shhhhh :-)

Tameron aka The Blog Post Author

I would love to see this feature also (5 kids!).

And how do we order the teen cards? Or not ready just yet?

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Hi Tameron, contact us via the Contact Us link while signed into FamZoo and we'll share the magic teen card incantation with you :-)

Jeff Jewell aka The Blog Post Author

Add our "me too" to this thread, with our seven kids -- Fortunately at this point, most of them are too young to have the debit card, but they are all old enough to be using the chore lists.

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Noted Jeff. Wow, 7 kids! Makes raising our 5 kids sound like a breeze :-)

~* Allen Family *~ aka The Blog Post Author

Another vote for this feature :)

yostyid aka The Blog Post Author

Hi Bill,

New to the system, excited for the possibilities. Please count my vote on the 'first dibs' functionality.

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Welcome! And counted. :-)

DB aka The Blog Post Author

Yikes - I was reading through the FAQ as I decided whether to sign up. The fact there isn't enough programing / staffing bandwidth to get this feature up and running for years on end has discouraged me. Will check back in 6 months though - best of luck.

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Well, to keep it in perspective, we've added a ton of capabilities over those years. You'll be hard pressed to find similar breadth of prepaid card + FinLit features: http://blog.famzoo.com/p/features.html. It's just that not everyone uses the Chore lists - often just the youngest kids, so our efforts get concentrated on the core prepaid card features and capabilities that are used across a broader age spectrum.

DB aka The Blog Post Author

Fair enough. I'm up north as well so I don't think I can use the cards but I can see the appeal. Will delete my comments shortly. Thank you for the quick reply.

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

No need to delete comments! It's an honest and fair comment for sure - let it stand for the record! Just lending my view. :-)

Rachel aka The Blog Post Author

Adding my vote for first dibs chore chart as well! We are doing the month trial and I have to say I love this app so far except for this one missing feature. I have a teen and an almost teen and I still prefer paying them for work they do around the house vs an "allowance". It isn't as cumbersome for me having only two kiddos but feel this would surely enhance your product's usability immensely! Thanks for making this amazing app/service!

Paul aka The Blog Post Author

Father of 4 here, and new customer of FamZoo. I am really impressed with all you've been able to roll out over the years for this service. Please add my vote for this feature, it would be a really welcome addition for shared chores. Additionally, if there is anything I can do to help speed this along, I'd be more than happy to do so where possible. I'm asking as a software and data engineer with 20+ years professional experience. As a frequent contributor to open source software, I'm used to pitching in where I can - so just thought I'd throw it out there. :) Regardless, thanks for the great product!

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

I am new to this service, but this is one of the first features I found myself looking for/wishing for. I tried out the workaround above, and it is a stop gap solution at best. I would love to see an option that prevent anyone other the parent and the child that selected/checked off a task/chore to be able to undo it.

I am looking forward to introducing this to my kids. Currently in the set up phase. I was psyched to find this service because I was starting to think about implementing something similar. Great job!

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

The first dibs would be amazing. I have 4 kids and we had a lot of issues with a kid not choosing to do a chore because they didn't care about the pay, then the next kid to do it would get overwhelmed because it was a bigger mess for the same pay. I now have it set up so that if the sibling scheduled before you does not do the chore on their day, then you get paid for 2 days and so on, up to 4 days pay if the chore has been neglected for 4 days. But it makes it hard to pay that way since I have to assign to the kids with an auto pay. After reading this, I think I'm going to just set it up for now to send notifications and manually pay the kids, but I would really prefer to make this an automated process.

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

Just signed up for the trial, and you can add me to the list of folks that would love to see the first dibs feature rolled out. I have eight kids, so this would be very helpful and useful for our family (as you can imagine how much effort it takes for the workaround).

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

Just recieved my cards and my kids and I are excited!! Put me in for a vote for the first dibs feature :)

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

vote for the first dibs feature!! Thanks for great program

Lori Pedford aka The Blog Post Author

I've searched and searched for an easy to use, but flexible kid chore/reward management system that can be used on hand held devices, but can be used via the web too (not all my kids have devices, but they do have computers). While, that's my primary focus, your Key Features (mentioned and linked above) are what have kept me on your website for several hours tonight and I'm definitely signing up for the trial.

Aaaaallllssooooo, I'd love love love the first dibs features. ;)

Anonymous aka The Blog Post Author

Add my vote to getting a first dibs feature. I also agree with one of the other parents that it would be great if we can copy a checklist for our other kids. With 5 kids & about 10 items to check off per kid (small tasks) it is very tedious to setup the checklist schedule for each kid. We just signed up for the trial & finished setting up the 1st child's checklist. I've been looking through the FAQ to see if I can duplicate her checklist for the other children.

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

This feature really does need to be addressed, I will not renew.

Bran aka The Blog Post Author
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bran aka The Blog Post Author

I just signed up and would also like to request a first dibs chore option as well as a copy list option. Thanks!

Anonymous aka The Blog Post Author

Just received my cards in the mail today...so far, so good. I would like to be added to the vote YES list for the first dibs feature rollout! Hopefully, we are closer than before on getting that addition. It would be very helpful...not sure how the people with 3 or more kids have time to do all of the extra entries. Fingers Crossed!

Unknown aka The Blog Post Author

I just added another child to FamZoo and she is now excited about chores! The current solution of repeating chores with separate names is tedious and not a clean design when kids are trying to check off items. A "First Dibs" chore list where the child signs into their account, checks off an item and is paid appropriately would be perfect! Please consider rolling out this feature!!!

AvatarMJV aka The Blog Post Author

"Note: We plan to make this even simpler to set up in the future by assigning the payment account on the fly based on which child checks off the chore. That way, you’ll be able to have a single item for each chore that’s up for grabs."

Getting close to 5 years later... add my name (with 6 kids [right now] to the list)

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

"6 kids [right now]" - That's impressive. I'll try to get to it before you get to 10 kids! ;-)

Dan B aka The Blog Post Author

I'm just getting my account set up, as my cards came today. Is this feature coming anytime soon? The original post was 01/25/2013 (over 6yrs 2 months). I realize that these things are in a queue of sorts, but this features seems to be very sought after by many customers (including myself).

Tracy aka The Blog Post Author

New to service, but need the 1st dibs feature....

Nan aka The Blog Post Author

I too am very interested in the first dibs feature being updated and simplified. Almost all of our chores are shared/first come first serve chores and I am finding it a bit difficult to navigate otherwise.

Scott aka The Blog Post Author

I get that adding the desired, more detailed functionality is a lower priority and a lot of work. How about a compromise? Right now if I get a text alert for checked items on this list, it says who checked it. Can we just add that same kid's name to the closed item record under Recently Closed Items? Then at least I don't have to scroll through 83,021 text messages to figure out who to pay at the beginning of the month because I can see it all right there on the checklist.

Brian aka The Blog Post Author

Also interested in this capability.

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Good, because we're releasing the enhancement in a few days! :-)

Dad Merk aka The Blog Post Author

If a child does not get a chore done and it just needed to get done aka Mom or Dad had to vacuum the house, is there a way we can check the checklist chore and have that reward money marked as done and no longer available, without having to create actual Mom or Dad cards and have the money place there. We don't need the cards, and need the fee for additional cards. I see that it cannot go into the Funding Card's Account, because it is already there, being where it funds from. Essentailly how can we mark a chore as done and not assign the money anywhere?

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Interestingly enough, nobody has ever asked for that! But I see the distinction: it didn't just expire (which is how people usually deal with this case) - mom or dad actually had to do the work. And, if you didn't blow it off yourselves, you want to record that you actually did it. You could create an IOU account owned by one of the parents or a fake kid to hold the reward amounts for that case: http://blog.famzoo.com/p/famzoo-faqs.html#add-account

Dad Merk aka The Blog Post Author

Thanks. Makes sense -I guess I could create a MommyDaddyDo account as the fake child account to check it off and and credit that when we do something. Can we make that account and not have it require an actual card to be created? Then, as the money builds up in that, simply transfer it back into the Funding account "Bank of M&D" (PS - Do you sleep??) haha

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Yes, exactly. IOU accounts don't have cards and they don't hold real dollars - they just record that someone is "owed" an amount. Just like when you write an IOU note on a piece of paper in lieu of handing someone money. They can be created instantly (see link in prior comment). So, when the fake child does the work, the MommyDaddyDo account will simply be credited the reward amount, it's balance will go up, and the primary funding card balance will be unaffected. (I sleep a lot more now that my 5 kids are grown!)

Dad Merk aka The Blog Post Author
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dad Merk aka The Blog Post Author

Setting up w/ Pay Pal:
Linked the First NB of Central Texas to my PayPal and are just waiting to confirm. While I am waiting for that, I see that there are now 3 types of PayPal accounts. Which one would allow me to transfer the money for FamZoo? Or will the regular PayPal allow me to just fund it through my linked BoA debit card? They don't make it clear. Here is what PayPal states:

U.S. personal account holders who want to keep money in PayPal or use other features that rely on a balance need to have a balance account linked to their personal account. PayPal offers two types of balance accounts: PayPal Cash and PayPal Cash Plus.

Bill Dwight aka The Blog Post Author

Getting a bit off the chore topic here, but... I agree that PayPal has made this pretty confusing. Basically, to move money into your PayPal wallet from your bank (like you need to do here) or receive money from a sender into your PayPal wallet, you have to set up a PayPal Cash or Cash Plus account (either one works and I've never checked up on what the "Plus" gives you). Basically, the PayPal wallet/balance is an account and it used to just be created silently and implicitly. Fairly recently, they introduced a formal step for establishing it - probably for some legal reasons, but I'm just an engineer... :-)

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