How Today is scheduled around your daily budget
Tidywell caps your Today list so cleaning never feels like a pile-on. Here's exactly how it decides what's on today, what waits, and how the week spreads out.
Today is capped at the minutes you pick
You set a daily time budget in Settings — how long you realistically want to spend cleaning on a normal day. Tidywell picks the most urgent tasks that fit inside that budget and shows those on Today. Everything else waits for a better day.
What actually happens each day
Tidywell ranks your tasks by urgency
Every recurring task has a frequency (e.g. weekly). The longer it's been since it was done, the more urgent it is. Effort matters too — quick wins get a slight bonus so easy tasks surface first.
It packs tasks until your budget is full
Starting from the most urgent, Tidywell adds tasks to Today one at a time. When the next one wouldn't fit inside your budget, it stops.
Remaining tasks go into “Got more time?”
Any tasks that didn't fit aren't deleted — they sit in an expandable section below the main list, ready if you have extra time today. Otherwise they naturally surface on upcoming days.
You'll see the same numbers everywhere
The task count and minutes on Today, the Home screen, your daily reminder notification, and Focus Mode all reflect the same capped list. They'll never disagree.
Days off get half the budget, automatically
In Settings → Cleaning Preferences, you pick your preferred cleaning days. These are your normal days. The days you leave unchecked are treated as lighter days — Tidywell halves your budget on those days so you keep the momentum but don't feel pushed.
Example
Your budget is 30 minutes, and you've marked Mon–Fri as preferred. On weekends, Tidywell drops the cap to 15 minutes — half the usual — and packs the week around it. Any work that doesn't fit on a lighter day shifts forward to a preferred day.
Mon
30 min
Tue
30 min
Wed
30 min
Thu
30 min
Fri
30 min
Sat
15 min
Sun
15 min
Pick none? Every day is preferred.
If you leave preferred days empty, Tidywell treats all seven days the same and applies the full budget every day.
One-time tasks always make the list
Some tasks aren't recurring — they have a specific due date, like “Book plumber on Thursday” or “Wash bed linen before guests arrive Saturday”. These bypass the cap and always appear on their day, even if that means today's list briefly goes over your budget.
Why bend the rule?
Appointments and deadlines aren't optional. Hiding a one-time task to stay under a cap would defeat the purpose of scheduling it. The cap only governs how much recurring work surfaces — fixed dates come first.
“Got more time?” — the overflow drawer
Below your capped Today list you'll see a “Got more time? (N)” button when there's extra work. Tap it to expand the drawer and see everything that didn't fit today. Complete whichever ones you feel like — they behave exactly like normal tasks.
These tasks are over today’s budget. Completing them still earns streak and coins.
Completing over-budget tasks still counts
You earn coins, keep your streak alive, and trigger achievements just like any other completion. The cap is about focus, not a limit on what you're allowed to do.
Tasks you don't do today surface tomorrow
When a task doesn't fit today's budget, Tidywell doesn't forget about it. It becomes even more urgent as time passes, so it's first in line when space opens up — usually the very next day.
Worked example: 50 minutes of work, 30-minute budget
Imagine it's Monday. You have five weekly tasks that are all overdue, each taking about 10 minutes — 50 minutes of work against a 30-minute budget.
Monday
Tuesday
Wed\u2013Sun
Monday · 3 tasks · ~30 min
The three most urgent tasks pack into Today. The other two wait in “Got more time?” and are ready for tomorrow.
Tuesday · 2 tasks · ~20 min
The two tasks that didn't fit yesterday are now the most urgent things in the house, so they surface as Tuesday's list. Monday's completed tasks aren't dirty yet — so they stay quiet.
Wed–Sun · nothing due
Everything was done within the last day or two. Weekly decay is slow, so the rest of the week is free. Enjoy it.
Without a cap
Monday would dump all five tasks (50 minutes) on you at once and the rest of the week would be empty — classic backlog-burst pattern. The cap smooths this out into a manageable rhythm.
You'll never see an empty Today list when there's work to do
What if a task is longer than your whole budget? Say a 45-minute deep clean with a 30-minute cap. Normally it wouldn't fit, but Tidywell won't leave your Today list empty when the backlog is full. The most urgent recurring task is always promoted into Today — even if it visually overshoots your budget.
One exception
If a one-time task already fills Today (e.g. an appointment), the safety net doesn't kick in on top. The cap behaves normally and the oversized recurring task waits in “Got more time?”.
Pick a preset or set any number you like
Open Settings → Cleaning Preferences → Daily time budget. You'll see four presets — 15, 30, 60, 90 — and a Custom option.
Presets
15 min — a quick surface tidy
30 min — the default, works for most households
60 min — a deeper daily pass
90 min — if cleaning is a bigger part of your routine
Or type your own
Tap Custom and enter any value from 5 to 240 minutes. Great for part-time schedules, recovery days, or specific routines.
Changes apply immediately
As soon as you save a new budget, the Today tab re-ranks and re-packs the list. No restart, no sync wait.