An app that reminds you to change your bed sheets

Why sheets and towels drift

Changing the sheets is not hard. It just has no natural trigger. There is no bin to put out or bill in the mail, and one week turns into three without anyone noticing. Towels are the same, only faster.

Two things keep it on track: a reminder on the day it is due, at a time when you are home and have ten minutes, and a record you can check instead of trying to remember which weekend it was.

Put linens in your household routine

Create a routine like Household and add each linen job as its own activity:

• Bed sheets
• Towels
• Kids' sheets
• Bath mat

Separate activities matter because they run on different rhythms. Towels might change twice a week, the kids' sheets every Saturday and your own every two weeks.

The calendar shows one routine at a time, and you switch between routines at the top. So keep the chores you want to see together in the same routine. Your laundry days, cleaning tasks or filter changes can live right next to the sheets, and one glance at the week covers the whole house.

Log it and see when you last did it

Once the clean sheets are on, tap + Log on the day and pick Bed sheets. Changed them on Saturday and forgot to log? Use + Log on Saturday, then tap the entry to fix the time. Logging and the calendar are free.

To answer "when did I last change the sheets?", tap the Bed sheets tile at the top of the calendar. The calendar then shows only that activity, so the last tile is the last change. The month view shows the longer pattern: if the gaps have grown from two weeks to four, you will see it.

Notes worth keeping

Every log can carry a note and a green, amber or red flag. When you log the next change, the log sheet shows your last few notes for that activity, so a few words go a long way:

• Which set went on, like "flannel set" or "blue cotton", handy if you rotate two or three sets
• Extras, like "mattress protector too", "duvet washed" or "guest room as well"
• Problems, like a torn pillowcase or a stain that did not come out, flagged amber so you remember to replace it

Notes show in the log sheet, not on the calendar tiles.

Every week or every two weeks

With Premium, open the Plan tab, tap an activity and set when it repeats.

Weekly is the easy case. Pick the weekday and a time: Kids' sheets every Saturday at 10:30, Towels on Sunday and Wednesday at 9:00.

Every two weeks needs a different approach, because schedules repeat on weekdays and there is no "every other week" setting. Add single day plans for the changing dates instead, for example every second Sunday at 10:00. Each activity holds up to 20 of them, which is about nine months of fortnightly changes entered at once. You can also add just the next date and plan the following one after each change, which keeps the rhythm right after a holiday or a skipped weekend.

A planned change shows faded on the calendar until you log it. Tap the faded entry to log it in one go. If Sunday's sheet change is still faded on Tuesday, you know it slipped.

A reminder on changing day

Each timed schedule can carry a reminder: on time, or 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes before. Pick the time you would actually do it, like Sunday at 10:00 after breakfast, rather than early morning when everyone is still in bed. The notification names the activity, so you know it is the sheets and not the towels.

Reminders are local notifications on your phone. The app asks for permission the first time it has one to schedule, and once scheduled they go off even without an internet connection.

A schedule without a time shows on the calendar on its days but cannot send a reminder, so give linen days a real time if you want the nudge. Scheduling and reminders are part of Premium. Logging and the calendar are free. How reminders work.

What it does not do

EasyRoutine does not tell you how often to change sheets or towels; that is your call. It reminds you on the days you chose and remembers what you did. For the rest of the washing, see the laundry routine tracker, and for a full cleaning plan, the cleaning schedule.

Common questions

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