Keep track of home maintenance without a spreadsheet
A spreadsheet can tell you a task is due. What it cannot easily do is remember that you finished it in October, that it cost $189, that the technician noticed the flame sensor was dirty — and then quietly put the next one on the calendar. That loop is what Around The House is built around.
The loop: due, done, remembered, scheduled again
Most home maintenance is not a one-time project. It is the same handful of tasks coming back around — filters, gutters, water heater flush, smoke detector batteries, HVAC service. Tracking it well means handling the whole cycle, not just the reminder.
- 1. It becomes dueA recurring reminder surfaces on the Schedule and in the Today view.
- 2. It goes overdue if you miss itOverdue work stays visible instead of silently disappearing.
- 3. You complete itMark it done and record what was actually done, by whom, and what it cost.
- 4. The completion is keptThe entry joins that item's maintenance history permanently.
- 5. The next one is trackedThe recurrence continues, so the task comes back on schedule.
The important step is the fourth one. A reminder app handles steps one through three and then throws the information away. A year later you know the task exists but not when you last did it.
See what is due, and what slipped
The Schedule shows maintenance on a calendar, with the day's reminders listed underneath. Each reminder carries the item it belongs to and how often it repeats, so a line like "Degrease screen — Range Hood — every 3 months" tells you what to do without opening anything.
Anything you miss is marked overdue and stays on the list. Reminders can be completed, snoozed, edited, or removed.
Completing something writes it down
When you record maintenance, you can save the type of work — repair, replacement, cleaning, preventive maintenance — along with the date, the service provider, notes, and the cost. Photos can be attached if there is something worth showing later.
That entry stays on the item. The next time anyone asks when the freezer was last serviced, the answer is a list of dates rather than a guess.
Tracking more than one property
Items, reminders, and history are grouped by property, so a second home, a rental, or a family member's house can be tracked separately without the lists running together.
Where tracking turns into history
Tracking answers "what do I need to do?" Over time the same records answer a different and more useful question: "what has actually happened to this house?" That accumulated record is worth reading about separately — it is what makes the tracking worth doing.
Track one recurring task first.
Furnace filters are a good place to start. Once you complete one, the pattern of the app becomes obvious.
No Around The House account. Your records stay on your Apple devices and in your private iCloud when sync is enabled.