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Mental load cards printable: who remembers, who plans, who does
Each of these mental load cards is titled “Behind the scenes” and holds four lines: Area, Who remembers, Who plans, Who does. The weekly sheet hands one whole area over, with a new owner and a date to check in.
- Cards
- Six to a page, in four border colors
- Areas
- Nine printed for you, three cards left blank
- Pages
- Six: cards, three weekly sheets, two area pages
- Paper
- US Letter and A4, portrait, print at 100%
- Versions
- Blank, handwritten example, fillable PDF
In short
Give each area of your home a card and fill all three lines: who remembers it, who plans it, who does it. Then take the weekly sheet and hand one area over: new owner, what they need, a date to check in. The cards show the split; the handoff line changes it.
Printable mental load cards in three versions
Three lines, because the load splits before anyone picks anything up
Area names the part of the home the card covers. Who remembers notices the milk is running out, who plans decides what to buy and when, and who does goes to the store.
The split is not ours. Sociologist Allison Daminger interviewed 70 people from 35 couples and found that this invisible labor “entails anticipating needs, identifying options for filling them, making decisions, and monitoring progress”.
It is the part that tips furthest. Among 322 mothers rating 30 household tasks, they reported handling 72.57% of the cognitive work against 63.64% of the physical work. A chore chart splits the doing; these cards split the rest.
Nine areas are printed, three cards stay blank
Two pages arrive with the area already written in: Food, Children, Home, Money, Health, Celebrations, Relatives, Car (if applicable), Documents. The rest are empty.
- Keep the area wide enough to own. Mental load task cards work at the size of an area: “Laundry”, “Bills”, “Appointments”.
- Fill every line, even when one name repeats. Under Food the example reads Alex three times, and that is the finding.
Printed areas, names left for you.
Hand one area over, not one task
Sorting shows the pile. A reader of r/workingmoms described her round with a bought deck:
“I will never forget sitting on my couch, holding 14 cards, and my husband holding 3 cards. That was just for the daily responsibilities of life.”r/workingmoms · “We did the Fair Play Cards”
The weekly sheet, titled “Share the whole load”, is where an area moves across.
- Copy your areas into the table with a name under Remembers, Plans and Does.
- Take a row where one name stands in all three columns and write it on the line “What we hand over completely”: “Laundry, from noticing to putting away.”
- Fill New owner, What they need and Check in on: Sam, “Laundry schedule and supply list.”, September 21.
- On that date, say whether the area stays or comes back. Nobody reminds in between.
Minimal design; Warm and Color hold the same fields.
How to print the cards and the weekly sheet
- US Letter in the United States and Canada, A4 elsewhere; portrait, actual size, single-sided.
- Page 1 is the cards, pages 2 to 4 the weekly sheet, pages 5 and 6 the areas.
- Print one test page from the PDF so the cut guides come out straight, then cut the cards apart one at a time.
Questions about the cards
Are these the Fair Play cards?
No. Fair Play is Eve Rodsky’s mental load card game, a bought deck of “100 household tasks”. These are blank and free, and each card asks who remembers and who plans too.
Is there a free PDF to print?
Yes. The blank set opens in both paper sizes with no purchase, account or email.
Can I type on the cards instead of writing by hand?
Yes, on the cards page and the three weekly sheets. The two pages of printed areas are handwritten only. Save your copy, reopen it, then print.
Do the cards work for a couple with no kids?
Yes. Only the Children card assumes children; roommates and couples without kids keep Home, Money, Food.
How are these different from a chore chart?
A chore chart splits the doing. These cards add the two lines before it: who remembers, who plans.
What if one person owns almost every card?
That is what the cards read today. Hand one area over with a check-in date instead of re-sorting the stack tonight.
Other free printable sheets
Save these cards to Pinterest
Pin it now and the cards are on your board the evening you sit down to split the house. One area per card, three names on it: who remembers, who plans, who does.
The same area, without the paper
In Alpacto an area becomes a pact: what counts as done, by when, what it is worth in coins. You mark it done, the other person confirms, and the pact holds the reminder.