Decide who gets what

When the family has answered, or the time to answer is up, a thing is ready to decide. Decide is where you say who gets it.

Decide a thing

Step 1: Open Decide

Tap Decide at the bottom. The number on it is how many things are ready. Then tap Start deciding above the tabs.

Ready lists things everyone has answered, or whose time to answer is up. Still waiting lists things the family is still answering. You can also tap any thing in the list.

The first time anyone decides something, we ask once how the family should hear. That’s on Telling the family.

Step 2: Give it to someone who asked

Everyone who asked is listed, with how many things they have so far. Tap the button with a name on it to give it to that person.

Or tap Let the app choose fairly at the bottom: the app chooses one of them at random, like pulling a name out of a hat. Everyone who asked sees it was drawn fairly.

Groups

If you made groups in House settings, a button like “Choose fairly among Grandkids (1)” chooses only among that group. How the app keeps it fair is at savemethat.com/fairness.

Step 3: When nobody asked for it

Tap Offer to everyone again to give the family another go at it.

Or say what happens to it: Donate, I’m keeping it, or Not saved, which means nobody in the family gets it.

If you’re helping, the keeping button carries the name of the person passing things on, like “Mom is keeping it”: they keep it, not you.

Step 4: Not ready to give it to anyone

Under the names there are four more buttons:

• Keep for now keeps it open for the family until a date you choose, then it comes back here.
• Donate puts it on the list to donate.
• I’m keeping it keeps it yourself. A helper’s button says the person passing things on is keeping it, like “Mom is keeping it”.
• Not saved means nobody in the family gets it.

Donate and keeping it ask first, and say who will be told.

Decide before everyone has answered

Step 5: Find it under Still waiting

On Decide, tap Still waiting, then Decide now under a thing. It opens like a ready thing, and says who hasn’t answered yet.

Step 6: Decide it now

Here Sarah is the only one who asked, and Dan hasn’t answered. The thing says so.

Tap the button with Sarah’s name on it, at the bottom, to give it to Sarah now.

Nothing changes until you tap a button. To leave it open, tap the arrow at the top left.

What deciding early does

If your house tells people as you go, deciding closes it: anyone who hasn’t answered can’t ask for it any more. If it tells everyone at once, your decision waits as a draft, and the family can still answer until you share. If an answer changes, Before you share says so.

Several of the same thing

Step 7: Hand them out

For a thing with more than one, like 6 chairs, each person says how many they want, and whether they would take fewer. Use + and − beside each name to hand them out.

Under Any left over, choose what happens to the rest, then tap Save these. Let the app choose fairly works here too: it goes down the names in a random order.

After you decide

Step 8: Go on, or put it right

It says what you decided, and who will be told. Tap Next thing to go on, or Done.

Pressed the wrong one? When nobody gets it, the buttons there change what happens, like Donate instead or Mark it not saved instead.

Undo a decision later

• A decision still waiting to be shared is changed in Before you share instead. See Telling the family.
• A thing saved for someone has Give it to someone else, and Undo under More (Draw again too, if the app chose).
• A thing to donate, to keep, or not saved, or one marked as changed since, has Undo right under it, or under More when there is more than one thing to do.
• To decide a shared thing again, open it in Things and use Back to Decide.

Where to next

• Telling the familyTell each person as you go, or decide in private and share everything at once from Review and share.
• ThingsEverything in the house in one list, with filters, one thing in full, changing many at once, and the list to donate.
• Who sees whatWho sees what you asked for, what happens when two people want the same thing, and how the app chooses fairly.