Help center
How can we help?
Short, step-by-step answers for every part of Ourstead. Pick a topic below, or search for what you are trying to do.
Getting started
- Create your householdSet up Ourstead for your family. You become the household’s owner.
- Invite your partner or another grown-upSend a single-use link so another grown-up can join your household with their own sign-in.
- Add your childrenAdd each child to your household. Children never need an email address.
- Children’s sign-ins After the betaHow a child signs in with a username instead of an email address, and what the beta allows.
- Ourstead on your phonePut Ourstead on an iPhone or Android phone, and add the Today widget on Android.
Today and the calendar
- Your Today screenThe family’s day on one screen: what needs attention, what is on, the chores, dinner and what to pick up.
- Add an event to the calendarPut a practice, an appointment or a party on the family calendar, with who is going and a reminder.
- Connect a Google, Outlook or other calendarShow the events from a calendar you already use alongside the family’s, and choose who sees them.
- Show the calendars on your phoneIn the Ourstead app, bring in the calendars your phone already has, including a work or iPhone calendar.
- Who’s driving: rides and carpoolsMark an event as needing a driver, choose who drives, and see which rides still need someone.
Chores and routines
- Add a chore and make it repeatGive someone a job, say when it is due, and have it come back every day, week or month.
- Approve finished choresCheck a job before it counts as done, and send it back with a note when it needs another go.
- Rewards and allowance After the betaPay a child for a finished chore, and keep their money in Spend, Save, Give and Goal.
- Routines, one step at a timeTurn a chore into a list of steps a child works through, with a countdown to when it is due.
Meals and shopping
- Plan your mealsPut breakfasts, lunches and dinners on the week, copy a good week, and repeat the family favorites.
- Plan my weekLet Ourstead fill the week’s dinners from your own recipes, then swap anything before it goes on the plan.
- Add a recipe from a linkPaste the address of a recipe page and Ourstead reads the ingredients and steps for you to check.
- Add a recipe from a photo After the betaPhotograph a recipe card or a cookbook page and have Ourstead read it. A Plus feature that arrives after the beta.
- Shopping listsKeep shared lists everyone can add to, tick things off in the store, and clear what is in the basket.
- Shopping by aisleItems are grouped by aisle, in the order you walk the store, and Ourstead remembers where things go.
- Send a recipe’s ingredients to your listAdd what a recipe needs to a shopping list in one go, from the recipe or from a planned meal.
Family, messages and the wall
- The kitchen wall displayTurn a tablet into a family screen that shows the day, the chores and dinner to everyone walking past.
- Living Drawings After the betaA child’s drawing becomes a little character that moves along the bottom of the family’s screens. Coming after the beta.
- Birthdays, gift ideas and contactsKeep birthdays with a reminder before the day, gift ideas only grown-ups see, and the people you call.
- Messages, chats and stickersPost to the family board, chat privately with someone in the household, and send a sticker.
- Notes and checklistsKeep a note or a checklist for the whole family, or just for you, and turn its lines into chores.
- Sitter pass After the betaGive a babysitter one link with the children’s plans, the notes they need and who to call, and end it when you are home.
Home, documents and money
- Home maintenanceKeep track of the furnace, the car and the smoke alarms, with a reminder when each job is due.
- Inventory: what you own and where it is keptWrite down what you have, where it lives, what it would cost to replace and when its warranty ends.
- Upload and file documents After the betaKeep warranties, manuals, receipts and school papers together, with reminders before they run out.
- Share a document with a child After the betaLet a child see one document, such as a school schedule, without opening the rest of the family’s papers.
- Search inside documents After the betaFind a document by the words inside it, read on your own device, not sent anywhere.
- Budget and bank connections After the betaSee what came in and went out each month, set limits by category, and bring in transactions from a file or your bank.
- Net worth, including your home and car After the betaAdd what you own and what you owe, and with Plus get an estimate of your home’s or car’s value.
Your account and privacy
- Notifications and quiet hoursChoose what reaches you outside the app, on which devices, and the hours when nothing should.
- Signing in and passwordsSign in with your email or username, reset a forgotten password, and change your password.
- Two-step sign-in and passkeysAsk for a code from an authenticator app when you sign in, and see which devices are signed in.
- Your privacy and a copy of your informationWhat Ourstead keeps, how to get a copy of your household’s information, and the choices you have.
- Delete your account or your householdLeave Ourstead yourself, or, as the owner, delete the whole household, with 14 days to change your mind.
Plus and billing
- What Ourstead Plus isPlus adds planning help to Ourstead, for $10 a month or $100 a year, and covers your whole household.
- Get PlusHow the household owner starts Plus, monthly or yearly, on the web or in the phone app.
- Cancel or change your planSwitch between monthly and yearly, update your card, or cancel Plus. Nothing you made is deleted.
- Restore purchases on a phoneIf you bought Plus in the Android or iPhone app and Ourstead does not show it, restore it from the app.
Troubleshooting
Still stuck? Email support@ourstead.casa and say which device you use. A person reads every message.