The twelve dates an Indian home forgets

Most homes don't forget the big dates. They forget the twelve small ones that arrive on their own clocks — a refill here, a renewal there — and each one is somebody's job until it is nobody's.

This is the list, grouped by how often they come round, with where each date is written down and who in a family usually carries it.

The twelve, at a glance

Date	Comes round	Written down on
Society maintenance	Monthly or quarterly	The society's notice or last receipt
Electricity bill	Monthly or every two months	The bill itself
Milk and newspaper accounts	Monthly	The vendor's slip
DTH recharge	Per your pack	The operator's app or SMS
LPG cylinder	Every refill	The booking SMS
Water purifier filter	Per the maker's manual	The manual or the service card
Pest control	Per the contract	The service card
AC service	Before the summer	The last visit's service card
Car PUC	Per the certificate	The PUC certificate
Car insurance	Per the policy	The policy schedule
Health insurance	Per the policy	The policy schedule
Property tax	Once or twice a year	Last year's receipt

The monthly ones

Society maintenance, the electricity bill and the milk and newspaper accounts run on the calendar, and the DTH recharge runs on its pack. None of them is hard. They slip because they come so often that nobody writes them down: the date is on the last receipt, the society's notice or the operator's message, and each of those is gone by the next month.

A monthly date needs one thing — a repeat. Set it once, on the day it is usually paid, and let it come round by itself.

The ones that run on use

The LPG cylinder, the purifier's filter and pest control don't keep to the calendar. The cylinder runs out when it runs out; the filter's interval is in the maker's manual and depends on how much water goes through it; pest control follows whatever the contract says.

For these, the useful date is the last one. Note the day the cylinder was booked or the filter changed, and set the next reminder from it. If the interval turns out to be wrong for your home, change the repeat — the reminder is yours to tune, not a rule.

The yearly ones

The AC's pre-summer service, the car's PUC, the car and health insurance and the property tax come round about once a year, which is exactly why they are forgotten: nobody remembers doing them last time.

They are also the ones with paper. The date a PUC certificate runs out is printed on it. An insurance policy's end date is on its schedule. The property tax receipt shows the period it paid for. Keep the paper and you have the date — as long as you can find the paper.

A date that is everybody's job is nobody's. Give each one a name.

How a family splits them

The families that keep up don't share one list; they split it. One person has the car, another the kitchen, the third the bills. What matters is that each date has one name next to it — the person who will actually make the call, book the refill or pay the dues.

A split that tends to hold:

The car: PUC, insurance and the service.
The kitchen: the LPG cylinder, the purifier's filter and pest control.
The bills: society maintenance, electricity, DTH, the milk and newspaper accounts.
Once a year, together: the AC service, health insurance and property tax.

In HomeButlr

Add a reminder, choose who it's for, and it lands on their phone. On the Reminders tab, Mine shows each person only their own dates.

Putting them on record

Start with the dates that have paper. Add the PUC certificate or the insurance policy to the car with the date it runs out, and your AI assistant reminds you before it does. Then the rest: HomeButlr's new-reminder screen opens with the usual ones — society dues, the gas cylinder, the RO filter change, pest control, the AC service, the car's PUC, insurance renewal and more — each with a repeat you can change.

Twelve dates, set once, each with a name next to it. That is the whole job.