ready time

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Dinner's ready when the doorbell rings.

Hosting is a timing problem. The chicken needs 45 minutes. The salad needs 10. You need to shower and change. The table still needs setting. Working backward from "guests arrive at 7" turns the afternoon into a checklist with start times.

Everything has to land at once

No single dish is hard. The hard part is timing them so they finish together while you also set the table, get yourself ready, and still look calm when the doorbell rings. Backward planning gives each task a start time so you're not doing mental math while the sauce is burning.

The plan in Ready Time

  1. Set the deadline. That's the time you need to be ready.
  2. Add your steps and how long each one really takes.
  3. Ready Time works backward and gives every step a start time.
Dinner Party Prep
20 min Prep ingredients 4:30 PM
15 min Marinate & season 4:50 PM
45 min Main course in oven 5:05 PM
15 min Prep sides & salad 5:50 PM
10 min Set table 6:05 PM
20 min Shower & get ready 6:15 PM
15 min Final touches 6:35 PM
Dinner Party Prep 7:00 PM

Work backward from the doorbell

Set your deadline to when guests arrive. Add each step: marinate, prep sides, main in the oven, set table, shower, get dressed. Ready Time tells you when to start the first step. Follow the notifications through the afternoon and you'll answer the door with everything done, instead of still in an apron.

Can I share the plan with whoever is helping me host?

Give them steps with times on them, rather than a bare list of jobs. 'Set the table' means little at 5:00 and everything at 6:05, and that difference is what stops two people doing the same task twice. Share the plan and whoever is helping gets the same schedule on their phone with their own alerts. You keep the oven, they take the table and the drinks.

Give your helper the times, not a list of jobs

They see the table goes on at 6:05, not just that it needs doing.

One tap and the afternoon is on their phone with its own alerts.

👥 Shared by Jordan
🍴 Dinner Party Prep
20 min Prep ingredients 4:30 PM
15 min Marinate & season 4:50 PM
45 min Main course in oven 5:05 PM
Dinner Party Prep 7:00 PM
🍴 Dinner Party Prep
20 min Prep ingredients 4:30 PM
15 min Marinate & season 4:50 PM
45 min Main course in oven 5:05 PM
Ready Time 4:30 PM
Prep ingredients. Dinner Party Prep in 2h 30m
Ready Time 5:50 PM
Prep sides & salad. Dinner Party Prep in 1h 10m
Ready Time 6:35 PM
Final touches. Dinner Party Prep in 25m

Alerts when it's time to start

Get a nudge at the right moment, while there's still time to act.

Each step gets its own alert, so you know what's next and how long you have.

★★★★★
“I get so tired of counting backward to when I should start my task. This app is the solution.”
App Store review
Ready Time app icon

Ready Time

You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.

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