Animal Crossing day reset time and daily activities checklist in New Horizons
Everything you should do before the sun comes up.
As Animal Crossing works in real time, learning the day reset time is useful to get in any last minute activities before the next one begins.
Since many constructions won't be completed until the next day, this means you can decide how much time you want to put in to pay off a house loan, or pick up fossils or tick off your daily activities which will reset the next day - which we've outlined in a daily checklist on this page.
On this page:
What time does the day reset in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
In Animal Crossing, the day will reset at 5am. This means, unlike in the real world, you have an extra few hours after midnight rolls around to get any daily activities sorted.
It's worth noting not everything on the island is available 24 hours. For example, though Resident Services and the Museum will be open around the clock, many shops will close overnight (in Nook's Cranny's instance, this is 10pm, before opening again at 8am).
We obviously recommend everyone prioritise sleep over cramming in a last minute Animal Crossing session to meet a deadline - there's no rush after all! - but knowing how long you can play for before the next day arrives is good to know if you can't sleep, are working a night shift, and so on.
The Animal Crossing 2.0 update and Happy Home Paradise is here! We can help you with the new additions - including where to find Brewster, Gyroids, new villagers, ordinances, new fences, storage shed, new hairstyles, Froggy Chair, group stretching and Kapp'n boat tours. Cooking is now unlockable, so you need to know how to make both flour and sugar, as well as how to grow carrots, potatoes and tomatoes. Meanwhile, if you're new to Animal Crossing, our New Horizons tips can help with the basics. From the off, there's fish and bugs to catch, flowers and fruit to grow with. One long term goal is building your Happy Home Academy score. Finally, you need tools such as the new ladder and vaulting pole to fully explore.
Daily activity checklist for Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Every day, it's worth prioritising a number of activities which reset or change by the time the next one rolls around.
Some of these allow you to maximise the number of resources - such as Iron Nuggets and Gold Nuggets - you can find in a given day.
Here's what's worth doing every day in Animal Crossing: New Horizons:
- Hit all the rocks with your Shovel
- Dig up all the fossils (you don't need to assess them right away if you don't have time)
- Dig up the glowing crack in the ground (and plant a money bag in its place to grow a money tree)
- Check the Nook Miles ATM for free daily Miles
- Check the recycle bin for free items
- Check Turnip prices at Nook's Cranny (refreshes twice daily - before and after 12pm)
- Visit stores at Nook's Cranny and the ATM to see what's new on sale
- Complete the five double Nook Miles+ quests
- Chop each tree with a flimsy or stone axe for three wood materials per tree (time intensive!)
- Shake every tree for free furniture and wasp nests (time intensive!)
- ...and water any plants you have growing if it's not raining
That's quite a lot to do each day! You obviously don't have to do them all - but hopefully it gives you an idea of what resets around the island so you can priortise.
If you only have, say 15 minutes to play, the things we'd recommend are hitting each rock, digging up the fossils, planting money in the glowing crack, and checking the Nook Miles ATM. These tasks should give you the most benefit, and hopefully profit, in a short amount of time.