28% of UK adults spend more than 2 hours a week on life admin, and more than half have felt they needed time off work to catch up. Doing it in one sitting a week, from one list, takes the dread out of it.
The system
- One list of everything with a date: renewals, subscriptions, passports and licences, dentist and boiler checks, bills.
- One hour a week, same day and time. Look at the next 14 days and anything overdue. Nothing else.
- Do, book or bin: sort each item now, book a time for it, or decide it doesn't matter.
- One owner per item. In many households one person carries most of the remembering: one US study found mothers carry an average of 71% of the mental load. Writing owners down makes it visible, and shareable.
- Put reminders where you'll see them: your phone's calendar, not your memory.
What usually gets forgotten
Medical appointments (36% of people delay them), cancelling subscriptions (32%) and updating a will (25%). Put them on the list too.
FAQs
What is life admin?
The everyday tasks of running a home and a life: bills, renewals, insurance, documents, appointments and subscriptions.
How do I keep on top of life admin?
Keep one list of everything with a date, spend one hour a week on the next 14 days, and give every task an owner.
Plan it in minutes
Builds your weekly admin hour list automatically, with an owner for every task. Editions for the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
See the Home & Life Admin Command Center →
