I mentioned in my last post that I’ve been scaling things back work-wise for August, the ‘room’ I’ve felt open up has been life-giving! I went into more detail here, but I was starting to feel burnt out and rather than barrel into ‘true’ burnout like I may have once done (early 20s heyyy) I pressed pause (early 30s heyyy). I’m still committed to my weekly tasks, but I’ve let things that can slide, slide, and I’m generally working reduced hours. Thanks to this slower schedule, one of the things I’ve been able to catch up on is Life Admin. And life just generally feels better for it.

So much so that I decided to share how I organise my Life Admin with you. Because as I progress through this thing called life, the admin really stacks up. Haha!

To clarify: Life Admin covers all of those tasks which don’t fit into a work-related box, but which are very much administrative. They require organisation, time, appointments etc.

Life Admin tasks may include:

• booking and attending health appointments: doctor, dentist, physio etc
• booking and attending beauty appointments: hair, nails, aesthetics etc
• researching, buying, wrapping and sending gifts for: birthdays, weddings, special occasions etc
• answering post
• paying/disputing parking fines lolll
• dealing with any other ‘life’ things which require time, energy and attention *insert your own life admin to-dos*

Life Admin is separate to The Domestic Load—which includes laundry, cleaning, food shopping etc, however they both sit under the ‘Home’ pillar of my Health Home Hustle mantra.

If you’re not in the loop on my much-cited mantra—and now podcast—you can catch up on the premise here.

I’ve found that keeping on top of Life Admin is one helpful cog in the wheel of living life with a good flow.

As always, if something’s working for me, I want to share it with you! Below are a few of the ways I organise my Life Admin RN.

5 Ways I Organise My Life Admin

1. Don’t snooze on appointments. 

   If you think you need an appointment—be it the dentist, chiropractor (me, recently), hairdresser—book the appointment as soon as it springs to mind. It’s easy for days, weeks and months to pass thinking ‘I really need to book X, Y, Z’ . Before you know it, time has just passed. You need a filling, your back hurts and your hair is an inch longer. In particular when this relates to medical things, it’s just not worth putting it off. Furthermore, often it’s not possible to get in with your dentist/chiropractor/hairdresser right away anyway, so it pays off to book an appointment when it comes to mind. Or better yet . . .

2. Create recurring appointments. 

   Once you do make an appointment, book in for your next one or few. I swear the only reason I regularly see the dentist and hygienist is because the reception team helpfully book my next appointment in as I’m leaving. Same for my root touch-ups and aesthetic apts. I find that aesthetic services in particular tend to book up weeks if not months in advance. And as we approach *whisper it* the festive season, aesthetic practitioners will get B-USY. Book your trims and touch-ups now friends. 

3. Add ALL birthdays and events to your calendar, and set reminders. 

   I like to set reminders 1 – 2 weeks in advance so that I have time to look for birthday presents/cards, order them and send, which can take a while if friends don’t live nearby. I also like to keep a ‘saved’ holder on Instagram of gift ideas which I can refer to.

4. Open and deal with post in one fell swoop. 

   I remember chatting to a v. productive friend years ago who shared her ‘one touch’ technique. In essence it refers to starting a task, and not taking your hand off of it until it’s done. Said friend was specifically referring to opening and dealing with her post, and I’ve since adopted the same stance. 99% of my correspondence is digital , but if I have paper post I keep it in a stack, and open it all in one go. I file it at the end thus clearing the task entirely. If any action needs to be taken—payments etc—I’ll do that during this ‘Life Admin slot’ too. 

5. Pay parking fines immediately. 

   It’s a BORE but most often you get a discount for actioning the payment swiftly. If you need to dispute a fine, do that immediately too.

How do you organise your life admin? I’d love to know of any tips and tricks you have!

A parting thought: I’ve found that having a ‘slower month’ has really helped with clearing the deck on a few lingering Life Admin tasks.

If you have a similarly slow week or month at some point in your year, batching appointments like a Post Office run/hair cut/doctor visit can be a great way of maximising your time. Let me know how you get on!

Love, Monica x