How do you keep on top of “life admin?”

[Rainbowsandrascals]

Any top tips when you both work full time and your dd seems to have an endless stream of things needed for school too (performance outfits, slips to send back, money for trips etc).

I have nearly everything on direct debit but contacting HRMC (endless wait on phone), booking dentists etc are tedious but necessary tasks that seem to take up unnecessary amounts of time. Also I seem to spend ages sorting out money in bank accounts and when the mortgage is up for review, that takes a fair bit of sorting too.

Any good ideas for being more efficient and organised?
Thank you.

I love life admin. I’m a sahm with a lot of dc and I love it! I’ll say to dh at the weekend if he’s off I’m going to do it , get a nice coffee and go and pretend I’m working in an office 🤣 (I do pretend I’m on master chef when I cook too I think I have some issues!)

I make lists and put on the fridge to tick things off, I make sure I deal with any school stuff if I can the day it comes out as 2 of the dc schools don’t use parent pay so it’s forms and cheques ......
bills are all direct debit so that’s straightforward

We stick school letters to the kitchen cupboards. Try to have less stuff in the house to make it easier to clean. Don't give yourself big projects and let things slide a bit. Just renew with the same electricity company. I worry less about school stuff on secondary now. Put more onus onto dd to plan etc.

I use a programme called Lifefyle, which is great.

My fave feature allows you to snap a photo on your phone of things like MOT certificates, then pulls out the dates and reminds you when the next one is due.

Progestermoan , you've just made my weekend!
I do pretend I’m on master chef when I cook too I think I have some issues!

I'm another one who is confused with life admin, it takes minutes, I do it when it happens so if school thing I do it straight away so no thinking I need to get round to it. If you have a child with additional needs I understand there will be a lot of additional work but otherwise I just don't get it.

Well some people don’t have the organisational skills for it and find it more confusing then others. We are all different after all.

Prog - I like your style! I’m going to try that for both the admin and cooking . I’m also going to have a massive clear out of all the papers, bills etc and get rid of anything old or not needed. I do quite enjoy decluttering when I have the time so I’m going to focus on that and hopefully it will make the admin easier.

I don't just see post and school stuff as life admin though - it's all the infrequent things that need sorting too, like needing to get a new phone, eye appt and new glasses, health related stuff. Things that need researching and time dedicating to them. And clothes shopping takes me forever - and I don't mean fun shopping but "I'm going to be naked if I don't buy something" shopping!

I have an ongoing to do list but that's it really.

I’m another one who uses the notes section of my phone. Also the calendar for appointments. I look at the week ahead when food shopping ad to where my dh will be, if he’s not around we have different meals.
I have banking apps on my phone and keep a close eye on everything leaving/going in.
I get dh to do stuff too. He can be a lazy twat at times, do I outsource to him when I’ve had enough.
When you get a message from the school then answer it quickly and pay ASAP for trips etc.

Rainbow can I be nosy and ask what sort of hol you’ve booked? Our constant task for the last few weeks is trying to pick a holiday to take 3Xearly secondary age DC on. We’ve never been further than Cornwall with them. Been stalking Siblu a lot lately.
The admin around holidays!!! I think holidays are the most admin heavy things we do.

I do a lot at work!!

Well TakeMe, we sound very similar in that we usually holiday in Devon, Suffolk and Norfolk each year but I’m fed up of paying an excessive amount to hire a nice house for a week as then food, petrol on top is often expensive. We’ve booked to go to Le Valee in Houlgate, Normandy in France. It’s with Al Fresco holidays and it’s a mobile home which I’m hoping is going to be nice! The bit that swayed me was the swimming/ water park bit plus activities for our 12 year old dd. The beach is nearby and previously (pre child) we used to go to France a lot and we like Honfleur, Deauville etc.

This is the link TakeMe:
Al Fresco

I was going to say 'badly' but truth is we have a lot of it and a lot of demands on our time, so actually, seeing as few things get missed, we're doing pretty well. Priority is me and DP talking to each other so we know who is collecting dd from school each day, depending on our work commitments, and ensuring ds knows if he will be alone for a couple hours when he gets home - which we don't like doing more than once a week. Rebooking after school club every half term and paying. Cobbling together childcare for holidays when there's only one childminder ds can tolerate, who likes her own holidays, and grandparents and others will only commit to 1-2 days at a time.
Holidays almost always with others or visiting family so invariably take forever to agree dates and budgets and getting paid back.
I have at least four medical appointments in the pipeline for me or ds at any time, so every couple weeks am figuring out who takes him or who is doing childcare if I'm going, not to mention the ones where its unclear if it's ds and parent or just parent, so have to get through on the phone.
Add a couple days a week when I'm collapsed in bed as soon as I get home, and lots of times when I'm not up to a phone call but can prat about on social media, and it gets tricky.

Banking is generally a doddle (though getting a new security device was a pain), we have a mortgage broker who may not save us money but sits on the phone so we don't have to, and has just spent months streamlining DP's eleven pensions, all of which had been taken over at least once.
Parentmail means I get all important comms from the school, along with a class Facebook group.
I keep a drawer under my bed with cards and presents, the freezer stocked with easy meals and live next to a supermarket, so on the whole we manage, but as soon as a task gets hard, it can get overwhelming. Dealing with a bank failing to do anything they are supposed to for a business account took up much of last year. This year need to persuade HMRC to sort out my Government Gateway access which they claim doesn't exist and yet I can't create a new account because I already have one. I was aiming to give them some tax...

You sound great @progestermoan 😃