A house keeping/house maintenance manual?

[AndMatt]

DH died this year and despite me being (I thought) fairly capable and hands on, I have discovered there is an awful lot about running this house (and the cars) that I'm a but vague on. Nothing I can't find out, but it would have been much easier if he'd left an instruction book!. Things like who our regular plumber is, what to do if the drains are blocked, when the boiler needs servicing and who to call.

I did all the finances so that's fine, but if I'd been the one to go he'd have been clueless, so a manual for that too would be a good idea.

I'm now living in the house with two (just) adult sons, who know how to cook and clean the bathroom, but never get involved in the "big" stuff.

So I'm thinking about putting some "in the event of my death/incapacity" instructions together.

Does anyone know of any templates or checklists?

Bump

Sorry for your loss I’d love it if all houses came with a manual, I’m having endless central heating problems and it would help so much if some basic details about where the pipes are under the floors etc had been noted down by whoever fitted it :(

Dont know of any templates, but this is just the kind of task I'd enjoy pulling together.

I suppose you could just use one of those wallets with the polly pockets fixed in and drop in sheets of info

Sorry for your loss OP

I don’t have anything like this ready-made but I do plan to create something. So far I have a folder with alphabetical dividers/tabs and anything I think of goes in there with instructions/examples. To be fair I haven’t done much with it except add the titles haha. But I do want to finish it and be safe in the knowledge everything is in there (I call it my life admin folder).

Start with big things like bills, payments, mortgage etc. and I’m planning to add in ‘scenarios’ like what to do if there’s a leak, a flood, the window breaks etc. have emergency numbers in there too.

A calendar would probably be handy too, showing when things need renewing (although hard to forward plan like renewing a driving license or passport).

I plan to just add to it when I think of stuff but I’ve been quite lazy with it so far…

I am place marking really. I am in the same situation except I know nothing about how anything works in the house. In the 11 weeks since my DH died I have learnt how to reset the electricity when something trips it, that I need to invest in a big ladder so I can reach to do that (I am very short, DH was very tall, we live in a house with very high ceilings), how to turn the boiler off and back on again, what to do when the pressure is at 0 on the boiler, but there is so much I have no idea about and we don’t seem to have the instruction manuals for anything. The computer isn’t working, the grill has packed up and I had to hold the knob pressed in continuously while the dinner cooked or it would go off, the boiler has some sort of underlying problem because it keeps losing pressure etc etc. The house didn’t break all the time when DH was alive. It’s overwhelming.

Creating a manual is a great idea, my young adult dcs wouldn't would be stuck if anything happened to me....definitely going to pull one together

So sorry for your loss.

I live alone with my 2 teenage sons and had a panic last year in the midst of lockdown and realised that if I was taken into hospital (or worse), noone would know stuff like who the landlord is, how to get into my bank accounts (or even which bank they are with) etc.

So I made an "important stuff" folder.

It was also sparked by having to help my mum sort things out after my dad moved into a care home - we spent a full week sorting papers and trying to work out utilities etc.

In my "important stuff" file I have :
-Some important phone numbers of friends and family (in case the DC couldn't access my phone or friends needed contact details for my family)

• details of personal property (rentals/mortgage etc.) and bank accounts
• utilities accounts - providers, online passwords & user names
• car & house insurance details
• health- names of doctor, dentist etc. & health insurance
• mobile phone contracts
• email account and passwords
• other online subscriptions & passwords (spotify, netflix etc.)

My boiler has a sticker with the name of the plumber on it !
Good luck with your folder - mine is just plastic pockets with word documents printed out or copies of contracts.

Sorry for your loss OP. I just came on to say what a good idea this is. I am in a stationery appreciation group on FB (I know rock and roll right) and I’m going to ask on there if anyone has any bright ideas

Sorry for your loss OP.

I can recommend Age UK lifebook which can be downloaded from this link and printed off as sheets to help put info together. It's in PDF format.

www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/end-of-life-planning/lifebook/

Also in the event of your death and passing on your social media accounts, to legacy accounts. Would you want someone to wipe them or do as a legacy?
deadsocial.org/tutorials

This could go with a copy of your will, any advance directives, power of attorneys etc.

Then you can add in how to for each appliance in the house, any past problems, contact details for repairs.

List of all bills that are outgoing, when, to who, how much, why - any debts / savings / pensions / investments

Contact details for friends (online / offline / childhood / neighbours) all in catagories.