I think if you keep on top of things generally it's not too onerous, but I also wonder if those claiming there's little to do are properly on top of things? Some seem to have a very...relaxed? Attitude to things like banking? Reminds me of my ex who was pretty clueless on this kinda thing when we were first together
Direct debits - amounts can be changed by the recipient, there can be mistakes made and I certainly know a fair few in real life who are pretty haphazard with their finances and wouldn't notice if a DD has gone out twice or something and then be puzzled when another payment "bounces" because the funds aren't available. I on the other hand tend to the other extreme and know what's in my account to the penny. This is not a brag it's borne out of spending most of my life on a very tight budget when I NEEDED to know my balance and keep a close eye on it all.
I also know a fair few people who still think that checking and possibly switching suppliers for various services is "too complicated and too much faff" my parents irritate me a bit with this as they insist on remaining with BT for phone and internet and British Gas for energy! For no real reason other than they're familiar with those brands and I know for a fact they're paying well over the odds for poor service yet I've had to accept there's no point discussing with them.
To the pp who said "I've no dc so no school admin" there's FAR more to having dc than school admin ime, it's also (depending on age and stage of child) various clubs and hobbies, internet purchases using parents account, medical admin, tech admin... it's never ending! Mines an adult and left home now and it's meant a huge reduction of all the admin I have to do. She is at the start of getting to grips with it all though and does sometimes call me stressed by it. Not helped by certain companies/organisations (inc govt depts!) telling her utter bullshit to scare her into doing things she doesn't have to.
Personally I have finances, household organisation (I'm housebound so rely on deliveries for everything and I have to manage these a certain way) and medical admin (appointments but also juggling prescriptions which never seem to sync well) that I have to manage
Everyone will have different levels of admin to manage.
As a family of only 2 I had less to manage than someone with more dc but then another family of 2 could have less than me if they weren't having to navigate the overly complex benefits system and don't have the medical and delivery issues I have, inc when dd was home and younger her medical stuff too as we both have disabilities and complex medical histories and there were lots of appointments, prescriptions and equipment to organise.
Doing a little admin each week to keep on top of things means it takes less time and you're not having to deal with a whole load of stuff that's piled up too.
Everyone manages things differently.
Some may also struggle with the skills needed for admin management too. I'm fortunate to be able to not only read but speed read and I'm competent enough at arithmetic/accounts (I've been a bookkeeper and payroll assistant occasionally) to be able to keep on top of that.
I have a few friends with dyslexia and other learning difficulties that find it a struggle. One friend can read ok but really struggles with arithmetic and finds it very hard to manage money based admin. Her mum helps her a lot with this or she gets in a muddle and finds it very stressful.
So for those who find it a breeze, aren't you lucky? Not everyone does.
Organisation begets organisation and likewise disorganisation leads to time consuming evenings spent trying to sort out the late payment fines, and trying to find old paperwork.
Yes I agree with this.
My sister is very haphazard in how she manages things and regularly comes unstuck and parents have to bail her out constantly! And on occasion literally (one thing she's horrendous with is getting parking tickets and not dealing with them)
I think some of you are doing more than you think.
Agree with this too. Certain tasks may only take up a few mins of your time but how many of those are you doing every week? Every month? That's when it adds up.
Also because (like me with time spent on mn!) people usually vastly underestimate the amount of time they've spent eg comparing insurance quotes. Another of my mums tricks, she says just about any task you ask her about "only took 10 mins" but when I've been with her when she's done this kind of thing I've learned her "10 mins" is actually closer to 40-50 mins. It may interest you to time yourselves. I did this once when I wondered how long it really took to do my weekly check of if my expected bank activity matched actual bank activity, I'd have estimated 10-15 mins it was actually 35 mins it took me. Making a gp appointment can take over an hour between being kept on hold and explaining to the receptionist (pre covid) that no, I can't just "pop in".
Dwp forms can take bloody weeks!
These are all two minute jobs!
A - they're really not! Minimum 10 mins for most of them
B - lots of "2 minute jobs" add up. It only takes 5 to make 10 mins, 10 to make 20 mins etc - it adds up.
I think the people that don't ever do admin in a "chunk" on a particular day may not notice how much time they really spend on them.
Various research institutes have studied this kind of thing and most of the time people vastly underestimate the time spent on everyday tasks. Applies to housework too. My mum couldn't understand why she was so sore on days she'd done a thorough hoover as she was thinking "it only takes 5 mins" next time she did that task I said to her "time it, see how long it really takes you" 90 mins (awkward house layout) it took her - she's in her mid 70's no wonder she was knackered! (And yes we all keep trying to get her to accept help either from us or paid or whatever and she has thus far refused!)
My way of doing things saves me time and stress at other times, eg I always know if I can afford a larger purchase without having to check bank account and think what bills are due out that week because years of doing things this way means I know this already. Same applies to certain meds I've been on many years, sometimes a new gp cos mine is off or a new pharmacist will say something like "are you sure it's due?" And it doesn't throw or panic me as I'm well used to how it's scheduled and so can confidently say "yes, I've only a weeks worth left"
My memory is bad for things that aren't regular like infrequent appointments so I use my phone calendar AND a diary AND a wall planner cos I know what I'm like with those so a few reminders help a lot!
Tip - there is a clever little thing called a comparison site that will compare insurance prices for you in a couple of minutes. They’ll even email the result to you.
Not always that simple. Eg I've very much noticed that the quality and coverage of insurance can differ greatly you really need to check the details before committing, plus not all insurance companies sign up to being available to comparison engines and they may have a better deal for you. It's worth putting in the effort to get the best deal.
@squirrelfan definitely worth taking the time to learn how to do a spreadsheet and it's not as difficult as you may think. There are lots of free online courses. Learning this honestly made my life so much easier
On passwords all my passwords are different BUT follow a self created "formula" and that includes the usual stuff they all seem to insist are included these days for a "strong" password - capital letter, lower case letter, number, symbol, x min amount of characters... the way I do it means even if I haven't used a site for ages I can make a good guess at the password I likely created and it's usually right - not sure I'm explaining that well - but it works for me