To not understand claims that life admin is 'not a thing'

[LabradorsInThePond]

I keep reading this on MN threads about organisation, time management etc. And that the life admin tasks of renewing insurances and checking mortgage rates can't take up that much time. But I spend a huge amount of time in the throes of life admin. We live a pretty normal, busy family life. I work 4 days in a professional role and can easily spend the 5th day (or at least half of it) in the throes of dreaded life admin.

My list tomorrow extends to twenty three separate items. None of which involve renewing insurances, but they do include buying clothing items (Scout shirt etc.), paying instrument hire, photocopying medical reports for school, booking airport parking, collecting worming tablets, booking a restaurant, buying zoo tickets, arranging a delivery of flowers for mum's birthday, an online grocery shop, buying a thank you gift, arranging a birthday party, booking a roofer, buying new windscreen wipers, emailing the GP, updating kids' Nimbl cards, finding a way to teach DS about dividing decimals, paying various people online etc.

None of these are yearly tasks, and next week there will be another 23 items to complete. It is relentless. DH does most of the house and long-term financial admin and he's also executing his father's too-complicated will, which makes my 23 items look like peanuts.

Do we just have an over-committed life, or does anyone one else find (what others consider non-existent) life admin burdensome and time-consuming? What am I doing wrong here?

Some on here are just martyrs thats why or have flexible jobs and can do between
Others can only do these things later on in the evening when kids are in bed
Today i have taken dog to vets , then had to go back to collect said dog medication later in day , laptop to be prepared , called the electric company , collected some of ds presents . They may all be smallish jobs but have added up and i have done them flexibly around work but will now have to sit to 8pm catching up on work emails
There are lots of little jobs and include online shopping as life admin

Sure - everyone complains.

But what I don't do is I call walking the dog or taking him for his vaccinations"life admin" - it's just part of owning a dog which I chose to do, knowing the work involved.

Equally - helping your kids with their homework or taking them to brownies isn't "life admin" - it's being a parent.

Not all vets post worming tablets as all are suggesting either , ours don't we have to collect them and vets normally want to see a dog at some point not issue tablets year after year

Same here. I think I just think "oh I need to do so and so" and do it. Or not. Sometimes I worry about it. I guess the worry is "mental load". For example, we have a problem with our guttering, someone is coming on Saturday to look at it, and I am worrying (a bit) about how much it might cost to sort it out. Is that "mental load"? Or is it just "life".

As for life admin, I stick everything on DD and forget it. But I am not one of those people who phones around every year to see who the cheapest insurer is. If my existing one doesn't take the mick with their renewal premium, I stick with them.

I think people scoff at it because in most lists there are things that are rare jobs and things that are stuck in just to try and pad it out.

People who work full time, often have to negotiate with builders, sort their kids medical appointments, paper work, book parking etc

Personally, I just view it as ‘this is the stuff that comes with being and adult and a parent’

I have to admit it really confuses me when people make choices that are bound to lead to having a busy, hectic and stressful life and then complain about it - I just don't get it

Me neither. You can't really have (as an example) four kids and two dogs and then moan about the amount of household tasks you have!

Absolutely this.

@coffeecupsandfairylights its just another word for a task though , life admin just how people describe and usually on here its because many women are doing a full time job and taking dog to vet , homework with the kids etc
Its just a word to describe the other things that need doing

I WFH but my lunch break doesn't count towards my hours, therefore I only every take 30 minutes at most, I could take an hour, in theory, but then I'd have to work later, either way it's my own time, I'm "off the clock" so it's not like I'm magically gaining time by taking a break at lunchtime.

Orwell*
*
When you are busy you may forget to look at the clock.

But yes the point I was making was give yourself X time and stick to it.

If you're feeling paranoid an old fashioned timer will do the same job

I've got a day off tomorrow & I need to:
Book a car service
Book my car in because the boot is stuck shut - really annoying I have to put my shopping on the passenger seat because I've been putting it off! hopefully the garage can do both
Phone about my broken gas metre
Ring the doctors about a referral
Book a hair cut
Send my sports watch off because the screen has cracked

I hate doing all that stuff! But some of it just can't be helped!

This is awesome! Thanks 😊

People making out everything is a monumental task when it takes almost zero headspace and literally a minute to do.

I have ADHD and while things are often not monumental tasks they certainly don't take just minutes to do.

I wonder if the people who can do things very quickly or efficiently have very good executive function and just assume everybody else does too? So genuinely see others needing more time to do tasks as 'faffing' or a deliberate choice?

It's eye opening reading this thread and seeing the impatience of people insisting things just take minutes to do.

As I say, I have diagnosed ADHD, so it's a given my executive function is a bit shit. But surely there must be people who, although they don't have ADHD, are on the lower end of efficiency when it comes to executive function?

So they will need more time than the whizz kids.

It's kind of like how if you can run 5k in 20 mins and assume everyone else could too if they just tried harder - even apart from disabled people, there will be others who will never make that time.

I definitely need a new job - I never have time for a lunch break. Eat at desk in 5 mins whilst working.

Had a recent urgent situation and it took 21 phone call attempts to get through to the GP. Not all back to back - had to spread them over the day. Then had to wait for call backs etc.

whoever said being ill took time is totally correct. Was informed by text of when my drugs were being delivered (on a day o was out). Tried to call to rearrange. On hold … whilst trying to download an app that apparently was faster. Then finally registered to be told I had to message but then no one around to answer … Def more than 5 min job.

It is fascinating how opposed people’s perceptions of life admin are.

I think the just do it straight away people are true, up to a point, but only when you have a manageable level of stuff that needs to do. It’s when you have lots of stuff it ironically takes longer as you don’t have the mental capacity to just do it quickly/have to remember lots of things so take time thinking what needs to be done.

Some days I do have the spare minutes to just do things, and it is much easier, but sometimes I don’t, and the things come faster than I can deal with them. Also I’m genuinely baffled at the idea everything
can be done immediately, I can’t be the only one that works 9-5 ish round kids and a lot of people you need to speak to do too, so if you’re busy at work it’s almost impossible some days? How can you phone someone when you’re physically eating your lunch for example? Also sometimes phoning people isn’t a long job, but that phonecall creates four more things to be done so it isn’t finishing the life admin by speaking to the roofer say?

Best advice is to have a touch it once approach. If you've got time to read the emailed invoice, you've time to pay it straight away.

Also, this frequently doesn't work.

I made 4 phone calls yesterday trying to pay my cardiologist and book my next appointment. FOUR. The next appt is booked but the bill still isn't paid, because nobody I spoke to could find my account balance.

This is likely because insurance have not yet generated my portion of the bill, even though my last appointments were months ago.

This kind of thing massively frustrates me and also makes me really anxious - I'm in the US and if the medical bills don't get paid you get snotty letters warning you they will sell the debt.

This shit happens all the time - not just with health related stuff.

I get that, but I still feel like it's a way to make people seem way busier than they actually are. Walking the dog and taking your kids to their activities isn't "life admin" - it's just part of owning a dog and being a parent.

Likewise, booking in the MOT and booking the dentist is just part of being an adult. It's not something that needs to take up so much headspace.

I remember a thread ages ago on this subject. The OP was a SAHM applying for a job after several years out of the workplace.

She asked if she would enhance her CV by mentioning the life admin she did every week and likened it to an admin job. Virtually everyone said don't do it. She included it anyway and posted back surprised she didn't get the job.

Yes but 23 x 5 min is nearly 2 hours of work. I also think some of them will take 10 mins which makes it 2.5 hrs of work. I don't believe any task that involves anything online.takes 2 mins. By the time I've logged into the right account and followwd.the instructions etc. Or if buying something , then checking it is the right things and the best deal . Maybe 5 mins. If there are even half that number to do every day, then it is an hour a day. That is a lot of the time in my.book
I do it all around a FT job as well. That's doesn't mean I don't find it very time consuming

@WonderingWanda “try to think of interesting and healthy meals thst everyone with their various fussy/food intollerences will eat before I do the food shop”

Start with the same order as last week and delete/add items.

I can't see how those jobs take more than an hour or so tops

Zoo tickets- max 3 mins
Flowers for -mum max 3 minutes

Etc

I tend to do them on my phone when waiting to collect a child/while cooking dinner etc . I can't imagine needing a whole day. And I have four children, two with complex medical conditions and all with several hobbies. I think it's about doing them efficiently and not making a meal of them

I’d love to know where all these GP surgeries are where it only takes a couple of minutes to make an appointment!

We can book non-emergency appointments online.

A lot of these tasks are the kind of thing I do while the kettle is boiling, while my porridge is in the microwave, while I'm waiting for dd in the car, while I'm standing in a queue etc. They just get done in between all of the other stuff.

I've always just assumed "life admin" was a way for people to justify working part time once their Children are at school. Why not just own the fact you want a day off. No one should feel they have to justify working part time if it suits them and their family. Just don't make out things like buying flowers and ordering worming tablets are arduous and lengthy tasks because it sounds ridiculous

As I say, I have diagnosed ADHD, so it's a given my executive function is a bit shit. But surely there must be people who, although they don't have ADHD, are on the lower end of efficiency when it comes to executive function?

Absolutely. I have sometimes wondered if I have ADHD but I don't think I do, I just have much poorer executive function than the average person. Which in some ways is harder as I end up giving myself a much harder time over it because I don't have a diagnosis