Life Admin, what is it?

[OneSugarOneSpoon]

Have seen the phrase a few times now, where people have little free time as they're doing this " life admin" most days
What exactly is it? My bills go by direct debit, shopping on line, kids stuff from school doesn't take that long...so am I missing something?

OK smart arse - it’s part of life. That clearer for you?

I'm sorry - I'm not really trying to be that much of a smart arse. I just don't think it's helpful or necessary to mock people for having quite a lot to do and having a name they use to refer the stuff they have to organise in their home-life. It is part of life, but if someone asked me what I was planning to do this afternoon, saying 'I'm going to do some life' wouldn't be that informative.

Yes, that's true @Fairislefandango -not everyone does big it up-but reading some of the stuff on here such as browsing the Amazon sale, picking up a prescription or booking a restaurant has had me laughing out loud.

To be fair, I think some posters have done it on purpose to create a long thread!

Judging by people’s definitions of life admin on this thread (including sleeping, paid work, shopping, and thinking about things) saying you were busy with some life admin would be equally uninformative.

No-one is mocking, but honestly - life admin?? If someone asked me what I was doing and I said life admin they’d probably laugh or at best, look . Catching up on some paperwork, paying the bills, house stuff, etc etc, yes - but life administration?! Come on.

Quite how we managed to administer our lives in years gone by without it being a Thing I know not.

Ok I guess we'll just have to disagree, but I honestly don't think that having one phrase for it, rather than referring to all the tasks individually, makes it appear to be more of 'a thing', any more than calling housework 'housework' makes it sound more important than saying than you're doing the cleaning, laundry etc. Is it really just the use of the word 'life' that's getting up people's noses? Would 'household admin' be ok?

Is it getting up people’s noses? I just think it’s a somewhat grandiose and rather silly expression to describe the paperwork stuff that we do as adults. Housework is a catch all, simple term that everyone knows - if it was rebranded as ‘living space sanitation’ then people would probably be or

I don't think it's just the use of the pretentious term, it's more elevating opening every single envelope, browsing the internet or booking a restaurant to the level of A Task!

What next...will farting be a task/life admin

Excess wind is trapped.
Now I have to find a private place to dispel my excess wind and I may have to open a window, remembering to close that window before I go to bed.

If I can't find a private place, I must first find someone whom I can look at in a way that suggests they did it or, maybe better buy a dog, so that I will always have this dog to blame it on. The dog will then need feeding, vet's appointments, walking and poop scooping.

Failing a dog or being unable to pin it on someone else, I must spend hours staring in the mirror perfecting either a stony move along expression or a look of apology.

I might also need to wave my arms about to try and dispel any stink. This could lead to a tear in my sleeve which either needs to be mended-first sourcing matching thread-or buying another blouse. This will involve driving to the shops or browsing the internet.

All this extra admin cause by farting. People just don't realise because they don't want to. They think a quick fart takes a second but they don't think it through.

I think it might be the phrase is problematic because some people associate admin with only paperwork type tasks and lots of people find the 'life' addition a bit wanky.

Like the job description 'life coach' or 'adulting' or 'life hacks'

I just searched life admin on MN and this exact thread comes up every six months or so - with exactly the same pro/anti/confusion/"it's just life" arguments!

So the question has arisen before? Most questions on MN will have been asked in some format before though won't they? We can still ask for ourselves..I'd personally never seen it, fairly new, didn't think to search and genuinely was interested.
It has created some interesting points though, and again, thanks for the responses. Never was meant to be goady,superior, or any of the other stuff!!

I can answer two!

Yes, usually need vaccine certificates

Either a main dealer or Google new car key, you will probably have to take v5 and form of ID for the key, and then it can be programmed once the key arrives

Scanning McDonald's monopoly tickets onto the app, does that count?

You don’t even need to do that - the AA have a key replacement service, they come to your house. It was cheaper than the dealer for ours too.

@SirChenjins definitely! Depends on the car (I work for a brand where it has to be coded by a dealer depending on the model year/software)
My own car was done by the AA i don't own the brand I work for

Yes, ours was my daughter’s so it wasn’t the most high end - I can imagine there are other brands that don’t make it easy!! It’s a great service though, I didn’t know the AA did that, despite being with them for years - you don’t even have to be a member.

If someone asked me what I was up to one day I would never say 'life admin' as I'm sure they would think I was a dick. I'd just say I had 'stuff' to do. Wouldn't most people?

I don't think it really matters if people say life admin, admin, stuff, paperwork, does it? They're all saying the same thing. You're dicks if you think it's a dickish thing to say.

Yes, it's only 'what needs to be done' but in my house it all gets left to me, so it does feel like extra work and I quite enjoy a little whinge about it.

I didn't say it mattered.

You think I'm a dick for thinking it's a dickish thing to say. I still think it's a dickish thing to say, so I guess I'm a dick. I suppose we all are about one thing or another so I can live with that. 😂

I'd just say I had 'stuff' to do. Wouldn't most people?

I might. Or I might say I had errands to run, or admin to do. I thought at first that it was the 'life' bit that people thought was dickish. But it seems the reason that some people object to it is that they think that namjng it as a specific category of 'stuff' you have to do somehow exaggerates its load or importance.

I disagree. It's no different from having a specific category of 'stuff you have to do' called 'housework'. And different people have different amounts of 'life admin' according to their circumstances, just as different people have different amounts of housework according to the size of their house (and their standards!).

My old boss called arranging his wedding ‘Wed min’.

For me, sorting holidays is definitely a thing I would put in life admin .

Very bad allergies so need to check proximity to hospital, what local foods to avoid etc, hotels that get it. Adds to the time taken, but also in general it takes time especially for road trip type holidays

my usual pattern is it’s all fun at the start then when it comes down to the boring detail, not so much

Life admin to me is anything I'm not paid to do. So housework, washing and putting away clothes, cleaning, taking my DC to and from school, homework, bills, cooking, buying clothes when needed etc

What has surprised me about this thread is that the posters who 'don't have any life admin' seem smug/proud about it.

Wouldn't it be the exact opposite? Just indicates you and yours don't do much. Which is obvo fine if that's what you want, but I'm not sure why you'd be smug.

I dedicated this morning this week to life admin. It's taken 3 hours, but it's done for a few days and now I'm having a cup of tea. I've researched and booked a holiday, researched and booked a cheeky one night stay away, organised the logistics for a play my daughter is in, the tickets and the costumes, booked accommodation and in to the sporting event for my other dd. Organised her a new cossie for it. I've moved some money to an account with better savings. A good mornings life admin that I'm happy with 💪

waiting On hold for virgin media is life admin and a full time job in itself

Yes you’re probably right, that’s the whole problem. If only I knew more about life admin I’d be able to ‘organise’ a swimming costume for my kids too. As it is of course my kids wander the streets naked since I don’t ‘organise’ clothing or write a 5 step work guide to buying a pair of shoes.

Or we just don’t see booking a holiday and a ‘cheeky night away’ as administrative work. Or hold issue with the hugely wide definitions of ‘life admin’ as seen on this thread - for some people sleeping, eating food, and having thoughts are all ‘life admin.’

😂 just don't switch to sky whatever you do! Possibly worse.