If you don't consider life admin to be a thing...

[ruethewhirl]

...then how do you mentally 'label' (so to speak) things like banking and official correspondence?

Not being goady here, genuinely curious. Not a TAAT as such, I see it stated so often on MN that there's 'no such thing' as life admin or the mental load (although I tend to assume the latter refers to slightly different things eg each partner doing their share of things like remembering birthdays, making sure the kids have clean clothes etc). Life admin-wise, part of why I'm bemused by this is that I have a lot of things to take care of in my life that I think definitely count as life admin - not only my own banking, but managing correspondence with my GP's surgery (I have multiple conditions) and also handling my mum's finances at her request (she has Alzheimer's) plus handling her general correspondence and sorting things out on the many occasions her care company drops the ball. 🙄 Oh, and chasing the vet/pet insurance company about insurance claims for our cats that seem to drag on for ever!

And then there are things like handling the correspondence if you switch banks or energy providers, complaining about poor service, managing quotes if you're getting home improvements done... what are these things if not life admin? What do you call them instead?

Is it really so insane to suggest that these types of activities warrant an umbrella term with which to refer to them? Presumably the vast majority of people have at least some of this kind of stuff to do in their day-to-day lives, so it puzzles me when people claim there's no such thing. (And if you're one of them, how do you refer to these tasks?)

YABU: There's no such thing as life admin
YANBU: Yes there is!

These jobs exist, not sure anyone would disagree with that. The objection sits with the enormity people place on them.

I'd say you have much more of it on your plate than most people so it does become more of a job. When you mention "banking and official correspondence" I don't really know what that it is. The extent of banking I do is logging in a couple of times a month to move money when I get paid and maybe a mid-month top-up from savings. I haven't had any official correspondence with anyone for a long time. No idea when.

how do you mentally 'label' (so to speak) things like banking and official correspondence?
Why do you need to label it?

Obviously, we all have our own personal admin that needs doing from time to time. The volume and extent of that admin will vary for everyone. I guess it's fine to call it "life admin" if that suits you.

I don't feel the need to give it a catch-all term, though. I just have various tasks that I have to fit in around the rest of my day - a bit like brushing my teeth or going to the loo etc.

Interestingly, I find "life admin" more of a chore now I've retired than I did when I was at work.

When I was sat at a desk all day, it was easy to book a dentist appointment or pay something online during my normal day. (Naughty perhaps, but easy). Now I have to find time in "my" time.

I wonder if that's the difference for those who don't see it as a big deal? It must be tough for women people working in non desk jobs.

I don’t really separate it out as a ‘thing’. It’s just part of life really. They’re just jobs that get done. But I don’t really have much to do. Like, banking for example. I check my bank account on my phone every couple of days and then pay my credit card off when it needs it but that doesn’t really take more than about 5 minutes per week. I don’t feel the need to mentally categorise it as anything because I just do it and and when the need arises to do something. I think if you’re managing an elderly relative or have children with additional needs, there’s more to do but most of the ‘admin’ I do can be done quickly on my phone while I’m watching Bake Off.

Everyone does these things to some degree, it's a handy term that mist people recognise.

How much people do and how well they cope with it is a different subject.

I think there are periods in most people’s lives where they have more admin stuff to do and need a bit of headspace to do it. I think it gets daft on Mumsnet when some people who insist they can’t work when they have school aged children because they spend half the day doing ‘life admin’. That’s what people roll their eyes at.

Part of life, they don’t need a label or name. If you change banks you don’t have to do much because most offer the current account switch service and realistically how many times would you do that anyway? Everything else such as changing insurance is usually annually so again not a huge thing. Making a doctors appointment involves a phone call, I usually do other things when I’m in the queue because it doesn’t require my full attention. It’s as hard or as easy as you make it really and some people might have more tasks than others but personally I don’t need to set aside a scheduled hour for it, it’s just part of life that I fit in alongside other household jobs and I don’t have a specific name for them.

these are my banking life admin jobs:

once a year renewing insurances
Usually once a month checking bank account and moving money around
reading utility meters and updating them online. Possibly shopping around every few years

everything else is on a direct debit?

I understand the relentless primary school parent mail and online school dinner payments are an annoying level of admin but not a full time job

people go to the dentist and opticians every 6 months/year so that’s not much admin either?

I don’t have an elderly parent and don’t have much other admin so I don’t find it a lot of work

Yes.

I've never encountered the term 'life admin' until I met a woman who used it about 10 years ago. I had absolutely no idea what she meant until I realised she just meant 'paying bills', 'going to the doctors', and 'renewing the car insurance'. I've still never heard it used in real life.

These things take so little time in reality that I just do them as an when required and pay bills by DD.

I'm not even sure what people include. Making a shopping list? Going shopping? Cleaning out pets? Replacing candles? I don't know. It's just doing stuff.

It’s not a big thing - DH and I divide things up between us - he’ll take DC’s for new shoes and clear out their wardrobes of clothes they have grown out of whilst I book the boiler service and arrange for the car service to be paid. Haven’t found it complicated.

I call these 'messages'. I love how old fashioned it sounds. My Grandmother would put her banking etc into a leather shopping bag and set off to run a message. Bills in those days had to be paid at the electric board or the post office. Now we do everything on the phone. No gloves or hat required.

It’s the weight of the term, not the fact there are tasks. For me, it’s simply my to do list and I happily chip away when I have time. I don’t see it as a big deal, and most things are automated or have automated reminders.

Surely its just being an adult. It doesn't actually take that much time.

I am adopting messages immediately!! “Sorry I’ll be late for that meeting I’m attending to my messages” has such a dramatic and mysterious ring to it

Most of the times I see ‘life admin’ and ‘mental load’ being used, it is being used to beat a husband with because they are not doing enough in terms of house chores or child related things. I’m not entirely sure why we need to label them anything or what’s wrong with saying I’ve a few jobs to do.

Everybody does these tasks. Some people find labelling and categorising things helpful hence the catch-all term 'life admin', some people don't need to categorise things in this way. It's fine if you do, it's fine if you don't.

But being critical of someone for categorising their tasks in this way or using a catch-all term like 'life admin', claiming that is doesn't exist...that marks you out as a prick. These people are best ignored.

I think some people don't have much, so it doesn't feel like a lot. Over the years I have had one year-long period where between me and DH, we were doing...

• a house move for ourselves
• managing FIL health decline, then carers, then death and estate management/administration
• managing my mum's illness then her rental property that had tenants who wouldn't leave and a court case

-going freelance and sorting my taxes

• dealing with an ongoing health problem for my child, lots of referrals and appointments and getting supplements and meds sorted.

During this time it felt like the admin was both absolutely relentless and high stakes.

Other friends have had cancer, fostered children, had to get EHCPs for their children - these things are additional burdens.

I dont think the everyday is a huge deal though. I wouldn't count as life admin

• weekly aldi big shop
• paying my kids termly hobbies or music lessons

-booking holidays

• car service, even car going wrong and needing repair or replacement is ok

-everyday management of money and savings, sorting direct debit and stuff -replacing kids clothes and shoes, dentists, haircuts- though i WOULD include Invisalign as an additional hassle because it's a big pain. Also if your child needs regular things like to do physio, that's a pain and adds to mental load.

It's just stuff I have to do.

It's not so much the label as the enormity some people place on it that's laughable. You'll always see people listing things like "making doctors appointments for the children" or "buying school uniforms" and it's like... How often does that really come up, and how much time does it really take that you're including it on a list of chores like the sodding labours of Hercules?

Everyone has to make doctor's appointments and manage their bank account, but I just do it as and when it comes up. It doesn't occupy a single thought in my mind if I'm not actively doing it.

And then there are things like handling the correspondence if you switch banks or energy providers, complaining about poor service, managing quotes if you're getting home improvements done... what are these things if not life admin? What do you call them instead?

How often do you do any of those things?! I haven't done any of them in at least 4 years. Complaining about poor service is not a must (I find that quite funny as I'm more likely to add "leaving a good Tripadvisor review" to my to-do list than bothering to lodge any official complaint).

I do in fact call those things life admin but it's not really a significant proportion of my life.

I find it easier to categorise things into urgent life admin (such as sorting a plumber when the tap falls off) and life admin that can be done next week/another time/when I get round to it.

It's just stuff I need to do. If I categorise it at all, it's by urgency i.e. does it need done now or can it wait?

I think it depends if you’re the kind of person who just gets on and does stuff or if you’re the kind of person who lets it build up/puts it off etc. I am the latter so feel like I do hate life admin. But I don’t actually complain about it to anyone and it doesn’t really affect my life.

But DH might ask me what I’m doing and I say ‘life admin’ - he uses the term too and does plenty of his own. I think because I spend so much time on my computer and emails etc at work, I hate also doing it in my free time. I would include things like researching a new home appliance (luckily my DH does that stuff).

It’s also why I don’t like online grocery shopping - it does from a physical task to an admin task (even though it’s not arduous it’s just another thing in my mind).

I think that while you probably have more of it than many people (if you have chronic health conditions which require frequent communication with your GP and have responsibility for your mother's care), I still think you're inflating things.

I mean we all have 'banking', but it certainly doesn't take up much of my time.

I'm in the middle of a major house renovation at the moment, which I'm handling as DH is away a lot for work, and more liable to drop balls, but I wouldn't count that as 'life admin. Getting quotations, handling deliveries, tradesmen etc is a series of one-off tasks for a specific end. If I switch energy providers, that's a one-off, too. I don't remember there being endless 'correspondence' from last time I did it.

I'm currently checking our house insurance for cover on something -- but again, that's a one-off, not a regular event.

I don't have pets, but if I were complaining about poor service often enough for it to be a regular feature in my life, I'd be looking very carefully at why I was going so wrong with trades/restaurants etc.

There is more ‘Life admin’ these days.
Previously you got your electricity from the electricity board, telephone from the one telephone company etc.
Now we have to worry about being fleeced by these providers so you feel you have to check prices of these things each year or so. Check various airlines instead of going to a travel agent etc.
And even if you don’t do these things there is always someone saying “oh, I got a good deal of £29.99 for blah, blah”. So then you think argh - I should compare prices.
More customer choices = more stress and work generally = more life admin