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!

Nobody is denying these tasks are important and need to be done. It’s just that I associate the term “life admin” with a certain type of person who idealises busyness without actually doing that much.

You know you hear about some workplaces with that colleague who switches on their computer, goes off to make a cup of tea, types loudly and fast without actually sending anything, goes to inspect the photocopier, talks to her colleagues about how busy they are and gets all stressed and flustered about it, and yet several hours later they still haven’t actually done anything useful or productive yet, and then it’s time for lunch? Those are the sort of people who I imagine refer to everyday tasks as life admin, a phrase which I’d never even heard until joining MN.

I once did 2 or 3 weeks of temp work covering for this woman who was going on holiday. On our handover day she told me she was very busy, and that she frequently took work home with her as she didn’t have time to finish it all during the day. Except that she spent about 80% of that day chatting to people, faffing about, moving papers about without actually doing much with them etc, to the point that when I came in on the Monday, I had to ask the Office Manager how to do several things as there hadn’t been time to cover it all on the handover day. From that point on, I got all the work done every day, found most of it straightforward, and never left any backlog. I didn’t even think I was being efficient beyond normal, just getting stuff done without faffing or pretending to look busy. I feel like the woman who went on holiday probably refers to her own personal tasks as life admin. I don’t know, it’s just the way the phrase is used.

None of these individual tasks (which could be categorised as mental load or life admin) are particularly challenging or onerous. But the elephant in the room is the fact that the vast majority of them are done by women because a lot of men either can't be arsed or pretend not to know they need to be done

I’d argue that the elephant in the room is that a lot of women prefer to be doing what they label as ‘life admin’ because it suits their purpose. It also at times gives them something to be competitive with their DPs or friends - ‘oh I’m so busy paying the electricity bill whilst you sit on your arse all night’. Well I’m not sure about you, but I pay all my bills by DD, all done on my iPad whilst sat on my arse watching Emmerdale. The same with shopping for gifts - all done online or by spending a day in town browsing whilst stopping every hour in the hour for a much needed coffee / cake / wine. I spend approximately 15 minutes once a year filling in everyone’s birthday on the new calendar in January and buy all the cards a few days later for the year. I do a great deal of the admin because I don’t mind doing it, I want to be in charge of it, I’m not dependent on DH to do stuff I can do. He does more of the physical workload and of that I’m more than happy.

If you want to use an umbrella term for run of the mill daily tasks, by all means do. I think that averaged over the course of a year I spend more time washing my hands than doing life admin. I don't think taking care of an elderly parent counts as life admin, however, that is in a different care category.

By the way OP, I also have a fairly serious medical condition for which I need hospital appointments, tests and scans etc, as well as going to the pharmacy to collect repeat prescriptions. I have also asked for help from a charity who campaigns for people with my medical condition. In no way do I label any of these things as life admin. They’re just appointments, tests, scans and picking up my prescription.

I'm feeling like a rubbish adult reading this thread; I often dread these types of tasks and get stressed plus I am incapable of doing two tasks at once. I don't go around talking about my "life admin" to people either though but I do find it a useful phrase.

I'd perhaps call it admin in my mind because it's a specific type of activity, as opposed to cleaning, or cooking, or laundry.

I suppose you'd call it 'life admin' if you were trying to differentiate it from 'work admin' connected to your paid job.

Anything that involves computer related tasks, writing and posting things, form filling, booking appointments, long term life planning like POA or wills, insurance etc., plus any planning for and arranging of family events which go beyond your immediate core family ( so hosting the big 10+ family Christmases etc)

If you have multiple family members with complex medical conditions, or kids with lots of specific needs, whether that's educational or hobby-related. Or if they are at a school which require a LOT of parental involvement every week, then the admin side of your todo list suddenly starts to dominate the available hours.

But if you were creating a list to show how you divided your day up and you wanted to group things together, all the tasks which are computer, writing and phone based can be grouped together as 'admin' because they are not cooking, cleaning, laundry, driving, etc

I don’t need to write a list or group them together in any way. I just get them done.

I've never understood why some people think that having a name for a group of tasks/responsibilities denotes 'enormity'.

Does the fact that we collectively call washing up, tidying, cleaning, ironing etc 'housework' convey enormity? Or the fact that we call bathing the children, putting them to bed, feeding them, helping them with their homework etc 'parenting'? It's just a convenient way of referring to a group of things.

There's nothing remotely unreasonable about the phrase 'life admin'. The distinction between life and work is a pretty common one (as in work-life balance). Life admin is admin stuff you do in your non-work life. Sometimes there's lots of it. Sometimes there's less.

Banking is all set up automatically. A couple of transfers to do on pay day. It’s just part of life and I don’t call it anything. As for making appointments etc, again few and far between. I’ve raised 3 kids and life admin isn’t a phrase i’ve personally used.

And do you feel terribly superior for not having a name for them? Do you think not having a name for them makes you better at getting them done? The non-admin-namers usually seem to feel this way imo.

I know - for me it's just something that comes up every now and then when planning the day.

What are you doing this afternoon?
I'm going to do the laundry and some admin?
How long will that take you?
I probably need about 2 hours to get all the admin stuff done, I'll stick the laundry in around that, you?

I thought we all kind of grouped tasks together in our heads, especially when fitting it in around set schedules like work shifts or school pick ups etc.

Certainly some of the stuff you describe op I would consider life admin and time consuming. Correspondence and financial things for elderly parents or other family is arduous, DH has legal responsibility for his disabled brother and it doesn't help all the services he needs to communicate with are completely incompetent.

I think people respond negatively to the term when annual tasks like insurance or switching providers is listed. Or, even more ridiculous, grocery shopping. I really do wonder how people get through the day. I had pretty quiet day today but if I wanted I could list literally even thing I have done and make it look like I'm a frazzled mother with a 100 things on my to do list.

I need a dentist check up soon. Guess I should fret about it before a few weeks before making the 2 minute phone call

I would say people mostly use the term ‘life admin’ because they consider it the dull stuff that is stopping them doing the fun stuff. Like the filing admin etc in an office job.

I think if you lack agency you make more of your role or if you think your worth is what you do for others rather than what you are - so in my case my mum's currency/worth was her keeping the house clean, so she'd say to me, you'll never be able to run a house - you aren't running a house mother, it isn't Chatsworth is it. So no one could do it like she could, we were all useless, if she didn't do it who would do it.

I am at peak life admin with a non desk job. I agree it’s relentless but doing it everyday as it comes up is the best way of dealing with it.

my biggest admin chores are my tax return and my expenses.

Everything else tends to be 2minite jobs that I get done in queues, endlessly waiting around for children, on the train etc.

Applying for DLA took me 5 complete working days of 7 hours, 35 hours. My day rate for that would be over £5,500, if I hadn't had to stop work to look after kid, so the 500 quid we now get every month will just about get us in profit by end of a year.

I've got so much life admin going on, I could literally and legitimately employ a PA at the moment.

So you would never think about housework as 'housework'? And if anyone said they had some housework to do that afternoon, you'd think 'Fancy making a fuss about normal household tasks (oops , that's another collective term!) by calling it 'housework!'?

Honestly, I'm sure I'll be shot down in flames for this but no, I don't.

It's just stuff I need to do that's part of my daily life. I don't spend hours on it, it just takes 5-10 minutes at random points throughout the day.

I recognise that a home does not run itself, there are bills to pay etc. I just think life admin is an expression that I don't like or use.

It's a thing. It's just not a big thing for most people. A simple part of being an adult.

Of course, for parents of children with disabilities and other people with situations that require considerable paperwork, life admin is certainly more complicated and onerous.

No - I think that’s a totally normal term to group together housework like cleaning / laundry etc.

I’d probably say housework to a stranger or someone not in my household because they don’t need details but to DH be more specific because it’s more relevant to him specifically what is getting done.

That’s why the admin label is useful to DH I might say:

I spent two hours cleaning the guest bedroom this afternoon on top of an hour sorting out that banking glitch and confirming great aunt Joan’s power of attorney.

But if a colleague asked I’d just say ‘spent most of the afternoon on housework and admin stuff’

I’m not going to label something that st most takes about 20 minutes a month, I’m not sure it’s even that much.

I have a disability also, so only work part time, apart from the admin mountain which comes with a child with SEND.

You'd think we'd get support, in any sane society, but actually you end up working twice as hard.

The thing that really irritates me is that DLA/EHCP admin time could otherwise be used in helping DS with any number of things, speech therapy, OT, literacy, or even just family time with a child with extra needs.

Instead I'm playing constant 3 D chess with the local authority/school about why they are not meeting needs/wrong school/downplaying identified needs/not consulting with SEND school, and appeal illegal moves.Tribunal last year (we 'won') and another being registered as I type.

Not to mention having to try and work diplomatically but assertively with a chronically underfunded NHS to get much needed referrals. Yet more appointments and pleading DS's case via emails to consultants/paediatricians.