AIBU to think you need some kind of functioning home office space to manage life admin?

[queenceleste]

I struggle as the spaces I do have are full of stuff and decluttering always ends up derailing into other priorities.

Every system I’ve tried fails - I’m sure because I have a range of reasons why I struggle. But other people’s solutions do inspire me particularly if they are simple ones.

How and where do you manage all your life admin? I would love to know.

It's not online though, a lot of it, that's the problem, I have a load of house stuff like Fensa certificates, electrical stuff, an extension from 30 years ago, none of that is online, all got to be kept. The only things online are fairly new things and the yearly stuff you do like insurance and utilities

I have a home office so it's easy enough to use a laptop for mine, and I have a couple of lever arch files with the paperwork in (when things go online I keep the last paper statement etc I received so I have all the details to hand and so do my family if something were to happen to me) But i don't need masses of space and the lever arch files could live on a bookshelf in the lounge if that was the only space I had.

Actually that's true - I also have a box file under the bed with all the paperwork relating to when we bought our current house.

How much life admin do you have? I do nearly everything on my phone. Also have one Billy bookcase full of files with any paperwork (ie pension stuff, insurance stuff, mortgage stuff)

We have two home offices and neither of them get used for life admin. We have one file box, and anything that comes in the post is immediately scanned on our phones, filed to the cloud and burned in the garden on drizzly days. Anything that needs to be kept in original format (very little) is filed into the file box that’s kept in the kitchen.

Manage it digitally on the computer

If you have a lot of paper stuff you have to keep like house documents and anything you might need for CGT like old share stuff or other tax stuff, get yourself a Bisley set of drawers to separate it out and go through it all every couple of years, they do them in lots of different colours and sizes

I have one pile of papers above the microwave and use my phone sitting on sofa

I don’t get ‘life admin’. I have an office but I barely use it and all my bills are paid and appointment sorted. If it’s all online then why is it seen as such an arduous task? I barely notice it

Nope. All I need is my ipad, an armchair and a brew.

I have a child with SEND and am currently going through a divorce so I have significantly more 'life admin' than most. I am as paperless as possible and scan things to store electronically if at all possible, but I have a small, bright yellow two-drawer filing cabinet from Bisley with suspension files for anything which has to remain on paper, and the former dining room in my house serves as an office for me to wfh and for DD's homework desk.

I think it depends what physical records you're dealing with and why.

If you have old physical files with no online equivalent, consider scanning and indexing them if you don't have an appropriate physical space for them.

If you're printing things off because you don't trust that they'll remain available on line, or that you will have access to the internet when you need a document, consider backing them up to an external portable hard drive. A hard disk drive (HDD) is fine and will be a lot cheaper than a solid state drive (SDD) You can even just set up an automatic daily backup of all your devices.

For items where you absolutely need the original and a copy/image won't do -ruthlessly triage to keep the population down (if it can go online or on your HDD it does) and then allocate an appropriate physical pace with room to grow and don't use that space for anything else. I think a three-drawer stand-alone filing cabinet will be ample for mot people's needs, but you know your situation best.

No matter what you do, it'll require at least some discipline. Prioritise whatever tasks you have to do to get and keep organised records - whether it's cleaning out your filing cabinet or doing a daily backup - and don't start doing ANY lower priority things until these tasks are done.

Within a month of DC1 starting primary, I’d moved the wall calendar so it hung just by the kitchen table and then got a box file and filled it with various bits of stationery (envelopes, paper clips, a few generic birthday cards, sellotape) and a expanding file and then I could sit at the table with a cup of tea and do some
admin. That was over a decade ago and most of it is now on my phone

Everything is online. Things like car registrations and mortgage docs are kept in a box file.

People used to need lots of box files etc for documents and bills, and often had some sort of writing desk or bureau but now everyone's paperless, and you only need a phone or ipad to sort the bills, it doesn't take up as much physical space, unless you're managing older family's stuff, and you have all their files. But more people now wfh so have a physical space for that if they can, which most use for life admin stuff too.

I work from home. I have an office where I have my work laptop and personal laptop. Both are attached to the monitor. I have everything else plugged into an adapter so switching between the two only requires me to move 1 cable. It’s great.

Just online wherever I am at the time I dont know what space I would need

I have a lot of “life admin” (two Sen kids with lots of reports and appointments, plus the normal stuff).

We use a small trolley with wheels, I think originally bought from ikea for the kids arts and crafts stuff.

Each kid has a box file on the bottom shelf for print outs of their reports and paperwork etc (easier to read if printed, plus sometimes you have to take it to appointments although I also have digital copies).

There’s a box on the middle shelf for miscellaneous paperwork that I want to keep a physical copy of for now (instructions, receipts, letters from the hospital etc) which I go through when it gets too full.

Theres an old shoebox and a plastic cup on the top shelf for random bits of post/paperwork that I need to do something with and for some pens, scissors, tape which covers most eventualities.

I like being able to wheel it out to the kitchen table when I’m doing admin, then hide it away under the stairs when I’m not.

I never understand why many people on MN find life admin demanding. I do 99% of it on my phone, I certainly don't need an office to do it in. It takes up a very small part of my time.

On my phone on the sofa or in bed or in the car. It’s all digital

Some people have a lot more life admin than others, and some people find admin harder than others 🤷‍♀️