How do you keep on top of your house admin?

[mintchocchick]

I cannot do this! I don't know why but it seems to be one aspect of managing the home that I can't do efficiently, neatly or on time!

I have as much as possible on direct debits so it's not bills as such. The problem is I have bits of paperwork in:-

a) the kitchen - slid down the side of the bread bin - because I sometimes open post here while making a cup of tea
b) the dining room table - in a big pile - because we eat here and I read school letters at tea time/write cheques for school during breakfast and at
c) the study desk because this is where I do any computer stuff, like Internet banking.

So bits everywhere, papers for filing all over in several piles but those piles also contain paperwork that needs action. Whenever I sit down to go through the stuff, I get daunted by the amount and the memory of having tried and failed to get on top of it before - so I give up!

I need a system - any ideas?

Here you go.

1. Put it all into one great big in tray.
2. Set yourself up to cope with it all. You will need a cup of tea, envelopes, notepad, diary, stamps, pen, family diary for 2012, empty file with dividers and A4 plastic pockets, and laptop. Get rid of the kids for a few hours and make yourself comfortable with your favourite radio station on.
3. Only touch each piece of paper once. Either put it on a second pile for filing later, or process the information/pay the bill and address the envelope/enter the date into a family diary/put the information sheet into your Household Captain's Log - see Household Captain's Log. Deal with the entire lot on one go. then file what needs to be filed and post what needs to be posted.
4. In future, whenever you have paperwork to deal with, put it in this big in tray until you have another admin session, and every 2-4 weeks repeat the process.

Oh my, that sounds a bit daunting - but necessary. Thanks boffin mum will get my head round that and get on with it.

OK for the "one off" but to maintain order in house admin, do you really do a session every 2-4 weeks like this? I think I'd forget, or distract myself with other (more enjoyable) jobs. Will look at the log, thanks!

You will feel brilliant when you have done it, I promise. And it won't take as long as you think.

In terms of admin, yes, once a month minimum otherwise you will start to miss key dates for school events and so on.

I think boffin has just sorted it all out for you tbh

I think the easiest thing is to deal with stuff right away. If you put stuff aside, then it piles up. Deal with it and then file it.

I've got a filing cabinet and a desk with an in-tray I approach home admin like work admin and deal with it in the same way. I've also got a diary, so things that need to be done on a particular date get put in there.

Have one place for things, that's important. Shoving things here there and everywhere just means things get lost.

Schedule a regular slot for dealing with things that you can't deal with straight away.

Thanks. Yes I suppose I should approach it like work, although saying that the adminy bit of my job is always the neglected bit! I often have to search through my 'to-be-filed' folder to find things for meetings etc and I must come across as very scatty when I'm doing this in front of someone! Especially when the letter has a date 6 months prior!

Ok I'm going to blitz it tomorrow morning with reward of Christmas cake and a coffee when I'm done. I fear that getting set up for Longer term organisation that will be the hardest bit. My filing drawers are bulging out they are so full, so I don't do any filing at home because no more will fit in, meaning I need a massive sort and that is putting me off doing the little bits IYSWIM?

I love your blog boffin! Amazing how much you fit in and how well sorted you are at home. I'm going to use some of your ideas tomorrow on my getting-sorted session. My kids are with my parents for the day, so perfect timing!

take it one file at a time. Don't try to sort out your whole filing cabinet in one day. Just grab a file and a carrier bag and chuck out what is no longer needed from one file. Repeat weekly or as often as you decide.

It'll get done. atm, you are seeing this huge job and it makes you not want to start.

It's like that 'how clean is your house' thing. People look at a house knee deep in filth and they feel overwhelmed and so do nothing, but if you just take one small bit and deal with that, then it slowly comes together.

Always live by the mantra of dealing with post only once if at all possible...therefore sit down at time to suit you and open post and deal with all that needs dealing with straight away (dates in diary etc....)....some may need to be put into a pending file to be dealt with at a future date.....if possible fish all school-related stuff out of school bags and deal with at the same time as post etc...... Honestly it does make life easier.....
also keep a list of what needs to be done and tick of/add as and when......

I would add that, like at work, you need a system for archiving the old stuff you are supposed to hold onto. Rules on how many years bank statements, tax returns etc you need to keep hold of are probably different in the UK to France, but basically at the end of each year, if you take out the oldest year of each type of document from the filing cabinet (which is really quick if you've kept your filing in order) and put it in an archive box for that year, you can then store it somewhere less accessible until you can safely chuck it.

Good idea to do bits at a time. I've already done my prep by gathering together all papers from around the house- very satisfying and I've hidden the pile so I can enjoy my evening without it looming over me!

Thanks a lot all

Let us know how you get on ...

mint I feel for you.I also can no longer file as I am out of space with my already bulging unsorted old files.It is this sorting which will really take the time,and in the meantime my "current" pile has been getting bigger and bigger with stuff to eventually file mixed in with stuff to action (plus also some real rubbish)
I would rather clean drains/scrub paintwork/put tins of soup in alphabetical order/ anything in fact,rather than deal with admin.
I am better than I was with dealing with new stuff,it's mainly the old stuff that needs sorting.It is definately my New Years Resolution to get on top of it once and for all.I know it'd make me feel so much lighter.
Sometimes I lie in bed and I'm suddenly gripped by panic that I haven't done something really important.I then have to get up and go through a teetering pile of paperwork just to check there's nothing really urgent I've missed,before I can go back to bed.Crazy.Obviously everything goes back in the same teetering pile......
Did you do some sorting last night mint?
Boffin I must check out your blog....

Well I'm done! Phase one of the sorting plan anyway.

I would normally agree with you hecate that it's best done in small, manageable chunks but I had a full day with no children as my DH had a minor operation yesterday requiring 48hrs total rest so the kids have gone to my parents for 2 nights. So, with that in mind, I blitzed through stuff today, I feel fantastic and well deserving of the albarino wine in the fridge and takeaway later!

Babysham - you sound in a very similar situation. It is awful and I well know that panicky feeling. In the hope that it may help you, I'll give you a quick run-down of my strategy as it has worked really well for me today.

The main thing was having child free time so I could spread out and sit on the floor with papers all around me without little people coming in, joining in or asking for lunch. Do you need some time off work to get on top of it? It took me 4 hours - basically I have 2 filing drawers in a desk and I took the drawers out the desk, sat in between them and took each file out one by one. With each file I sorted into:-

shredding if addresses/acc. numbers on
recycling for normal paperwork
scrap paper that could be scribbled on by kids
plastic wallets / folders to save
all paperwork dated 2010/2011 I have saved - the rest is gone.

Then I updated the little tabs on files, shifted them round a bit so they make sense - ie right hand drawer has files relating to me, DH or kids - left hand drawer is all family, house, banking.

Then I found a sensible, accessible home for the scrap paper, took recycling out, bin out, shredding is in massive carrier bag to take to my parents, but now in the car out my way!

That was 4 hours worth of work. Unbelievable really how bad it was. I have not tackled my current to-do list (which is what I had planned for this child free day) but I'm not bothered about that as I can now see it and work on it next time without this worry over the backlog in filing drawers.

What I did do to reduce my worrying, is after the huge clear out above, I sorted the current paperwork, filed what needed to be filed and with anything needing action - I placed it in a red plastic wallet AFTER I had jotted down the job on a cerise pink piece of card. So I now have a luminous to-do list (can't lose it!) which has 12 jobs listed and all the paperwork needed in a folder underneath it.

For once, it is organised, manageable and I can see exactly what needs doing, and most importantly once it's done I can file paperwork away properly!

I'm going to stop now though - but I have a lovely optimistic feeling that I won't get in this mess again and will take that great piece of advice to only hold a piece of admin once! Thanks all

wow! well done you! it's great that you had the time to really get stuck in.

You sound like you feel so positive and on top of it now.

Thanks mint.Its definately inspiring me.I get no child free time for a long session,but I really must commit to some bite sized chunks,and make myself keep going back to it till its done.
My habits with paperwork have improved so once the backlog is sorted,like you I think I'll keep it that way!
Well done - the feeling must be great - relief, I suspect!!!!!

Well done! Four hours is actually great!

Well 4 hours-ish - I did nothing else from 10 till 3ish except get cups of tea and cake. Not having to stop and make lunch/wipe a small bottom / break up Lego war etc was a massive boon. I had to wipe the scowl off my face when my (slightly poorly) DH asked me to make him some soup! Nearly forgot I was home to mind him.

I really don't think it does need a full session though countless. Each file only takes 15mins so maybe try and find a weekly slot to get through 2 or 3 files - it would be done in no time.

A big thing for me was having the time to clear away properly afterwards. I like the idea someone said of only opening post at the place you're going to deal with it. That should reduce my spread as I open the post in bed, bathroom, kitchen, just wherever I happen to be.

I like your captains log boffin. I'm going to get that set up. It never dawned on me before but must be a great way of dealing with household emergencies/jobs without scrabbling around looking for old invoices from previous plumbers etc.

You have reminded me - I must get a new house diary and update our captain's log tomorrow.

PS Look at the 'box of last resort' post as well, if you like that kind of thing.

I don't, but I find the piles of paperwork everywhere actually means less housework as they stop dust getting on the furniture.

Two god sends if I bother to use them.
Week cal ap on my iPod. Everything goes in this, a screen shot is taken of the week ahead, printed and stuck on the back door.
Any alterations are added to this or written on the white board next to it.
This screen shot can also be emailed to DH. (yes you can do complicated electronic syncing, but everyone can see the paper one as they leave in the morning)

Draw with old-fashioned card document wallets. One for each school and one for extra cuticular stuff. (plus others for medical cards and longer term junk).
In theory all useful info that isn't instantly needed should be in here. Not cluttering up the kitchen cork board (urgent and/or important things only) or lost.
Unfortunatly I am very good at or lost.
DH does bills(simply because he isn't dyslexic and doesn't miss enter pass codes and make the online banking)
He is very good at dealing with anything plonked on his keyboard. In theory it then goes into a proper labelled filling cabinet. In practice he has a huge waiting to be filled pile.

I open DD's school bag every day and check if there is anything in it that I need to action. Any notable dates go straight on the family calender. Anything that needs signing etc gets done there and then and put straight back in the bag.

After that it sort of falls apart

We have a windowledge in the hall that the opened post get thrown on. This consists of bill/bank/credit card etc statements that could get filed straight away plus other bits and pieces that need actioning! I do tend to go through it weekly jut to check what I need to do but the filing does get left too long.

We have a 2 drawer filing cabinet to hold paperwork plus a number of lever arch files for others.

Well done with making a start

at Flisspaps!

Another way of doing it is to have a big A4 family diary near your hall phone, and clip essential letters about school schedules, extra curricular activities and so on to the front inside cover with a bulldog clip so they are readily to hand.

I can feel a New Year Resolution coming on....