It’s Spring baby! Which means sun, sand and a good ol’ spring clean! It’s time to take on some of those LIFE ADMIN tasks you’ve been avoiding.
By Caroline Guillemain-Brunne
Taking care of your life admin not only helps reduce your mental load, but it also saves you time and money, and it helps improve your overall health and wellbeing – #winning.
It’s no secret that mamas who have a cluttered abode are way more stressed than those who live in a clutter-free environment. This tends to extend to a cluttered mind and an overwhelming amount of life admin. Spring is the perfect time to declutter your to do list.
“PUTTING TOGETHER A MASTER LIST OF TASKS WILL HELP YOU IDENTIFY WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE AND WHEN.”
1. WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN IN ONE PLACE
Create one master list for all the tasks you want to spring clean. You may have many to do lists floating around in your head or on scraps of paper, but putting together a master list of tasks will help you identify what needs to be done and when. Then you can plan, knowing you haven’t missed anything due to that annoying lost post-it note.
2. MAKE A MEAL PLAN
Overhaul your menu and start meal planning weekly. When the weather gets warmer, we tend to move from heavy meals to lighter options. This is a great time to look at what you eat and start planning meals weekly if you don’t already. Set aside an hour to plan each dinner, and breakfast and lunch if needed, while writing a grocery list or ordering your items online. Not only will you be able to stick to eating healthy balanced meals, you will save money by not ordering take away when you can’t quite decide what to have for dinner.
3. CLEAN OUT YOUR PAPERWORK
Set up direct debits, look at your budget and expenses and review your paperwork. Spring is the perfect time to review all your bills, paperwork and direct debits. Often, we’re paying for things we don’t need or use, like the gym or subscription services. By regularly reviewing our accounts, you can save yourself money from unnecessary expenses. Service providers often add extra money on for paper bills so make sure you’re across that.
4. MANAGE YOUR CALENDAR AND YOUR HEALTH
Look at how you manage the family calendar and catch up on your health appointments. As the weather gets warmer, our social commitments tend to increase. If you don’t have a master calendar, sometimes you double book yourself. Where possible, create one master calendar, preferably online, that has everyone’s commitments. This will help you stay on top of appointments and work commitments whilst adding the exciting events that come up at this time of the year. While organising your calendar think about when was the last time you went to the doctor, dentist or optometrist?
5. DELEGATE
Don’t feel the need to do it all! Delegating to other members of the household can help spread the load so you don’t have to do it all. Get your partner to help consolidate all your paper bills to online bills or ask the kids to help shred the pile of paperwork.
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