We all have errands, phone calls, and other tasks that we avoid. Sometimes we don’t have the time or energy, other times we’re simply overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. If this sounds familiar, you might need a life admin day!
Continue reading this post to learn how to plan your life admin days and create a list of life admin tasks to get you started.
When I left my job several years ago, I went back to working from home and found myself struggling to balance my admin tasks outside of my work. I felt disorganized and knew I needed to create a routine to stay on top of my life admin at home.
What is a Life Admin Day?
I like to describe a life admin day as a day to get caught up. Years ago I heard the term, “anti-procrastination day” and this is similar. You designate a day to get your personal and home admin tasks done. These tasks include making phone calls, running errands, going to appointments, paying bills, and other home administrative things. These are usually tasks that you’ve been avoiding and a life admin day is a great way to get caught up!
Why should you set aside a day for Life Admin?
Having one day dedicated to life admin has allowed me to focus on my work projects and family during the week without worrying that I will forget an important life admin task.
I work best when I’m focused on one type of task at a time, which is why I like to use the time-blocking method to manage my tasks during the week. Setting aside a day to run errands, make phone calls, and complete other life admin tasks works for me!
When should you have your Life Admin Day?
I like having my life admin day about every other week. You might prefer to have a weekly or maybe a monthly life admin day instead. The important thing is to set aside enough time to tackle tasks and errands that you’ve been putting off.
Weekly Life Admin Day
If you are new to this you might want to start by having a weekly day. You may not be able to set aside a whole day if you work full time, so you can start with a morning or afternoon and block off a few hours to get through your list.
Since I work from home I’m able to set aside Wednesdays to do my life admin tasks. I leave Wednesdays blocked off on my calendar and try to schedule any personal appointments on this day. Often, I will only block off half of the day to work on my Life Admin Day tasks if I don’t have too much to do.
Monthly Life Admin Day
Some people would rather take one entire day a month to do a Life Admin Day this works well if you are working full-time and want to use a weekend day. Just make sure you pick a day that stores and offices you need to call or visit are open.
What to include in your Life Admin Day?
When you are deciding what tasks to include in your life admin day, you want to consider any tasks that you struggle to manage during a busy week.
Below is a list of tasks you might want to schedule on your Life Admin Days
- Do a Brain Dump – I think this is one of the best ways to start your Life Admin Day so you make sure you’re not missing anything important. Get my Brain Dump Trigger List to help you really get everything out of your head.
- Phone calls
- Making appointments
- Doctor
- Dentist
- Therapist
- Hair
- Nails
- Shopping for Clothing
- Deep clean rooms in your house
- Wash bedding/towels
- Review your finances
- Taking your car to the mechanic
- Picking up prescriptions or orders
- Making returns to a store
- Writing Birthday or Thank you cards
- Filling out paperwork
- Getting a manicure/pedicure
- Buying gifts
- Planning upcoming events or travel
- Organize files on your computer
- Delete photos on your phone/computer
- Back up your computer
LOOKING FOR MORE PRODUCTIVITY POSTS?
- Habit Tracking – Get a free printable tracker
- How to Create a Morning Routine
- Free daily planner printable for time blocking
What do my Life Admin days look like?
Lately, now that I have a more open schedule working from home, I’ve been using Wednesdays to do my Life Admin Days. I try to take Wednesdays off from my usual work and doing my life admin tasks don’t usually take up my whole day.
- Making and/or going to appointments
- Answer lingering emails (you know the ones, the emails you avoid)
- Paying Bills
- Sending thank you and birthday cards
- Organizing an area in the house
- Deep cleaning
- Run errands (buying clothing, birthday gifts, etc.)
- Think about upcoming tasks or events
How to Organize Your Life Admin Day List
I like to keep a list of Life Admin Day tasks in my planner on a single page. You can also use an online program like Evernote or Notion to keep these tasks organized. Another simple solution is to keep this list in a simple notebook.
I hope you give this a try and let me know how it goes for you. Remember that you can fit this into your week or month even if you’re busy, just set aside a little time each week or a whole day each month and get things done. I’m sure you’ll feel so much better knowing that these annoying tasks are finally done!
roshan
This is a fantastic post and is a tremendous gift at a time i am trying to figure out how to build tiny habits to reconstruct my life organization. Thank you!!!
Christine Hairston
Donna I have to say that this is one the best and straight to the point blogs that I’ve read lately. As a wife, full time employee and mom of two girls I have so much going on that my head is always left spinning. I love the concept of a life admin day. I plan to implement this strategy soon…. After the holidays. 🙂
Daneta
I love this this idea ! Always looking for creative ideas in life ,and this is Great! I’d like the advice from anyone on how I can apply this to make it easier for me . Let me explain ,Sorry 😔 but We are a trucking family and I’m lucky to be home, but there are always this 3b/2b home needing to be organized, because there are Our 4 Adult Children 30,29,22,22 and Our grandchildren are always in and out. I never know when there is going to be a free day 😔My Husband and Son only come in 2-3 Days every 2 weeks and I don’t want to be doing anything when they are here, But be with them and the grandkids. Since that is the only time Paw-paw gets to See All 7 Grandkids… HELP 🙂
Donna
Thanks for your message Daneta! I bet it is hard to plan when your husband and children don’t have regular schedules. I still think this could work for you. Having a Life Admin day doesn’t necessarily need to take up a whole day. Mine usually take up just a few hours in the morning or afternoon.
You can even split your tasks up if you need to. If you are a morning person but everyone else sleeps in later, you can try to do some of your tasks during that time.
Also, for some people, this won’t work with their schedule, and that’s ok. There are plenty of other ways to tackle these admin tasks. I hope to share an article soon about batching tasks, that might work better for you.