Home · 11 recordsRun the household

Renewals, repairs and paperwork do not belong in a work list and do not fit in a head. This gives them a home and a weekly slot, which is the whole trick.

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Goal

Stop household admin being a background worry Month 2

Nothing renewing without me noticing, nothing broken for months.

Renewals and paperwork Week 6

Everything with a date on it that costs money if missed.

  • List every renewal date this yearDo firstDay 4
  • Put the next three in the calendar with a reminderDay 7
  • Find and file the documents that matterWeek 3

The fixing list Month 2

The small broken things, written down so they stop being ambient.

  • Walk round and write down everything that needs doingDay 3
  • Do the two quickest onesDay 10

Routines

  • Half an hour on the houseweekly
  • Clear the paperwork pileweekly
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Why this is a project at all

Household admin has no deadline until it has an expensive one. Writing it down is most of the fix — the weekly half hour is what stops the list growing faster than it shrinks.

Anything that takes under two minutes should just be done rather than added here.

Questions

Run the household, answered.

Because it has no deadline until it has an expensive one. Insurance renewals, warranties and small repairs are individually trivial and collectively the thing that quietly costs money and attention all year.
Anything that takes under two minutes — just do it. A household list that collects trivia stops being read, and the two-minute rule is what keeps it short enough to stay useful.
Half an hour, which is the routine at the centre of it. The list will grow faster than that some weeks; the point is that it shrinks reliably rather than being cleared in an occasional heroic afternoon.
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