Guides
Practical help, whether or not you buy anything.
Written for the moment you are actually in. Each one ends by pointing at the Companion built for that area, and each one is useful on its own if you would rather just read it and go.
57 guides · 123 minutes · nothing gated
Showing all 8 areas
Money
You are never quite sure what is actually safe to spend.
- How much of your money is actually safe to spend2 min read
- How to find every subscription you are still paying for2 min read
- Available balance vs current balance: why they differ and which to trust2 min read
Home
The house needs things done and nobody is holding the list.
- The home maintenance you skip that costs the most later2 min read
- How often things in your house actually need servicing3 min read
- What to record when you buy a new appliance2 min read
Mind and focus
You know what to do and still cannot make yourself start.
- How to make a phone call you have been avoiding for weeks2 min read
- How to restart a project you gave up on2 min read
- Why to-do lists make things worse, and what helps instead2 min read
Family and learning
You are teaching at home and cannot account for the year.
- Homeschool record keeping requirements, state by state5 min read
- Homeschool record keeping template: what actually needs to be on it2 min read
- What actually goes in a homeschool portfolio2 min read
Affairs and endings
Somebody would need to find all of it, and nobody could.
- What to do when a parent dies: a clear order for the first two weeks4 min read
- What to do when a parent dies in the UK: the first two weeks4 min read
- How to find someone's bank accounts, pensions and policies after they die2 min read
Travel
One flight moves and you cannot remember what else it touches.
- Flight changed: how to work out what else in your trip is affected2 min read
- Your flight is delayed and you have a connection. What to do first2 min read
- The hotel cannot find your reservation. What to say2 min read
Vehicles
You cannot remember what interval you were actually quoted, or when anything was last done.
Family health
Everyone's medications and allergies live only in your own memory.
About this kind of work
Two pieces about the category itself: what life admin actually is, and why the tools sold for it keep being abandoned.
- Life admin: the work nobody teaches you and everybody hasNobody is trained for it, it is invisible when done, and it is most of what makes an adult life run. A name for the category.
- Why productivity tools fail at life admin specificallyThey were designed for knowledge work, and life admin has different properties. Four mismatches that explain the abandoned apps.