Life Admin Hacks: The step-by-step guide to saving time and money, reducing the mental load and streamlining your life AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2022 FINALIST

Fire off a bunch of emails, texts or phone calls with suggestions to fill your month ahead with the right amount of activity for you. Be specific with your idea, date, time and venue, rather than offering a vague suggestion for a catch-up – people appreciate the thought and detail. Batching this task means you can set your schedule and enjoy the re

We use a local garden service to do a major garden prune twice a year. This means we don’t have to invest in a ladder and the other equipment required, and I don’t have to hold the ladder and worry about my husband breaking bones or butchering our trees.

Maintaining a nourishing social life is an aspect of life admin that takes conscious planning. The key is working out what you need from your social life and engineering something that sustains rather than depletes you.

With repetition, these traditions have become effortless to organise, and I look forward to them each year.

I had a monthly babysitter booked a year ahead so my partner and I could plan things and make bookings well in advance. This was incredibly convenient, both for us and the babysitter.

We also use a window-cleaning service for the same reason. We have a two-storey home, and considering the safety issues and equipment required, this is a no-brainer. They also clean the gutters at the same time for a little extra cost. This takes another item off our home maintenance to-do list.

I’ve outsourced updating my CV, which was revelatory. They ensured it met the latest format and content standards, and saved me from hours of wordsmithing.

In terms of sharing the mental load with my partner and kids, our shared calendar has been the most effective life admin tool. I used to hold all the complicated logistics in my head and now everything is in the calendar. My stress levels are all the better for

At various times, I’ve locked in dates for a monthly midweek movie night and regular weekend hiking sessions with friends, or monthly dinners and quarterly brunches with various groups of girlfriends. It’s comforting to have these fixtures in the calendar to look forward to, but as friendship dynamics change and our lives get more hectic, the regul