When our kids were smaller, I tried to keep things simple by organising catch-ups in the park or inviting people over for afternoon tea.

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

Some people have holiday traditions, in which they have the same type of holiday, or head to the same place at the same time of year with the same people. Regardless of whether this default holiday is a camping trip, renting a holiday house or heading to a resort, the benefit is that you simplify the planning by removing most of the decisions. Deci

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.

We use a local handyman for small repair jobs around the house, including hanging pictures. This used to be a source of tension in our house, because I don’t feel confident hanging pictures but my husband doesn’t share my sense of urgency to hang a picture as soon as it is framed.

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.

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

There is real merit in taking a year-long view on your holiday plans. The people you know who always seem to be off doing something fabulous are probably the types who made a grand plan 12 months ago.