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Listed in: Education

065: Navigating aged care

At some stage, we all have to navigate appropriate aged care for ourselves or a loved one, so in this episode we turned to aged care expert Grace Petherick to demystify it for us all.

Many of us are in the sandwich generation, and are the support people for parents as well as young children. Some of us are also of an age where we’re having to investigate aged care services for ourselves or our partner.

This can be an overwhelming task because, let’s face it, the aged care system in Australia is complex, unfamiliar and bureaucratic, and if your family member is suffering poor health or has had a health incident, it's all the more anxiety-triggering.

About Grace Petherick

Global experience in service industries and the shock of accessing aged care for her grandparents sparked Grace Petherick’s passion to revolutionise an industry.

It became clear for her that what her grandparents had suffered was unacceptable, and it was time to shake up 100 years of unchanged service standards in aged care. 

Her visionary and innovative approach has attracted extensive investor and media attention, including placing as a finalist in the current Telstra Business Awards and winning a City of Melbourne Innovative Business Grant, for her business Age Up Health.

Our recent survey revealed that one in three of our listeners is doing life admin for a parent or elderly relative and that often includes researching aged care services. In this episode we discuss:

• how the aged care system is very complex and waiting lists can create a lot of stress for families
• that you shouldn’t wait until a crisis occurs to investigate aged care -  as soon as everyday things feel harder you should consider investigating options
• the preventive measures you can put in place - allied health to improve balance, ramps and handrails
• the differing roles for Residential Aged Care - including temporary respite and rehabilitation after a hospital stay
• how to fund aged care - the first step should be the government website - My Aged Care 
• you can also find information on aged care provider websites and there are paid aged care advisers you can access
• the range of services and products that Home Care Package funding can be used for including home modifications, cooking and meal delivery, supplements, companionship and social support - anything to keep you safe and well at home
• the assessment process for Home Care Packages - government assessors come to your home and consider what support/funding you are eligible for - a letter of support from a GP can be helpful
• after your Home Care Package is approved - means testing is conducted by Services Australia to determine what (if any) income tested fee you will need to pay (there is an income and asset test similar to that for the Aged pension - the maximum contribution you can make is $40 per day)
• after an assessment you receive a notification of your level of funding and estimated the waiting time until the funding will be available 
• the wait list for a Home Care Package can be up to 9 months - while you are waiting you may be able to access CHSP or other organisations that may provide support - Carers Gateway and some providers provide limited free support while you wait
• after the funding comes though you need to select from one of 900 providers within 56 days or you will lose the funding
• 3 months before your funding is allocated you will receive notification and this is a good time to start selecting a provider
• things to think about when selecting a provider include: what support you need, what level of admin you are willing to do, how they manage workforce, consistency of workforce, costs (care fee, administration fee, other fees including setup fee, exit fee, surcharges, travel fees)
• that the comparison websites for Aged Care that exist are commission based - however Aged Care Guide seems to be most representative of the market
• My Aged Care is an online application system and you don’t need a power of attorney to represent your parents as long as your parent advises My Aged Care that you may act on their behalf. 
• My Aged Care is a paper based system so will receive a lot of letters which you need to keep!

RESOURCES

• Government website - My Aged Care
• Age Up Health
• What to do about aged care when on the National Waitlist
• How to compare Home Care Package providers
• Surprising ways you can use you Home Care Package funds
• Free Seminar on understanding and more easily navigating the Home Care Package system
• 1hr Free Care per week for anyone on the National Waitlist
• Book an initial free 15-min consultation with Home Care specialist 
• Aged Care Guide
• Carer Gateway

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Listed in: Education

064: Organising a wedding

In this episode, we interview Ayla Toyokawa, certified wedding planner and founder of WedSites, about the key steps in planning a wedding.

About Ayla

Ayla Toyokawa is a certified wedding planner and founder of WedSites, an all-in-one project management platform designed for collaboration and streamlining the wedding planning process for modern couples.

There are two types of life admin:

• Everyday life admin -  occurs cyclically or seasonally - daily, weekly, monthly, annually
• Life event admin - occasional life events that trigger life admin.

If your everyday life admin isn't humming then dealing with a major life event can tip you into overdrive.

Weddings have always been a significant life event for people to manage and in the last two years since the pandemic kicked off, planning a wedding takes Olympic-level administration skills. In addition, some life events like getting married have an ongoing impact on your life admin and in our survey 27% of you identified planning a wedding as generating a significant amount of life admin  so we thought we should talk with an expert.

We discuss:

• setting a budget and vision for the day
• selecting a date and contemplating a weekday wedding to save money - in particular because there have been so many weddings delayed over the past two years
• booking a venue as a key first item as it is likely to be one of the biggest expenses.
• booking a photographer, videographer and wedding planner with enough lead time
• that the average couple will spend 200-300 hours planning their wedding 
• selecting a dress which can take 6-9 months to be made or 4 months even if purchased in store
• the overwhelm of so many options and the risk of the comparison trap
• that the pandemic has reduced the expectation to have a large wedding
• being prepared to have a Plan B - like reducing guest numbers or changing the date
• having a wedding website - to provide all the information for guests that can change as things evolve
• using the RSVP process to collect guest information including dietary requirements, assistance with transportation to the venue, song requests, choice of plated meals, travel plans for overseas guests, RSVP to additional events
• using checklists to remember important tasks - checklists that might be helpful include wedding planning checklist, checklist for photographer of photos you want, questions for venue, packing checklist for the actual wedding day
• using checklists to help share the load with your partner and other members of the bridal party and family members
• wedding planning is a marathon so take breaks you as you need 
• plan a regular time when you will talk with your partner about wedding planning.

We also talk about the admin tasks that need to be done after the wedding including:

• thank-you notes for guests and gifts
• cleaning and/or selling wedding dress
• sharing photos with family members
• changing your name on all legal documents if you choose to change your name
• combining your finances if you choose to do that.
• keeping your marriage certificate in a secure place.

RESOURCES

Wedsites

Webistes - blog post with wedding planning checklist

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Listed in: Education

063: The 5 myths of life admin

There are challenges to life admin but they’re not what you think they are. In this episode, Mia and Dinah dispel the most common myths they hear that people tell themselves when it comes to life admin.

We’ve been talking to people about their life admin for the last 4 years: one-on-one with friends and coaching clients, in corporate presentations that we give, and when we’re running workshops with groups. We hear the same myths mentioned again and again when it comes to streamlining life admin.

1. It just takes willpower 

• Willpower is about self-control, emotional regulation, being mindful to respond rather than react and make intentional choices
• Research has shown that willpower is finite, that it is depleted by self-control tasks during the day. So if you’ve had a day where you’ve had to exercise willpower to avoid certain things or to do certain things, then by evening you’re more likely to succumb to things you want to avoid.
• If you’re relying on willpower to get on top of life admin then doing anything in the evening is likely not going to happen as your willpower is too depleted. Mia and Dinah recommend:
  • scheduling your Hour of Power for the morning or lunchtime
  • making your important decisions during high-willpower moments.
• However, willpower is only required when a task or decision is hard. As you build your life admin skills and set up your environment to make things easier, then you won’t need to draw on willpower. The tasks won’t demand you to control your emotions and you won't feel that you're forcing yourself to do something unpleasant. 

2. It just takes more motivation

• Motivation is a reason for acting or behaving in a particular way.
• Mia and Dinah discuss the benefits of linking the time dedicated to life admin to your goals and values, so you can see the bigger picture. You need to reflect and ask yourself what it's costing you not to have this sorted and anchor the activities to what is important to you.
• They also discuss how they based each chapter of their book to support behaviour change based on the habit model from BJ Fogg’s book Tiny Habits  -  Behaviour = Motivation x Ability x Trigger (B = M x T)
• If you maximise your ability to do life admin, and are aware of the relevant triggers for certain life admin tasks, then you don't need to draw on a huge amount of motivation to get it done. Focus more on mastering skills and you won't have to summons motivation to do life admin tasks.

3. I know how to do it well

• Most people overestimate their ability with respect to life admin. However, if you ask people when is the best time to do certain life admin tasks or the steps involved or the criteria you should focus on, they struggle to respond. 
• Investing time in learning shortcuts, decision making criteria, better apps, better websites to consult, means you increase your ability and it's easier to make behaviour changes when it feels easy. 

4. I just need more time

• Pandemic lockdowns taught us that even given more spare time due to no commutes, no social lives, no extracurricular activities, not everyone tied up all the loose ends in their lives.
• Most people try to do life admin in an ad hoc way with no dedicated time slot
• You need to ruthlessly prioritise, delegate, share, and outsource and schedule a regular Hour of Power to make the time for tasks that require you to concentrate. This means you have less admin to do, are focused on valuable life admin tasks, and have a dedicate time slot to do it within where you can get in a flow state and achieve more.

5. My paper system is ok

• If you are single and live alone and don’t need to consult with anyone about your time or need to share tasks then, paper systems are ok.
• However, if you continue with paper you are likely to play the CEO of your household and carry the mental load that goes along with that
• The key benefits of digital tools for to-do lists, calendar, passwords are:
  • accessible from anywhere via your phone
  • ability to file in one click from email to cloud storage
  • shareable - others can contribute and provides transparency
  • backed up in cloud
  • reduces clutter 
  • environmentally friendly.

RESOURCES

BJ Fogg’s -  Tiny Habits 

James Clear - Atomic Habits

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Listed in: Education

062: Time 'management'

About Christie Flora

Christie Flora is the owner of florandorder, she’s a Time Trainer and Goal Strategist and she’s the one overwhelmed professionals turn to when they want to ‘do life differently’. Christie’s strategies around time management, combined with her heart-centered and gentle approach keeps her clients on track to accomplishing their goals and seeing their calendars reflect their best life. Christie believes that focus, planning and inner stillness create efficiency and purpose-led action. This is the basis of her coaching programs and the content and resources she creates.

Getting your life admin under control isn’t just about time management but it's certainly an essential skill to hone if you want to streamline your approach. 

We’re big fans of time boxing life admin tasks, where you set yourself a time limit, do what you can, and then stop. We’re also advocates for aligning your life admin with meaningful goals, scheduling tasks in a calendar and using to-do lists so you’re working on your priorities rather than red herrings. Making the most of your time is a quest for the ages, so in this episode, we talked to time management expert Christie Flora to expand our thinking about the dimensions of time management.

The highlights of our chat include:

• the way we live our lives is changing and we are changing time as we work more flexibly and remotely
• time management is not a one-size-fits-all solution and your approach needs to adapt over time based on the chapter of your life
• time management is actually about accommodating your energy and attention, recognising that you have different energy levels on different days and at different times of the day 
• everyone has a unique relationship with and perception of time
• observing yourself when you are procrastinating or distracted to break down your habits and create new habits
• undertaking a time audit for two weeks: using a reminder on your phone or using a digital time tracker to help you diagnose your time management challenges
• how setting goals helps you manage your time with intention
• how our values can guide what we focus on and are the basis of our goals
• the difference between productivity (getting the right things done) and efficiency( getting things done with the least amount of effort)
• getting out of the “busyness” competition
• thinking of your calendar as your best friend and having a shared family calendar to manage family logistics
• to-do lists are a capture tool and if tasks will take longer than 10 minutes they should be included in your calendar
• scheduling an Hour of Power in your calendar for chunky life admin tasks
• scheduling planning time to review your calendar.

RESOURCES

Nir Eyal - Indistractable

Make Time

Flor & Order - Christie’s website

Laura Vanderkam

Screentime for iPhone

Toggl - time tracker

Rescue Time

Episode 1 - Setting up a Shared Family Calendar

Episode 5 - Scheduling the Inevitable, the Inspirational and an Hour of Power

James Clear - Atomic Habits

Chris Bailey - Productivity Project

Kate Northrup - Do Less

Alisa Vitti - In the Flo

List of values

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Listed in: Education

061: Shopping for, storing and decluttering clothes

In this episode, we talk about planning and making time for managing the clothes, accessories and shoes for you and your family.

Keeping you and your family clothed might not automatically come to mind as life admin but it most certainly is. The shopping, storing, and eventual decluttering of our clothes, accessories and shoes doesn’t happen by itself - someone has to plan for it and make time for it. Depending on your relationship with fashion and shopping, these tasks can be guilty pleasures, a proud part of your identity, or a relentless chore. So we turned to stylist Lisa Stockman to get all her top hacks.

About Lisa Stockman

Lisa Stockman was born in Australia, and in her twenties lived in Italy and Japan. She studied a Master of Professional Styling at the Australian Style Institute and worked in the fashion industry both as a stylist and boutique owner for over 15 years and held global training roles in the retail sector.  Her personal styling career began over a decade ago as a side hustle while owning a clothing boutique in Melbourne. 

Today, she is Personal Stylist to a diverse range of clients and specializes in working with people who are experiencing life-changing events such as gaining a job, getting divorced, beginning to date, post-surgery, post-baby, or getting ready for an event of a lifetime such as a wedding or anniversary.

In this fun-filled chat we discuss:

• that most people don’t have a strategy for managing their wardrobe, often leading them to wearing 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time, and buying multiple copies of similar items
• that you should think about how you want to feel in your clothes - consider writing down three words to keep in mind when shopping and decluttering
• most wardrobes don’t have the basics
• you need to make sure your wardrobe considers your lifestyle and how you spend your 7 days each week - for many people this has changed considerably and yet their wardrobe has not kept up
• for each item you buy consider what three items you already own you can wear this with - how can you 'outfit it'
• fashion maths - consider how often you will wear something (cost per wear)
• spending money on buying quality clothes that you will wear most of the time
• the risk of buying items on sale - just because they are cheap
• researching online to find outfits you like and then using this as inspiration of where to shop 
• scheduling time to go shopping and try things on rather than buy things in a rush
• culling your wardrobe - consider how long since you have worn something and letting go of the guilt that you spent money on clothes
• organising your wardrobe in sections (ie pants, tops, dresses)  and then by colours so it makes it easier to visualise what you have - if you can’t see it you won't wear it
• swapping over your wardrobe at the end of summer/winter 
• the importance of keeping on top of decluttering your kids wardrobes
• teaching your kids to look after their clothes, that they should only have the clothes they need - working with them at the end of each season to identify what no longer fits them
• having a system to manage hand me downs for your children
• storing your clothes to protect them and treating your wardrobe like it is your fashion collection  - use wooden or felt hangers and trousers on clip hangers, fold knitwear
• selling clothes on facebook marketplace or in groups and selling kids clothes in bundles or as outfits
• setting up systems to make it easy to sell or declutter so that items don’t languish around your homes
• consider, dying, tailoring or upcycling clothes and handbags 

RESOURCES

Instagram - Lisa Stockman  (@lisastockmansylist)

Lisa stockman website

Facebook Marketplace

Dress for Success

Uniqlo - clothes recycling

Zara - clothes recycling

H&M - clothes recycling

Country road  - clothes recycling

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Listed in: Education

060: Life admin for small business owners

Listed in: Education

059: End of life admin

Listed in: Education

058: Going solar

There are more than three million homes across Australia that have rooftop solar, but with installation costs in the thousands, it can be difficult to figure out if it makes sense for you. This ep gives you all the shortcuts to figure it out, including how to optimise your investment if you already have a system.

The first thing Mia and Dinah discuss is that if you are thinking about getting solar, get clear on why you are considering it. Is it an economic decision only or for the environmental impact or for some other reasons?

It's also important to do some basic research about solar so you know what you should consider.

• Dinah recommends using the Clean Energy Councils’s solar buying guide to get some basic understanding (Link in Resources below). 
• Understanding if your house has the appropriate conditions - north facing and slope of the roof - is important to know.
• Understand your energy consumption - as this is the main source of savings as feed-in tariffs are much lower than they used to be. 
• Know yourself - will you be willing to change your energy patterns to make the most of your system? 
• Think about how long you are planning to stay in your home to take into account as part of your investment decision.
• How are you going to fund the purchase and what other costs will there be?

Once you have decided to explore it, get a couple of quotes to compare. You can use a service like Solar Quotes to get a number of quotes from providers that are accredited by the Clean Energy Council. Providers will also help you with rebates available to support the system purchase.

The things the quotes should include are:

• a site-specific system design (which takes into account shade at different times of the year)
• a performance estimate 
• an itemised list of components/products 
• a clear breakdown of costs, including the total value of any discounts or rebates 
• warranty (including STC snd state-based rebates)
• full terms and conditions of sale.

The providers will provide a return on investment calculation but make sure you think about:

• the time horizon - do you plan to live in the house for that time period?
• will your energy consumption patterns change?
• what other costs will there be (eg buying more roof tiles)?
• what else you would do with the money?

You may also wish to consider a battery, however, for most people, this doesn’t make economic sense and fewer than 10% of new installations include a battery. The costs start around $4k plus installation costs. You need to consider the same factors and you need to make sure the battery can be fully charged from your solar panels even in winter. In addition, for most people, the time to make a return is longer than the warranty period, so this is probably not something to do for purely economic reasons.

For both solar PV and batteries, those that make the best returns are those that are willing to change their behaviour by downloading the apps and optimising your usage. 

If you already have solar, it's important to understand the feed-in tariff and the implications when choosing an electricity provider and a plan. The feed-in tariffs have been falling across the board in the past few years.

The higher the solar feed-in tariff (i.e. what you get for ‘exporting’ power), the lower the discount on electricity the household draws from the grid (i.e. what you pay for ‘importing’ power).

In order to secure the highest solar feed-in tariff, you will need to choose the plan that offers the lowest discount on electricity imported from the grid.

This means that if you usually export a lot of power to the grid, you should go for the highest feed-in tariff.

If you end up using most of the power your system generates and only export a little bit on occasion, you should go for the highest discount.

For comparison shopping, Canstar seems to have the most comprehensive list of the feed-in tariffs on offer by the various retailers in each state (make sure you scroll to the bottom past the promoted results and you’ll see the complete lists for each state).

You can also use the government comparison sites but they are a bit confusing when it comes to taking into account the feed-in tariff and therefore their results may be a bit hard to understand.

RESOURCES

Clean Energy Council - Solar Buying Guide

Solar Quotes - get 3 quotes on a PV system

Energy.gov.au - Available rebates

Canstar - compare feed-in tariffs

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Listed in: Education

057: Organising your digital photos

If you’re looking for the motivation, apps, and process to get your digital photos sorted once and for all, this ep where we interview Carly Michael is for you.

About Carly Michael

Carly Michael has spent her whole life surrounded by photos having grown up in her family's camera store - Michaels Camera Video and Digital in Melbourne's CBD. When covid hit, the family decided to close the store so she took the opportunity to become a professional photo organiser - something she had developed a passion for during her time managing the family's photo lab. She now spends her days organising both physical and digital photos, helping people get back in control of their photo mess!

Digital photos made the top five life admin pain points in our 2021 community survey and while Dinah has had her photos sorted for some time until we recorded this ep Mia felt like there would never be enough time or motivation in the world for her to get her photos into a format that other people can actually access and enjoy.

After the interview Mia downloaded the apps suggested, they did their magic, and her photos are finally organised.

Carly starts the interview by talking about her background and how she became interested in the digital dark age. The digital dark age is a concern that, as technology advances, we will lose access to photos and other data as our current media (including hard drives and USBs) are not designed to last.

Mia and Carly discuss how setting yourself a deadline and having a photo project as a goal will give you the motivation

Carly discussed the key characteristics of an organised photosystem being:

• organised - chronologically is the easiest
• centralised 
• accessible - ideally on your phone
• backed up  (consider the 3-2-1 system -  3 copies of your photos,  stored in 2 locations with 1 of those being off site)

Carly discusses the risks around cloud storage (eg Google's recent change to its terms and conditions that states If you're inactive for two years Google may delete the content. She also discusses the importance of distinguishing between a back-up and a sync.

The key steps to get your photos organised are:

• Gather - Make a list of all your photos (including on devices and in the cloud)and gather them into one physical location
• Centralise - Put all your digital photos into a central hub - ideally using a hard drive. If you have issues extracting photos consider using Dropbox. It is also useful as a backup
• Back Up - Carly recommends using BackBlaze
• Deduplicate - Get rid of duplicates - Carly recommends using Photosweeper for a Mac and Duplicate Cleaner Pro for a PC
• Organise your photos (folderise them) - Carly recommends using Big Mean Folder Machine for Macs and Photomove for PC. If you run into issues with dates you can use Adobe Bridge to assist with finding the original dates
• Maintain - consider using dropbox to make a backup of your photos from your phone (not a sync) until you reorganise them. Then create a habit (perhaps by pairing with another regular task) to make sure you oragnise your folders on a regular basis. Also consider changing your behaviour to curate your collection as you go. Adopt the same mindset as you had when you took photos with film.

Carly also discusses scanning hardcopy photos - noting that if you are going to scan photos you want to scan once and to the quality you want. You can scan photos using your phone with apps such as photomyne, however, the quality will be limited. She notes that if you are going to scan you want to organise as you scan.

Carly also recommends changing your photo setting on your iPhone from HEIC to JPG and not using the Live feature.

RESOURCES

PhotoGenie - Digital Reset Service

Back Blaze - Backup service 

Photosweeper - to deduplicate photos on a Mac

Duplicate Cleaner Pro - to deduplicate photos on a PC

Big Mean Photo Machine - to organise photos on a Mac

Photomove - to organise photos on a PC

Adobe Bridge

Dropbox Camera upload

Photomyne - app to scan photos from your phone

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Listed in: Education

056: Define it to refine it

It is important to have a mental model of what life admin is in order to be able to approach it in a more systematic way

Mia and Dinah start the episode by discussing how:

• for most people, life admin is a blurry amorphous bundle of tasks - and with no mental model of the different categories and types of tasks is can be difficult to approach or share the tasks in a systematic way
• their definition of Life admin - that it is not housework or parenting but it often overlaps; housework is defined as cooking, cleaning and laundry, parenting is about child-rearing and supports the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of your child; life admin is the third piece of the domestic labour puzzle - it includes the scheduling, booking, shopping, paperwork, and planning that often facilitates housework and parenting tasks, but also has its own areas of responsibility.
• life admin is often conflated with housework and parenting and that can be  problematic because it can become hidden which is a big issue as life admin generates a significant portion of the mental load 
• life admin often gets more complex and time-consuming at the precise time you have less time to manage it - particularly having children generates a significant amount of life admin
• their recent survey of more than 300 Australians revealed that
  • the average Australian does almost 500 life admin tasks each year
  • parents grapple with 33% more life admin tasks than households without dependents 
  • 37% of people do life admin tasks for a parent or adult relative
• most people think the reason their life admin is out of control is their lack of motivation and/or time  - but usually, the problem is not having the know-how or system and/or the lack of a scheduled time to do life admin

They discuss the cost of not having your life admin in control including:

• spending more time than is necessary on it
• wasting money  - it has been estimated that Australians are paying more than $11 billion in ‘loyalty tax’ by not shopping around. 
• cognitive load - stress, anxiety, overwhelm - worrying, scared of forgetting, monkey mind, brain chatter. 
• relationship friction - their survey showed that life admin causes friction in 85% of two-parent households 

Mia and Dinah describe their framework for life admin:

• that there are two types of life admin - everyday life admin that occurs cyclically or seasonally and event-based life admin (eg getting married) 
• that there are four categories of life admin and that these can help you prioritise and determine how you will share them in your household
  • household operations eg meal planning, decluttering, paying bills
  • personal affairs such as tax, super, other investments wills and health checks
  • comparison shopping for plans and policies
  • leisure and social planning eg holidays, Xmas, social life, kids extracurricular
• think about life admin tasks by how much time is required to get them done - 
  • Hour of Power - recurring slot in the schedule for chunky life admin tasks 
  • 2 Minutes Too Easy - tasks to complete as they arise
  • 10 Minute Time Killer - tasks to complete in idle time - include them in a to-do list

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Listed in: Education

055: Essential digital life admin tools

It's hard to keep up with best practices for technology and the latest apps, so in this episode we chat to expert Lynette Coulston to get her tips on essential digital life admin tools.

About Lynette Coulston

Lynette Coulston had a 30+ year career in software development and IT  but in 2012 she left that all behind to create iTandCoffee, a business focussed on offering technology support and education to residents of her local area, through relaxed, social gatherings and individualised support - where technology topics could be discussed and explained in a friendly, understanding environment, over a cuppa!  

Over the years this has extended to include support and training for those in small business, for parents struggling to manage the family’s technology, for those returning to the workforce or study, and for those who just want to better understand how their technology can help them manage their day-to-day life.

This episode is full of practical tips and recommendations including:

• the importance of having a digital filing system and understanding where your files are saved - this is important to teach kids too!
• using inbuilt functionality on your computer (eg Time Machine for a Mac) to make sure you backup your files
• using apps like Reminders to remind you of important life admin tasks
• making the most of Voice Assistants to add reminders on the go (Siri or Google Assistant)
• selecting a calendar app that works best for you - Lynette uses Fantastical and WeekCal
• when you are helping others with their technology ask them to read to you what they see on the screen or use the share screen feature in programs like Zoom
• setting up parental controls like Screen Time before you give children a device
• setting up a home router that can restrict internet access for each device to supplement parental controls
• making sure you have good scanning apps on your phone to scan straighten, crop, clarify  documents  - Lynette recommends Scannable, Office Lens, Adobe Fill & Sign and Photomyne
• making sure you have strong and different passwords to reduce the risk of phishing, Lynette recommends using a password manager (Last Pass, One Password, Dashlane) or a secure note.

We also discuss the curve of forgetting and how people can become easily frustrated when trying to use technology, particularly when they compare themselves to others. Lynette discusses the curve of forgetting and that it will be difficult to retain how to use technology unless you use it on a regular basis.

RESOURCES

IT and Coffee - Lynette’s support and training business

Time Machine - for backing up Apple computers

Siri Voice Assistant

Reminders App

Fantastical Calendar App

WeekCal - iPhone App

Setting up screentime on an iPad/iPhone

Parental control routers 

Scanning Apps - Scannable by Evernote, Office lens, Photomyne photo scanning app, Adobe - Fill and sign

Have I been pwned? - check you credentials for data breaches

Password Managers - Last Pass, One Password, Dashlane

The curve of forgetting - how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retain it.

Episode 2 Going paperless - cloud storage

Episode 4 - Mastering To Do Lists 

Episode 3 Managing passwords and form filling data

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Listed in: Education

054: Daycare and school transitions

This episode explores why transitions can be stressful, the key tools and processes you need to have humming to support daycare and school admin, and Mia and Dinah's top hacks for saving time, money and sharing the load.

Mia and Dinah reveal that in a survey they conducted earlier this year, one in three respondents reported that their child starting at daycare or school generated a significant amount of life admin.

Mia discusses how transitions, particularly when starting at a new daycare or school, can be hard for both parents and kids because we are letting go of the familiar and need to adjust to new ways, people and routines. We are hard-wired to resist change and it can trigger a stress response. There can be a sense of loss of what was, wishing things could stay the same and perhaps some fear and anxiety about what’s to come. Transitions are also an opportunity to lean on our strengths, reach a new equilibrium and bring a sense of renewal and growth. We can let go of old beliefs and assumptions with excitement and enthusiasm.

Given the potential emotion of the transition to a new daycare or school, ensuring your life admin is sorted is a tangible way you can make the change easier and reduce the stress for everyone.

Dinah discusses the key foundational life admin systems to have in place to make the transition easier:

• Have one central dedicated shared document or checklist for you and your partner to store all the information, to-dos or discussion points with your partner and child. It's important to get all that detail out of your head to reduce your mental load.
• Set up a folder in your cloud storage to file all documents related to the daycare or school when you enrol, so that you can file as you go, making filing a Two Minutes Too Easy task
• Use a shared life admin email address so all school communication can go there, and agree on a system for sharing the management of this inbox with your partner.
• Ensure your password manager is installed across all your devices, so you can easily store the multiple passwords needed for school portals, uniform and book ordering etc.
• Add frequently used form filling data to your password manager once so you can speed up the process of the endless form-filling.
• Set up informal communication networks like a WhatsApp group with other parents. 
• Plan any traditions that are important to you (eg photo on the first day) so that you don't forget and it is calm and intentional, rather than rushed and last minute.
• Consider the costs of a new school, such as fees, uniforms, books, technology, excursions and camps, so you can budget in advance and plan ahead if you prefer to buy second hand.

Mia talks about morning and evening routines, considering which things will change and what will stay the same. Some continuity is reassuring. You can preview what the new routine will look like by replicating the new schedule ahead of time as practice.

In terms of daycare transitions, particular life admin tasks to consider are:

• putting your child on the waiting list which may be more than one year in advance
• filling in enrolment forms including information about your child’s wellbeing such as sleeping patterns, emotional and social preferences, family circumstances and comfort items

• proof of immunisation status - download a PDF from MyGov and consult GP if need catch -up vaccinations
• procuring a second copy of your child’s comfort item in case it gets misplaced at daycare
• applying for child care benefits via Centrelink
• getting a Working with Children Check if you want to volunteer or spend time in the daycare
• dress code & wardrobe - you might need to do some shopping
• adding the new schedule and any key dates like centre closures to your family calendar including orientation dates
• adding everyone who might potentially collect your child as authorised contacts
• borrowing or buying picture books about the transition to share with your child ahead of time
• ordering personalised labels and labelling belongings
• creating a checklist for what needs to be packed in the daycare bag
• adding passwords for sign-in apps and parent portals to your password manager.

In terms of primary school transitions, make time for life admin tasks such as:

• selecting the school based on what is important to you
• having all the paperwork you need for the enrolment form
• fostering friendships with children going to the same school 
• planning for daily lunchboxes (particularly if your daycare has provided food), Mia created a lunchbox matrix, Dinah made lunches the night before
• practice how long it takes to get to school: walking/biking/driving beforehand
• consider making time to explore the school grounds and showing your child the options of where they will be collected and where after school care is held
• get feedback from your informal networks of other parents about what uniform items are actually essential and how strict the school is about uniform compliance
• explore what the second-hand uniform options are so you know where to buy and sell
• make sure you have two sun hats (a spare) as this is usually a compulsory item to play outisde during sunny school terms
• consider having your surname only on any personalised name labels you order, so all your children can use the same labels
• buy school shoes in advance so you can get the style/size you want and there is enough time to wear them in.

In terms of secondary school transitions, prioritise these life admin tasks:

• you need to enrol by April/May of the final year of primary school or many years in advance for independent schools with longer waiting lists
• start planning for the new transport arrangements - consider scheduling in some practive runs ahead of time
• consider how homework will work - where they will do homework and what their afternoons will look like
• if there are more pieces of uniform, work with your child to set up a system so they can remember what uniform items to take on which days
• consider having an adult at home in the afternoons for the first few weeks of high school to check in with your child 
• allow time to assist them with their technology set up and help them safely store their passwords
• consider when you will give your child a mobile phone - this might be something you want to do several months in advance
• find out the options for school canteen and cafes  - they might need a debit card or an account to purchase items.

RESOURCES

• Episode 4 - Mastering To-Do Lists 
• Episode 3 Managing passwords and form filling data
• Episode 2 Going paperless - cloud storage
• Episode 52 - An Hour of Power and the Monthly Momentum Meeting - Two Minutes Too Easy Task
• Raising Children - Starting Childcare
• Raising Children - Choosing, Starting or Moving Schools
• Raising Children - Starting Secondary School

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053: Tina Paterson on burnout and sharing the mental load

In this episode, we interview Tina Paterson, remote working and productivity expert, about burnout and how to avoid the ultimate level of exhaustion. 

About Tina Paterson

Tina Paterson has worked across nine industries and 12 countries over the past 20+ years. She has led large departments, governed billions of dollars of assets and her teams have delivered Transformation Programs and Projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars. 

She has achieved all this while raising two kids with her husband James, running marathons, raising a million dollars for charity and taking 3-month sabbaticals every 5 years with her family.

Following her own story of burnout (where she ended up in the local Emergency Department due to being at work with pneumonia), she now partners with large organisations to help their leaders embed the strategies she has learned, lives and breathes.

What we talk about

During the interview, we chat about:

• what burnout is - a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress
• Tina’s story of burnout and how it slowly crept up on her
• that people often abandon their self-care right at the time they need it the most
• how Tina’s burnout was the impetus to do things differently
• that the mental load of parenting and household management contributed to her burnout 
• that reducing the number of decisions she has to make is an important contributor to relieving the mental load
• how she relies on friends to make recommendations about what to buy to save herself the time to do the research
• that 'being busy' is not a badge of honour
• that doing a time audit of your 168 hours per week can help you consciously see what you are spending time on and how you can swap your hours to activities more in line with what is important to you
• that it’s common to get out of touch with what’s actually fun for you
• setting up your environment to make the things you enjoy easier to do 
• how Tina shares the load with her husband and kids - by having a regular family meeting and agreeing who owns what and ensuring end to end accountability 
• how watching Teenage Boss inspired Tina and her husband to put their kids in control of the family budget for a month to provide a real lesson in the value of money
• how she has a chart to help navigate what fruit and vegetables her kids enjoy to simplify family dinnertime.

RESOURCES

• Tina Paterson’s website
• Tina Paterson on LinkedIn
• Time to Breathe : Navigating Life and Work for Energy, Success and Happiness, Dr Bill Micthell
• 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, Laura Vanderkam
• Teenage Boss
• Money Brilliant App

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052: An Hour of Power and the Monthly Momentum Meeting

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051: Michael Grose on upskilling your kids to contribute

We chatted with parenting expert Michael Grose about how we can get our kids to contribute more, relieve the life admin burden and grow up to be efficient at their own life admin.

Michael Grose, the founder of Parenting Ideas, is one of Australia’s leading parenting educators, informing and inspiring audiences in Australia and around the world for more than 20 years.
Micheal is a former primary school teacher with 15 years of experience. He holds a Master of Educational Studies specialising in parenting education and is the father of three children
He is a bestselling author of 12 books for parents including Spoonfed Generation, Thriving!, Anxious Kids and his latest re-release Why First Borns Rule the World and Later Borns Want to Change It.
Michael has had parenting segments on The Project, The Today Show, Weekend Sunrise, ABC radio and more. He has contributed to Huff Post, Kidspot and Mamamia, and is a former columnist with both News Ltd and Fairfax newspapers.

What we talk about

Our recent survey of over 300 Australians revealed that parents do 33% more life admin than those without kids, and they are twice as likely to struggle for time. During the interview, we chat with Michael about:

• how parents often underestimate what their kids can do by up to three years
• that we should never regularly do for our kids what they are capable of doing for themselves
• that kids want more autonomy and independence
• that as family sizes have shrunk we know more about each of our children, and so we give them less space to become more independent
• being aware of developing independence and providing small opportunities for kids to feel and be useful
• starting where your kids are at and pushing them along over time
• developing a 'junior version of the game' (eg like Auskick for AFL) for life admin and housework and setting the standards based on their age and stage
• that we need to not rescue kids so they can learn from their experience
• accepting what kids do as a reasonable standard if they have tried their best
• that pocket money is a great way to increase autonomy and independence and you can start from age 5
• deciding what your benchmark will be in your family for handing over responsibility for a task (eg when they make their own lunch)
• thinking about sharing the 'jobs and the joy' and wealth within your family
• using a roster to allocate chores to create the sense that the roster is creating the “ask” rather than the parents
• when kids start asking for more independence we can look at ways that we can make it happen by giving them the skills they need to do at least part of the task
• pets are great to teach kids what it is like to have someone else reliant on them
• thinking less about the amount of time that kids are spending on screens and more on what they are consuming and what the opportunity cost is (what else could they be doing)
• teenagers need parents who will challenge them
• that gender and birth order can create different expectations
• girls are often more organised at a younger age and boys may need more coaching, due to the way the brain develops differently between the genders
• firstborns tend to be more detail-orientated and introverted
• there are three aspects to consider when parenting - a child's genetics & temperament, birth order and the family frame that sets the landscape for everything else.

Resources

Parenting Ideas website
Michael’s books
Dr Kristy Goodwin - Michael Grose's collaborator and colleague

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050: State of the administration

Get up to speed with the good, bad and ugly state of Mia and Dinah's life admin.

Since Mia and Dinah have been writing their Life Admin Life Hacks book they have optimised their life admin processes even further. In this episode they bring you up to speed on their life admin systems with a focus on the foundational tools: password manager, cloud storage and dedicated email, scheduling, lists and budgeting. 

A password manager is an essential foundation for life admin. Dinah has continued to use Last Pass Families and Mia uses Keeper. They recommend:

• if you don’t have a password manager you should start a free trial
• if you need some help setting up your password manager you can watch YouTube videos to step you through the process. 
• installing a Chrome browser extension on your computer to make it much easier to access passwords on your PC or Mac and allow auto-filling of login details
• all important documents (eg copies of passports and Medicare Cards) are uploaded to your password manager, given its high security and encryption 
• setting up a legacy contact in your password manager so that if you become incapicated or die your passwords can be accessed to manage your digital estate. 

The second foundational life admin tool is having cloud storage and a dedicated life admin email. Mia and Dinah both continue to use Google Drive. They recommend:

• a separate dedicated email for life admin to keep life admin in a separate, defined space and to more easily share the load with your partner or coparent
• if you have had a cloud storage setup for some time it might be time for a digital declutter to get rid of anything no longer required. 
• trying different mail apps on your phone to make it easier to save things into your cloud storage - Dinah uses the Gmail app to make it seamless to save files into her life admin Google Drive.

Another foundational life admin element is a shared digital calendar and scheduling. Mia and Dinah both use Google Calendar but Dinah uses the Outlook app on her phone to make it easier to view her work and family calendar together.

Mia loves lists! She uses:

• the iPhone Reminder app for her to-do lists 
• the iPhone Notes app for reference Llsts including her meal plan and shopping list
• to-do lists that are categorised by the duration of the task: “Ten Minute Time Killer” tasks and “Hour of Power” for more complex tasks

Dinah also uses the Reminders app as she can easily share the lists with her husband and use Siri to easily add to the lists on the go.

Budgeting is the final element of the life admin system and is essential given its links to comparison shopping for household bills. Mia uses the Money Brilliant app while Dinah uses defined bank accounts to help live within her targeted savings goals.

There have been quite a number of changes to other areas of life since the various episodes were recorded. These include:

• Home loans - lowest interest rates since the 1970s  - make sure you compare the rate you’re paying against the average interest rate on Moneysmart.gov.au. If your rate looks high at a minimum, call your bank and ask whether they can offer you something more competitive.  If you want to invest more time and reap more savings then call a mortgage broker.
• Energy  - always on comparison services are now possible such as Energy Umpire. Most contracts no longer have exit fees and so shopping around each year is critical to get a good deal
• Internet - the NBN rollout is now complete and contracts have reduced in time to 6 months. There are 35 providers to choose from and you can probably get a better deal if you have been with your ISP for a while
• Mobile phones - this market has changed considerably with 5G now rolling out. It is now generally cheaper to shop around and buy a handset on sale, and then sign up with a SIM-only contract. If you are now working from home more, you may no longer need as much data so you might be able to downgrade to get a better deal.

RESOURCES

Last Pass - Dinah’s password manager

Keeper - Mia’s password manager

Episode 3 Managing passwords and form filling data

Episode 44 - Planning your digital estate

Episode 5 - Scheduling the Inevitable, the Inspirational and an Hour of Power

Episode 4 - Mastering To Do Lists

Episode 25 - Embracing Budgeting

Money Brilliant App

Money Smart - Home Loan average rate

Energy Umpire

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049: Maintaining your car

This episode will give you Mia and Dinah’s top hacks for fuelling the admin for your car maintenance and repair.

The average two-car household in Australia spends around $17,000 or 13-14% of their income per year on car-related costs, so keeping on top of all your car admin not only saves you money but also gives you peace of mind that your car is in good repair.

In this episode Mia and Dinah discuss: 

• Car registration (“rego”)
• Insurance
• Service and repairs.

In recent years, all states of Australia have abolished car registration stickers and so it is important to ensure you have a good system to make sure you receive your registration payment reminder so you don’t inadvertently drive without. You can set up your preferred method of bill notification by logging into your state's vehicle registration organisation, such as Vicroads or Transport for NSW.

When thinking about car insurance, Mia and Dinah discuss the things you need to consider:

• if you need comprehensive or third party insurance
• if you want to insure for agreed value or market value
• cover for personal property (eg child seats in the car)
• road assistance to be included
• how far you will drive as you may be able to get a cheaper premium
• if choice of repairer and provision of rental car is important to you
• who will be the primary driver - this does not need to be the owner
• increasing your excess can be a great way to reduce your premium
• paying annually in advance is another good way to reduce your premium.

The comparison sites Mia and Dinah recommend to compare car insurers are Canstar, Choice and Finder.

When getting your car serviced things to keep in mind are:

• you don’t need to go to the authorised dealer to get your car serviced - any qualified mechanic can service your car and fill out the log book as long as they're using quality parts
• it is important to do your regular service to keep your car in good working order and save $ in the long run even if you aren’t regularly using your car
• add a reminder to you to-do list for 6-8 weeks before the service is due to book your car in so you can get the day/time of your choice and have the best chance of securing a loan vehicle (if available) 
• capped price servicing often does not include critical service items and may not provide the best value.

For regular car maintenance:

• check your car owners manual to see how often and what regular checks you should do on your car (eg checking oil, tyre pressure, tyre tread)
• establish a system of when you will check, consider pairing it with something else or adding it to a to-do list
• buy a tyre pressure gauge so you can check you pressure at home and it will be more accurate that the gauges available in petrol stations
• consider getting your tyres rotated and balanced every 5,000kms to lengthen their life.

You can also consider if you need to own a car or have two cars in your household. Car share services like GoGet, Flexicar, Popcar and ride share services like Uber may provide a viable alternative for you.

RESOURCES

Get Reminded App - App to set reminders for when bills are due

Choice

Canstar

Finder

Stella - Car Insurer for Women

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048: Navigating government benefits

This episode will give you Mia and Dinah’s top hacks for navigating Australia’s government payments and allowances.

There are over 26 different payments and benefits available from Centrelink. Mia and Dinah talk about the 8 broad categories of payments available:

• families with children
• age pensions
• disability support
• carer support
• study-related support
• unemployment support
• crisis and special benefits
• concession cards and bonus payments.

They discuss the best place to start to assess if you are available for any payments or  benefits is the Centrelink Payment and Service Finder. This service available on the Centrelink website allows you to enter your details and then suggests what payments you should investigate. It also suggests other supports such as help lines, community groups, advocacy networks and associations that may be relevant to your situation. In particular other services which you may be eligible which are relevant to life admin include:

• Financial counselling 
• Department of Human Services Financial Information Service
• Legal aid
• Microfinance small loans

Mia and Dinah talk about some of the payments you may be eligible for including:

• Family Tax Benefit Part A and Part B - tax benefit for single parents or couples with children based on your income level and number of children
• Paid Parental Pay - pay to help parents spend time at home with a newborn or recently adopted child
• Child Care Subsidy - assists families with the cost of approved child care 
• Carer Payment - supplement paid to someone who provides daily care and attention at home to a person with a disability or medical condition 
• Austudy - payment for those 25+ returning to university to do a degree
• Jobseeker - financial help if you're between 22 and Age Pension age and looking for work

 Mia and Dinah talk about some of their top hacks for navigation the system including:

• if you know your circumstances are going to change, plan ahead to assess what you need to do to be eligible for relevant payments or services
• if you need to call the Centrelink call centre don’t call on Monday - the best times are usually Wednesday and Thursday in the morning
• if you have a complicated situation do your research, collect all your documentation and then make an appointment to see a Centrelink representative
• keep all your records accessible in your life admin system to make ongoing management of the payment easier.

RESOURCES

Services Australia  - Guide to Government Payments

Centrelink - Payment and Service Finder

ATO - Government payments, pensions and allowances that must be declared on your tax return

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047: Organising home maintenance and repairs

This episode will give you Mia and Dinah’s top hacks for managing maintenance and repairs to your home.

While completing home maintenance and repairs is not life admin, planning it, scheduling it, organising equipment and supplies and finding and engaging tradespeople are all squarely life admin tasks you have to do.

Mia and Dinah start the ep by discussing how you can get motivated to tackle this. Strategies they discuss include:

• reframing home maintenance as a quest for beauty within the sanctuary of your home  to elevate it from the humdrum
• considering the costs you will save by attending to small maintenance items before they result in a need for major repairs
• improving household harmony by establishing a system so you can share responsibilities with your partner
• ensuring the safety of your home
• considering the environmental impact saving energy can have.

Mia and Dinah discuss hacks for: 

• establishing seasonal reference lists for household and garden maintenance
• having a to-do list for minor repairs so you can batch them
• scheduling in your important recurring maintenance tasks
• establishing the minimal acceptable standard for tasks so you can minimise disagreements with your partner and more easily share the load
• making sure you understand what is included within your home insurance including possible access to home assist services
• considering subscribing to home assist services like RACV Home Assist to get easier access to tradespeople 24/7
• learning how to do repairs and maintenance by using Youtube or doing a course 
• having a list of contacts for tradespeople and other outsourced suppliers so you can readily access an outsourced provider when needed.

They also discuss the equipment you may need for home repairs and maintenance and that you don’t need to buy to save money and storage space. Other options include:

• borrowing from neighbours, friends and family
• community tool libraries
• peer to peer services like toolmates.com.au 
• renting from hardware stores.

RESOURCES

• The Architecture of Happiness - Alain De Botton
• Fair Play - guidance on establishing a minimum acceptable standard
• Home Maintenance schedule example 
• Ep 4 - Mastering To-Do Lists
• Ep 022: Outsourcing personal and household tasks
• Tool Mates

Note that the Open Shed tool sharing app mentioned in the episode is unforutnately no longer available.

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046: Reviewing your superannuation

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045: Tracey Spicer on upskilling your kids to contribute at home

We interview Tracey Spicer, longtime broadcaster and recent NSW Premier's Woman of the Year, on how she and her partner organise and share their home life and careers.

Tracey Spicer AM is a multiple Walkley Award-winning author, journalist and broadcaster who has anchored national programs and in 2018 was chosen as one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence . In 2019 she was named the NSW Premier’s Woman of the Year, accepted the Sydney Peace Prize alongside Tarana Burke for the Me Too movement, and won the national award for Excellence in Women’s Leadership through Women & Leadership Australia. Her first book, The Good Girl Stripped Bare, became a bestseller within weeks of publication, while her TEDx Talk, The Lady Stripped Bare, has attracted more than six million views worldwide.

What we talk about

During the interview, we chat with Tracey about:

• organising holiday care for children
• how Tracey enlisted her seven-year-old daughter to help her with tax receipts
• enlisting the children to assist with life admin, cooking and other household chores
• how she is determined to teach non-traditional gender roles to her children 
• how her husband has taken control of house cleaning and comparison shopping in their household
• how habit, necessity and seeking advice has helped her take control of her taxes
• her approach to what she is happy to outsource
• the importance of having a conversation with your partner to reset expectations
• how her kids take responsibility for planning, shopping and cooking one meal each week
• investing the effort and time to upskill your children into contributing to your household life admin
• using a shared digital calendar to coordinate family logistics
• simplifying life to reduce the number of decisions she needs to make. 

RESOURCES

• TEDx - The Lady Stripped Bare
• Tracey Spicer’s website

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044: Planning your digital estate

In this episode, we interview Anna Hacker, the host of the ‘What Happens When I Die?’ podcast, about digital estate planning. 

Anna Hacker is the National Manager of Estate Planning in the Trustees Services arm of Australian Unity. She trained as a lawyer and is an accredited specialist in Wills & Estates. 

She hosts the popular podcast “What Happens When I Die?” which explores the legal outcomes of dying. In each episode, Anna is joined by guests to discuss what happens to your kids, your superannuation, your stuff and even your body after you pass away

What we talk about

During the interview, we chat with Anna about:

• The complexities of your digital footprint including photos, access to banking, digital files in the cloud, email accounts, passwords, social media accounts
• The rules for different email providers on how to access email accounts after you have died
• Making sure you don’t put passwords in your will as it becomes a public document
• Ghosting - identity theft after you die
• Appointing a digital executor - to ensure they have the skills needed to deal with digital assets
• Preparing a Digital register to include with your statement of wishes, including the location of digital assets  and making sure it is kept updated
• Using a password manager to grant access to a loved one in case of death or incapacitation 
• Understanding the rules of the various social media platforms and setting up a legacy contact on Facebook
• Sorting out your files and photos and having a conversation/death talk about what is important and where they can be found
• Making sure you update your will when there are key life events or changes.

RESOURCES

• Podcast: What happens when I die
• Setting up a Facebook Legacy Contact
• Episode 11: Drafting Wills and Powers of Attorney

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043: Carly Jacobs on productivity, habits and planning

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042: Optimising your frequent flyer points

Dinah and Mia interview frequent flyer expert, Daniel Sciberras, from PointHacks.com on the best way to earn and redeem points for maximum value as well as credit card features that help build your balance fastest.

During the interview we chat with Daniel about:

• choosing which frequent flyer programs to belong to based on your own travel patterns
• understanding the value of your points based on how you will redeem them
• the value of using reward points for routes where there is no competition
• the flexibility of reward flights booking particularly during these COVID times
• the value of frequent flyer points and how it varies 
• earning points through spending “on the ground”
• the best way to earn points through premium credit card bonus offers
• swapping credit cards every three to four months to make the most of offers available
• what is a good earn rate for a points-linked credit card
• earning Qantas points while you sleep
• what to say when you call your bank to try to get them to waive the annual card fee
• keeping track of your expiring points and the difference between “hard” and “soft” expiries
• using the Qantas and Velocity shopping sites for online shopping to boost your point balance and keep your accounts active
• hacks to buy points from alliance airlines
• the future of reward points programs
• his spreadsheet to keep track of all his reward points accounts, balances, and expiry dates.

RESOURCES

• Point Hacks website
• Qantas Wellbeing App
• Qantas shopping
• Velocity E store
• Point Hacks Email Course

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041: Ellen Jackson on how mindset and personality impact your life admin

In this episode, we interview psychologist and host of the Potential Psychology podcast, Ellen Jackson.

About Ellen Jackson

Ellen Jackson is a psychologist, host of the Potential Psychology Podcast, internationally published writer, speaker, coach and consultant to organisations Australia-wide.

Ellen has a personal passion for self-care and individual wellbeing to beat stress and help you to live your best life. Her work includes one-on-one coaching, and everything she teaches is supported by scientific research so we know it works.

Ellen's 6 Word Purpose Statement is: Help others live, learn and flourish.

What we talk about

During the interview, we chat with Ellen about:

• how the arrival of children intensifies the life admin load
• managing your mindset to let go of control and allow others to contribute and solve problems
• letting go of unnecessary standards or preferences when sharing the load
• training your children to be grown-ups
• how feeling calm and having peace of mind is important to her
• the big five personality traits and the impact this has on how you might approach life admin
• how being aware of your personality traits can help you understand how best to approach life admin
• playing to your strengths 
• understanding that your standards and rules are usually self-imposed and you can let them go
• valuing your time to help make decisions around outsourcing
• motivation and how rewards and punishment don’t work in the long run (for our kids or for ourselves)
• the three key elements to motivation (autonomy, relatedness, competence)

RESOURCES

• Potential Psychology Podcast

• Potential Psychology Episode  - Why Everything You Know About Motivation Is Wron‪g‬

• Potential.com.au

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040: Dr Amantha Imber on aligning your values and time

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039: Moving house

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038: Separating from your partner

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037: Planning a corona Christmas

Mia and Dinah give you top hacks for planning for Christmas in the time of COVID-19.

They talk about how coronavirus will likely impact our plans for Christmas this year including:  

• budgets being impacted due to the job and income loss facing many families
• limits to numbers of people at indoor and outdoor parties and events
• unprecedented demand for online shopping and likely postage delays
• travel restrictions changing who you may be able to spend Christmas with
• more time at home.

Mia and Dinah refer back to earlier podcast episodes on Preparing for Christmas (ep 21) and Simplifying Gift Giving (ep 16)  to reflect on key things that help smooth the way including:

• planning early to reduce the stress
• establishing and refreshing Christmas tradition reference lists
• drawing on established life admin techniques including to-do lists, scheduling and decluttering.

They also discuss that for some people preparing for Christmas may feel really overwhelming due to the professional and personal burnout they have been facing this year. It will be important for people to complete the 'stress cycle' to rejuvenate before starting their Christmas preparations.

Dinah talks about her plans so far including:

• making a contingency travel plan in case travel restrictions remain
• making a gift spreadsheet including all the people she needs to buy for, what to buy, who will buy and the budget per person
• starting her shopping for the kids
• putting together an album of photos on her phone to start making some photo gifts 
• having a family discussion about the traditions her family want to keep and making sure the traditions they are keen on are scheduled or put in her to-do list
• scheduling a time in her shared calendar for putting up the Christmas tree and making a gingerbread house
• making sure she has enough Christmas cards so she is not tempted to buy any more
• adding a to-do list task for making homemade Christmas baked good for her neighbours.

Mia talks about her plans so far including:

• thinking about the likely plans for hosting Christmas lunch
• planning to buy decorations for her new home since she separated with her husband
• setting up a gift spreadsheet together with her ex-husband to start thinking about what to buy family members
• ordering some new Christmas books
• making a Christmas movie reference list so she can start adding movies for her to watch with her children in the lead up to Christmas.

RESOURCES

• Episode 21 - Preparing for Christmas
• Episode 16 - Simplifying Gift Giving 
• Podcast - Unlocking Us - Brené with Emily and Amelia Nagoski on Burnout and How to Complete the Stress Cycle
• Book - Letters from Father Christmas - J. R. R. Tolkein
• Book - Joy at Work, Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein

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036: Pay tv and streaming

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035 House and contents Insurance

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034: Smartphone hacks

This episode will help transform your smartphone into your biggest productivity weapon to make your life admin easier.

Most Australians hang on to their smartphone for more than three years, so it's really worth your while to learn your phone’s features and install must-have apps to minimise and optimise your life admin.

Mia and Dinah’s top hacks are:

• Clean up your home screen so that the apps you want to use the most are on the first screen you see when you unlock your phone, so your environment supports good habits.
• Set up text replacement shortcuts in your settings for your frequently typed information such as your email address
• Use Do not Disturb including the automatic features for turning it off when a meeting finishes or you leave a location
• Use your phone’s camera to scan documents and add them to your cloud storage so you can eliminate paper
• Use Shared albums to collect photos of shared experiences from multiple users to create photo books etc.
• If you use the Reminders app (iPhone) for To-Do Lists, add smart alerts linked to your location or your contacts to nudge you to perform the task when you arrive or leave somewhere, or when you're messaging a certain person.
• Use Screentime (iPhone) or Digital Wellbeing (Android) to limit the time you spend on social media or games, so you can use your time in ways that align with your values.
• Use the Notes app (iPhone) for Reference Lists and to scan documents
• Use the Timer (iPhone) in the Clock app on your phone to set a time limit that automatically turns off music or a podcast when your time is up: perfect for time boxing life admin tasks.
• Set up mobile payment capability, like Apple Pay or Google Pay so that you can pay for things on the fly
• Set up a password manager like Lastpass or Keeper to be able to securely access your passwords on any of your devices, wherever you may be.
• Use the Tripit app to store your holiday itineraries
• Use the Pocketmoney app Spriggy to take the hassle out of managing pocket money
• Customise Google Maps with your frequently visited locations
• Download apps for your favourite catalogues to reduce paper clutter. Mia uses the Loop app to buy books for her kids, which raises funds for their school.

RESOURCES

• Apps for To-Do Lists - Reminders (iPhone), Todoist
• Settings to limit your screen time - Screentime (iPhone), Digital Wellbeing (Android) 
• Apps for Reference Lists - Notes
• Calendar and Mail App - Outlook
• Password Manager App - Lastpass or Keeper
• App for Holiday Itineraries  - Tripit
• Pocketmoney App - Spriggy
• Recipe App - Paprika

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032: Pet admin

This episode will give you all the hacks to ensure your pets are a stress reducer not a stress inducer

Looking after a pet properly is a long term proposition. Cats and dogs live on average 10 human years and the responsibility of their welfare adds up over time. It's important to think about how to make it easier for yourself and use your life admin systems to share it with other members of your family. 

Mia and Dinah discuss:

• all the admin related to pet ownership, including:
  • pet registration
  • purchasing pet food
  • veterinarian visits
  • pet insurance
  • grooming
  • obedience training
  • exercise
  • pet daycare
  • putting together a pet emergency kit
  • holiday care.
• how to use your life admin systems including cloud storage, shared calendars, To-Do Lists and Reference Lists to make all your pet admin as simple as possible
• other hacks including pet supply subscription services, online options for obedience training and sharing the load with friends with pets.

RESOURCES

Money Smart advice on pet ownership including pet insurance

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031: Tiny life admin habits

This episode will inspire you to find the small steps necessary to hack your life admin in challenging times.

This episode addresses the challenges introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic and the dilemma of feeling like extra time at home should lead to some major life admin overhauls versus the economic, emotional and physical impact of living in this limbo state.

They acknowledge that the answer may be small steps and incremental change, which build over time to something substantial.

Mia and Dinah discuss:

• using the current crisis as a time to think about what you wish to change and becoming clear on your aspirations 
• the key steps in BJ Fogg’s book Tiny Habits and how these habit formation principles can apply to life admin
• how motivation, ability and triggers work to form new habits, and that realising you first need to learn a new skill and simply practising it can be a huge first step
• the small steps they have been taking to improve their life admin during isolation including changes to scheduling, meal planning and digital photos.

RESOURCES

Podcast: The One You Feed, Eric Zimmer

Book: Tiny Habits, BJ Fogg

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030: Sorting out life insurance

Find out how much life insurance cover you need and what to do if you need to get some more.

This episode talks about how to find out how much cover you already have, how to estimate how much cover you need and how to get the best deal on insurance if you need to make some changes.

Mia and Dinah discuss:

• four key types of insurance: Life Insurance, Total & Permanent Disability, Trauma Cover, and Income Protection Insurance
• the importance of knowing how much insurance you have both inside and outside of your superannuation
• the importance of updating your “Binding Nomination” regularly if you hold your Insurance inside your Superannuation policy
• recent changes to legislation which could automatically cancel your insurance within superannuation
• how to estimate how much insurance you need including where to find online calculators
• when you might need to contact a FInancial Advisor for more advice.

LIFE ADMIN HIGH OF THE WEEK

• Dinah talks about the benefits of using Paypal for online shopping to speed up the checkout process.

LIFE ADMIN LOW OF THE WEEK

• Mia talks about how she has received letters relating to her superannuation that she doesn’t understand and the challenges in understanding the complex language
• Dinah talks about how she a shared calendar faux pas. 

RESOURCES

Life Insurance Calculator - Money Smart, Noble Oak

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029: Comparing mobile phone plans

This episode will help you understand your mobile phone bill and switch plans in under an hour!

This episode talks about the paradox of choice when it comes to choosing from the more than 300 mobile phone plans available.

Mia and Dinah talk about the things you need to consider including:

• Network reliability
• Network coverage 
• Value for money
• Contracts or Pay as You Go
• Phone included or Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
• Data limits.

Dinah talks about the steps she went through to change plans including:

• Looking at usage information for the past few months to assess what plan she needed
• Assessing what networks she was willing to consider. 
• How she used comparison a site to quickly choose the best plan
• Assessing if getting a new phone as part of a plan was good value for money.

LIFE ADMIN HIGHS OF THE WEEK

• Mia talks about using the secure vault in her Password Manager to fill in Immigration and Customs forms while she was on the plane. 

LIFE ADMIN LOW OF THE WEEK

• Dinah talks about she needed to reinstall her Password Manager on her computer and that it made her realise how much she how relies on it.

POWER TOOL

Trip it - Travel itinerary app

RESOURCES

Open Signal - website providing information about network reliability

Whistle Out - website comparing mobile phone plans

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023: Organising your social life

Prioritise and plan your social life.

This episode talks about some of the things you need to think about when you are organising your social life including:

• the value of social connection
• consciously organsing your social life
• prioritising how to spend your time to nurture your important friendships
• people priority vs event priority
• tools to help make organising your social life less of an admin burden.

Mia talks about the evidence on the value of social connection and research around the number of real friendships.

Dinah talks about the framework she uses to organise her social life with reference lists and her shared calendar at the core.

Mia talks about how to get ideas for what to do and where to go and her strategy to having regular and traditional events to keep her social life on track.

LIFE ADMIN HIGH OF THE WEEK

• Mia talks about using Airtasker to outsource some of her admin.

LIFE ADMIN LOW OF THE WEEK

• Dinah talks about how she organised a group gift and that she is chasing payment from others.

POWER TOOL

Hurry Slowly Podcast - Episode on Errand Paralysis

RESOURCES

Doodle poll - to pick the best choice for a group of people 

Whats App - to setup groups to making organising group events easier

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028: Comparing credit cards

Decide if you need a credit card and if so, choose the best one for your purchasing and payment habits.

There are over 200 credit cards on offer in Australia, and this episode talks about how you can get the right credit card for you. Things to consider include:

• your spending habits
• your ability to pay off the outstanding balance each month
• your credit score
• the types of credit cards and benefits available.

Mia and Dinah share their top tips including:

• knowing yourself and your spending habits
• considering how much effort it takes to maximise rewards and benefits
• comparing the key features including annual fees, interest rates, sign on and ongoing benefits, and taking into account traps like capped monthly points
• putting reminders in your calendar for the best time to review your credit card arrangements
• calling your bank to see if you can get a better deal to avoid shopping around
• using comparison sites to quickly compare and choose a new credit card that is better than your current one
• setting up a direct debit to pay the statement amount automatically each month.

LIFE ADMIN HIGH OF THE WEEK

• Dinah talks about how her Password Manager made it much simple to find her son’s lost school iPad
• Mia talks about her daughter’s netball coach's website and WhatsApp groups he has set up to organise games and training like a pro.

LIFE ADMIN LOW OF THE WEEK

• Dinah talks about a school app that duplicates content and has a really poor user experience.

POWER TOOL

Dinah talks about the Pineapple Project podcast, an ABC podcast hosted by Claire Hooper and in particular Series 3 - Tidy.

RESOURCES

MoneySmart.gov.au - criteria to help compare and choose

Credit Score - Ways to access your credit score for free

Credit Card Comparison Site - Canstar 

Credit Card Comparisons - Frequent Flyer Rewards - Choice

Podcast - Pineapple Project - Series 3 - Tidy 

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027: Taking on admin for family members

This episode will help you understand why you may need to help others with their life admin and some of the legal and practical considerations you need to consider if you take on that role.

We consider some of the things you need to think about when you need to help someone else with their life admin, including:

• what the signs are or the events that may happen that trigger your need to assist someone with their life admin
• the types of life admin you may need to help with
• how to avoid family conflict and maintain family harmony.

Mia interviews Stephanie Rendell, a lawyer who works in elder care planning and talks about:

• what life admin you can do informally and when you need to put formal documents like Powers of Attorney in place
• things to consider when appointing a third-party financial administrator
• considerations for reimbursement and remuneration in Power of Attorney activities
• record keeping obligations if you take on someone’s Power of Attorney
• services that Elder Care Lawyers can provide including Substitute decision-makers, Caring agreements, Advanced Care Directives, Wills and Elder Care abuse.

Mia and Dinah talk about some of the practical things you can do to make it easier to manage and share the work of taking on someone else’s life admin including:

• Establishing a shared digital calendar for medical and other appointments
• Establishing a shared email address for bills and statements, to create transparency among family members
• Establishing shared password management systems
• Establishing shared To Do Lists to allocate and track tasks
• Setting up roster systems and
• Scheduling monthly teleconferences to discuss the situation and share the activities.

LIFE ADMIN HIGH OF THE WEEK

• Dinah talks about securing her favourite shopping list and meal planners to restore order to her fridge.
• Mia talks about how easy it was to nominate the days she wanted to take as purchased annual leave by using her shared calendar and the relief of having all the childcare over the school holidays for the year sorted.

LIFE ADMIN LOW OF THE WEEK

• Dinah talks about how she has still failed to manage to establish a system for the digital photos from a recent long trip.

POWER TOOL

Podcast - The One You Feed

RESOURCES

Stephanie Rendell, Associate - Head Of Wills And Estates, RNG Lawyers

Episode 1 - Shared Calendars

Episode 2 - Going paperless

Episode 3 - Managing passwords and form filling data

Episode 4 - Mastering To Do Lists

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026: Optimising kid admin

Deal with the admin generated by and organised for children, which starts as soon as you get pregnant and never seems to end.

This episode talks about how you can address the many admin tasks you need to sort when you have kids, including:

• health 
• daycare, school and school holidays
• social life including birthday parties
• extracurricular activities
• decluttering their stuff - clothes, toys, books, artworks, craft.

Mia and Dinah share their top tips including:

• having a launchpad and visible weekly schedule
• systems to deal with arts & craft and keepsake items
• using a form filling app to make filling forms a breeze
• using WhatsApp groups for school and team communication
• scheduling out the school holidays using your shared calendar
• using apps for sporting team management
• using checklists for birthday party organisation.

LIFE ADMIN HIGH OF THE WEEK

• Dinah talks about a scavenger hunt birthday party she has organised for her daughter which was fun admin
• Mia talks about sorting out her superannuation at work 

LIFE ADMIN LOW OF THE WEEK

• Dinah talks about the challenge of organising visas for an upcoming trip

POWER TOOL

Mia talks about using the iOs shortcuts app to develop automated sequences on her phone and the Files App to scan documents to cloud storage.

RESOURCES

Episode 1 - Shared Calendars

Episode 2 - Going paperless

Episode 3 - Managing passwords and form filling data

Episode 4 - Mastering To Do Lists

Episodes 6,7 & 8 - Decluttering

School Holiday Program - online web directory

Team Stuff  & Team App - sporting team apps

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025: Embracing budgeting

This episode will help you understand what sort of budget you need, get it done more efficiently and actually stick to it!

This episode talks about the reasons you need a budget, the tools you can use to prepare a budget, and how to monitor your budget once you have set it up.

Mia and Dinah talk about the range of reasons why preparing a budget is important and how it can help you make better decisions about other areas of your life admin. 

Dinah talks about how it is important to understand you past expenditure in order to set a realistic budget going forward. They talk about the various options to easily get this information including trying out tools within internet banking and apps that automatically extract data from your bank accounts.

They explore how you can set-up a budget based on your expected expenditure and your  goals. They also talk about the reality of sticking to a budget and some of the hacks to make it easier to stay on track.

LIFE ADMIN LOW OF THE WEEK

• Mia talks about how she needs to visit her bank to sort out access to one online banking for one of her bank accounts.

LIFE ADMIN HIGH OF THE WEEK

• Dinah talks about how she has created a spreadsheet of Christmas presents and already bought most of them using online shopping.

RESOURCES

Pocketbook - budgeting app

Money Brilliant - budget app that also recommends product changes

The Barefoot Investor - popular money guide

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024: Administering to your health

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022: Outsourcing personal and household tasks

This episode will help decide what you should outsource and how to do it so that it actually saves you time and improves your household harmony

Mia and Dinah talk about some of the reasons you may want to outsource some of your life admin including:

• lack of expertise or skill
• tasks not getting done due to lack of time
• relationship friction caused by workload imbalance or tasks not getting done.

They outline ten steps to help you decide if you should outsource some of your life admin including both the emotional and logical considerations.

They also explain where you can look to find outsourcing providers including:

• task request websites
• franchise services/agencies; and
• word-of-mouth recommendations.

LIFE ADMIN HIGHS OF THE WEEK

• Mia talks about resubscribing to newsletters in advance of Christmas to make sure she can access sale information but has put in place email filters so they don’t clutter up her Inbox
• Dinah talks about embracing the digital wallet on her phone

LIFE ADMIN LOW OF THE WEEK

• Mia talks about how she has been procrastinating assembling some furniture and she knows she should outsource the task

RESOURCES

James Clear, Value of Time

Laura Vanderkam - Free Time Makeover

Task request websites:

• Airtasker
• Fiverr
• Oneflare

Fillable PDF template for Outsourced Suppliers, Services and Trades contact details

• Use the following sample message to send an email to those whose recommendations you trust to help you source a network of useful contacts.

Subject: Your recommendations, please.

Hi everyone,

I'm making a list of suppliers, tradespeople and service providers to help out with some household and personal tasks. If you're happy to recommend somebody who has provided you with great service in the past, I'd really appreciate it. I'm looking for your trusted:

• Cleaner
• Accountant
• Gardener
• Dog walker....

Thanks for helping me out.

Cheers, [Name]

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021: Preparing for Christmas

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020: Organising holidays

This episode will help make planning and preparing for your holiday more efficient so you can get away smoothly and make the most of your time away

While many of the listener survey respondents didn’t feel that booking holidays was life admin, Dinah and Mia firmly believe it qualifies, given all the research, comparing, booking, planning, communicating and organisation involved.

This episode includes a heap of hacks in four areas relating to holidays:  planning, booking, preparing and enjoying a holiday.

Mia and Dinah give tips on planning a holiday including:

• booking in advance and taking into consideration public holiday opportunities 
• setting a budget and saving to meet your goal 
• websites to use to assess the impact of timing on costs
• how to efficiently plan trips with friends and family.

They discuss tips to do with:

• Using frequent flyer points
• using travel insurance provided with credit card accounts
• Using boutique travel agencies that really know your destination
• storing all your holiday booking info.

When preparing for a holiday Mia and Dinah talk about all the hacks they use to make leaving the house as stress-free as possible including:

• Packing Lists and other To Do Lists
• packing techniques
• Making the most of the facilities in a hotel
• How to remember all the things you need to do before you head out
• Getting activities for your kids organised before you leave.

While on holiday they discuss Dinah’s hack of giving an allowance to her kids at the beginning of the holiday.

LIFE ADMIN HIGHS OF THE WEEK

• Dinah talks about finally embracing Siri to add to reminders on her phone
• Mia talks about reserving library books online to encourage her to read more and foster her daughter's reading habit

LIFE ADMIN LOW OF THE WEEK

• Dinah talks about the hassles or returning internet  shopping including her dread of the post office

POWER TOOL

• Google Maps Commute

RESOURCES

• The Art of Travel - Alain de Botton 
• Point hacks website - website on how to earn and make the most of frequent flyer points
• Seat Guru website - website to find the best seat on planes
• Life Admin Life Hacks episode on Scheduling
• Life Admin Life Hacks episode on To Do Lists
• Life Admin Life Hacks episode on Shared Cloud Storage - Going Paperless
• Tripit - App to store travel itineraries
• Lonely Pets Club - Pet Sitting Service

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019: Filing your tax return

This episode will help you set up your systems to make tax time as minimal as possible.

People whose lives are otherwise in good shape can suffer a mental block when it comes to tax. This episode will give you tips to get motivated and preparing your tax return more efficient.

Mia and Dinah discuss:

• motivations for doing your tax by the deadline
• the benefits of using an accountant or tax agent 
• why you might want to see your accountant before tax time
• thinking about your tax refund as a payment for the work you need to do
• options for setting up an online filing system to keep tax records
• using scheduling to set aside a time to do your tax return
• rewarding yourself when you get your tax return done.

LIFE ADMIN HIGHS OF THE WEEK

• Mia discusses how she organised her son’s birthday in one Power Hour : finalised the guest list, booked the venue, bought gifts and invited family for a separate get together
• Dinah talks about how she cleared out the 16,000 unread emails in her personal email account

LIFE ADMIN LOW OF THE WEEK

• Mia talks about a  visit to Centrelink to sort out her Child Care Subsidy
• Dinah talks about the difficulty in banking a cheque 

POWER TOOL

Book - Mentors: How to Help and be Helped by Russell Brand

RESOURCES

myDeductions - ATO app to save your receipts

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018: Controlling digital safety and screen time

This episode will clarify the options you have to manage how you and your children use their screens.

There are all kinds of connected devices in our homes: tablets, smartphones, laptops, televisions, gaming consoles and more. Dinah and Mia give you some tools and tips to help keep your children safer online and also help provide screen time limits.

Mia and Dinah talk about resources like Common Sense Media that you can use to decide on which games and apps to download for your children.
They also discuss how as your children get older it is more important to make sure you have enabled the parental controls on all the devices they access.

They discuss tips relating to:

• Setting up individual profiles for your children and using family sharing settings for Apple and Google
• Using Screentime in Apple devices (iOS 9 and above)
• Using Content & Privacy Restrictions in older Apple devices
• Using parental controls for your PC and gaming consoles
• Setting up profiles for Netflix and other streaming accounts
• Password protection and staying one step ahead of your digital native children.

They also discuss some options for improving security at the router level including upgrading your router or adding additional gadgets to control all the devices connected to your home internet connection.

LIFE ADMIN HIGHS OF THE WEEK

Dinah’s daughter had cooked dinner based on the family meal planner without being asked

Mia is currently applying for a new role at work and she is able to use the CV she had prepared by an outsourcer earlier this year

LIFE ADMIN LOW OF THE WEEK

Dinah talks about channel confusion caused when groups of friends move between various communication channels like email, WhatsApp and text messages.

POWER TOOL

10% Happier Podcast Episode on Digital Minimalism
When - The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink

RESOURCES

Australian Parents Council - Recommended Screentime
Raising Children - digital safety and screen time strategies
eSafety - Office of the e-safety commissioners
Common Sense Media - Aged Based Media Reviews
Guide to Screentime functionality for Apple Devices
Parental controls for older Apple devices that don't support Screen Time Circle - Screen time management and parental control device that controls wifi access and displays usage history

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017: Meal planning & grocery shopping

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016: Simplifying gift giving

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015: Switching home loans

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014: Selecting energy plans

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013: Choosing a broadband plan

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012: Comparing private health insurance

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011: Drafting wills and powers of attorney

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010: Managing digital photos

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009: Finding Motivation and Momentum

Mia and Dinah explore how to find inspiration, get motivated and set goals to change your approach to life admin.

Mia and Dinah talk about the difference between motivation and insinspiration and potential sources of both. They discuss how you might approaches behaviour and habit change, which are required to address your life admin system.

They detail many different ways of setting goals and suggest that first its important to know how you are wired before choosing a method that will work for you. They outline options for goal setting including:

• SMARTER goals
• setting one personal goal
• the Desire Map
• one one word for the year.

Dinah shares how she got motivated to make a change by having Mia and this podcast as her accountability partner. Mia says she is very goal orientated and has embraced the ‘one word’ and Desire Map approaches.

RESOURCES

Motivation and Behaviour Change

Fogg Behaviour Change Model

Smarter Faster Better, Charles Duhigg

Know Yourself

Gretchin Rubin’s, Four Tendency Quiz

The Cycle of Years, Stratejoy

What makes your brain happy and why you should do the opposite, David Disalvo

Goal Setting

One word for the year

One personal goal approach, Nicole Avery

The Desire Map, Danielle Laporte

Smarter Faster Better, Charles Duhigg

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008: Decluttering part 3

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007: Decluttering part 2

Mia and Dinah talk about their own decluttering journeys and give listeners their top tips.

Mia and Dinah share their  family backgrounds and reflect how that often links to your approach to holding onto belongings. They talk about the process they have gone through for both:

• Reducing the inflow of stuff: being a better gatekeeper of what enters the house and buying less. 
• Working on the outflow of stuff: a work in progress for both of them.

Dinah’s top 5 tips for decluttering are:

• Get some quick wins by starting with an area of the house that is not sentimental and where your decluttering can have an immediate impact.
• Get buy-in from the rest of your family.
• Remember that giving things away gives joy to others and yourself.
• Embrace the 'cost per use' mentality and choose quality and long term use.
• Someday never comes. If you haven't used it recently you probably never will.

Mia’s top 5 tips for decluttering are:

• Make handing on items easier by having a dedicated space to put donations and dedicated recipients to pass things on to.
• Embrace the '1 in 1 out' rule not just for clothes but for most things in your house.
• Declutter as you play by going through your kids’ toys, books, stationery, crafts and clothes regularly when playing, reading or hanging out with them.
• Let go of obscure ingredients in your pantry and fridge that are unlikely to be used again.
• Store non-season clothes and shoes away from your wardrobe and take the opportunity to cull when you retrieve them.

RESOURCES

• Places to donate items:
  • Australian charity store listing - Opshop.org
  • Toy Libraries Australia 
  • Reuse centres and trade & exchange programs - Planet Ark Recycling

• Places to sell preloved items:
  • eBay
  • Gumtree
  • Facebook Marketplace
  • Australian auction house listings for luxury, fine design pieces, collectibles and antiques - ABC Auction Room
• Straight and Curly podcast episode on decluttering

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006: Decluttering part 1

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005: Scheduling the Inevitable, the Inspirational and an Hour of Power

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004: Mastering To Do Lists

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003: Managing passwords and form filling data

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002: Going paperless

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001: Setting up a shared family calendar

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000: Welcome to Life Admin Life Hacks

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