My 60 Minute Catch Up Checklist

I will always maintain that a clean home is key to a calm mind, but what about everything going on behind the scenes? The little things in life have a way of slowly piling up until they completely clutter your mind.

They just sit there, taking up space:

The email you haven’t answered. The appointment you’ve been meaning to schedule. The bill you’ve been putting off. The low storage alert you always get on your phone. All the random life admin tasks that have slowly accumulated.

If you’re anything like me, when it gets super bad, it literally keeps me up at night. I’m laying there trying to fall asleep and all I can think about are all the loose ends in my life — and it stays that way until I fix them.

When it starts keeping me up at night, I know it’s time to do something about it.

That’s when I break out this little life admin reset.

And the best part? It’s only 60 minutes. That’s just enough time to take care of the most important things without overwhelming me any further.

Broken up into 6 easy 10 minute sections

These are easily the things that weigh heaviest on my mind, so I like to take care of them first thing. My focus is making sure upcoming bills are taken care of, checking in with my bank accounts, and making sure I’m on track with my spending and budgets.

Here are my checklist items for the first 10 minutes:

• pay (or schedule) upcoming bills*

• review upcoming expenses/bills (within the next month)

• check bank account(s)

• review budget (if you have one)

*If you don’t already, I highly recommend you have a way to track your bills each month. I have mine in Google Calendar, which is super user friendly. Each week I just open it up real quick to make sure I know all the bills due that week and I can go ahead and take care of those. I pay all of mine manually because I’m paranoid, but even if you have yours on autopay, I would suggest keeping a list with names and dates so you at least know when to expect those to come out.

I imagine this section is especially helpful with a full family and lots of different things going on, but I still benefit from this as someone with no kids. I use this 10 minutes to make sure I know what’s going on that week and take care of any date specific things I’ve been putting off.

Here are my checklist items for minutes 10-20:

• review the upcoming week

• schedule appointments/meetings/calls + write them down

• close out any RSVPs/confirmations

• add reminders to my calendar for important things that week/month

I’m terrible about responding others, especially during the work week when my brain is moving a mile a minute. This is one section that weighs on me heavily because I feel guilty. So, I use this 10 minutes to make sure I’m caught up on texts, emails, and calls.

Here are my checklist items for minutes 20-30:

• answer emails + send any you’ve been meaning to send

• return texts + send any you’ve been meaning to send

• clear voicemails

• make note of anyone I need to call soon

I’m guilty of neglecting my digital clutter. The state of my phone and computer are usually the last thing I’m worried about, but that means they’re often very messy and contribute to my mental clutter whether I realize it or not. That’s why I set aside a full 20 minutes in this reset to take care of both. I could easily spend hours tidying my digital life, but this little checklist is good enough to get me back to a manageable state.

• go through recent photos and delete anything unneeded

• delete spam/unneeded text messages

• delete any unused apps/rearrange if messy

• update your phone (when applicable)

I also like to take it step further by changing my lock screen. It’s totally unnecessary and doesn’t actually accomplish anything but it gives me that feeling of a fresh start.

• tidy desktop

• clear recent unneeded downloads

• tidy bookmarks bar*

• delete junk emails

• update your computer (when applicable)

*This sounds like a small thing but trust me, it makes all the difference. Make sure your most used sites are front and center, and finally delete the ones you never use any more. It’s really nice just being able to hit the button on your bookmarks bar instead of typing it in day after day.

If you’re in desperate need of a digital reset, I have a slightly more in-depth one here: Monthly Digital Reset

Close It Out

You’ve taken care of the hard stuff and now you just need to regroup and put your best foot forward.

Here are my checklist items to close out the reset:

• write down your top 3 priorities for the week ahead AND month ahead

• brain dump* (write down any other things still taking up space in your mind)

• choose one thing from the list to tackle tomorrow (I try to make it the “worst” one so I get it out of the way)

*Commit to knocking things off this list as soon as you can. I aim to tackle one or two a day until the list is complete.

And that’s it! It’s simple by design. The last thing we need when we’re overwhelmed is an intricate routine that takes up a whole day in our already strained schedule.

This little routine always helps me regroup when I start feeling stretched thin.

And if this routine feels good and ends up making you want to tackle even more, that’s great, but this will at least give you a little breathing room in your mind.

Save this and come back to it anytime those loose ends are keeping you up at night.

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