What’s on your to-do list and how best can you manage such a list?
In an effort to encourage consumers to check during this Bank Holiday weekend whether they ever had Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) , the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) commissioned research which found that the top items on people’s to-do list are the following:
- Sorting out banking / finances
- Planning and preparing evening meals
- Booking appointments: dentist / doctors etc
- Taking out the rubbish
- Changing the bed linen
- Filling in forms e.g. passport applications
- Renewing insurance
- Purchasing new clothing / uniform items
- Holiday planning (booking / organising)
- Cooking breakfast
- Hosting a Sunday lunch
- Doing the ironing
- Filling the car up with petrol
- Speaking to energy companies to get a better deal
- Loading the dishwasher
- Garden maintenance
- Calling repair / trades person
- Booking the car in for MOT / Service
- Organising days out with friends
- Planning family get togethers
The FCA media release offered this advice on how best to manage your to-do list:
- Plan – Write your to-do-list the night before. You’ll wake up knowing exactly what you need to do.
- Prioritise – Tackle your trickiest task first and for the rest of the day you’ll feel like you’ve achieved something.
- Go digital – Hunting around for scraps of paper down the back of the sofa isn’t the way to stay on top of your to-do-list; keep it all in one place, such as on your phone.
- Don’t procrastinate – Set yourself a deadline and stick to it!
- Reward – Keeping on top of your to-do-list is a tricky business, so when you manage to tick things off make sure you take time to reward yourself for having been so organised!
Alternatively you could just enjoy what might be the hottest early May Bank Holiday on record.