Life is an endless loop of administration tasks that never get done, it seems.
Want to check your balance, cancel a contract or switch providers? You know doing it will save you money, but it just takes so long. Some companies and government bodies are great to deal with. The task takes time, but things are moving and staff are empowered to help.
But there is also a darker side. Torturous wait times, excessive procedural fuss and call backs that never come – it’s all part of a tactic called “sludge”. Sludge is deliberately deployed by some companies to stop us from getting what we want, according to an article in The Atlantic published in June.
Who hasn’t experienced timewasting chatbots, Kafkaesque support queues and impenetrable call-centre menus? That dropped call with customer service? It was probably on purpose. Throw enough sludge at them and that pesky caller wanting to query a subscription or cancel a contract will just go away.
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Whether your admin tasks are free-flowing or sludgy, they are probably boring. Putting them off is costing you, too. But there is one novel way to mount a fight back and motivate yourself to get things done – “Admin Night” anyone?
What’s an admin night?
Hosting an “admin night” can make getting through your to-do list more bearable, according to Australian podcasters MammaMia Outloud.
They propose getting together with friends to make all the calls and send all the emails you’ve all been putting off. Have some drinks and snacks and just take your time with the whole thing, they advise.
Admin, and bad customer service in particular, can be lonely, joyless and frustrating. It steals our precious time with loved ones too – so why not take the edge off by doing it with friends? Think book club, but without the book.
Let’s face it, when tasks such as paying tolls, cancelling direct debits and booking the kids’ swimming lessons jostle in your busy brain, it can be hard to focus on the latest Sally Rooney.
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For busy friends who love to meet, but also want the sweet relief of ticking down their to-do list, admin night can be golden.
And if your book club usually descends into trading cost-of-living horrors and bad customer service anecdotes anyway, this is a chance to get constructive. Crowdsourcing money tips from mates can open your eyes to better deals and save you money too.
Subscription blitz
Friends can get their admin night off to a blazing start by drilling into subscriptions. How many streaming services does each of you pay for?
Basic monthly subscriptions to Netflix, Disney Plus and Apple TV, for example, will cost your household about €32 a month, or €384 a year. Are you and your family really watching all of them?
What about audio book services, fitness apps, podcast “Bonus Ep” subscriptions? There may be some direct debits you’ve forgotten about. Free trials that rollover into subscriptions are a sneaky financial drain.
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Some companies make it deliberately hard to unsubscribe and the European Commission is drafting new “digital fairness” rules to ensure cancelling is as easy as signing up.
France already enforces a “three-click” digital cancellation rule, with sites facing a €75,000 fine for failure to comply. Germany demands an easy-to-find, one-step “cancel now” button – no redirects to phone support or chat, with a €50,000 fine for violations.
Until there are better digital fairness rules here, you’ll need to do some legwork. So whip out the banking app on your phone and scour your current account direct debits for vampire subscriptions.
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Unsubscribing can be a torturous loop of clicks and “Why are you leaving?” surveys, but do it with friends and the force is with you.
Mortgage matters
This is Ireland, so most social occasions involve talking about house prices. If you and your friends are lucky enough to be homeowners, your mortgage is probably your biggest expense. So what interest rate is everyone on? A quick poll in your circle can reveal rates ranging from a lucky 2.2 per cent fix right up to 6.15 per cent at the top end.
“For most people, their mortgage can make the biggest difference to their finances, if managed correctly,” says Martina Hennessy of Doddl.ie
“It’s really useful to normalise reviewing your mortgage and switching where it makes sense,” says Hennessy.
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Homeowners can save up to €7,505 a year by switching their mortgage, according to the latest Doddl.ie mortgage switching index. This is based on the average mortgage drawdown, which now stands at €346,842.
Can you save on your mortgage? Use admin night to start your research. The first step is to estimate the value of your home, searching the property price register for similar properties recently sold in your area will give you an approximate figure. Then find out your exact monthly mortgage repayment and your current mortgage balance – if your banking app doesn’t already show this, set up this view in your app. You’ll need your Ber rating too.
Armed with this information, use an online switching calculator such as Doddl.ie or CCPC.ie to check if you can do better than your current mortgage interest rate. This takes 40 seconds and can save you tens of thousands, says Hennessy.
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You won’t get the switch done in a night – it can take between 10 days and six weeks to process, but you will at least get the ball rolling on savings.
Reclaim medical costs
Do you keep medical and dental receipts, but you never get around to claiming back? Then gather up your bits of paper and bring them to admin night.
The average refund for health expenses for the 2023 year of assessment, for example, was €380, Revenue figures show. This is per “taxpayer unit”, so it includes those jointly assessed such as married couples. That’s a lot of money to leave unclaimed, so don’t let the admin put your off.
Taxpayers get 20 per cent back on costs you paid for yourself or another person. Relief on nursing home expenses is available at your highest rate of income tax.
Health expenses are the most popular expenses claimed back, says Revenue. GP visits, prescriptions, orthodontics, laser eye treatment, IVF, acupuncture, maternity care, psychologist and psychotherapist fees, speech and language therapy, nursing home fees and certain foods for coeliacs and/or diabetics – you can get a tax refund on all of these. Some 711,200 claims were made by self-assessed and PAYE taxpayers for medical expenses for 2023.
You have four years from the end of a tax year to claim any relevant refunds. So, if you have any claims outstanding for 2021, you’d want to get moving before January.
Taxpayers can claim relief for health expenses after the end of the relevant tax year by filing an income tax return.
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PAYE workers and pensioners can do this using Revenue’s MyAccount service, while self-assessed taxpayers will use ROS.
You can claim other tax credits, such as the rent tax credit, mortgage interest tax credit or remote working relief this way too.
Just upload a readable image of your medical receipts using the Receipts Tracker service – that way you don’t have to retain the receipts. This is a speedy service and if you are due a refund, you’ll receive it into your bank account in days.
PAYE taxpayers and those in receipt of a pension can alternatively make a claim any time during the year using the Real Time Credit facility in MyAccount. Again, you upload images of receipts. You’ll see any refund of tax due in your payroll.
If you have private health insurance, you can only claim tax relief back on the portion of the expenses you have not already been refunded through your insurance policy.
Attack utilities
When is your electricity or gas contract up for renewal? Don’t be tempted to just roll over. This can leave you paying up to €800 more a year for electricity than you need to.
Use admin night to gather the intel you’ll need to find a better tariff.
Utilities regulator the CRU recommends using free price-comparison websites such as bonkers.ie, switcher.ie, powertoswitch.ie and energyswitch.ie to shop around for the cheapest plan.
But to do this, you’ll need the name of your current supplier, the name of your plan or the cost per unit rate of electricity you’re paying, or the discount percentage you are getting.
Alternatively you could use the national average electricity usage estimate of 4,200kW/h of electricity a year, but this can be too crude a measure to yield maximum savings.
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If you have a smart meter, then take the time to create an account with ESBnetworks.ie.
Once you’ve set up an account, you’ll need your “MPRN”, located at the top of your bill. You can use this to download the “30-minute readings in kW” file of your smart-meter data.
Once saved, this file of your electricity usage data can be uploaded to a comparison website to help you find the best tariff
Someone who is paying standard rates (not smart rates) and uses an average amount of energy could save about €450 to €500 a year by switching their electricity and well over €300 by switching their gas, Daragh Hickey of Bonkers.ie has said.
It’s often cheaper to go with separate gas and electricity suppliers to avail of distinct offers, says Hickey.
Pension push
Are you entitled to the State pension? If you’ve taken leave from paid work, or worked part-time due to caring responsibilities, this can affect your entitlement.
To qualify for the State pension, you’ll need to have accumulated a certain number of PRSI contributions between starting work and reaching pension age.
You continue to get these credits during certain types of caring leave.
It’s best to check with the Department of Social Protection that you have sufficient contributions to qualify, and to let them know you want to be registered for the Homecaring scheme, which can help you reach the right contribution level.
You can check your PRSI contributions at Mywelfare.ie, provided that you have a verified MyGov ID.
So, if listening to Greensleeves on the panpipes on loop fills you with dread, there is an alternative. For the cost-conscious and time-poor, convening on a standing date for admin night can take the sting out of your most boring tasks.