The Journal
Notes on running a home.
On dividing the work, carrying it, and starting the jobs that sit there. Written by the people who make Barriers.
Sharing the load Starting and focus Chores, rotas and children Household money Receipts and records
Starting and focus
Why jobs stall before they start: procrastination, task paralysis, ADHD time blindness, and lists that stop working.
Task paralysis: too much to do, and nothing gets chosen
Task paralysis is usually read as a motivation failure. On a list where nothing has been sequenced it behaves like an unresolved decision instead.
Executive dysfunction at home: three ways to lose a kitchen
Executive dysfunction is a description, not a diagnosis. Executive function has three core parts, and they fail differently: how to tell which gave way.
How to track tasks that depend on someone else
A blocked job needs its own list, the date it stalled and a named chase. Complaint clocks are real: eight weeks, 10 working days. Most repair clocks are not.
Am I lazy or procrastinating? The difference research draws
Procrastination means delaying what you intend to do while expecting to be worse off. Laziness is not making the effort at all. How to tell which it is.
ADHD time blindness: estimating how long things take
Time blindness is not an ADHD criterion. It bundles three timing tasks a laboratory measures separately with a fourth: how steeply a delayed reward is valued.
Why a household to-do list stops being a list
What published UK time-use data can and cannot tell you about how much a household list holds in one day, and why length is the symptom, not the disease.
The small job that costs more to remember than to do
Why five-minute household jobs sit for weeks, what the two minute rule really says, what the research supports, and how to close the gap between noticing and doing.
Why starting is harder than doing
A small job can sit on a list for months. What the research says about why beginning costs more than finishing, and how to write a line you can actually start.
Chores, rotas and children
Rotas that rotate, chores matched to a child's age, and whether to pay children for them.
Should you pay kids for chores? Three things, three rules
Membership work, contract work and an allowance are three different arrangements with three different rules. What the reward experiments actually found.
Age-appropriate chores by age: count the steps, not the years
Chore-by-age charts rarely cite anything. The usual bands, what each one rests on, and a step-count test for the jobs a child under twelve can hold.
Rotating chore schedules, and the jobs that should not rotate
Rotation shares the disliked jobs and spreads what only one person knows. The handover it asks for is unmeasured. Four tests to settle it job by job.
Household money
Joint or separate accounts, splitting bills on unequal incomes, a housemate who stops paying rent, and what you own when you pay for an app.
Joint account vs separate accounts: what it changes
A joint account means joint and several liability plus a credit-file link that outlives it: what each arrangement changes, and how to end one properly.
How to split bills when one partner earns more
A 50/50 split takes a bigger share of the smaller income. How to split bills in proportion to pay in five steps, and what to do with what is left.
Housemate not paying rent: who the landlord can ask to pay
In a joint tenancy in England the landlord can ask any tenant for the whole rent. What to do in the first month, what a guarantor covers, what is unlawful.
One-off or subscription: what you own when you pay for an app
Subscription became the default for sound reasons, but it changes what you own. What to check before paying for any app, and why Barriers sells Premium once.
Receipts and records
How long to keep statements and receipts, returns without a receipt, the six-year warranty myth, and records for Self Assessment, under UK rules.
There is no 6 year warranty in the UK: what the law gives you
No UK law gives goods a 6 year warranty. Six years is the deadline to sue in England and Wales, five in Scotland. Your rights turn on 30 days and six months.
Do you need receipts for Self Assessment? Record vs proof
You send HMRC no receipts, but every expense needs a record you can prove. What survives a lost receipt, the Making Tax Digital dates, and when to delete.
How long to keep bank statements, bills and receipts in the UK
No UK rule sets seven years for household papers. Bank statements need 22 months, five if self-employed, plus the tax, limitation and estate clocks.
Returning something without a receipt: what UK law actually asks you to prove
UK law asks for proof of purchase, not a receipt. What the Consumer Rights Act requires you to prove, what counts as proof, and when a shop may insist.