How I Organise My Life Into Projects (and the Tools That Make It Work)

Organising life into projects is how I manage a limited company, two rental properties, two websites and a young family without it spilling into everything else. Most advice about work and money focuses on growth, more projects, more income streams, more complexity. I do want growth, but I have found that organisation is what makes it possible under tight time constraints. The structure exists so I can build more of what I want, without it spilling over into everything else.

That has never really been my goal.

What I have built instead is something that fits into a limited amount of time and attention. Something that runs predictably, without constant input, and without needing to be optimised all the time.

This is the setup I use across everything I run, both work and life. It is not minimal in the sense of having the fewest tools possible, it is minimal in the sense that everything has a clear place and does not create extra work.

The shape of everything I run

At the moment I am running a mix of things, a limited company property business in Bristol, a personally owned rental property, two affiliate websites, another project in progress, and day to day life with a young family. Everything is treated as its own project. Every project has been selected only after a rigorous internal assessment process.

This is the organising principle behind everything else. It is what makes the whole system work.

Bank accounts

Every project that involves money has its own bank account. That includes the limited company, each affiliate site, and anything else that generates or spends. My personally owned rental property also has its own account, separate from everything else.

Then there is my personal setup. Monzo is my main account, and I use Revolut for day to day spending. I move a set budget into Revolut, which keeps spending contained without needing much thought. I also have a couple of credit cards, used very lightly, mainly for things like car hire where the extra protection is useful.

On paper it looks like a lot of accounts, but in practice it removes the need to track anything mentally. Every account has a clear role and nothing overlaps.

 → I have written about my bank account setup in detail here and how I run it all from my phone here.

Google Sheets

The tool I rely on most is not accounting software, it is Google Sheets.

Every project has its own sheet. Each business, each property, our household, and even holidays. Each sheet follows a similar structure, a tab for logins, a tab for regular costs, and a tab for notes or anything specific to that project. Some have extra tabs where needed, but the structure stays familiar.

That consistency matters more than the detail. It means I always know where to look, even if I have not touched something for a while.

This is also how I make sure nothing falls through the cracks. If something comes in, an email, a document, a login, a piece of information, I put it somewhere immediately. That might be a quick note or screengrab into the relevant sheet, or saving a file into the right Google Drive folder. I often do this without even properly reading it at the time. The point is not to process everything instantly, it is to make sure it is stored and accessible. Very often I will need that information months or even years later, and it is always where I expect it to be.

Each project also tends to have its own email address, which comes with its own Google Drive. Files are stored there in a simple folder structure, invoices, contracts, tenant information, whatever is relevant. Nothing complicated, just enough to keep things findable.

Accounting: Xero

For the UK limited company I use Xero. Accounting sits in the same logic – one platform that handles every business I run, whatever direction things go next. This is mainly to stay compliant with Making Tax Digital and to handle submissions to HMRC. I am set up as a Xero partner, which allows me to file directly and keep everything in one place.

The setup itself is very simple. The business bank account is connected, transactions are pulled in, and I categorise them as needed. I keep everything deliberately basic and use one of the lower cost plans.

I do not use Xero to run the business day to day or build complex reports. It is there to keep records clean and make submissions straightforward.

For anything outside the UK system, like property in Spain, I do not try to force Xero to fit. That is handled by local accountants instead. Trying to make one system do everything usually just creates friction.

→ The real costs of running the property through Xero here.

Tenant finding and property admin

I do not use letting agents.

For tenant finding I use SpareRoom. It is simple, widely used, and lets me manage everything directly, from listings to enquiries to viewings.

For referencing, tenants provide what is needed and I review what is relevant. I do not run a formal referencing service.

For agreements, I have built my own documents based on standard templates and what is legally required, then adapted them to fit how each property is run.

The approach is consistent, simple, and easy to repeat.

Time

This system is shaped by time.

In total I spend roughly 10 hours a week across everything, but most of that is building new website projects. The baseline admin to keep things running is closer to an hour a week.

The rest of my time is with my child, so there is no space for unnecessary complexity.

That constraint has been useful. It forces everything to fit into a setup that can be picked up, put down, and run without friction.

What I do not use

I do not use letting agents, property management software, or complex automation tools.

There is nothing in what I am currently doing that really needs to be outsourced, and adding more tools would mostly mean more systems to maintain.

Keeping things simple has been more effective than trying to optimise everything.

How it fits together

Individually, none of these tools are remarkable.

What matters is that everything is separated clearly by project, stored in predictable places, and does not require constant attention.

That is what makes the whole thing manageable within a limited amount of time.

This is not a perfectly optimised setup.

It is one that fits around real life, multiple projects, limited time, and the need to keep things running without overthinking them.

That is the trade off that works, less optimisation, more clarity.

This is the system as it stands across life and work. I will break down parts of it in more detail separately, including how I structure bank accounts and how I use Xero in practice.