Renewal reminder app: what parents need from one

A good renewal reminder app holds every date that something in your life renews or expires (insurance, the MOT, broadband and phone contracts, memberships, passports) and warns you weeks ahead, not on the day, so there's time to compare, switch or cancel. It suits parents especially, because a family has more of everything: more passports on different cycles, often two cars, kids' clubs and memberships, and a house full of policies that all seem to renew in the same month as the school holidays.

The difference between a reminder and a useful reminder is lead time. "Your car insurance renews today" helps nobody. "Your car insurance renews in three weeks" gives you an evening to look around.

For the general habit of tracking dates without any tool, see how to keep track of renewal dates. This guide is about choosing and setting up an app to do it for a family.

What to look for in a renewal reminder app

Judge any tool, including a shared calendar, against this list.

1. Lead time you control, per item. Insurance needs weeks, a monthly membership needs days, a passport needs months. One fixed reminder time for everything doesn't work.
2. Repeats. Yearly policies, a yearly MOT, ten-year adult passports and five-year child passports. Enter each one once and let it come round again.
3. One place for every kind of renewal. Car, home, documents, contracts, memberships. If passports live somewhere different from insurance, one of them gets missed.
4. Room for the details. Who it's with, the policy or reference number, what you paid last time. When the renewal letter arrives you want last year's figure to hand.
5. Several people's documents in one view. A family of four has four passports, often expiring in different years.
6. A quick way to add things. Ideally from a photo of the renewal letter or the policy PDF, since that's what you'll have in your hand.
7. A look-ahead. A weekly or monthly view of what renews soon, so you can plan the busy months.
8. Quiet hours. Reminders should land when you can act, not during bedtime.
9. Privacy, export and delete. You'll be storing policy details and document dates. Know where they're kept and how to remove them.

How to set one up in 20 minutes

Gather the renewal letters and policy emails you can find quickly, plus everyone's passports. Don't hunt for the rest yet.

1. Five minutes: insurance. Car, home or contents, travel, pet, breakdown cover, life insurance if you have it. Add the renewal date, who it's with and roughly what you pay.
2. Four minutes: the cars. For each car, the MOT due date, the vehicle tax date and the service date. Separately, GOV.UK runs a reminder service by text or email that sends an MOT reminder a month before it's due (it doesn't cover Northern Ireland), and the DVLA sends a reminder when vehicle tax is due. Keep the dates yourself as well.
3. Four minutes: passports. One entry per person, with the expiry date. A child passport is valid for 5 years, so children's passports come round more often than yours. Check the current rules and your own dates on GOV.UK.
4. Three minutes: contracts. Broadband, mobiles (including the kids' phones), energy fixes. Add the date each contract or deal ends.
5. Two minutes: memberships. Gym, clubs, any yearly memberships for the kids' activities.
6. Two minutes: lead times. Use the list below as a starting point, then adjust.

Sensible lead times for a family:

• Car and home insurance: three to four weeks before renewal, to compare and decide.
• MOT: about a month before, so you can book a garage slot that suits.
• Passports: several months before any trip, and well before expiry. Check the entry requirements for where you're going on GOV.UK before you book.
• Broadband, phone and energy deals: a month or so before the deal ends.
• Memberships: a week before they renew.

If you're weighing up whether to let a policy roll over, should you let your insurance auto renew goes through the questions to ask. It's general guidance, not advice on which policy to choose.

How mylife/ handles renewals

mylife/ keeps renewals in its ledgers: insurance, the home (tenancy, mortgage, insurance), the car (MOT, tax, insurance and service dates), documents (passports, licences, anything with an expiry date) and subscriptions. Each has its date and how often it repeats, and you get a nudge before each one, never during your quiet hours. A morning note flags anything coming up, such as a renewal in a couple of weeks.

You can add a renewal yourself, tell Slash in a sentence ("home insurance renews on the 2nd of August, yearly"), or photograph the renewal letter or pick the policy PDF. Slash reads it and fills in the details for you to check before anything is saved, and the server deletes the photo or PDF once it's been read. mylife/ stores the details, not a copy of the document.

It's worth being straight about one thing: mylife/ doesn't connect to banks, email or insurers, and it won't find renewals on its own. They go in because you add them, tell Slash or show it the letter. That means nobody is reading your inbox, which many parents will see as a good thing.

Keeping a busy family on track with mylife/

Renewals sit on the same calendar in the Diary tab as birthdays, bills and plans with friends, so you can see the month when the car insurance, a birthday and the school trip deposit all land together. Every Sunday, Slash writes a weekly report that includes what's coming up. You can also ask Slash what's due this week at any time.

Nothing you keep is sold or used for ads, your account is hosted in the EU, in Paris, and you can export everything or delete your account whenever you like. Read how privacy works, or try mylife/ free for 3 days with your own family's renewals.

Common mistakes parents make with renewal reminders

• Only tracking your own passport. Children's passports run on a shorter cycle and catch families out when booking a holiday.
• One reminder, on the day. The renewal letter is the start of the decision, not the end. Give yourself weeks.
• Not writing down last year's price. Without it, you can't tell if the renewal quote has gone up.
• Leaving the kids' contracts off. Their phone deals and club memberships renew too.
• Tracking the car but forgetting the second car. Two cars means two sets of MOT, tax, insurance and service dates.
• Never updating after a switch. If you change insurer, change the date and the provider straight away, or next year's reminder points at the wrong company.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an app that reminds you of renewal dates?

Yes. Look for one that handles insurance, car dates, contracts and documents in one place, lets you set lead time per item and repeats each date automatically. A shared calendar can work too, but it won't hold policy details or last year's price.

How far in advance should I renew my car insurance?

Most people find three to four weeks before the renewal date gives enough time to compare quotes and decide. Check your own policy documents for the exact date, and set your reminder to land before you're under pressure.

How do I keep track of my children's passport expiry dates?

Keep one entry per person with the expiry date and a reminder several months ahead. A child passport is valid for 5 years, so it'll need renewing more often than yours. Check the current rules on GOV.UK before applying.

Does the DVLA send MOT reminders?

The MOT reminder service is run through GOV.UK, by text or email, and sends a reminder a month before a car's MOT is due. The DVLA sends a reminder when vehicle tax is due. Many people keep the dates themselves too, in case a message goes astray.