The rules to save your marriage and keep your life on track

Adopting the ‘777 Rule’ can have a transformative impact on all areas of life, from family to work and health

All the talk last week was the news that “love rat” actor Andrew Buchan had been taken back by Amy Nuttall, the wife he left in January for another woman. It’s been the top water-cooler subject ever since – beating Meghan’s hat and shorts combo, rude bad Australians and “What is the weather doing?” – not because of the happy ending but because of Nuttall’s long list of terms and conditions for taking Buchan back. And one condition in particular has piqued our interest: that the couple, henceforth, observe the 777 Rule.

Here’s how the 777 Rule works: every seven days you go on a date, every seven weeks you go away for the night and every seven months the two of you head off on a romantic holiday. It might sound a tad prescriptive, and an à deux holiday almost twice a year could be one too many, but nevertheless we get the point. If you don’t put in the regular maintenance the wheels may come off and you’ll regret the ensuing car wreck.

Anyway, you don’t need to be rebuilding a relationship to adopt the 777 Rule, you may just want to keep it ticking over, or you might care to apply it to other areas of your life.

Every seven days you change out of your WFH uniform into something less loose and comfy. Every seven weeks you do something about your upper lip and toenails. Every seven months you book a table for two in the pub and make a note not to mention one of the seven banned topics. These will vary a bit but will generally include: why you listened to Porky Burlington about the mortgage and not Us; and why are we going to your third cousin’s wedding in Stornaway when we could have been staying with the Whatsits in Greece?