In this day and age, we are all busy and constantly feeling sort on time. There are a few good cheats I have learned over the years for saving my minutes here and there to catch up on what I need to get done.
1. Pick my outfit the night prior. I am not a morning person so I stress again, picking my outfit out the night before and hanging it on the hook on my bedroom door saves me precious time. I also make sure I pack my gym bag the night before so all I have to do is get up and go.
2. Pack my lunch while I cook dinner. I like to cook dinner almost nightly, so while I have dead time in the cooking, I pack mine and the hubby's lunch. We each have a lunch bag that I can pack and then put in the fridge so its ready to grab in the morning.
3. Prep meals ahead of time. I go once a month to Dream Dinners to prep a number of meals that can be frozen and thawed the week I need them. That one hour a month saves me so much prep time during the week, so that I either need to just throw a pan dish in the oven or get dinner ready in 20 minutes or less on the stove top. This is a huge time saver since I like to go to the gym in the evenings.
4. Constantly clean. This may seem counter intuitive but if I stay up on my cleaning by vacuuming when I see a need or cleaning the bathroom or kitchen when it needs it, I don't need to necessarily do a deep clean every few weeks. A few minutes during a commercial break or while cooking dinner gets a lot done and keeps the amount of time I need to clean for extended periods of time at a minimum.
5. Use your commercial breaks. Do some squats or lunges or crunches during TV commercial breaks, or vacuum the living room, whatever you can do during those few lost minutes makes you more productive during that time.
6. Multitask thoughtfully. Multitasking is not always the right choice and lets be honest some of us cannot multitask, but if you can, do it. I usually get my blogging done or some knitting while I am on the couch with Dan watching TV. Still there are some tasks I wouldn't multitask on, such as work related tasks or whenever I am on the phone.
7. Give yourself routine. I like to read before I go to bed every night so I make sure I give myself fifteen minutes before I want to be asleep that I block out for reading. It is important to me and I do my best to not let anything get in the way of that. Structured routine in my day helps me plan out what I can accomplish with my remaining time that day.
8. Get your rest. A good night's sleep goes a long way. When you are well rested, the more energy you'll have the following day. That's how you'll get through your do to list quicker.
9. Double up your errands. Save time by running your errands when you can knock off a few at once. If I am going on a grocery run, I may also run to do my Target shopping since the stores are next to each other and I can make one trip instead of two. I also try to minimize the runs to the store for just one thing.
10. Keep a list. I have lists everywhere. On our fridge we have a magnetic grocery list pad, so we can keep a running tally of what I need at the store. On my phone I keep a running to do list and notes for shopping lists. Keeping a list keeps me more focused when running errands and saves me time from roaming around the stores.
These are great tips. I want to start picking out my outfits the night before again. I used to but then stopped and I find that now I am rushing to find something in the morning.
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted to try something like Dream Dinners for my work family (and myself too). They have a really small freezer though so I am not sure if there would be enough room.