As the saying goes: time is money. Whether in business or your personal life, this saying rings true in many aspects. By saving time, you will allow yourself more time to do things that add value (financial or otherwise) into your life. Below are a few easy ways to save time on daily tasks in order to add additional value to your life.
Meal Planning
The more you plan ahead, the more time you will save during the week. Not only will this help you save actual money, the time saved by avoiding the dreaded post-work grocery trip will give you back between 30-90 minutes a day. If you want to optimize the time saving, throw meal prepping into this hack as well! By prepping all produce during one set time of the week to use for the remainder of the week, you’ll significantly cut down on your prep time at dinner time which can add more time back to your evening.
Grocery Pickup
Going to the grocery store can take way longer than preferable, especially if you are going during a busy time (such as Sunday afternoons). Cue the glorious wonder that is grocery pick up! Instead of creating your list, then driving to the store and spending a long time finding all the items on the list, then waiting in line to pay for said items…. You can order your groceries through your computer (or an app!) from the comfort of your bed, and then pick them up curbside. Most places will even load them into your trunk, so you don’t have to leave your car at all.
Create a To-Do List
Taking a few minutes to write down all of the things you need to accomplish will actually save you time. By having all your tasks written down and organized, you’ll save time that would otherwise be spent thinking of what you need to do – or even worse: realizing at the last minute that you forgot to write the email you were supposed to send 6 hours previously. This hack will help streamline your thoughts and prevent forgetting things that need to be done.
Have Less Things
This hack is simple: the less things you have, the less time you will spend taking care of them. Less toys means less time cleaning up. Less house is less cleaning time spent. It takes a lot less time to keep up a 1600 square foot house than it does to maintain a 4000 square foot house.
Delegate
Especially for the moms reading this: you don’t have to do everything. If you have ten things on your morning to-do list, is there anything you can delegate to your significant other, roommate, or children? You can hire help for delegation as well. If you have the means to do so, hiring a house cleaner can be a game-changer with how much time you get back.
Re-Evaluate Your Life
This hack may seem dramatic, but taking a step back periodically to really evaluate what you are doing is a crucial part of ensuring that you are optimizing your time as well as you can be. There are so many time-sucks in today’s culture, it can be easy to add on a bunch of them without realizing it. By taking the time to list out what things you are committed to doing at least once a year, you will be forced to consider if they are worth the time that you are spending on them. If they are not worth the stress added in time reduction, then scrap them and move on with the rest of your life.
