I'm always worried about time running out. Sometimes I think of my life as a giant hourglass, wishing I could plug up the opening to slow down the flow of those grains of sand.
Since I cannot slow down time, it gives me comfort to collect time-saving tips. Here are some ideas, including some from the most efficient people I know:
Dramatically Reduce Time For Cooking Pasta
In a recent Home Goes Strong article, I wrote about cooking pasta in a small amount of cold water. If you boil water, divide the amount in half and boil in two pots with lids.
Travel And Packing
Keep a packed toiletry kit containing toothbrush, medication and vitamins, hair needs, deodorant, etc. If you use up something during a trip, leave it on your bath counter after returning, as a reminder to replenish.
For lots more tips from a frequent traveler, see my article, "Packing List and Other Tips Before Trips."
Entertaining Lite
Potlucks save a lot of time if you're having a dinner party. As host, you need only set the table, provide drinks and maybe make an entree.
For a fun, fabulous, time-saving dinner to make together with close friends or family, see my article, "Fun, Easy, Healthful Entertaining: When Guests Arrive, Preparation Begins."
Cut Cleaning Time And Clean Green
Use a steam mop and a hand-held steamer to cut cleaning time in half. Just steam and wipe. No chemicals needed. (This tip compliments of environmentalist and author of "Big Green Purse," Diane MacEachern.)
The Longest Is The Shortest In The End
The first time my mother annoyed me with this mantra, I was a teenager and making a dress from a pattern. I didn't want to bother basting, so I went directly to the sewing machine, and guess what happened: I had to rip out the stitches, baste and sew again.
Bunch Errands Together
I used to spread out my errands, but now that I bunch, it saves so much time, not to mention gas.
Bunch Travel
I visit my daughters and my mom regularly. So rather than a round trip from D.C, where I live, to New York to see my daughter, and another round trip to see my mom in Florida, I fly from New York to Florida, and then home -- three flights instead of four.
Buy Multiples
I dislike clothes shopping, so if I wander into a store and find, say, a shirt I like, I'll buy one in every color. And sometimes I'll buy two or three in black.
As for paper towels and the like, I buy as much as I have space for.
The "Swiss Cheese" Method
Poke holes in bigger tasks, by doing bits at a time. Sometimes you have only a few minutes. Keep a list (written or mental) of all the things you can accomplish in two, five or 15 minutes. For example, I have a better chance of getting through my book for book club now that I take my Kindle to the veterinarian and the grocery store to read while waiting.
The older I get, the more I appreciate having space around each thing I do, rather than cramming all I can into a day. Think of it like flowers in a garden: The ones that have ample room to grow turn out taller and stronger than ones that are all squished together.
What tips do you have for saving time?
For dozens of recipes and tips on organizing, cooking, insomnia, bedbugs, entertaining, home security and more, see my articles on "Home Goes Strong." And visit my blog, Confessions of a Worrywart.
Follow Susan Orlins on Twitter: www.twitter.com/susanorlins
Randy Taran: 5 Ways to Better Manage Your Time
Roger Fransecky: How to Rid Your Life of Time Bandits
Karen Atkinson: Ask GYST: Time Management for Creatives
Christine Whelan: You're Not Too Busy: You Have More Time Than You Think
How much time does it take to sit down and write lists of how much time one can save on little things, I wonder?
And since you said the things about towels and shirts aren't really related to time, they don't really figure. I buy more than one of a garment if I can - nothing to do with time, though. It's not that easy to find clothes I like and that suit me, and if I wait another time to go back, that style will have disappeared from the shops. And saving time cooking pasta? Stick it in a microwave if the minutes count so much!
Yet, half-minutes seem long if you consider the post I wrote last September, "One Space or Two?" in which I ponder the time wasted over a lifetime of typing two spaces rather than one after periods, the way I learned to do as a teenager in the sixties.
http://confessionsofaworrywart.com/2010/09/13/one-space-or-two/
1. Towels at second hand stores are relatively cheap and in decent condition. I buy a few a year to replenish the ragged ones I've cut into kitchen towels and cloths. All towels are washed together to avoid a softener sheet which disrupts absorbability.
2. I don't use chemicals I can't pronounce to clean with as they cause my allergies to flare up and promote migraines and nosebleeds. I can't afford a steam-cleaner anyway. Baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, various essential oils make up my cleaning arsenal. Also, I ask my child to help out, which he does.
3. We don't have cable. Altogether, my family of three might watch 15-20 hours a week, and its all available online with fewer commercials. The tele is for netflix and gaming (I allow 1/2 hour a day).
and many assume a certain income level and lifestyle. i live in a big city with no car, and i earn my income daily instead of in one big paycheck, so i can't buy in bulk (i walk to the store) and my apartment doesn't have room to store a bunch of stuff anyway. also, i definitely don't have money to buy multiple shirts when i find one i like. bunching errands is great if you have the money to do all the errands on one day, and if you have a car where you can put the stuff you buy -- on public transit it's more difficult. and the travel tips only help if you can afford to travel.
i am really sick of these living articles that assume i'm a yuppie with a car in the suburbs. maybe huffpo is just written for yuppies.
Not every tip is for every person. Sometimes I write an article with a collection of recipes, including one for chicken. Vegans need to skip that one and read the recipe for glazed Brussels sprouts.
Like you, I rarely drive. Instead I bike to the store, which makes it a bit easier to carry groceries home.
And it is wildly unrealistic for most of us to, on a shopping whim, buy a collection of the same shirt in "every color and three in black"--maybe you've not noticed the recession going on while you are focused on saving time in minute fragments? In the right frame of mind, buying one shirt is a magnificent accomplishment.
But your last paragraph belies the rest--"...The older I get, the more I appreciate having space around each thing I do, rather than cramming all I can into a day." An attractive idea, but I don't think that's true, based on the rest of the article. I wonder if there is a moment's pause in the day.
Using two pots to cook a little bit of pasta a minute quicker...this is ironic satire, right? Or a left-brain run amock?
and cooking pasta in two pots? that really made me laugh.
The last paragraph, about leaving space to get the fullness of each thing I do, should have begun with "That said, . . . ."
I used to be a bit crazed by time and pack it all in. And now I do schedule less. Timesaving tips allow me more time to relax.
That said, I'm impatient and waiting in lines is difficult for me. Reading keeps me calm.
And, though you didn't mention it, about the paper towels, what a bad example! I thought of that, because they are hard to transport on my bicycle, my main mode of transportation (which, by the way, for fairly short trips, biking takes no more time than driving and for me is so much more pleasurable). I strive to use hardly any paper towels. It's so much better for the environment to use sponges and towels when possible.
And finally, so true about buying more than one shirt. The last time I did that was 2 years ago. I buy clothes so rarely that honestly it's only every few years or so that I do that, but it is more because I hate to shop.