I know some people are really busy with work and personal responsibilities, so they don’t really have a lot of free time.
So how do people save free time by getting things done more efficiently? What tricks have you learned over the years that help?
For me here are some that work:
Living in an apartment instead of a home. Far less maintenance.
Ordering your groceries online and doing curbside pickup. Delivery of items to the door is also a good way to save time. If you do have to run in person errands, checking google reviews to see when they are at their most and least busy time of day.
Eating prepared food or easy to prepare food.
Not having kids (this one has worked very well for me)
I’ve noticed when I take certain health food supplements, I need 1 less hr a sleep a night (8hrs down to 7hrs).
I know this board criticizes supplements but for me:
Na-R-ALA (a more effective form of alpha lipoic acid)
Spirulina
chlorella
Green smoothies (basically garden of life perfect food mixed with a protein shake. I’ve tried making green smoothies with raw vegetables, but this is much more convenient).
As I am alone and am a lackadaisical sort, saving time is not much of a goal of mine. But something I have been doing that has made me more organised with my day is to plan ahead. I generally know that, when I have chores that need doing, what day and time I am going to do them, and I try to stick to that. Rarely are things desperate last minute rushes when I approach them that way, and it makes them less stressful or annoying.
I also do this sometimes, particularly for heavy things like beverages. Buy in bulk, regular delivery, to the door, so it’s all off my mind, and all I need to do is get them inside once every month.
Rather than “save time” I prefer to find as much pleasure and satisfaction as I can in every (or most) moments. One of the things that helps me do that is to be cautious about being efficient. Carrying large loads is one example - many times I’m happier taking several light trips rather than struggling through one fully loaded trip.
Letting go of efficiency in general has been a revelation, similar in effect to letting go of wealth accumulation - although you can treat life as a game in which maximizing some sort of “score” is the objective, for many of us that turns out to be a problematic approach.
This one would dwarf all others. I used to wonder what people without kids did with their time. I don’t regret having kids, but it does take up a lot of time for about 15 years.
Yes. I’m a big proponent of making lists. I do it at work, and also for grocery shopping. We don’t browse!
I follow routines in life as much as possible, doing the same things in the same order, eating the same meals, etc.
I’ve cut down my wardrobe to the basics, using this method:
Project 333: The Challenge To Help You Simplify Your Closet - Be More with Less Project 333: The Challenge To Help You Simplify Your Closet - Be More with Less
I mostly try not to waste time decision-making in daily life, because I suck at it!
My Wife and I both do. Heh, sticky notes saved mankind.
I was a programmer, what is this thing you call a wardrobe?
It’s 33 degrees f out. I’ve changed over to wearing shorts, so I will wear shorts to the store. I used to work with a guy that wore shorts every day. 0 degrees? No problem. I’m drawing the line at freezing.
Another fan of lists here. They allow me to get everything out of my head, and the more I check off as completed, the more encouraged I am to complete the rest. I get far more done, faster and more efficiently as a result, leaving me more free time than if I just trudged forth without a game plan.
First, as it’s been mentioned upthread, I don’t have [human] kids. I do have aging pets, however, one of which is on hospice care–the little guy takes constant care.
Second, I’m a very busy guy–up & moving at 5:AM and back home at 5-6:PM, which includes gym time at 5:30AM, a check-in at the office by 8:AM, and a “Superman Drill*” between the two. I, as mentioned upthread, am a firm believer in lists, or, at least writing stuff down so you can move on and not forget good ideas or tasks later on if/when you have time.
Primarily though, I’ve figured out that I can save a huge amount of time & money by making breakfast/lunch meals and dinner prepwork on the weekends for the week. I used to go through one of those ‘overnight’ delivery meal services, but deliveries started slipping to the point that food was spoiling enroute. Now I make enough breakfast shakes & protein (chicken/burger patties/etc.) that I can nuke some frozen veggies in 5-10 minutes the night before to build a ‘brown bag’ lunch.
Seriously, I do not have time or resources to buy a lunch every day at the cafeteria. I get “ambushed” multiple times in the hallway just on my way to the men’s room. By prepping my meals, I can spend a moment or two of ‘quiet’ time in deep-thought instead of wondering what 4-month old topic some coworker is blathering about on a chance encounter in the hallway.
Look at my posting history for the past two years–I just don’t have much free time anymore. Hell, just look at my speling & grammar.
Tripler
This post is a rare exception (I’m waiting on the InstaPot to wrap up).
(*) "Superman Drill": Go to the bathroom, shower, and scrape yer face in 10 minutes or less. (aka "Sh*t, shower, and shave")
The number one thing we do is to inventory the freezer every Thursday evening, go over the circulars, and plan the meals for the next week. We use the menu to build a shopping list. We go grocery shopping Friday, and are set for the week, with everything we need. No time spent on trips for the stuff we don’t have, no discussion of what to eat each night. We also can take stuff out of the freezer the night before to start defrosting. Saves us tons of time.
I’m sure you’ve already thought of this, but have you considered making lists online like on google docs so you both always have access to them? Sticky notes aren’t as convenient as an online sharable list.
