Time. It’s elusive. It can be a dictator. It’s the one thing we can’t get back. It disappears. I know all these things, and yet I realize we are all blessed with the same 24 hours each day. I simply cannot blame my chaos on not having enough time.
If we’re going to Get it Together, we must take control of our time! And so I give you…
Top 10 Time Savers that Amy knows all about and yet continues to wrestle with.
1. Go to bed early.
Burning the midnight oil is not the best way for me to gain time in my day. Yes, it is nice to stay up late at the only time of day that my house is blissfully quiet. Yes, I can be productive in the wee hours. But, morning always comes. If I’m awake late at night, I struggle to gear up which wrecks my time management throughout the day. It’s an ugly domino spiral, easily avoided with an extra hour or two of quality sleep.
2. Get up before the family.
If I go to bed when I should, then it’s easier to get up and around before my children. And that, my friends, truly does save me time. It’s amazing what can be accomplished when I’m racing the “when will they be up” clock. Laundry started, breakfast made, email read, bread mixed. Face washed. There’s something energizing and time-saving about those first few busy moments of the day.
3. Budget your minutes.
Amy Lynn Andrew’s Tell Your Time is right on! Budgeting our time like we do our money frees us from getting stuck in the vortex of whatever project we started that is taking three times longer than what we thought it would. You can find time in your day if you allow yourself only x amount of minutes for certain tasks. When I know that I’ve only got 10 minutes to clean the bathroom, you can bet I work a lot faster, too! Budgeting your time places a sense of urgency on getting things done that naturally adds minutes or even hours to your day.
4. Plan your meals.
Staring at the refrigerator or pantry for several minutes at 5:30 with children hanging on your skirt is not the best use of time. Creating a simple meal plan each week frees up those minutes, and if you can get all your shopping done in one trip, even more time is spared by skipping the daily walk through the store.
5. Eat your frog.
Putting off the tasks we most dread does not save time. In fact, by avoiding them and procrastinating our way into other easier chores or mindless fillers, we tend to while away the minutes and wonder why the larger projects never get done. (This is so me!) Get the big things done first, and the little things tend to take care of themselves in the spare minutes of the day.
6. Set a timer.
Speaking of spare minutes, you think 15 minutes isn’t enough to clean the house? Set a timer for the family and have a little race against the clock. Turn it into a friendly competition and you’ll be amazed at how much clean up can be done in a mere quarter of an hour! Make it a daily event, and the house will shine in no time at all.
7. Establish routines.
I have got to get better about this with my children! The morning routine, after-school routine and evening routine, when executed consistently, save oodles of time. Set school clothes out at night, place back packs by the door. Remove papers from back packs right after school. Tidy rooms in the morning before leaving the house. You’d think I’d be all over this one just so we didn’t have to search for shoes 5 minutes before school starts!
8. Turn off the computer.
Or something like that. Ugh. What is with our need to be connected 24/7?! If I really want to get something done around the house, I have much greater success and save a ton of time if I shut down the temptation to check email and skype and facebook and twitter… and just do my job already!
9. Clear the clutter.
Oh my word, the time I waste digging through junk to find something that “I know was on that table yesterday.” It’s pitiful, really. Take 5 minutes (set the timer!) 2 or 3 times a day to clear your surfaces and keep clutter at bay. Your blood pressure will thank you for it.
10. Find your groove.
Some people prefer to schedule “laundry day” once a week. I, on the other hand, prefer to do two loads of laundry, start to finish, each day. Some people have great success prepping all of their meals on the weekends for fast weekday suppers. I like my weekends free for family activities and would rather spend time each day in the kitchen. Don’t fight your groove. Figure out what works for you and go for it! If you’re happy with your system, you’re more likely to save time in the process.
What’s your biggest time-sucking struggle? What time-saving tips help you gain minutes (or hours!) in your day? Do share, and help us all Get it Together!
Linking with the Top 10 fun at Oh Amanda.
Um, your #1 just gave me a big poke. ‘Night! :>)
Don’t ask me what time I got to bed last night.
I struggle with spending too much time on the computer.
Its a VICE, isn’t it?! Ugh.
With regards to menu planning – I agree, it saves a lot of time and effort. Another tip that helps is if you plan two or three meals a week that can all be cooked at the same time and kept in the fridge or freezer for a day of two. That way they only take 5-10mins to reheat when it’s time to serve them up.
I do this with my curries, casseroles, pastas, etc. I find it narrows the time I spend cooking from 7-10hrs a week down to 3-4hrs – especially being that I love big complicated meals that require a fair amount of actual cooking time.
As for clearing the clutter – I can manage it in the kitchen, I can cope with it on the alfresco area table (where we tend to entertain), I can deal with it in the ensuite – but I ALWAYS fail when it comes to my craft desk. At this point in time I have 3 different projects all in “pause” motion over there and I’m purposely NOT looking at them – because if I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.
“if I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.” That would be me. I ignore the mess way too often.
It makes me wonder how many flies are on the wall and how is it that you know the very things I struggle with. I have been a SAHM for about a 1 1/2 years now. One of my biggest problems is the struggle between what I want to do and what I need to do. I want to cook all of these great meals, make all of my own breads, crackers, yogurt, etc., but I need to wash the copious piles of clothes. I want to learn to sew or even organize my recipes but my 2mo needs snuggling and feeding and my 4yo, 2yo, and 1 yo need a referee. Who says life is dull. My husband just told me to make a schedule to see where my time is going; and then I get this great post in my email. I think the light bulb has finally gone off. I need help. Thanks for the encouragement. –Oh now I need to go homeschool my preschooler.
Oh, girl. Right there with you! The things I want to do are (mostly) GOOD THINGS, but… there are other things that need to be done.
Great post! I struggle with several of these, but am working to do better!
I think my worst is #5! There are certain chores that I dislike more than others and I put them off. You are right, it never helps:) I have tried the last few weeks to go ahead and get it done early in the week, so it’s off my list for a little while:) Thanks for all of the tips!
My biggest time-sucker is my kids, or rather MY bad habit of being at their beck and call. They always, always have an urgent need (in their own minds). I’m trying to get better at judging the ACTUAL urgency and more often than not, saying “I will be with you/help you with that as soon as I’m done with [this]“. I think it helps them to hold more value for the things I do and encourages them to try helping themselves, or find something else to do while they wait.
I love your tips and think #1 and #2 will be sooooooo beneficial for me! Thanks!
Loving this series! And looking forward to learning some great ideas from everyone else’s comments.
These are my best time savers:
1. Pack 2 days worth of lunches at once. Everyone at our house brownbags it, mom and dad included, and it doesn’t take much more effort to double up.
2. Try to keep one night a week technology free. The less the computer and TV are on the more I seem to get accomplished, and the earlier I get to bed.
3. When I’m cooking dinner on the weekends I put together a casserole that can go in the oven for dinner Mon or Tues and provide leftovers for lunch.
4. Lay out clothes AND shoes the night before, for me and the kids.
5. Stay on top of laundry and dishes and the rest will fall into place. My house will never be as neat as it was before kids, but I cope a lot better as long as everyone has clean underwear and plates to eat on.
You have inspired me to work harder at actually getting to bed at my self-imposed 10pm bedtime. Like you I seem to get a lot more accomplished after the kids are in bed, but if I’m too sleepy to get motivated in the morning I’m shooting myself in the foot.
Great ideas!
I can’t pick one from the list–ALL of them are what I should do but struggle/fail to manage. Thanks for the reminders!
You know people keep mentioning and keep mentioning that the key to energy and therefore time management skills is getting good sleep. But each night I find myself convinced that if I just stay up late finishing a project my day will be better tomorrow. Well guess what? I’m always tired and cranky the next day and get even less done. It’s a cycle. Maybe I need to actually listen and go bed!! haha!
I really like your idea of gettign up before the kids. I’m always getting to bed so late that sleep through my alarm and the morning is rush rush rush. If I went to bed on time and then got up at a decent time I bet my day would start a whole lot better. I think we as moms have a hard time realizing that if we don’t take care of ourselves we won’t be able to properly take care of our family.
thanks for the great articles! Can’t wait for more!
I feel ya. I KNOW what the answer is, but I don’t always follow it.
I just finished reading Time Management 101 by Crystal Paine and Tell Your Time by Amy Lynn Andrews, these both were great in getting me in a grove to better use my time. Since my husband I own our own business (farming/trucking) I work from home and take care of our 4 & 6 year old boys. Time is of the essence when getting bookwork done, meals on the table, helping with homework and taking time to enjoy the family as well, especially since it is fall and my husband doesn’t get home before the kids go to bed and is usually gone before we all get up. During this time of year I call myself the Farmer’s Windower.
Adding that “work from home” gig puts a whole new urgency to time management, for sure.
I love this post!! I was just thinking today – after spending 2 hrs on the internet – that I need to set a timer! I’m not aware of how much time I spend emailing and bopping around reading blogs until it’s too late! Thank you for sending such a clear sign that I need to Get It Together!!
I’m a faithful follower from here on out!! 
Isn’t it AMAZING how that time flies?!
Love these tips! I am constantly trying to be more productive. Great tips!
Great top ten! All of these do indeed save time. I’m working on making the most of all my minutes.
Oh my goodness my biggest struggle is getting up before my family. I love it when I do but my daughter gets up between 5-5:15. This morning is was 4:50 and I just can’t force myself out of bed before her when it’s in the 4 o’clock hour! Please Lord let her start sleeping until 6!!!
Uhhhh, wow. I would definitely come up with a Plan B in that situation.
I love these ideas – so simple, yet so powerful (if I could actually get my butt in gear and DO them, that is
I especially love #2 (I am acquiring the taste of mornings, slowly but surely. I am a definite non-morning person, but I’m trying!), and #9 – we are moving in a month, and I’m really excited because it seems that’s the only time my stuff gets totally decluttered and organized, haha!
PS. I’m a new subscriber… nice to “meet” you!
PPS. I shared this on my blog’s Facebook page
Welcome, Beth! I’ve often told my husband that we need to “pretend” to have our house on the market and keep it cleaned and clutter-free that way!
This is SUCH a good list!! I need to reread it every.single.day. LOL! Nothing seems to be working for me at the moment and I really need to be up earlier in the morning which means going to bed earlier – that’s probably the toughest one for me, but the most important.
Amazing how things turn around when we get enough sleep…