Most of us run a tight ship when it comes to our daily schedules trying to juggle work, home, family, and friends. Often, we wonder where did the day go with all that is still left for us to do. If you experience the same chaos and would like to know how to slow down, here are some valuable time saving tips for busy people that can work to your advantage just as they do for me.
Cook Extra to Serve for Future Meals
You can save a lot of time after work by reheating meals such as casseroles, chili, stews, a pot of stuffed cabbage or stuffed peppers, meatloaf, etc. that you previously made over the weekend. What I found helpful is cooking enough over the weekend to divide up into separate containers to serve during the week. Trust me, but it is much easier to reheat when you are tired than chopping, peeling and opening cans for making a fresh dinner.
Crockpot cooking is great, but I prefer not to leave them cooking all day without personal supervision. In fact, I use mine all the time to make dishes or double up on cooking over the weekend. This may sound neurotic, but I once had a bad experience with a potato that exploded in the oven when I tried that once. The exploding potato cured me of ever leaving anything plugged while I am out.
The vegetables I serve during the week are either canned vegetables or frozen ones most of the time to complete dinner. I do usually have a dish set aside of scrubbed clean potatoes for baking ready for the microwave as well.
Book Ahead Time Saving Tips for Busy People
What else I find valuable is making routine appointments ahead of time and following up with a note on my calendar as a reminder like ones for your family doctor for your annual exam, the gynecologist, the dentist, a dental hygienist, the hairdresser, the optometrist, etc. that you always need to do anyway. If you need to take regular blood tests because of a certain medication you may be on, scheduling your appointment ahead saves you grief later when trying to get the date that works for you.
Some banks will give you a free pocket calendar that you can carry in your handbag just for this purpose. You can also schedule this online in your calendar as well. However, I am old school and do both.
Libraries are another place that you can book ahead to reserve books, movies, etc. Why bother wasting time to scan shelves or browse when you can just go online and search the library’s catalog to request a new book, movies, television series to pick up later? This is another of those valuable time saving tips that simplifies life for busy people. You would be surprised at what is available at your local library and through their interlibrary loan system with other communities. I love using the library for books, seeing the latest movies and binge watching my favorite television series.
Shopping for Busy People
I keep a magnetic erasable pad complete with its own pen attached to my refrigerator door. What I do is to use that pad to jot down food items for grocery shopping that need replaced. This method helps me keep better track of what is in my refrigerator and what I’m short of.
We all get our share of junk mail. If you have some envelopes that were meant to go back with a clean side, I use them to jot down what’s on sale that week at a particular store and stick any appropriate coupons inside.
I keep a separate envelope for each store in my area that I plan to visit for that week’s specials, along with any coupons. All I have to do is to make my route, then pull out each envelope to save time shopping and still benefit from those store sales.
Those extra envelopes from junk mail that have a writeable clean side also are handy to keep track of receipts. I keep a separate envelope for each store by month for my files. You’ll love how much easier this system can be when your credit card bills arrive and you check those statements for any irregularities.
Buttons also fall off at the wrong times. Instead of leaving that button in a place that you think that you’ll remember, why not keep a clear plastic jar for this purpose. Those that sew with a set of buttons you would like to keep from a retired piece can be easily salvaged by sticking a needle through to tie them together before placing in that jar. Peanut butter jars as I mentioned are ones that I reuse again for storage like this. When you do go to sew that button back on, you won’t have to go hunt for it or buy a set of buttons just for one item.
These are just some time saving tips for busy people that I use in my own life. For more on this subject, I hope you read my earlier posts such as how to overcome the morning rush, time saving cleaning shortcuts, how to power up your day, a beautiful way to save time, and how to simplify your morning makeup.
Thanks for your tips will come in handy
These are great tips. I use the cook ahead idea often!
Lot of great itps here some that I all ready do which does make life easier
Years ago my mother-in-law asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I joked and said “more time,” and I also said that I needed a new watch. Well, she did get me a watch, but when I put it on and wore it for a little while, I looked at it and noticed the time was way off. I reset the time and went about my day; when I looked at it again, I saw the time was wrong, again. It turns out, the watch was put together wrong because the hands moved counter clockwise. Needless to say, unbeknownst to my mother-in-law, she was giving me ‘time.’ 🤪
thanks for useful tips to help make life easier
Thank you for the useful tips. Anything that makes life easier is great.