20 time saving tricks
Buy yourself an extra hour a week with these clever tips, says Michele O’Connor
1 Blow-dry your hair after getting dressed, doing your make-up and having your breakfast. That way it’s had time to air dry for a while first.
2 Check the weather forecast the night before so you have your brolly and sunglasses ready in your bag instead of wasting valuable time looking for them in the morning.
3 Follow the one minute rule, which is immediately doing any task that could be completed in one minute, such as hanging up a coat. You become more productive, says Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project.
4 Switch off smartphone notifications. “They’re distracting and time zapping,” says life coach, Sam Burgess (smalland mighty.co). “Choose when you want to check your social media.”
5 Make a list of everything you need to complete that day. “It makes it easier to plan your time and ensure you stay on track,” says Hannah Martin, founder of talentedladiesclub. com. “Plus it feels good to tick tasks off.”
6 Blitz your workout, advises Eric Bowling, personal trainer at Ultimate Performance (ultimateper formance. com). “Pair upper and lower body exercises into supersets. Doing squats with a shoulder press or bicep curls, means you work twice as hard in half the time, and burn more calories.”
7 Get snappy – use your phone to photograph anything you might want to remember, from confirmation emails to the label of a new wine you’ve tried, to the cover of a book you want to read. Now you won’t waste time trying to find it later.
8 Only watch and read what you actively choose to. We waste hours in front of the box watching programmes we have no real interest in or getting sucked into social media posts.
9 Never sit through commercials. Either record your favourite shows so you can skip them or get jobs done such as loading the dishwasher or bringing in the washing during the break. Alternatively, do a three-minute circuit of lunges, burpees, jogging, skipping and squats.
10 Buy greetings cards in bulk and if you see the perfect gi f t for someone while shopping or online just get it. It’ll save you going back and trying to find it nearer their birthday.
11 Double up when cooking and freeze the second portion for another meal, or use it for family lunches.
12 Stock up on frozen fruit and veg. Frozen produce is always fresh and pre-prepared, saving you time peeling and chopping.
13 Pop a dry hand towel in the tumble dryer with your bed linen. It absorbs moisture, speeding up drying time. Try adding a couple of tennis balls to stop it clumping together in a big ball.
14 Pause for 60 seconds before making a choice, big or small. It can help you make the right decision the first time, rather than having to redo something later.
15 Minimise oven cleaning by using a liner. Pop a non-stick coated sheet on the oven floor to catch any crumbs and spills (Lakeland, £10.79).
16 Hate ironing? “Pop your shirt into the tumble drier with four or five ice cubes. The melting ice cubes create enough steam and moisture to leave your shirt crease free and ready to wear,” says Lynsey Crombie.
17 Don’t line your bin with one bag. Line up three or four so you don’t have to keep going back to find them when you empty your bin.
18 Never walk around the house empty-handed. There’s always something that needs to be taken upstairs, put away or tossed in the bin or the recycling.
19 Stick an ongoing shopping list on the fridge with a magnet. Whoever grates the last of the cheese or scrapes the last peanut butter from the jar should be responsible for adding it to the list. It will save you popping out to the shops when you forget something.
20 Hav e two laundry baskets – one for white and another for darks so you don’t have to sort clothes on wash day.
Put four bin liners into your bin so you won’t have to look for a new one