Wear comfortable shoes. You make better TIME... and 18 other
time-saving tips.
I've been writing a lot about saving money. But I should be
devoting equal time to... well... TIME. Money comes and goes.
Tomorrow any one of us could win the lottery and all of our
financial worries would be over. But Time is
irreplaceable.
We have 120 years max in this life. Time is precious and
irreplaceable. Therefore, I would like to devote the next few
lines to how we can preserve and not waste some of this
precious resource. It is likely, even probable, that some of
my suggestions will appear to contradict earlier ones on
saving money. There is no contradiction. It depends what is
more at a premium at any given moment. We have to prioritize.
Sometimes, TIME is of the essence, other times, saving money
is the higher priority. As a rule, TIME is more important
than money, and quality of life is more important than
either. Still, there are times when saving money will be more
immediately pressing, but since TIME is always at a premium,
here are a few time-tested hints:
1) Make lists -- the five minutes it takes to make a list
saves TIME later. Shopping lists save TIME at the
supermarket; birthday lists save TIME trying to remember
people's birthdays and what they like. Making lists lets you
get things done in a time-effective manner.
2) Wear comfortable shoes. You make better TIME.
3) If you drive, make sure your car is running smoothly.
4) If something is broken, get it fixed. If you wait, the
problem can become exacerbated and take longer and cost more
to repair. [Ed. Ditto for teeth.]
5) Don't waste time doing things you don't want to or don't
have to, and certainly, not both together.
6) Women are famous for being able to do many things at once
due to the way their brains are created. Take advantage of
this ability but not when your concentrated focus is required
for something important, like your children's description of
their day at gan, or negotiating traffic.
7) Do whatever you can by phone. Pay bills, order stuff you
need, give birthday wishes (instead of shopping for and
mailing a card. Think of an original wish a day in
advance).
8) Have a lot of what you need at your fingertips. The way
mothers spread pacifiers around the house, have whatever you
need most in easy reach so you don't have to waste time
looking for it. I have dozens of pens spread out around the
house so that when I have to write something down, I can do
it immediately. Besides pens and pacifiers, you might have
tissues, wipes, notepaper, keys, your address book in
triplicate, emergency phone numbers, rubber bands, scissors,
needle and thread, safety pins, baby bottles, nosh. In the
kitchen: have several potato peelers, good knives, towels
etc.
9) Learn to delegate tasks. Let other people do what isn't
necessary for you to do personally. Recruit your husband,
children, neighbors, friends and professionals to do whatever
doesn't need your personal magic touch.
10) The same way people have car pools, you can organize an
errand pool. Some people never go to the post office, others
go every day. If you're one of the former but you go to the
grocery every day, whereas your neighbor doesn't, give her
your correspondence and get her some milk. You get to do some
chessed as well as saving time. [And maybe your
elderly neighbor will be happy to sew you on a button while
you're gone.]
11) Use the instant teller at the bank.
12) When you're shopping for non-perishables, stock up. You
don't have to buy olives and spaghetti every week. You can
buy enough for a month or two and keep your grocery shopping
time down to milk, cheese and eggs.
13) Buy a large freezer. You can stock up on meats and frozen
food and cook en masse so that many times you can just heat
up food for dinner.
14) Have set times of the year for doing things: washing your
car, going to the dentist, upgrading your computer. If you
have set times, you won't waste time trying to remember the
last time you had it done or looking for receipts.
15) Have tons of files. A filing system cuts down on having
to look for an errant piece of paper, bill, receipt, recipe.
Have a designated place for each file, label the file
clearly, and locating something won't take more than a
minute. [Fold bills and receipts text side OUT for quick
identification.]
16) Buy wigs that don't need styling, clothes that don't need
dry cleaning, ironing or hand washing. Everything you own
should require the least maintenance possible. That leaves
time for taking care of those little adorable things around
the house that require constant maintenance and don't come
with instructions.
17) Enjoy what you're doing. There's no greater waste of
time than doing something and not enjoying it, worrying
what you have to do next. If you're doing it anyway, get some
pleasure out of it.
18) Prepack bags. Examples: baby bags, beach bags, going-to-
the-hospital to have-a-baby bags, traveling-with-children
bags, your purse (small change, a bus ticket, a pocket
Tehillim, tissues). Instead of packing and unpacking your
beach bag, leave the stuff you need in it or replace wet
towels and bathing suits right away.
19) It's better to have things you use only once a year that
you keep for years than washing towels every year for Pesach
or koshering your pots etc. Make a one-time investment and
you'll have the stuff for decades.
[Too much of a good thing is not good at one TIME. Next week:
Tips 20 through 42. Readers are encouraged to send in their
own tips. We all have them! Take TIME out and benefit YATED
womankind!
Family Editor: S. Weinbach, Panim Meirot 1, Jerusalem. Or FAX
02-538-7998.]
