How to Save Money

Time Saving Tips

Because time is a precious, non-renewable resource everybody in todays modern world is looking for ways on how to Save Time. Organising your everyday life and simplifying daily tasks can not only save you a lot of time each day but it can also mean that you feel less stressed and worn out. At work stop watching the clock and waiting for 5pm to come around and impress your boss by working more efficiently and productively with a few simple time saving tips and techniques.

The following FREE ideas, tips and hints will hopefully be able to help you to save time when performing your everyday tasks, especially when in comes to doing the housework or cleaning around your home. This will mean that you will have a lot more time to spend with those people that are important in your life, your children, your family, your friends or even yourself.

Time Management Techniques

• If you are the sort of person that is always running late then an important thing to do is to make sure that all of your time clocks are synchronized to exactly the same time. For example if your home clock, watch, phone and car clock all read different times that you will have little chance of getting to an important appointment at the correct time.
• Planning your work day is important to ensure that you get as many jobs completed in the limited amount of business time available. When you are planning your day always put an estimated amount of time next to each job so that you can stay on track throughout the day. For regular jobs that you do every day look at your clock, time how long it takes to complete the task and use this figure when planning subsequent days work.
• A good alternative to monitoring job times yourself manually is to obtain computer software that can monitor for you how much time you spend on each task. This time management software is especially useful when you need to multi-task many important jobs or provide a timing service that indicates how much time has been spent on each job for billing or charging purposes.
• A sure fire way to stop wasting time throughout the day it to stop looking at the clock. You will be more productive and efficient if you stop worrying about whether the time clock has got to 5 o'clock yet and just get on with it. In fact you will be amazed at how the work day flies when you are manage your time properly and are actually busy.
• If you have a large project to complete then simplify it by writing down everything that needs to be done. Then place the tasks in order and set up a realistic time line for completion. Finally, in order to save your time try to delegate as much as possible to others people.
• A lot of people when travelling on a short trip like to keep their watch or clock on their original or home time zone. This makes it much easier to communicate with people at work or home.
• When you travel on a longer leisure or business trip always change your watch or clock to the local time zone and simply remember how many hours you need to add or subtract from the time when you need to call the office or home.

Household Time Management Tips

• Get yourself a reminder software (either buy one or get one free from the internet). Time is easier to keep track of with this software, as well as remembering all your important events and ensuring that you pay your bills on time.
• Get yourself a drawer or filing system of some kind to help you to organize and file things away neatly. Make a folder in there for shopping and keep cuttings of things that you find interesting or may need to research later.
• After organizing and filing all of your documents in separate folders in your drawer or filing cabinet make a list of all the folders and the exact drawer that they are in and tape it to the side of the filing cabinet. This will avoid you duplicating folders and also save time when looking for documents.
• For large purchases or electrical products keep the receipts stapled to a copy of the store catalogue and file it away in a common folder. This will make refunds, repairs and warranty claims in the future much quicker and easier to handle.
• Tax time is one of people's worst times of the year. Make tax time much easier and simpler by keeping everything tax and employment related for the current year filed together in one folder.
• Set aside one box or drawer where you keep all of the CD's, DVD's and instruction manuals for your computer or electrical appliances so that it doesn't take a long time to find them when you need them.
• Have a bill paying system whereby you place all unpaid bills it a drawer or tray. Then save time by paying them in one batch every fortnight.
• Send your birthday cards for the upcoming month at the same time as you do your bills. Keep an Excel spreadsheet with everyone's birthdays and anniversaries ordered on it so that you can do this with a single glance.
• Organize clothes in sets (on hangers) for kids and also for yourself. It will save you a lot of time in the morning when you are racing against the clock to decide what to wear.
• In order to keep your junk drawer, jewellery or bedside drawers organized and free of clutter you can use small plastic cutlery trays which will save time when it comes to looking for small items.
• If you are a day dreamer, forgetful or have trouble remembering things then place an errand basket or notice board next to the front door so that you will always remember what jobs need to be done.
• When you find items of clothing or a kids toy that you don't need anymore place it in a donation box in your home. Then 2 or 3 times a year you can donate the contents of the box to a local charity and you will save a lot of time when it comes to spring cleaning your wardrobe or cupboards.
• Attach a key rack to the wall and make sure that you always put your keys on it. This way you will never again be late looking for lost keys. Alternatively you can have a second set of keys cut and keep them in a permanent, dedicated place within the house.
• Keep a list of important phone numbers and local restaurants menus next to your home phone.
• You can save a lot of time by doing two things at once, such as exercising whilst watching your favourite TV show or having a fun time playing chasey with the kids.
• Reduce your TV time by only watching your favourite TV shows or taping them and then watching them without the ads. Also you can consider having a no TV day. You will be surprised by the amount that you can get done with all the time saved.
• Take a small amount of your free time to create check lists for some important and commonly performed routines, such as holiday packing list, emergency fire plan, before leaving the house list, moving house list, etc.
• Make sure that you have all of the important items that you might need stored neatly in your car, such as an umbrella, plastic bags, water bottle for the radiator, tissues, list of important phone numbers, spare change for parking, blank paper, pens, etc. Also make sure that your car's clock time is accurate so that you are not late returning from errands or going to appointments.
• Make a Weekly Routine Chart for each member of the family outlining the chores, homework, bedtimes, scheduled events and jobs that are necessary for things to run like clock work. Spreadsheets like Excel or even a whiteboard can come in handy for this purpose.
• To get your old car registration sticker off your windshield simply rub it firmly with a piece of cotton wool soaked in nail polish remover.
• If you are a regular buyer of publications like time magazine, gardening magazines or newspapers then you can save money by getting a subscription, time by having the magazine home delivered and the hassle of having to remember to get it each day or month.

Time Saving Tips in the Kitchen

• You will be amazed at how simply keeping a Weekly Menu Plan will save time when it comes to creating a shopping list and also getting organized around meal times for the coming week.
• Keep a shopping list attached to the fridge and every time that you find something that you need to buy write it on the list there and then. This will help you to save time when it comes to writing up your shopping list.
• Buy some clear, see through containers for your fridge and pantry. This will save you time because you will quickly and easily be able to see the level of the contents and whether or not you need to buy more then next time that you go shopping.
• Wash very dirty dishes at once, especially your saucepan or frypan that has burnt food onto it. Putting boiling water in it and washing it straight away will save time having to scrub it for hours later.
• When you are cooking keep a bag or bowl right next to you to put rubbish in. This way you don’t need to run to the waste bin all the time during your cooking.
• If you pour your drinks over the sink and peel your food over the rubbish bag then you will save time by preventing messes & the need to clean up afterwards.
• To prevent your oven or stove from getting dirty in the first place line it with a thick sheet of aluminium foil, which can be easily removed and replaced.
• If you add a few drops of vinegar to icing sugar then it will set in half the time without affecting the flavour. Also if you add a dessert spoon of condensed milk to the icing it will stop it from cracking.

Laundry & Cleaning Time Savers

• When you are storing your bed sheet sets place them in one of the pillowcases, so that the whole set always remains together.
• When you mop the floor use your kitchen rubbish bin as the bucket so that your garbage bin gets washed out every once in a while.
• Pre-sort your laundry with one large mesh bags for light coloured clothes and one for dark clothes. Then when it comes time to do the laundry all you have to do is dump the bag's contents into the washing machine, add the powder and turn it on.
• Arrange the furniture in your house in such a fashion that the vacuum, broom or mop will fit underneath and around any corners. This way you don't waste time and effort moving the furniture every time that you clean.

Save Time Shopping

• Do as much of your shopping online as you can, especially for groceries and other items that you buy regularly and don't need to inspect before purchasing. You will be saving time driving to and from the shops as well as saving money on petrol and unnecessary impulse purchases. Remember to always take into account the cost of any delivery fees and what time of day the shop can deliver your groceries.
• If you prefer grocery shopping in person then make sure that you write out your grocery list according to the major aisles in the supermarket. This will make shopping in the actual store much faster and prevent time wasted backtracking through the aisles.
• If the shopping trolleys at your supermarket require you to put in a refundable coin then make sure that you always keep some spare coins in a separate pocket in your purse or wallet. That way it will always be handy when you need it.
• Before you go to a shop and/or venue that is a long way away call them before you go to check their opening times and make sure that they are not closed on that day.

Save Time at Work or in the Office

• For office managers, have time and attendance software installed and set up on all of the office computers. This will allow you instant access to who’s been working on what for how long, and will also let you keep track of costs, scheduling, and many other details. Information that would normally take up a great deal of your time can then be accessed in seconds.
• Before you begin work for the day plan your business time so that you will be far more productive. Make sure that you are realistic about what you can actually accomplish in a day and prioritise the tasks so that you do the most important jobs first.
• You can reduce interruptions at work by moving your desk so that people who pass by your door cannot catch your eye as they walk past and hence save them from interrupting you unnecessarily.
• For some people mornings are always a total rush. If this is the case then save time in the morning by getting things ready the night before. Preparing things such as your clothes, lunch, bags packed by the door and even your breakfast partially prepared will not only save time but will also make your mornings a stress free time.
• If you are reading a business or work document then always read it with a highlighter in your hand. This way you can easily mark the important parts immediately and save time at work by avoiding the need to re-read the document later.
• Prepare for business phone calls by making a short list of what you need to talk about before you call someone. This ensure that you won't forget anything and waste more work time by having to call them back later.
• Whether you are using the computer at home or at work be sure to always save your work every 10-15 minutes. This will save you time and untold frustration if you have to do it all again in the event of the computer freezing or sudden power outage. Even better is to enable the autosave feature so that you don't have to keep one eye on the computer clock or wall clock and remember to save the document when 10 minutes has elapsed.