7 Simple Ways to Save an Hour a Day

1. When you make dinner, triple the recipe. If you are making lasagna make three pans, one to eat and two to freeze. After one week of tripling your dinners you will have two weeks worth of dinners prepared and in the freezer. Imagine not having to cook dinner for two full weeks.

2. Instead of spending time running to the store every time you need to send a thank you or birthday card, create a card organizer and stock up when you are at the store. Just get a small portable file box and put in folders labeled – Birthday, Thank You, Graduation, Baby, Wedding, Anniversary and Blank. Buy cards in bulk and keep them in the appropriate folder. Then, when you need a Birthday card it will take you a matter of a couple of minutes to get one off in the mail. Also, it allows you to stock up on cards when they are on sale.

3. When you are filling your car up with gas use the time you have while the gas is pumping to clean out your car. Throw away all of the garbage. Keep moist car wipes under the seat so you can wipe everything down. Clean the windows (inside and out). No more spending time on your weekends to clean out your car!

4. Simplify Your Email. There are 3 types of emails.

1. Junk.

2. Emails that require an action or response from you.

3. Emails that you are simply interested in reading or using as a reference (but don’t require a response or action).

Delete the junk and respond to action items immediately, if you can. Store the ones you want to read or reference in a “To Read” folder. Make it your goal to clear out your inbox at the end of every business day when possible.

Do important or urgent action items immediately (when possible). Don’t feel obligated to respond to forwards, or to even read them. If you are interested in reading it but don’t have time at the moment, simply store it in a “To Read” folder. Never put any emails that require an action or response in your “To Read” folder. Respond to personalized emails right away and stop responding when an interchange has served its purpose.

5. Keep your paperwork organized. How much time do you spend searching for a specific piece of paper or a file? According to Real Simple magazine, if you live in America, you spend 55.2 minutes per day on average trying to locate things! That’s 14 days per year! The number thing people spend time searching for is paper documents. Set up an easy to use home office file system and schedule a few minutes each day to maintain your system.

About the Author

Heidi DeCoux is the publisher of the Life Made Simple e-Magazine and is a professional organizer, speaker, and productivity coach in Minneapolis. Heidi energizes her readers’ lives by simplifying their homes and schedules. For more info, free tips, and to receive her FREE special report, The Fast & Easy Way to Get Organized and Stay Organized, Forever, visit http://www.HeidiDeCoux.com. You’ll discover how to find what you want fast, so you can spend more time having fun!