5 Ways You Are Wasting Time and How To Stop

Procrastination: (noun) the action of delaying or postponing something. It’s also my chosen method of wasting time. Not that I actively choose to waste time, but when I do it’s because I am procrastinating.

Have you ever looked up from your phone, television, magazine, or computer and thought, “Where the heck did the last hour go?” Those are easy to identify, harder to stop ways we piddle away our most precious commodity. But today, I’m sharing 5 ways you are wasting time, and probably don’t even realize it.

Wasting Time Making the Bed

My grandmother is a nurse. She taught me how to fold hospital corners on the bed perfectly. Harold’s grandfather was a veteran. He taught him how to fold sharp corners as well. Early in our marriage we fought over making the bed because we disagreed over its necessity. Especially since it’s difficult to sleep comfortably with your feet smashed into that little corner, anyway.

He always wakes before me, since I wait until the absolute last minute possible to jump out of bed, brush my teeth and get the kids to school on time. No hospital corners here. Save some time, skip the corners.

Wasting Time Doing Laundry

Obviously, I’m not saying don’t wash your clothes. But when you do, what setting do you choose? My washer has settings from light to extra heavy. The light setting washes for 6 minutes plus spin and rinse. Each additional setting increases in time from that.  So, unless you’ve just competed in a mud wrestling competition, there’s no reason really to choose the longer wash cycle. Save some time and money on water and energy.

Wasting Time Checking Messages

How much time have you spent looking for that email or text you know you received but didn’t respond to it at the time? Now you have an answer, but you can’t find the message. Or maybe you just forget to respond altogether until the person doubles back.

Here’s a tip: don’t check a message until you know you can respond to it. Especially if you are able to access messages from your smartphone. Use the preview function on your phone to get the gist of the message. If you have time, open it all the way and respond. If you don’t, leave it unread so you know it still needs to be checked.

Also, once you’ve read it and responded file it or delete it.  I’m not a zero inbox kinda girl (says the 3000 messages in my email inbox), but these practices help to save time while I am in there.

Related Post: Family Planning Tools: 3 Must Haves for Busy Families

Wasting Time Making Dinner

When Harold and I first got married I made it a goal to cook dinner like my great-grandmother used to every day. He was content to eat pre-packaged pasta meals and boxed lasagna. My way took about 90 minutes, was healthy and homemade. His way took 15 minutes and tasted like the cardboard package. We agreed to meet somewhere in the middle.

Now that we have children – highly active, super-fit children – cooking healthy, homemade meals that fit into our busy schedule and $100 grocery budget is a must. So we keep it simple, plan for more than one day at a time, and incorporate pre-prep.

Chicken, veggies, and rice or pre-packaged tortellini and spinach are recurring meals. Cut veggies all at once and store them for later use. Or make a batch of grab and go breakfast items and eliminate cook time in the morning altogether.

Related Post: Feed Your Family with a $100 Grocery Budget

Wasting Time Planning Your Schedule

Have you ever shown up at the wrong activity on the wrong day at the wrong time? Yeah me too. With three kids in three different schools and three sets of different activities, staying organized and on a schedule is a must.

If you haven’t started using my template to plan your month in one hour you’ve already wasted time. Using a system to keep yourself and your family on track and on a schedule is a great way to save some time. Download your free Plan Your Month In One Hour Printable and get started today.

If you like this post, you’ll love these too: 

• How To Plan Your Month In One Hour Or Less
• 5 Things To Do at the Beginning of Each Month
• 5 Time Saving Shopping Tips for Groceries

Have you been wasting time in these ways? What will you do to gain more time and get more done?