Time is a precious commodity and we all need to find ways to save time in our lives. You only have a limited number of hours on this earth, so wouldn’t you rather spend them doing things you love? You want to fill your life with precious family moments and exciting adventures, and not spending hours each day keeping your home clean and tidy.
Housework takes up a monumental amount of time, but it’s essential to ensure your home is a pleasant place to live in. And it sometimes feels like you’re fighting a losing battle. By the time you’ve finished tidying, sweeping, dusting, wiping, and spraying, it’s only a matter of time before you need to do it all over again. You have to do the laundry, cook meals for the family, and look after your children, all the while at times holding a full-time career. At the end of the day you’re exhausted and rarely have any time left for yourself.
But with some careful planning and time management, it is possible to enjoy more freedom in your days. By following these four tips, you will be able to spend less time working on your home and more time chasing your dreams.
Go minimalist
The practice of minimalism often gets a bad reputation, as people often think it entails sleeping on a bare mattress in an empty home with no possessions. But being minimalist is not about having nothing, it’s about living well with what you have. Minimalism requires you to only own possessions that you need or make you happy, and getting rid of everything else. You need to be mindful about things you bring into your home, and ensure everything has its place, where it is always returned after use. Once you get to grips with minimalism, you will find that your house is much tidier with a lot more space to enjoy. As a result, you will spend a lot less time tidying up and cleaning. As we anticipate moving into our new home later this year I cannot wait to throw a bunch of things out….it might include lots of kid stuff! 🙂 Seriously though, the toys and stuff we have acquired since having children are staggering.
Look after your appliances
One of the most frustrating drains on your time is having to fix a busted appliance. When your dishwasher, oven, or shower fails on you, you have to spend hours trying to repair it or calling in a tradesperson to mend it for you. But by keeping your appliances well maintained and looked after, you can avoid this eventuality. Every few weeks, give your devices a good clean and clear out the filters to ensure they are good as new. If you’re careful, you’ll never need to call a plumber or a 24 hour AC repair company again.
Create a schedule
Scheduling your week is the best way to get chores done efficiently and maximize your use of time. At the start of each week, create a detailed plan for the next seven days outlining the jobs that need to be completed and when you will do them. This is something I am horrible at, but the weeks I actually sit and write out my week, I am amazing at how much more gets accomplished. Scheduling also has helped me sleep better at night because I know everything is written out and nothing will fall through the cracks!
Hire someone
Hiring a cleaner, nanny, or maid to look after your home is the most effective way to free up your schedule. Of course, it comes at a price, but now that the housework is no longer in your hands, you will have a monumental amount of free time to enjoy as you see fit.
