6 Life Hacks to Be More Efficient at Home
SOURCE: Houzz
Simple tricks like doubling up on tasks and streamlining filing can free up more time for fun and relaxation
Want to be more efficient with your time at home? Check out these quick and easy ideas to find out how you and your household can banish time-wasting and be more productive.
1. Fill the Spaces
Have a monotonous household task to complete? Make use of your time by combining it with something more interesting or useful.
While you wait for the coffee to brew or a pot of rice to cook, you could wipe down the countertops, empty the dishwasher or vacuum a room. Similarly, while you’re folding laundry, you can listen to a podcast, an audiobook or a radio program.
2. Identify Your Clutter Hotspots
Look around your home and figure out which areas tend to gather the most clutter. It could be the entryway console, a kitchen countertop or perhaps the dining table — anywhere you tend to dump things such as papers, keys, gloves, pens or notepads.
These dumping grounds aren’t going to disappear so you may as well embrace them. Buy storage specifically for each spot, so you can easily sort and organize all the items.
3. Put Things Where You Need Them
If you want to clean your home without making a production of it, little and often is key. To ensure the task is as easy as possible, keep your cleaning products in the room where you’ll use them.
Store a caddy of household cleaners and cloths in the bathroom so you don’t have to traipse to the kitchen to pick up your essentials. Or keep the vacuum cleaner in a cabinet near rooms with carpets rather than rooms you need to sweep and mop.
4. File Your Home Information
Avoid wasting time searching for essential information about your home by keeping it all in one place.
Whenever you sign up for a new bill, buy something for the home or even paint a wall, keep the related paperwork. Allocate a few paper or digital folders to store the information, no matter how trivial you might think it is. You never know when you might need to refer to assembly instructions or find the name of a paint shade.
5. Audit Your Belongings
The most efficient storage is that which provides a home for your items and is easy to access. Put aside some time to go through your belongings and donate or recycle anything you don’t need. Once you’ve identified the items you want to keep, you can begin to devise the perfect storage.
Hang shelves, buy cabinets or hire a carpenter to build custom storage. Ensure each item has a home — preferably near where you use it.
6. Collect Your Mess
No matter how neat you intend to be, there are always going to be items left out at the end of the day. Rather than making multiple trips to put things away in various rooms, gather them up in a clutter bag or bucket.
Pop baskets, boxes or bags in every room and use them to store anything that’s been mislaid. Allocate a regular time slot when you can take your clutter bucket around your home and gather items to restore to their proper spots.
SOURCE: Houzz