Time Savers Archives - The Zen Maker

Improve your drive to work and de-stress

Posted on October 4, 2010 by The Zen Maker

What do you listen to during your daily commute? Is it your local radio station with your favorite music or the local news? Would you like to read more and just cannot find the time? I have a solution to maximizing the time you spend in your car going back and forth to work.

My solution is listening to books on CD. Now, if you are a person that is easily distracted or has trouble listening and concentrating on driving, I don’t recommend this. However, if listening to a book while you are driving is easy for you, you might consider it. I find that it helps me de-stress and moves me into relaxation mode.

While books and CD can be expensive if you buy them, your local library has hundreds of books on CD of all varieties. No matter what type of books you enjoy reading, the library probably has several that will meet your needs. Also, with most libraries, you can reserve what books you want online and then pick them up at your convenience when they are ready.

My current favorite books are Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, Infinite Possibilities by Mike Dooley and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. Have you started listening to books in your car? Have you found that it helps you de-stress? If so, let me know!

TIVO – Your new best friend for saving time

Posted on September 30, 2010 by The Zen Maker

If you watch television at all you probably know that all those commercials add up to a lot of wasted time. The average half-hour television show is actually only twenty-two minutes long and the average hour show is forty-four minutes long. That means that for every hour of television you watch, sixteen minutes of it is time watching commercials. We all have our favorite shows that we watch and if you would like to maximize your television watching experience, I recommend TIVO or a digital video recorder.

Here are the benefits of using a TIVO:

*When you record your show, you can fast forward through the commercials saving a lot of time.

*You can still watch your shows when they originally air. You can start recording your favorite show with your TIVO and wait ten to fifteen minutes. You can then start watching it from the beginning and then skip all the commercials.

*You can records two shows at the same time.

*You can record one show while watching another show.

*You can watch your favorite shows when you it is convenient for you.

*You can pause anything you are watching at any time. This is espcially nice if you have children.

*You can rewind anything you are watching if you miss something. This is espcially nice if you have children.

*You don’t miss your favorite shows when you have something else to do because your TIVO records it for you.

*The TIVO is easy to set-up to record and you can get a season’s pass that will record every episode of your favorite show.

*If you are surfing and find a show that is in progress that you want to see in its entirety, TIVO can search to see if there are other showings of that exact show so you could record it from the beginning.

What TIVO tips do you have that help you to maximize your TV time?

Why you have to have the right tools

Posted on September 24, 2010 by The Zen Maker

My vacuum and I have had a rocky relationship for over 10 years. We have had fights, disagreements and flat out assaults. My vacuum could do 2-5 years if ever brought to trial. I am also not the only one who doesn’t like it, my dog hates my vacuum and he has always been a pretty good judge of character. If he is home when I vacuum, he barks and bites at it thinking that he will win the battle. Unfortunately, neither my dog nor I have ever won the battle or for that matter the war with the vacuum.

Every year after Christmas, it goes on strike after the multitude of needles from the tree have clogged it up. We go through the same routine where I have to turn it over exposing its dusty underbelly and take it apart. The vacuum doesn’t seem to appreciate the invasion of privacy and usually retaliates with pinching my finger in some manner. The expandable hose that allows me to clean the corners and crannies is a major source of conflict. The problem is that it doesn’t expand. When I pull it out and reach to get the dirt in question, it pulls the vacuum onto my head leaving me with a nice bump and usually some sharp words. It is heavy and a bit like lugging around a packed piece of luggage over your carpet.

I once owned this vacuum in part with a roommate. When we moved into our own places we had to divide the things we bought together, which wasn’t much. When it came to the vacuum, there was not a lot of debate. My roommate said, “You take the vacuum.” To which I asked, “What do you want in exchange?” They replied, “Nothing, you can have it.” In my opinion, this was one of the smartest decisions my roommate ever made.

Every year at Christmas, especially during our post Christmas fight and cleaning, I promise myself to get a new vacuum but I have yet to do it. I have checked out Consumer Reports on vacuums, looked at them at the store and tried out various vacuums at my friend’s house. I have oogled and admired many a vacuum at Costco. If someone is talking about a vacuum, my ears perk up and sometimes out of the blue I will ask my friends, what do you think of your vacuum, do you like it? Once they hear my story, the understand my plight.

Maybe this will be the year of the new vacuum. Just writing this makes me want to once again check Consumer Reports and see what’s new in the vacuum world. The moral of this story is to have good tools at your disposal. You have heard the saying, if all you have is a hammer, everything becomese a nail. Well if you don’t have the right tools, chores become more of a chore. You also waste money on something that is not ideal and someday you will spend more money to replace it or will suffer with it to get what you paid for out of it. From my experience, whether it be a vacuum, a rake, a garbage can, a mop, a printer or a watering can finding something that is easy to use and durable will make you happier when having to do household chores.

The joy of a clean car and not doing it yourself!

Posted on September 22, 2010 by The Zen Maker

I recently treated myself to having my car professionally detailed. I have spent many hot summer days vacuuming, washing and wiping down my car. I always love how it feels the next time I get in and it is spotless. This time, I decided to let someone else use their elbow grease to make my car sparkle and I was not disappointed.

The detail shop did the standard wash, vacuum and clean. However, in addition, they cleaned the nooks and crannies that collect dirt and are tedious to clean. They also waxed my car which I never do, even though I probably should. Another plus was that I dropped it off and went to work and picked it up at the end of the day. No waiting around for me so it saved a lot of time.

Sometimes it is good to treat yourself. I highly recommend taking cleaning and washing the car off of your to-do list once a year and indulge in having it professionally detailed. The detail people really know their stuff and have great tools. Another side benefit is that after you pay to have someone detail your car, you are much more diligent in keeping your car clean on a daily basis.

Pantry and refrigerator lists

Posted on July 5, 2010 by The Zen Maker

One of the ways that I stay organized is by creating lists of the regular items I keep in my pantry and refrigerator. The lists are alphabetized to make items easy to find and placed on the fridge door or on a hook in the pantry. Putting the lists in plastic covers and putting a sticky note on top makes it easy to write down items as you run out. If you create the lists on the computer, it is easy to update them when you need to add a new item that you are consistently purchasing.

The time and energy it takes to create the lists pays for itself with less trips to the grocery store mid-week to pick up an ingredient that you forgot for that night’s dinner. It also saves a lot of time when making out you grocery list and when planning your meals for the week. Another advantage of keeping a well-stocked pantry, is if you end up having one or two unexpected guests during the week and need to pull something together at the last minute.

I hope that you will consider taking the time to create pantry and refrigerator lists for yourself and see how easy it will make keeping your home stocked and ready for anything that comes your way.

Double it up Double it up

Posted on June 4, 2010 by The Zen Maker

A great time saving tip that I recommend for busy people is to double up recipes. Why, you ask? Well, for one thing it really doesn’t take much extra effort to just make more of something. You already have the ingredients out, the measuring cups or pans are already dirty and you are already in the kitchen cooking. The reason it will make your life easier is that when you don’t have the time to cook, pulling a homemade ready made meal out of the freezer is easy. Instead of stopping to get pizza, you can have a healthy meal that you prepared in advance.

The other great thing about making extra is having left overs. You can take them to work so you don’t have to buy lunch or you have them for dinner in a couple of nights. It saves time and money when you cook in larger quantities.

It is also nice if you are having company over that may be unexpected or last minute. You can pull out one of your delicious dishes from the freezer and still have time to tidy up before they get there. They will be amazed and you will be less stressed if you have a back-up plan. With a busy family comes uncertainty and a back-up plan is always a good thing to have.

One of my favorite recipes to double up on is cookies. I never make one batch of cookies. I always double it and freeze most of the dough. I separate it into smaller containers and whenever my family wants fresh cookies, I just pull the dough out of the freezer and in 20 minutes we have freshly baked homemade cookies. It does not take long when you pull the dough out of the freezer for it to soften enough to drop it onto a cookie sheet. Make sure that you lable and date anything you put in your freezer so you can rotate and use the oldest first.

I hope that the next time you go to make chili or chocolate chip cookies that you will double the recipe and then pack some away in your freezer for the next rainy day or cooking craving!

Dust off your slow cooker and save time

Posted on June 1, 2010 by The Zen Maker

When you are looking for ways to make your life easier, sometimes you need to look towards the tools in your home that you already have that you are under utilized. I love my slow cooker. I use it on a regular basis to cook delicious and hearty meals. With a little planning, it can help make meal time easier after a long day at work.

You can make one dish that you can stretch to make two or three dinners in a week saving you time and energy. For example, you could roast a chicken in the slow cooker and enjoy that on the first night. The next night, you could take the left over chicken, shred it and add some taco seasoning to have chicken tacos. If you have more chicken left over, you could stretch it a third night and add it to salad with egg, bacon, avocado, tomatoes and some cheese for Cobb salads.

The other nice thing to do with your slow cooker is to make a large batch of your favorite dish of chili, stew or soup and have it for dinner one night and freeze the rest to have in the future. That way when you are at a loss for what to have for dinner, you can just pull out a serving of your homemade slow cooker masterpiece and just add a salad or some rolls for a complete meal.

Another great use for the slow cooker is for parties. I often cook pulled pork in my slow cooker when having people over for a party. I serve it with buns and coleslaw and people love it. It cuts down on the amount I have to prepare before the party as I just put it all in the slow cooker and forget it.

A great website for slow cooker recipes is The Taste of Home Slow Cooker Recipes: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Cooking-Style/Slow-Cooker-Recipes. I like these recipes because they have reviews and include nutritional information for each recipe.

I hope that you will take a moment to plan a meal to cook in your slow cooker. You will be glad you did when you come home from work and smell the delicious dinner that is hot and ready to eat.

Get your Groupon Coupon!

Posted on May 31, 2010 by The Zen Maker

My favorite fairly new discount website is groupon.com. This website offers discounts of usually a minumim of 50% off of the value of the daily offer. How it works is that there is a daily coupon for a local business such as a local restaurant, wine bar, tour, museum, experience or merchandise in Seattle. The offer will be for $40 worth of food or merchandise at the discounted price of $20. Then, if enough people buy the groupon, then the deal goes through and you get your discount. You then get your certificate e-mailed to you and you just print it to take with you and enjoy your discount. You do have to check to make sure that follow any restrictions. You may need reservations or there may be a restriction that you can’t use it on Valentine’s Day. However, in my experience, I have not seen a lot of restrictions for the groupons.

Groupon offers daily coupons in many major cities. You can look up any city you like such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. or San Francisco and they will have a deal of the day as well. If you are travelling, it is nice to watch the groupon offers for that city for a few weeks so you can see if they offer anything that you might want to do while you are visiting. I recently did this on a trip to New York City. I got $60 worth of food for $30 in a restaurant I probably would have never found and it was the best meal of our entire trip. Groupon also offers tourist type activities such as discounts on local attractions. You might be able to get a tour or museum ticket that you were going to buy anyway but you can get for half-price. You can also become a tourist in your own city by taking a tour that maybe you have been meaning to do but haven’t gotten around to it. If you can do it at half-price, it would make it all the easier to go.

You can sign up on the groupon website to get a daily e-mail of the deal of the day. It just takes a few seconds to glance at the e-mail and see if it is something your interested in or not. The groupon usually expires at the end of the day unless there is limited availability and it sells out. I have only seen that a few times. So by all means, get your groupon!

Being organized = less stress

Posted on February 16, 2010 by The Zen Maker

Do you find yourself stressed and rushed as you leave for work? A little evening planning can alleviate the stress and get you to work early instead of late. The more that you do the night before to prepare for your day, the easier the morning can be for you. For example if you go to the gym after work, pack your gym bag the night before. That way, you won’t be running around trying to find your favorite gym shoes before you have had your morning cup of coffee. Another great tip is to make your lunch and your snacks for the day and have them ready to grab on your way out the door in the morning. You can save money by not eating out and it will probably be healthier too.

If deciding what to wear is always a challenge or takes up too much time, you can decide on your outfit and lay out your clothes the night before. This is also a great tip for children that struggle with getting out of the door on time. Another tip for kids is making sure that their backpacks with their home work, permission slips and gym clothes are packed and ready to go. Leaving those things to gather in the morning can lead to forgotten items or documents. Being organized helps make responsibility easy for children and hopefully their day will go better too.

OHIO and I don't mean the state

Posted on January 12, 2010 by The Zen Maker

This little acronym is helpful when sorting through anything but can be most impactful to change our lives when we apply it to paperwork. We have all done it, looked through a stack of mail or papers on our desk and dealt with the easy things and set the rest aside to be looked at later. Sometimes it may seem that the pile of paperwork did not get any smaller even after it was sorted. An acronym that I find helpful to solve this problem is OHIO. OHIO stands for Only Handle It Once. When you decide to sit down with a pile of paperwork it is best to do it next to the shredder and the filing cabinet so they are easily accessible. The key to only handle it once is to deal with each item individually and immediately. Once you are done with it, it should be put it in its proper place. If you need to make a phone call or fill something out, if at all possible, do it before moving onto the next piece of paper. This may seem easier said than done and I admit that it will take some practice. However, if you keep repeating the phrase in your mind while sorting through your stack of papers, you might find that it does get easier and quickly becomes a habit. Hopefully, a habit that will leave your world free of unnecessary paperwork and will cut down on the time you spend searching for that receipt you need because it is in your file where it belongs. Go OHIO!