Function Before Form
So there are a couple of things in my house that might seem odd to a visitor, but are huge time savers for me. The first is that I have a pencil sharpener permanently attached to the wall in the playroom. A manual crank kind, nothing that would need it’s batteries replaced. This is because I was getting so sick of hunting down a sharpened pencil every day at homework time. For some reason pencils are attracted to toddlers like magnets, and they will usually break the tip off within seconds of picking it up. (They also like to bite the erasers off, but that’s another problem.) So I have a small flower pot that is used to store the pencils, and a pencil sharpener right next to it. This has been a huge help in getting homework time moving without frustration.
The other one is a little more strange. I have a hairbrush tied to the door knob of the downstairs bathroom. Every morning part of our routine is the question, “Has anyone seen a hairbrush?” We have probably half a dozen in the house, but can never seem to find one. I decided that we would always know where one was if I tied it tightly to the doorknob with a three foot length of ribbon. Now the kids have to stand right by the door to brush their hair in the morning, but it has saved a lot of stress!Anyone else have some time saver tips?
Amy you’re a genius!
I buy one of those boxes of garbage sacks for the kitchen garbage and just put the entire box at the bottom of the garbage, this way when you go to take out the garbage the sacks are right there. I also just put a stash of sacks in the bottom of all the garbages in the house.
I bought a little plastic tote with a handle, one to fit all my household cleaning supplies in and then I can easily carry it around the house as I clean, instead of trying to hold onto multiple cleaners as I go upstairs.
I am going to try that. I can’t find ANYTHING. I love the pencil sharpener idea we are always looking for sharpened pencils and can never find them. Thanks for the tip they may seem strange to some and genius to others. Anything to make life a little easier and my day run more smoothly is heaven sent.
That is hilarious and cool!
I know this one is kind of lame, but it is one of my favorite kitchen short cuts. When a recipe calls for softened/room temperature butter, all of your butter is in the fridge and you don’t want to wait to defrost it or accidentally melt it in the microwave… Just shred the cold butter with a cheese grater right into your mixing bowl. This trick works great with cookies and pie crusts.
To save time I get dressed before I shower. Then I drive to work with the windows down to dry off. It’s really quite refreshing.