ReAnn Rothwell’s Money Saving Ideas, Tax & Organizing Tips

How often do you lose track of time and somehow many of the important things you want to get done just do not get done? Time is a limited and valuable resource. Once lost, it can not be reclaimed. We all need to learn to use your time wisely - to make the most of it whether for work or for play. :)Here are a 10 tips on how to make more time for the priorities in your life. (Assuming that you already know what those priorities are!)
1) Pay close attention to where your time goes by keeping a log of your daily routine for several days. Do the activities you fill up your time with follow your priorities and goals? Once you have a better idea of where your time goes, you can adjust it to make time for the things that are important to you. It is all a matter of making priorities and focusing on the things that are important to you.

2) Create a daily ‘to do’ list complete with target dates. Use your calendar and time your day. Planning your time will help you focus on your tasks and prevent you from wasting time trying to remember what you need to do. Figure out if you are a morning person, an afternoon person or a night person. Structure your day according to your work style and when you are the most productive. That is when you want to tackle your highest priorities. Then do your most important task first thing.

3) Figure out and eliminate the time traps, distractions and the unimportant things in your day. They are time stealers. It is amazing to see how much time is taken watching television, Web searching, playing video games, etc. Set aside specific times in the day to enjoy some of your favorite activities. Use them as rewards for getting things done ahead of time. Take control of your time instead of letting time control you.

4) Batch-task! For example, if you need to purchase groceries at the supermarket, think of the other things you need to purchase and the other businesses in the area you need to visit. Batch tasks together so you make one trip instead of multiple ones. Set time aside each day to answer all of your e-mails. Once. Get rid of e-mail reminder pop-ups unless you are waiting for a single important one. Don’t allow e-mails to interrupt your day all day long.

5) Meetings can take up a good chunk of a person’s lifetime. Whether it is a meeting at work or at school, meetings can run way over schedule. To run an efficient meeting, it is important for all meetings to have an agenda. This gives the meeting structure so that the time is well spent and the objectives are met. Designating someone as the facilitator to follow the agenda can make the difference whether the meeting runs on schedule or runs all day. If you can not control a meeting, a well placed comment or question can often times get a meeting back on track.
6) Do you find it hard to say ‘NO’ ? To your kids? Your boss? Your friends? Learning to say ‘no’ is a critical part of time management. Repeat after me: “I do not have to volunteer to do something just because no one else will do it.” “I can decline an invitation if you do not have the time to attend or that I do not really want to attend.” Set boundaries and exercise your power to choose the things that are important to you!

7) You may think staying up late to finish a task or to just ‘relax’ is saving you valuable time, but it can be self defeating. Getting a good night’s sleep is important for making the most of your time awake. Being well rested will help to make you more effective by preventing errors and having to do something over, thereby saving you precious time. The number one rule on sleep is to establish consistent sleep and wake schedules, even on weekends. (To find out how much sleep you actually need, click here.)

Get organized. Having a place for everything saves you time in having to search for something in clutter which usually adds even more stress to your life. Taking the opportunity to get organized will save you time over the long haul to accomplish your goals. You will also eliminate the stress in trying to find something that has not been organized. (Recurring theme of this blog!)

9) Learn to delegate at home and at work. You are not going to accomplish more if you decide to do everything yourself. Have your children, spouse or co-workers assist you with some of the work. This can also go hand in hand with the need to be perfect instead of striving to merely do your best. This will eat up time that is better spent on more important things. Chorebuster.net is the best chore program I have found - I highly recommend it. You can even use it in an office setting since you set up the tasks that need to be done.

10) Lastly, reward yourself. Celebrate the completion of your goals. The biggest reward will be decreased frustration and a sense of accomplishment when you begin to see that you are getting things done. This, in turn, will increase performance levels even more and keep you motivated.

Keep in mind that time is all we have and we can reap big benefits if we use it wisely and make time for the things and people that are important in our lives.