7 steps for Saving Time (for Organizing Your Life)

We all wish we had more time to do the things we love. But the list of things to do seems to never end. Here are seven simple organizing techniques which can save you a few minutes every day or week, and that the time that you can devote to do absolutely anything you like.

1. Getting a portable file box (which you can usually buy for about $ 10) and a letter box hanging folders. Create a separate file for the monthly bills, bank statements, medical bills, "to do" file, and so on. Then hang up these files in your file box so that you can move your "filing cabinet" of the area in which you pay your bills. This type of box is easily stowed out of the way when you are not using it, too.
2. In front of the mill, recycling box and the box of files when you go through the day's mail. Make a point to touch each item only once. Each piece of mail which is recycled, shredded or filed in the "To Do" file of your file box. (You can save more time by reducing the amount of junk mail you receive. Simply send your name and address, as well as a $ 1 check or money order, payable to DMA Mail Preference Service, PO Box 282, Carmel, NY 10512). You will also have to be placed in the "To Do" file all documents that need your attention in the short term, such as awarding of tenders and bulletins of the church or children of the school.
3. Designate one day a week to manage components of your "To Do". Paying the bills, catch up on your deposit, and note on your calendar deadlines for bills, you are not going to pay it right away. For bills credit card, for example, I note the payment deadline, and I make a notation in my calendar, ten days before the deadline (to make sure that I send it off in many time for it to arrive in time.) Store everything it takes to pay the bills in a separate file from your file box in order not to waste time in finding the essentials: stamps, address labels, envelopes, calculator and pen.
4. Organize items that you may need to reference such as warranties and instruction manuals, three-ring binder with clear plastic covers (which allows you to drop inside paperwork). This allows you to easily switch between binder to find one that suits you.
5. Develop a Chore Chart help your children learn the value of being organized. Assign each child an age appropriate level chores. You may want to ask your children how they would like to divvy chores. (Kids love to give their input.) Make a table in your word processing program for each child, so they can put a hook when they completed each task on each day. We have our chore chart posted on the fridge, and I am always amazed by how excited children go to check their chores (even if they earn nothing, but a hook).
6. Keep a shopping list and a pen on the fridge. Do not use a dry-erase board for grocery lists because you want to be able to rip off the list and take at the store.
7. Make sure you have a good book and write appointments of all your commitments and deadlines on a calendar: work commitments, the important things to do with children, carpool schedules, birthdays, dates of deadline for bills and library books, etc. Plan your daily training sessions, also.
   

Now, take a break and enjoy the extra time that you have saved by being organized.