Women at work and their tips, challenges, advice, complaints, and experiences

Whether you are a Workerette whose commute involves an hour in traffic or a walk across the hall in your slippers, it's always a good idea to incorporate ways of saving time and energy into your daily or weekly routine.  After all, we only have so much time in a day, so why not make the most of it and be able to spend more of it doing things we love instead of the things we "must do"?

Here are just a few of the little habits I've developed over the years that equal minutes shaved off tasks here and there.  Believe me, they may not seem like much individually, but they do add up!

1. Buy two towels for each individual in your household.  If you think back to my going green tips, you'll remember that I suggested that you save water and power by using towels more than once.  You'll also save time if you don't have as many to wash.  Let each family member choose a color, or better yet, buy all white towels (a la hotels) and pop a monogram on each.  Don't feel like embroidering anything?  Use fabric paint or a fabric marker.  Even less time-consuming is throwing hooks on the wall with name plates or letters.  Folks can hang their towel on the hook to dry out after use.  While one is in the wash, the other is being used.
2. Do the same thing with sheets.  I used to have a huge stack of sheets for our bed and my daughter's bed.  I donated most of them when I realized that we pretty much wash and use the same sets each week!  Now I have two sets of sheets for each bed; I couldn't drop down to one as I've had enough sick kids to know better.  If you have several beds of the same size, use the color choice method or switch to all white and it won't matter which bed the sheets go on as long as they fit.  Again, while you're washing and folding one set, the other set can be put on the beds.
3. Hang as much clothing as possible.  It will take up less room in storage and you won't spend as much time folding it.  Be sure to eliminate clothing from your wardrobe seasonally.  Look for items that have been outgrown, are worn out, or are simply not worn any more.  Do everybody's closet in one weekend and immediately do a donation run.  Cleaner closets, less clothing to fold, fewer minutes wasted deciding what to wear, and a tax deduction.  Suhweet!
4. Set up automatic bill payments with your bank whenever possible.  You'll spend less time writing checks or visiting websites manually to pay bills; you can also save on postage and skip the run to the mailbox to drop them off.  Be sure to check with your bank about this.  If your bank charges a fee for automatic bill payment, it may be time to switch banks or at least ask the branch manager to waive the fees in order to keep your business.  There are plenty of places that do not charge for this service, so they should make it worth your while to stay!
5. Change your perspective.  If you have kids, a spouse, or a roommate, sit down and think about what tasks you perform day in and day out that could actually be delegated to someone else.  I saved myself time when I realized that I didn't care if the kids' beds were made perfectly - I just wanted the covers pulled up fairly neatly and the pillows in place at the head of the bed.  I taught my girls that as long as they did this and did their best, the bed was "made".  And I had fewer beds to make.  Extra tip here: eliminate all those foo-foo pillows.  Get yourself a nice bedspread or duvet and when you wake up each morning just pull everything up to the head of the bed neatly and plop your pillows on top.  If you're like most people you'd probably be fine with a "made" bed, if it means choosing between a pile of messy sheets or hospital corners.  Cut yourself and your helpers some slack and you'll have more time to do something fun as a family.