One Dad's Life

10 Unique Time Saving Ideas Busy Dads Can Use

My schedule is ridiculous.  There is really not time to just breathe, much less get anything done I need to get done. Doing things I merely want to do is nearly out of the question.  So this morning, I did a little brainstorming session to find ways I could gave a few extra moments here and there.  I'll have to tell you, some of these I'm already doing...but I'm not going to tell you which ones!

1. Install an "instant on" hot water system, constantly trickle hot water in the tub, and SLEEP there.  I'll wake up refreshed AND clean!
2. Issue sheets of paper to the kids full of the usual morning admonitions, saving me the time of constantly saying them: Stop playing with your toys, get dressed, don't get anything out, practice violin, feed the animals, zip up your backpack, paint your room, get in the car, etc.
3. Stop shaving. Grow a "mountain man" beard. I'll give you a minute to think about what that would look like on me.
4. Combine breakfast and personal hygiene activities by spreading toothpaste on my bagel.
5. Drive to work at twice the posted speed, swerve in and out of lanes, take dangerous risks.  My half hour drive of elevated heart rate will count as my aerobic exercise for the day!
6. Install my desk in the bathroom stall at work. This will have two benefits: should cut down on meetings and save on trips to the bathroom, which is on the opposite end of the building...and which are frequently necessary due to my soda addiction!
7. Install soda machine in the bathroom stall (see #5)
8. For the trip home, push-start my car UPHILL.  This will take care of the strength training portion of daily exercise!
9. Have my wife do my hobbies for me!
10. Invent a "thought to text" converter.  Install on my computer.  Install on my head. Write the blog while I sleep!

Losing the "Paper War"

There are so many things I want to spend my time on, the trouble I’m having is eliminating as many of the things I don’t want to spend my time on as possible.  If you’ve been reading here for awhile, you know that I have a super abundance of hobbies and time consuming activities that I enjoy.  Just doing this daily blog and related photography consumes a large part of my non-work time!  I’m guessing that since you are reading this, your vote would be that I don’t reduce the time I spend on these particular activities!  So clearly something else has to go.

 

Since I'm also not able to eliminate my time-consuming job, one area that I have attacked with a vengeance is the amount of effort I spend on bills and paperwork.  These are two things I despise!  Actually, anything financial, I despise, yet paperwork and just handling paper still seems to consume a lot of my time.  So, I’ve declared war on handling paper.

 

I think I am losing the battle.

 

Don’t get me wrong, over the years, I feel like I have made tremendous strides in these areas.  The first major inroad I made in this war was bill-paying using Checkfree and Quicken software.  I was already using Quicken to budget and track expenses and spending trends, and adding Checkfree made it possible to track an expense and pay it at the same time!  I even set up automatic payments for recurring expenses.  It was incredible!

 

This continued for many years, and then all the utilities, cable, phone, etc. began offering automatic payments that would withdraw funds from the account of your choosing on the due date.  I started signing up for these, as well.  It was more incredible!

 

I still had a bunch of financial paperwork to sift through, though.  The next step was eliminating the bill paper all-together, going with paperless statements (online) and automatic payments.  As a result, bill-paying has nearly become a thing of the past.  This is beyond incredible!  As a side benefit, this step also eliminated nearly 100% of the bill paperwork and envelopes clogging my workspace.

 

Somehow, I still had piles of paper stuff to deal with, though.

 

So, I did all the steps it takes to reduce or eliminate junk mail.  I’ve eliminated credit card offers (which used to get 2-3 a DAY), phone switch offers, mortgage offers, etc. and only get the occasional catalog in the mail.

 

Still the paper pile grows.  I think I’ve even heard it growl once or twice.  It scares me.  I don’t want to go down to my office late at night, anymore!

 

This year, our daughters’ school has even switched to just sending things either via email or posting on their website.  This should also help, but still the paper monster is taking over my desk. 

 

How is this possible?  Aren't we in the "paper-less" era?

 

How can I still be losing the paper war after all this effort?  I shudder to imagine what the problem would be like if I hadn’t been waging war on the Paper Monster all these years!

 

What are the next steps?  I think I need help from some paper elimination mercenary out there. What actions do you take to destroy the Paper Monster?