Elimination, Batching, Outsourcing, etc for Home?

[Dixon]

We know the principles involved in getting more time to do what you want. However, sometimes things you do on a daily basis seem to go unnoticed when there could be improvement. This thread is for suggestions on how to outsource, batch, or eliminate duties around home such as cooking, cleaning, and laundry.

Please provide some of your own tips.

Things I've thought of implementing:

-Using a laundry and folding service once per week
-Having grocery shopping delivered
-Batch cooking food and then partitioning it into portable, throw-away containers with plastic forks in order to reduce cooking and dishes time and be able to eat on the run.

Other suggestions?

[Stallion]

Automate your bills.

If you can't automate certain ones, pay them on the same day.

In fact I go shop for groceries, do banking and pay bills on the same day.

[taurineblitz]

Laundry is deffinatly a big one. Most coin laundry mats in my area, NJ, have an in house laundry service. Instead of killing a time doing it yourself, just drop off your load and they charge by the pound to wash, dry and fold it. You save money bc you never have to buy detergent. Just come back and pick it up all done. I usually do mine on a Wednessay and drop off in the morning around 9 or 10 and its ready for pickup around 5-6. Wednesdays works for me bc not only are there less people doing laundry on Wednesday, but my laundry mat offers a discount on wednesdays, so its actually cheaper to use the machines and the price of the service goes down. I've tried to have it done on Saturdays, but alot of times everyone is doing or getting their laundry done on Saturdays, its crowded so even if you drop it off in the morning, you may have to pick it up on Sunday.

[ephigy]

Why not use the time you're at the laundromat to read or get phone numbers?

just a thought*

[jonparker83]

Batch cooking food and then partitioning it into portable, throw-away containers with plastic forks in order to reduce cooking and dishes time and be able to eat on the run.

This is something I always did back in the UK - it saves time, money (buying larger quantities) and is also useful when trying to get/stay in shape especially if you work 9-5.

It works best for things like chilli or stews but can also be done with meat e.g. cooking up a batch of chicken breasts at the beginning of the week to use in salads etc.

[Dixon]

Automate your bills.

If you can't automate certain ones, pay them on the same day.

In fact I go shop for groceries, do banking and pay bills on the same day.

Weird. Ever since I became of credit card age I've never paid bills manually. I've always had automatic payment for everything and assumed everyone else did this.

Anybody have new suggestions?

[repguy]

-Batch cooking food and then partitioning it into portable, throw-away containers with plastic forks in order to reduce cooking and dishes time and be able to eat on the run.



I do this and carry my meals in a cooler, it is the only way to eat "right" in a busy environment. Not to mention it helps avoid eating out. You can also cut down cook times if you can properly design a meal plan and multitask the cooking. For more on this John Berardi's precision nutrition series is great.

If you must do your own laundry and have the machines in your home toss a load in daily so you do not need to spend a single large amount of time on it or as mentioned use a laundry mat with several machines.

Hire a local kid to cut the grass and do yard work.

Get into home automation, what it can do to save you both time and $ is amazing. From starting your coffee maker a few minutes before you get up in the morning to taking care of some aspects of pet care and turning off lights by timer or voice command.

[webgal]

For meals:

I go to a place called dream dinners and order meals that I freeze. You can build them there with all their ingredients but I don't do this. I get them to do that then pick them up. You can have small meals that feed 3. If you are a party of one or two, that leaves a leftover for lunch. Or you can cook all of them for lunch. They have a "heart healthy" menu that is low in fat, too.

[repguy]

For meals:

I go to a place called dream dinners and order meals that I freeze. You can build them there with all their ingredients but I don't do this. I get them to do that then pick them up. You can have small meals that feed 3. If you are a party of one or two, that leaves a leftover for lunch. Or you can cook all of them for lunch. They have a "heart healthy" menu that is low in fat, too.

Good point, John mentions that in one of his videos though I have not tried it.

[JFrenzel]

Quick suggestion. It is faster and easier to cook from home. By the time you go to pickup food and so forth you could have cooked a healthy meal. For example, you can cook fresh salmon and sweet potatoes in 20 mins.


Really I would say the best is to cook at home to save time.

Jose

[webgal]

Well, the dream dinners is somewhere in between. They are "put together" . We still cook them at home. And since I have a home office, I have lunch. We get meals for 6 and there are leftovers which is great. So it's a lot less expensive than eating out and quite frankly, I've not found it more expensive than buying the stuff and putting it together. We still make stuff but it fills in some gaps.

[Stallion]

I guess I had a very long tard moment.

I always knew you could set up bills with your bank account, but I assumed that it was an automation thing. As in, the bill would automatically come out at a specific date and that was that. I didn't like this, since I don't plan to pay these bills for long, and it can be a real pain in the ass getting back money from a business that takes it out after you cancel something.

I just figured out I could set them all up and just pay them manually through the bank account. It requires about an extra 5 mins compared to automation, but much less than my old, go drive there and pay it method.

I was even doing bank juggling. I have a new bank account (well it isn't new, I've had it for 2 years). It is no fees, free checks and I get points for using my debit card. But I've always had to maintain my old bank account because I have my Visa from that bank.

Juggling was a huge pain in the ass, but I just figured out I can pay the Visa bill for that bank, through my other bank account.

This will cut off a lot of the crap of driving around paying bills.

[cjbarton]

Believe me, I can respect batching and eliminating - streamlining what you do. It makes you more effective, saves time, money, and even gas. However, maybe there's such thing as too much? I mean, it takes two minutes to throw laundry in. While you're doing that, you could be heating up a burger on a George Foreman grill (knocks the fat out! :)). I would say to be careful to become so obsessed about streamlining your life that you don't take time out of your day (or week) to do things that the rest of the human race do: cook dinner and do laundry. For someone like me who enjoys the creative process of cooking - I find it a benefit of my time. But, then again, that's just my 2 cents.

[badhank]

i batch haircuts and shaving.
i get my hair cut short and let it grow out for 2-3 months before having it cut again (just got it cut today actually).
as for shaving, i let it grow till i look like a taliban, and usually only shave after 5-7 days unless i have a meeting or get a complaint from the ladies.

also i always cook 6 meat portions (3 days lunch& dinner)at a time. salad you just throw together and same with veg/most side-dishes i eat. I hate Hate HATE preparing/cooking a meal for 20-40 minutes, then taking 20 to eat it... so much lost time.

[repguy]

Believe me, I can respect batching and eliminating - streamlining what you do. It makes you more effective, saves time, money, and even gas. However, maybe there's such thing as too much? I mean, it takes two minutes to throw laundry in. While you're doing that, you could be heating up a burger on a George Foreman grill (knocks the fat out! :)). I would say to be careful to become so obsessed about streamlining your life that you don't take time out of your day (or week) to do things that the rest of the human race do: cook dinner and do laundry. For someone like me who enjoys the creative process of cooking - I find it a benefit of my time. But, then again, that's just my 2 cents.

What takes the most time with cooking is prep, I still do meals with family and friends from time to time as I do enjoy cooking, I just know how to batch my cooking and multitask to produce my meals for the day, a burger on the george foreman is not really a meal but if you have a batch of spinach salad ready there you go, and you have saved some time by doing the prep work before hand. I eat 6-7x a day so it makes sense to batch it though I probably wouldn't have my meals prep'd for me as I enjoy cooking some others do not. After all it's all about making time for what you enjoy. I however don't see how you can enjoy cooking on the foreman grill, it is more for meals in a hurry. Also eat lean meats, you won't have a fat issue :)

I don't care if I do thing's the rest of society does, if I wanted to do things like them I would work a normal job. The point really is about not having to do what you arent good at or do not enjoy. I would love to buy one of those washers that is also a dryer so I didn't have to be around when the load is done but I do. I enjoy electronics and home automation so I use it. I enjoy cooking and conversation so I have friends over and cook for them but batching some things does make alot of sense especially if it makes me halthier, gives me more time and or makes me a happier person.

Each person needs to decide what to automate and what not to.

[Stallion]

as for shaving, i let it grow till i look like a taliban, and usually only shave after 5-7 days unless i have a meeting or get a complaint from the ladies.

Ha, I do this too. I usually shave when it gets ichy. I think I'm bound for another shave now.


I've also started the mass cooking for the week. First time I did this. I spent probably 10 minutes longer than it actually takes me to cook one meal, to complete a week of meals. Now all I have to do is put it on a plate, 2 minutes in the microwave and i'm ready to go.

[Free4Family&Community]

I need to start batch cooking. I usually cook carbs (pasta, rice etc) for two days but I usually don't cook the main part of the meal for more than one day.


I'll start from next week and see how it goes. I'll need to purchase a few plastic tubs to put each cooked into.:rolleyes:

[berlin]

I've eliminated all time spent on cooking - before reading the 4hww - the following way. It's probably nothing for gourmets but that's never been my focus:

+ removed the stove and microwave from my kitchen
(same goes for the tv which I threw out 3 years ago)

+ my fridge contains the following right at this moment, just the basic building blocks to prepare a non-cooked breakfast or snack after work or at night:
- 23 slices of precut breat (not white) (8 unpacked, rest backup)
- 500 g of margarine (250 unpacked, rest backup)
- 400 g of salami and other meats (150 unpacked ...)
- 600 g of cheese (200 unpacked ...)
- Apples and Oranges for two weeks
- 2 jars of marmelade (1 opened, rest ... backup)
- 5 L. of Grapefruit Juice
- 2 L. of Milk
- 3 bottles of white wine

This allows me to go shopping for food once every two weeks. Also, there's stuff that does not need to be cooked like canned tuna.

+ I've talked to a good, local restaurant close to where I work and negotiated a warm meal for 5,- € if I come in four times a week. They agreed and it's given me great variety. The fifth day or on weekends I eat outside, too. Wherever I feel like it. Never fastfood, though. It's just not my thing.

[Dus10]

AngelMinistries.com

This is a service that has no "requirements". They have pre-packaged food available, and it is typically about 50% cheaper than buying the same food in the store. Just sign up with a local sponsor church and pick it up each month.

Don't shop.

[Free4Family&Community]

It is good to hear from others saving time in the home

[berlin]

yes, it is! :) One of the strangest aspects for me is that it can be so hard to leave things untouched ... once their batched.

e. g. shopping ... I have to force myself to write everything down - especially the small, secondary objects - instead of heading to the store and buying them right away.

Also, there are two letters in my snailmail. Everytime I walk by they tell me ... "read me, I'm important, I'm a loveletter or the winning lottery ticket, I need immediate handling".

But no, I've batched both because I didn't enjoy wasting my time on them. So I'll wait until Friday to buy the toothpicks and pay the two bills


It is good to hear from others saving time in the home