Do you need a few extra hours in your week..?

Believe me, weeks here are totally crazy!!  I always need more time in my days.....there is never enough time to get the things done that I have to do let alone time for other ventures.  And with winter sports about to start that means a lot more time out of the house at both training and games...ugh I need more hours in my week!!!

So it was perhaps fate that led me to an article over at Mouths of Mums a few weeks ago titled "Time Poor?  Like An Extra 10 Hours  A Week"... you can check it out here....with a title like that I totally had to give it a read!

Okay so I'll admit that I was quite sceptical...seriously, how can I find an extra 10 hours a week??

The article pointed out that time is limited...each and every one of us has 24 hours in a day but how we each use those hours is different.  Making the best use of our time will be where we can get an extra 10 hours a week..

The article goes on to list potential time savers...

#1  Social Media
Hands up if you spend a little bit too much time on social media...yep my hands are up...that is totally me...just pop on for 5 minutes and two hours later...whoops!!!
The suggestion here is that if you are susceptible to finding yourself immersed in social media for hours a day then perhaps you need to set yourself some limits like 2 x 15 minute sessions a day.  Based on the assumption that this would save you 30 minutes per day you have just saved yourself 3.5 hours over the week!

#2  Prepare Meals Ahead Of Time
The suggestion here is to cook a few extra meals over the course of a weekend and pop them in the freezer for quick and easy weeknight meals. I love this idea and especially with a thermomix it is easy to have say beef stroganoff or spaghetti bolognaise cooking away while you prepare the evenings dinner in the oven or slow cooker.  But my tip here is to get those spare meals into the freezer asap....or else they won't last long with hungry teens!
If you did this for 3 meals a week you could save yourself 30 minutes on each of those nights, adding up to 1.5 hours over the week!

#3  Cluster Tasks
Rather than jumping from one job to another the idea here is to cluster like jobs together...so sit down for an hour or two and pay all of your bills, do all of your admin type work etc.. Do the same with housework tasks too.  It is easier to perform like tasks all at once rather than jumping from one task to another. This is an area I need to work on with my short attention span lol !!   They estimate that this could save you 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week which is 1 hour over the week!

#4  Menu Planning
We all know the benefits of menu planning but I'll admit that I fall off the menu planning wagon nearly every week!  Menu planning and shopping once a week will save you time thinking of what to cook and making multiple trips to the grocery store...seriously sometimes I feel like I am at our local shops everyday!.  This could save you 30 minutes 3 times a week which is another 1.5 hours across the week!

#5  Write A List
By spending 15 minutes of an evening writing a 'to-do'list for the next day you will give yourself clear direction for that day...this is a good one for me to get into the habit of so that as soon as I get home from dropping the girls to school I can grab my list and start being productive!  By doing this you will save yourself at least 15 minutes trying to get started in the morning.  Saving 15 minutes 5 days a week will save you 1.25 hours across the week!

#6  Get Up Earlier
Okay this might be my least favourite tip...much easier said than done!!  But I will admit that those child free minutes of a morning can be some of the most productive all day! By getting up just 15 minutes earlier each day over 7 days you would save 1.75 hours a week.  

So there you have an extra 10.5 hours in your week from those 6 pretty easy steps.

I definitely think I will have to work to incorporate all of these into my week starting right now!!  I need every minute that I can get!!

Do you have any other great ways to get more time in your week?  

Mine would be to fill my petrol tank to full once a week instead of putting $10 in the tank nearly every other day! 

I've just got to get over handing over so much money for petrol in one hit...but the time I save would be valuable!