Fall is an invigorating time of year, but it brings increased demands: school and work obligations, extracurricular activities, pre-holiday preparations - the list goes on.
With a recent poll indicating that the Number One luxury item is time, this is the perfect moment to reorganize your life to get more spare time.
Pass it on
There's an important time management principle that can help you accomplish this: delegate. By outsourcing or automating unpleasant, routine or low-payoff tasks, you'll free up more time for things you enjoy, such as spending time with friends and loved ones or pursuing hobbies and leisure activities.
Check the ideas on this list that you could employ in your home, or add your own. Then tally how much free time you'll add to each day.
Hire a housecleaner.
Even the most house-proud can benefit from having someone else come in to do the basics like vacuuming, dusting and kitchen clean-up.
Time banked: 3+ hours/week.
Shop from home.
Thanks to online supermarket delivery services and local organic food boxes, the only cart you'll need to push is the virtual shopping cart.
Time banked: 1 hour/week.
Cook quicker.
Do your dinner prep for the week while you're making your Sunday dinner. A slow-cooker makes it easy to prep when it's convenient for you, but have a meal ready when you're on the run. And there's nothing wrong with ordering in once in a while, as long as you can avoid unhealthy take-out choices.
Time banked: up to 4 hours/week.
Call a dog walker.
Chances are, Rover gets plenty of attention, so unless this is an important source of exercise or "me time," it's a good one to delegate.
Time banked: up to 1.5 hours/day.
Put a handyman to work.
Outsource straightforward maintenance tasks like yard work, raking leaves, snow removal and garage clean-up.
Time banked: 2+ hours/week, depending on the season.
Automate your banking services.
Finances are a snap when you become an online banking power user. From your desktop or laptop, you can take care of almost any banking need:
Set up automatic bill payments or pay your bills online
Transfer funds to friends, family or business partners who have bank accounts at other financial institutions with Interac* email money transfers
Monitor all your accounts - chequing and savings, investments, and loans and mortgages - 24/7
View accounts from other financial institutions through your My View® account profile
Time banked: 1 hour/week.
Total free time added to each day: 0 hours
The information provided in this article is intended for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide specific financial or other advice, and should not be relied upon in that regard.
