Are you running out of time every day? Too many things on your to do list and not enough time to get everything done? Welcome to the “busy mum” club!

If you are like me, you are the queen of multi-tasking and have perfected the art of cutting corners and doing just enough to get by, simply because you don’t have enough time to do all the things you would like to.

An important concept to remember is that “time is limited. Money is unlimited”.

Now to many of you, this may sound like a contradictory statement. Who has unlimited money? What a crazy notion! But, if you think about how many hours you have in a day, you will quickly realise that we have all been given the same 24.

Maybe we use them differently, some of us to maximum effect, others with no plan at all, just a scattergun approach of getting jobs done, going out to work, jumping from task to task with no real plan. But, no matter how we use them, we all only have the same number of hours to spend each day.

Money on the other hand is an almost never ending commodity. No matter how much is spent, there is always more to be earned, won, inherited etc so, there is always the possibility that you can have more. So expand your thinking and think abundantly.

But, let’s get back to time. How can you make the best use of the time that you have? How can you be more efficient with your tasks? How can you structure your life so that you can get everything done and still have time to spare?

Well, let me give you some strategies that can potentially save you 10 hours a week:

Strategy #1: Social Media.

Social media can be a real time waster.

Sure, it is fun to catch up with friends, see what they are having for dinner and who is tagging who in photos. However, if you have a lot to do, it can be very time consuming, and it is easy to waste an hour scrolling through your newsfeed, making a few well-timed comments and likes, and lose yourself in it completely.

In order to combat this, set yourself some guidelines. If you limit yourself to 2 sessions of 15 minutes a day, one in the morning and one at night, rather than constantly checking and updating your status throughout the day, you can potentially save yourself 30 minutes a day (3.5 hrs/wk).

Strategy #2: Prepare meals ahead of time.

If you can make a few extra meals on the weekend, you can save yourself a lot of time each night during a busy week by simply being able to pull out a frozen casserole or pasta sauce and reheat it.

A small time investment on the weekend when you can simultaneously cook a few meals to freeze will be a godsend during the week.

Prepare 3 meals ahead and save yourself 30 minutes a day 3 days a week (1.5 hrs/wk)

Strategy #3: Cluster tasks.

By clustering your tasks together into a block each week, you can save yourself a lot of stop and start time when jumping from task to task aimlessly.

Instead, put aside a one or two hour block and do your entire “like” tasks together. Admin, phone calls, answering emails, even housework. You can save at least 20 minutes a day 3 times a week (1hr/wk).

Strategy #4: Menu planning.

Create a menu planner and shop once a week with a shopping list based on the menu planner – save 30 minutes 3 times/wk thinking of what to cook, making small trips to the grocery store etc. (1.5 hrs/wk)

Strategy #5: Write a list.

Create a “to-do” list of tasks the night before – save 15 mins each work day fluffing around before starting your day – 5 X 15mins (1.25 hrs/wk)

Strategy #6: Get up earlier!

You knew this one was coming didn’t you. But, getting up only 15 minutes earlier a day will give you an extra 1.75 hrs a week. Just think of what you can do with those extra few minutes each day.

So, adding all those saved minutes together gives us a grand total of 10.5 hours. So, it is possible.

I hope that you can integrate some of these time-saving strategies onto your own life, and I would love to hear your own tips on saving time.

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