saving time

How to Use Budgeting Skills to Improve Your Time Management

Emily Guy Birken — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 08:00:06 +0000

Back when I was in college, a friend consistently asked for extensions on her essays. One evening, she mentioned the overwhelming relief she felt when she asked for a 24-hour extension, only to feel the exact same deadline anxiety and stress the following day as her new deadline approached.

While I had trouble relating at the time — I was a stickler for deadlines as a student — becoming a freelance writer has made me understand the alternating waves of dread/relief/dread that occurs when you put off a deadline.

What's interesting about this kind of poor time management cycle is that it's similar to the cycle of debt that occurs when you struggle with money management. In both cases, you're putting off thinking about future demands on your time or money because you're focused on the issues right in front of you. You put off your deadline, or borrow money to pay your rent, forgetting that there's another deadline or bill coming right behind the one you temporarily stalled.

The good news is that if you're actively tracking your spending and sticking to your budget, then you've already mastered time management skills — you just think of them as money management skills. But applying the following budgeting skills to time management will help you feel well-planned and stress free. (See also: 10 Time-Management Fails — and How to Fix Them)

Pay yourself first

We all know that planning to save whatever money is left at the end of the month is a good way to never save anything at all. That's why paying yourself first is one of the most important rules of good budgeting. Making sure that your financial plans are funded — before you let today's wants drain your savings — allows you to be a step ahead of future problems.

If you struggle with time management, you can also get ahead of future problems by paying yourself first. The trick is to take about 15 minutes each morning to review your calendar and make plans before you jump into your work for the day.

You might feel like you don't have enough time to take 15 minutes each morning for planning. After all, Sheryl in accounting needs that report ASAP and you still haven't prepared for the meeting with the boss.

But skipping your 15 minutes of planning is like forgoing your savings at the beginning of the month. It leaves you unprepared for things that you could've easily seen coming. Just like a transfer to savings at the beginning of every month means you won't be surprised by an emergency bill (or retirement, for that matter), committing to 15 minutes of planning each morning means you won't be caught blindsided by plans, meetings, deadlines, or other scheduling needs that you might otherwise overlook.

Automate

It's a lot easier to save money or pay bills if you don't have to think about it. Setting up an automatic withdrawal from your account every payday means you never have to think about transferring money to your emergency fund or 401(k), and automatic bill pay ensures you never miss a payment. You can simply let the automation do its magic without having to remember a thing.

Your time management will work better if it's similarly effortless.

Start by finding any recurring tasks you perform, and set up a way to make them occur automatically. For instance, if you receive a number of emails that require similar responses, creating email templates can help you automate your emails. Instead of crafting a new response each time, you can simply use your templates.

In addition, automatic reminders via your calendar app can help you to get your recurring tasks done. If you're consistently late turning in your receipts for reimbursement, an automatic reminder can help you remember the due date, give you a nudge a week before to start gathering your receipts, and remind you two days prior to organize your receipts before turning them in. (See also: How to Manage Your Money When You're Too Busy to Think About It)

Track your spending

It's difficult to know where your spending leaks are if you don't know where your money goes. This is why tracking your spending is such an important part of budgeting. You need to understand where you're being wasteful to know what expenses you can cut.

Time management requires the same understanding of how you spend. How many of us feel like we're terribly time crunched, only to realize we spend hours on social media. Until you know where you spend your time, you'll struggle to find more time to do the things most important to you.

Tracking your time can seem overwhelming, but it can help you pinpoint where your days are going. There are several apps that can help you track how and where you spend your time, including Toggl and RescueTime.

However, keeping an old school time tracker (i.e., on paper) may be even more helpful. As with financial tracking, remembering that you'll have to write down a wasteful decision (whether that's buying something you don't need or watching a YouTube video while you're supposed to be studying) can give you second thoughts about your choice.

Whether you use technology or paper to track your time, having a snapshot of how you use that time can help you avoid the big time-wasters. Spending hours going down a Twitter rabbit-hole does not help you reach your goals, and tracking helps you realize just how much of a time-suck it is to just "quickly check" your feed. (See also: 5-Minute Finance: Track Your Spending)

Your productivity budget

Just like handling your budget, staying on top of your time management is hard, but not impossible. Using the skills you've practiced on your finances can help you feel more in control of your time. And that feeling of control will always feel better than any extension on a deadline.

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This article is from Emily Guy Birken of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

How Too Many Small Decisions Can Cost You Big

Emily Guy Birken — Fri, 28 Jun 2019 08:00:06 +0000

Toward the end of her life, my grandmother's doctor told her to avoid a number of her favorite foods — including ice cream. Whenever my mother found a pint of Ben & Jerry's in my grandmother's ice box, Grandma's excuse was always the same, "Oh, the little bit I have won't hurt me!"

The thing about Grandma's excuse (that often made the vein in my mother's forehead start to pulse) was that she would have been right about one hot fudge sundae. A single decision to disregard her doctor's orders would not have made a difference in her health. The problem is that small decisions have a way of compounding, and my grandmother made her health issues worse one ice cream cone at a time.

The buildup of small decisions can be costly, whether you're trying to improve your health or your finances. Here's how small decisions can create big problems.

The tyranny of small decisions

In a 1966 essay titled The Tyranny of Small Decisions, economist Alfred Kahn describes how a well-meaning individual making a series of small decisions can end up with an unintended and unwanted large decision.

Kahn used the example of the Ithaca railroad to explain how small decisions can have devastating consequences. Rail was the only consistent mode of travel in and out of Ithaca, New York, as it could operate in any weather. But cars, buses, and planes offered faster and more convenient service in good weather. Travelers in and out of Ithaca consistently made the small, individual decision to take the most convenient service when the weather was fine. Because of these small decisions, the rail service was eventually discontinued because there were not enough travelers to cover the costs — which effectively made Ithaca unreachable in bad weather.

Every traveler who made the small decision to take a bus or plane did not intend for the rail service to dry up, but the cumulative effect of those small decisions created an enormous, negative and unintended consequence. (See also: 6 Guilty Pleasures That Are Killing Your Budget)

The latte factor

Though it has become something of a cliche, the latte factor is a common example of how the tyranny of small decisions can impact your budget. Popularized by financial expert and author David Bach, the latte factor describes how making regular small purchases, such as a daily $4 latte, can add up to a big payout that you don't intend to make. Make an unnecessary $4 purchase every day, and you spend over $1,400 per year.

This is what's so insidious about the tyranny of small decisions. Anyone who spends $1,400 on a single large purchase would at least have something of worth to show for the hole in their budget. But spending money a little at a time on small indulgences means you can't even point to where your money has gone. (See also: Here's How Rich You'd Be if You Stopped Drinking Expensive Coffee)

Easy payments and small decisions

Another important factor in how the tyranny of small decisions can destroy a budget is the fact that we now live in a largely cashless society. When you're making small purchase decisions using cash, the amount of money you have in your wallet is a natural reminder of how much you have spent.

However, it can be very easy to lose track of how much you've spent when you're using plastic to pay for everything. Each individual spending decision you make is a little thing that won't hurt your finances. But in aggregate, the decisions add up to a total dollar amount that you didn't intend to spend.

Aligning your choices with your values

Travelers to Ithaca didn't realize that prioritizing convenience on any one trip would mean the end of the rail travel they valued. Similarly, someone who isn't paying close attention to how much they're spending won't realize that their choices are adding up to something they do not want.

To combat this, it's important to align your choices with your values as often as you can.

For instance, let's say one of your values is to support local businesses. Any single trip you take to the big box store or any single item you order from Amazon will not affect the local businesses. However, if you find yourself stopping at Wal-Mart or ordering online all the time, then you're prioritizing convenience over supporting local businesses.

There's nothing wrong with valuing convenience, but you need to remember that you probably can't have both convenience and a thriving local business district at the same time. So you'll need to make sure you make choices that show your support for local business at least some of the time. (See also: 4 Ways Your Money Can Support Your Values)

Forced value alignment

Of course, it's difficult to align all your small choices with your values because each small decision feels like it's consequence-free. With no looming negative consequence on the horizon, it can feel a little ridiculous to ask yourself if buying this particular cup of coffee and a muffin will help you reach your overall financial goals. One good way to enforce value alignment is to take away your ability to make these small choices.

For instance, the standard advice about carrying cash instead of credit cards is part of the personal finance greatest hits list for a reason. When you use cash, you're forced to consider your values when making small decisions, since the resource dwindles before your eyes.

This kind of forced alignment can help defeat the tyranny of any number of small decisions. Here are a few examples:

Consumers who wish to support small local businesses could enforce that value alignment by signing up for social media updates to make sure those businesses stay on their radar.
Travelers who value an underused service could commit to taking that service rather than focusing solely on convenience.
Folks who would like to eat healthier or lose weight could make sure the tub of butter pecan ice cream never makes it to their kitchen.

Don't let small decisions pile up

It may be true that the little choices you make won't hurt you, but it can be easy to lose track of how small choices add up quickly. Rather than making each small decision out of context, take the time to figure out what you value and how your small choices will fit into those values. That way, you can be a master of your small decisions, rather than ruled by their tyranny.

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This article is from Emily Guy Birken of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Flashback Friday: 43 Easiest Ways to Become a Time Management Master

Chrissa Hardy — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 08:30:10 +0000

There are never enough hours in a day to get all your to-dos done, am I right? Wrong. If there are super productive, uber successful moneymakers out there who are figuring out how to maximize every minute of the day, then you can, too. Here's everything you need to get started.

8 Reasons Time Is Worth More Than Money — You can always make more money, but time is finite. And recognizing the full value of your time will make you more inclined to pay attention to how you're spending it.

Organize 8 Key Areas of Your Life With These 17 Smart Apps — It's hard to manage your time when your everyday life is a chaotic mess. Getting organized is an important step in the time management process, and will make every step thereafter so much easier.

5 Easy Ways to Declutter Your Digital Life — No matter what your job is, you probably spend a decent amount of time on the internet. Just as you need to keep the physical space you occupy neat and tidy, you should also do the same for your digital space. That'll save you tons of time.

How to Add an Extra Hour to Your Day — No, science has not figured out a way to stop time when you need a break from reading the news. However, there are lots of little ways to cut back on time wasters to leave room for things that are worthy of holding your focus.

The Single Greatest Key to Managing Your Time — It all comes back to you. You are ultimately in control of how your time is spent, and once you learn how to manage yourself, time management will come.

16 Time and Money Saving Apps for Freelancers — When your livelihood is freelancing and your income is inconsistent, time can be extremely tricky to manage, but not impossible! These apps will help freelancers save money, and even better, time.

This article is from Chrissa Hardy of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Best Money Tips: Time-Saving Hacks for Busy Moms

Amy Lu — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 10:00:07 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found articles on timesaving hacks for busy moms, things you should stop doing if you have anxiety, and super useful things you can make with a 3D printer.

10 Ways You're Wasting Time Without Realizing It

Mikey Rox — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 21:00:04 +0000

Time is one thing that we seem to have less of as life wears on. (See also: 15 Ways to Save Time in the Morning)

The days fly by and we're stressed to come up with any extra minutes. But what if we could free up our schedule and finish our to-do lists? Some people are just busy with little or no recourse, but others are wasting time without even knowing that it's happening. Here's a look at a few ways we can be more aware of our time and be better managers of it.

1. Leaving Email "Up"

You may work a job where you must have email up on a constant basis. But if you don't, there's no reason to run it when you aren't waiting on a particular message. If you're working on a project, just close your email and check them periodically throughout the day. Avoiding that catchy little "(1)" that often distracts your train of thought can save you a lot of time.

2. Listening to Music

In some cases, listening to music can help pass the time when engaging in mundane or mindless tasks. But when it comes to work that you need to think intentionally about, like crafting a sales pitch, writing a report, or even just reading something, music can slow you down, thereby increasing the time spent on the task and decreasing the resulting quality of your work.

3. Paying for Lunch

In some cases, you need to spend money to make money. But paying for lunch is often a double-figure investment and can cost you close to (or more than) an hour of work. Pack a lunch instead of eating out and you'll get back an hour's worth of pay, which can really add up.

4. Not Taking a Break

It might seem counterproductive (or even impossible) to stop what you're doing at work or home to take a break. However, numerous studies have shown that taking a break, or even a short nap, can actually boost your productivity and increase the quality of your work output.

5. Not Making a To-Do List

Even if you can remember everything you need to do, making a to-do list can help you focus by streamlining your schedule and giving you a failsafe to avoid forgetting important tasks.

6. Using a Gadget When Pen and Paper Will Do

Tablets and smartphones can be excellent productivity tools. But when it comes to taking notes or quickly writing down ideas, you may be better off with the much simpler pen and paper.

7. Going to Meetings

It's becoming increasingly common for meetings to be viewed as productivity killers. That's not to say they don't have their place, but a brutally objective view of the typical workplace meeting shows us that we're wasting a lot of precious time.

8. Attending Technology-Related Classes

It's not to say that all work-related classes are a waste of time, but a lot of the information that used to only exist inside classrooms now exists for free on the Internet. Particularly when it comes to technology-related topics, you can learn almost everything there is to know in a free, online format.

Places like Khanacademy and Code Academy are great places to start.

9. Running Dual Monitors

A lot of people find dual monitors to be more productive because it allows them to avoid having to switch back and forth between different applications or documents. While that's true, it only applies in certain professions. For example, graphic designers and programmers will often have need for more than one screen. But if it's not an obvious necessity, more than one monitor often makes things more distracting because it tempts you to put something that's not work-related on the second screen. In most cases, it'll be more efficient to stick with one monitor.

10. Not Putting Your Clothes Out the Night Before

One incredibly simple thing you can do to save time before you go to bed is set your clothes out for the next day the night before. It makes early mornings a lot quicker as it gets you out of your bedroom without having to search through drawers, possibly in the dark out of fear that you'll wake someone up.

Time to Be Saved

There's no question that it's easy to crowd our lives with obligations and tight schedules. But there is time to be saved if we're willing to be objective about our own scheduling and work habits. If we remove the unnecessary time wasters and get specific about where we can get be more efficient, most of us can get back more than 60 minutes a day. For many, that can make a huge difference by allowing them to be more focused, relaxed and allow them to feel less rushed every day.

How do you conserve and avoid wasting time? Are the tactics you employ at home and work much different? Let me know in the comments section.

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This article is from Mikey Rox of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

9 Things You Don't Need to Clean

Carrie Kirby — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 10:36:30 +0000

The Internet is full of lists of things you are supposed to clean but probably don't, from the inside of your dishwasher to your purse to your phone receivers. I hate those lists, don't you? I already have a longer cleaning list than I could finish in my lifetime — why pile on? (See also: How to Shower Less (and Still Feel Clean))

So today instead of laying on the guilt, let's look at nine cleaning chores you can usually skip without major repercussions — and some that you are not supposed to do at all.

1. Ears

In this article on Real Clear Science, Dr. Rob Hicks assures us that the insides of our ears are self-cleaning — any excess wax usually falls out while we're eating. And if you do get excessive build-up, it's a job for the doctor, not a QTip, he advises. In fact, says otologist Dr. Jennifer Smullen, earwax has several important jobs so you don't want to lose too much of it anyway.

2. Cats

Some owners bathe their cats, but according to the California Veterinary Medical Association, the tongue-baths cats usually give themselves are sufficient. Unless one of my cats gets skunked or otherwise disgustingly messy, a doctor's excuse is good enough for me.

3. Toothbrushes

There are plenty of toothbrush sanitizing products, from the $20 SteriPod to the $49.95 Vio100 countertop UV sanitizer. But Delta Dental gives you permission to skip them all. The rinse you probably already give your toothbrush after use is enough — with one caveat. You're supposed to let your toothbrush fully dry before using it again, which means you may need a second brush at the ready for your bedtime brushing in case the one you used in the morning isn't dry yet. I never would have thought of that in a million years.

4. This Wool Shirt

OK, you may not be able to wear the Better Button-Down forever, but developer Wool & Prince claims it can be worn for up to 100 days without needing dry cleaning and without starting to stink. Best of all, the shirt does not need ironing.

So where can you buy the Better Button-Down? Alas, all existing wonder shirts were sold through the company's Kickstarter campaign (at $98 each), and we're still waiting for more.

5. Raw Poultry and Meat

Many recipes start by advising the cook to rinse and pat dry a raw chicken or other piece of meat, but federal food safety authorities now warn that you should skip the pre-cooking shower. The rinse does not cut down on food-borne illness, but it does potentially spread salmonella and other bacteria all over your sink.

Another food washing chore you can skip: Using soap or vegetable wash on fresh produce. Studies have found a tap water rinse just as effective for getting off pesticides. However, if you are concerned about e-coli, a vinegar solution can sanitize the fruit or vegetables.

But what about mushrooms? I have read in equal measure warnings that you should never wash mushrooms and that you really should wash them after all. A chef and mycologist quoted by The Straight Dope lean toward no. But the New York Times lists the mushroom wash contraindication as a kitchen myth and advises a light shower to remove dirt.

6. Clay Teapots

Yixing teapots in particular should never be washed with soap or detergent, according to experts. The clay absorbs the flavor of your tea, a desirable quality with which washing would interfere. Simply dumping out used tea leaves and a quick hot water rinse is sufficient.

Another kitchen utensil that most people avoid washing with detergent is a cast iron pan — but of course you can't just leave your old food sitting in it. Since you still have to wipe, scrape or scrub out cast iron pans, I don't think we can get away with saying they don't need washing.

7. The Oven

Chef's Planet promises that if you use its nonstick oven liner, you'll never have to clean messes off the oven bottom again. I've never tried one, but I'm intrigued. Then there are other things that will need little to no cleaning if you use liners — crock pots, for instance.

8. Bedskirts, Books, and Hubcaps

When I polled friends about what they get away with not washing, these items came up. Sure, lots of people send their bedskirts to the cleaners, lovingly dust or wipe down books, and scrub and polish hubcaps to glossy perfection. The point is, many perfectly respectable people don't clean these things, and yet haven't been condemned by the health department.

9. Your Privates

Did you just hear the sound of a needle scratching right off a record? Did I just say, "You don't have to wash your privates"?

Actually, when it comes to the most intimate parts of your body, soap is actually harmful. Some parts are too sensitive for its drying action, and they don't need it anyway. Sure, you can soap up the adjacent areas, but mucous membranes should not be soaped, says Dr. Ben Kim. And women certainly don't need to douche — the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists recommends against it.

Some people take this even farther and eschew soap and shampoo for their whole bodies and heads — and say they have never felt or smelled better.

What are you not cleaning regularly?

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This article is from Carrie Kirby of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Money Management in 5 Minutes a Day

Matt Bell — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:24:32 +0000

Some aspects of managing money are a huge challenge. Just ask all the savers who married spenders (and vice versa)! But a lot of the day-to-day dealings with money don’t have to be so complex, especially with the many websites and electronic tools specifically designed to make managing money easier. Here's how to take the task of managing money down to five minutes a day. (See also: Managing Your Short-Term Money)

Maintain a Central Financial Operating System

A huge key to success with money is cash flow management. That means being proactive about how the money that flows into your life flows out. Knowing where it’s going is essential if you’re going to choose where it should go.

Of course, I’m talking about budgeting. If you don’t use a budget, you may need to take this on faith, but a budget is the single most powerful tool anyone can use to manage money well.

There are two major steps involved in using a budget: setting it up and managing it. The set up will take a little time; managing it takes just a couple of minutes each day.

To get started, choose a tool. In our household, we use Mint. But there are other choices as well, such as Adaptu, LearnVest, and others. Ask friends who manage money well which tool they use, open an account, link it to your bank and credit cards, and then use these Recommended Spending Guidelines to set up a plan.

I start most days by taking a quick look at our cash flow on Mint. Did the system categorize recent transactions correctly? And how does our actual spending so far this month compare with our plan?

Head to the grocery store without a clue as to how much you can afford to spend and chances are approximately 100% that you will spend too much. Glance at your month-to-date spending on groceries vs. the targeted amount you set up, and you’ll be much more intentional about how you shop.

Semi-Automate Monthly Bill Payments

Chances are good that your monthly utility bills will be accurate. That’s why we have those fully automated. We look at the bills to see if anything seems wrong, but that has happened so infrequently that we’re good with paying those bills automatically.

Others I like to review before paying, like our credit card bills. We still pay them online, but we review them first and then manually make the payment.

Batch the Manual Payments

Some people like to pay their manual bills as close to the due date as possible, so they can earn interest on their money as long as they can. However, in today’s low-rate environment, checking account “interest” has become a theoretical concept. I prefer the very real time savings that comes from paying most of our monthly manual bills in one sitting.

Automatically Prepare for Periodic Bills and Expenses

Some bills and expenses are due less frequently than monthly, like our semi-annual property tax bill and our annual life and homeowners insurance premiums. We take the total annual cost of all such bills, plus the total annual cost of all periodic big expenses like holiday gifts and vacations, divide that amount by 12, and automatically have that much transferred to savings each month. When the bill or expense comes due, we have the money on hand.

Investment Monitoring

I am not a believer in following the daily gyrations of the market. That’s a recipe for worry. Our mutual fund-based investment strategy involves monthly reading of the investment newsletter we follow, occasional trades throughout the year, once-a-year rebalancing, and a once-a-year review of whether we’re on track with our long-term goals. It’s a very straightforward strategy that requires very little time on our part.

We have accounts at more than one brokerage house, but Mint enables us to see all of our investments on one screen.

Credit Monitoring

We see no need to pay for monthly credit monitoring. Instead, I have recurring reminders in my electronic calendar to use AnnualCreditReport.com to pull the free report from Equifax every January, TransUnion every May, and Experian every September. Reviewing those reports every four months doesn’t take much time and serves as a free credit monitoring system.

Through the use of a handful of financial web sites and an electronic calendar, our day-to-day money management takes less than five minutes a day.

What about you? What other tools do you use to manage money efficiently?

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This article is from Matt Bell of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

How to Use a Computer More Efficiently

Thursday Bram — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:30:18 +0000

Many of us spend hours in front of our computers, pushing around the mouse and pecking at the keyboard. It may seem like there’s no way to reduce the amount of time we spend here, but just by doing a few things a little faster, you really can be more efficient. (See also: 10 Ways to Save Time by Spending Time)

How to Type Faster

It can seem like a big time investment to learn how to type faster, especially if you’re a proponent of the hunt and peck method — also known as looking at the keyboard to find each individual key. But improving your typing skills can save you a lot of time. It’s considered average for a computer user to be able to type between 30 and 35 words per minute. With a little training and practice, however, it’s possible for most people to get up to between 50 and 65 words per minute, sometimes doubling their speed. Experienced typists may reach average rates of anywhere between 80 and 120 words per minute. Even if you don’t hit that level, you can probably improve your typing efficiency.

The key to learning to type faster is to know what keys are at your fingertips without having to look down. Being able to recite the layout of your computer keyboard isn’t just a fun party trick. When you know the layout of a keyboard by heart, you can touch type — and from there, improving your typing speed is a matter of practice more than anything else.

You can take classes in typing, but it can be more useful to use training software, because you won’t be tied to an instructor’s schedule. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is one of the better-known typing software packages, and Typing Instructor is good as well.

How to Use Computer Shortcuts

Most computer users rely on the mouse to interact with computer programs. In fact, the mouse and the visual interface that most of us are used to were key to making computers mainstream. But if you want to be particularly efficient in how you use your computer, you need to learn the keyboard shortcuts.

Every piece of software and even many websites have their own shortcuts. You can also go into your computer’s settings and modify shortcuts to your own preferences. Because they can vary dramatically, I can’t just give you a list of the different shortcuts out there. But if you search online for a particular software package or website’s name and the word "shortcuts," you can find a list of what's programmed. This table of common shortcuts can also give you a start for the more common operating systems.

The trick to getting full benefit from keyboard shortcuts is to make a point of using them instead of your mouse. You’ll get a lot faster, to the point that typing a shortcut is automatic when you want something to happen, rather than having to shift your hands to the mouse and hunt around for the right menu. One word of warning — you may get so used to using your shortcuts that moving over to a new kind of computer with different shortcuts can become that much harder.

Software for Improving Computer Efficiency

There are a variety of software packages that can help you speed up your typing beyond just learning to type faster. My personal favorite is a tool called TextExpander, which lets you create shortcuts of your own. I’ve created a few shortcuts to help me use software faster, but most of my shortcuts are actually for typing — for instance, I type one shortcut and TextExpander automatically replaces it with my name. Another expands into my address and so on, for a few hundred different shortcuts.

There are also dictation software packages, which allow a computer to transcribe whatever you say into a text document. The best software, such as Dragon Naturally Speaking, requires you to train it to better understand your speech patterns before it can provide accurate transcriptions. But once the software is used to you, it can be very effective. With it, you don’t need to worry about speeding up your typing speed at all.

There are a variety of tools and techniques out there that can help you be more efficient on the computer, but you’ll get the most out of them by investing some time up front.

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This article is from Thursday Bram of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Tips for Accomplishing More in a Day

Tisha Tolar — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 10:36:13 +0000

Take a look online, and you’ll no doubt find a gazillion methods for staying on task and getting things done. Many methodologies are available but accompanied by a price tag. From affordable e-books to costly professional help, there are a lot of options for getting more done.

Beyond the obvious problem of not getting things done, wasting time goes hand in hand with wasting money. If you are not making the most of your time, you are likely in a rush. Being in a hurry generally translates to making financial mistakes. If you are not planning out a chunk of time to take care of bills and balance the checkbook, your finances can go downhill fast.

For consumers who are busy, there is a tendency to look for the "easy button," no matter what the price. However, there is no need to spend a small fortune to get yourself in gear and actually accomplish what you set out to do in a day. Here is some free advice for getting more done without forking over the cash. (See also: 10 Ways to Save Time by Spending Time)

Preplan in the Evenings

A written visual of all you need to do is the core of getting things done. Commit to sitting down for at least 20-30 minutes each evening with a blank sheet of paper and list all of the things you need to get done the following day. Transfer tasks to a daily planner sheet, allocating times for each task. This will allow you to clearly see what you can expect to complete during the hours you are awake.

Break It Down

For the big jobs you face, create an outline that breaks down tasks involved in getting the job done. For instance, cleaning out the garage involves many tasks that can be done over time and still result in one larger, accomplished goal.

Stop the Distractions

During those blocks of time you have scheduled for certain tasks that need your undivided attention, including those at work, stop the distractions in their tracks by turning off your cell phone, avoiding email, and asking unexpected visitors to your home or your desk to come back at a more convenient time for you. If your goal is to accomplish more in a day, you have to stick to your guns about interruptions and your desire to stay focused.

Use a Timer

You can use your cell phone, set the timer on the microwave, or buy a portable timer and literally set time limitations on the tasks you need to do. The time may serve as a strong motivator to get moving and not sit down for "just a minute" while you are in the middle of a job. Timers are also a great introduction for teaching children time management skills.

Get Others Involved

When you take on more than is necessary, it is no surprise you can’t handle the load. Learn to ask for help on the job. At home, hash out responsibilities to family members by creating a visual chart of responsibilities you can no longer handle on your own. For everything else, learn to say no when you are short on time.

Expect the Unexpected

Realize from the get-go that no matter how well you plan, things will not always go as envisioned. Don’t let that ruin your day or your motivation. Remember to stay flexible but focused and find ways to work around the unexpected.

Time management does not come naturally to many people and efforts need to be made to ensure you stay organized and acknowledge just how much you can actually accomplish in a period of one day. Having too many unrealistic expectations of yourself gets old fast and probably won’t produce the desired results.

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This article is from Tisha Tolar of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Teach yourself to cook

Philip Brewer — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:48:35 +0000

Everyone knows that cooking is cheaper and healthier than eating out. It's also better (i.e. more to your taste) than eating out, and easier than eating out (no driving, parking, standing in line, making reservations, waiting to be seated, dealing with hostesses, waiters, and busboys). Besides all that, I'm going to argue below that--even with shopping and cleaning up--it can also be quicker than eating out.

If you currently eat all your meals out (for example, you live in a dorm with meal plan), you probably can't save time by learning to cook--because going shopping for groceries is another whole task that you'd have to add to your schedule. But if you're already maintaining a kitchen but don't use it much, then the extra time to buy all your food (instead of just a fraction of it) is quite small.

Cooking, of course, takes time, as does cleaning up. But then, going to restaurants takes time as well. Fast food joints that cook ahead may serve your food quite quickly--but that's never going to be better or healthier than your own cooking, and even with a dollar menu it's not likely to be cheaper. It may be easier--if you think driving to the fast food joint and then standing in line is easy.

On the other hand, cooking lends itself to any number of simple efficiencies that restaurant eating doesn't, simply because you're in control of things like the number of servings you make. You can save a lot of time by cooking enough that you have dinner today and lunch tomorrow, without the complexity and waste of restaurant-sized portions that may provide leftovers, but rarely in the right amounts or right proportions.

Learning

Like with anything else, the way to learn to cook is to do some cooking.

With a few exceptions--confections and pastries, mostly--cooking is actually really easy. Anyone can learn to boil rice, bake a chicken, or grill a steak. Certainly anyone can learn to make a salad.

If you know even a little bit about cooking--what a saucepan is, what sauteing is--then you can start with recipes.

If you don't cook at all, try to get someone to show you how to cook--your mom, your wife (or husband, boyfriend, or girlfriend), or even a friend at work who brings in leftovers for lunch. If you can't manage that, there are plenty of cooking DVDs and internet sites with videos where you can learn the basics. There are also plenty of cookbooks that cover the basics (Joy of Cooking is the classic, but there are others--any number of cookbooks aimed at newlyweds, for example).

Once you know the basics, start by learning to fix two or three things that you particularly like to eat. Once you have those down, learn how to make one show-offy thing that you can use to impress a date, spouse, or the in-laws (or just to treat yourself, when you might otherwise be inclined to go out to eat).

Saving time

So, how can cooking for yourself save time? As I suggested above, mainly through efficiency--cook enough that you have leftovers and your next meal takes almost no time to prepare.

There are people doing extreme versions of this--cooking a whole month ahead, for example--which is fine if that's what you want to do, but not really necessary.

It also gives you extra control--you can decide when to fix something quick and when you've got time to spend preparing a special meal. (Ever gone into a restaurant for a quick bite that ended up taking two hours because the waitress was incompetent and the kitchen was unaccountably slow? I have.)

Of course, to save time you have to make that a priority right from the start. There are dishes that take large amounts of prep time--but since you're in control, you just don't cook those when you're pinched for time. There are lots of things that can be fixed quickly--and other things that at least don't require much time in the kitchen. (Crock-pot meals are the classic example of the latter. Personally, I don't have a crock pot, preferring instead to use a pressure cooker.) (See also: The 5 Best Pressure Cookers)

But you don't need to actually cook in some special way or follow some special process to save time--just choose things that can be prepared quickly: salads, sandwiches, stir-fry, pasta, roasted vegetables, poached seafood, grilled meats, etc. Breakfast dishes are typically quick to cook, and plenty of them (omelets, for example) are easily adapted for dinners.

Even when you optimize for time, cooking and then cleaning up takes some time--but so does going to a restaurant, ordering, and waiting for your food to arrive. Of course, cooking requires grocery shopping, but if you're already shopping, the extra time it takes to buy enough to fix most of your meals isn't much of an increase (unless all you're doing now is keeping your fridge stocked with beer and soda)--just be focused and efficient. Again, it's possible to take this to extremes as well--sort your shopping list into the order you'll find things in the store, for example--but that's not necessary either.

In fact, though, simple efficiencies like keeping staples on hand mean that you'll be able to shop less often, because you won't have to make special trips to the store due to running out of something. (Stocking up on cheap stuff also provides a huge financial return.)

Having it all

The core win of knowing how to cook is that it expands the range of what's possible. Just because you've learned to cook doesn't mean you can't eat a restaurant meal when you want to; it just means that you don't have to. Instead, you have a bunch of options that are all cheaper and mostly healthier and better.

For example, I rather like french dip sandwiches. I can get one at a good local restaurant; around here a french dip meal might run $15 a person plus tip. Or I can go for cheaper options. At a chain restaurant I might be able to get out for $8 plus tip (except that I'd probably buy a soda or a beer, adding a few dollars to the tab). The last time I got a french dip at a fast-food joint, I think I spent a little over $7 (which included fries and a soda that I'd probably have been better off without).

At the deli counter at the grocery store, roast beef tends to run about $9 a pound. I sometimes buy a package of sandwich rolls, and then get just enough roast beef to make one sandwch--for a total of about $3.50 (mustard plus a bouillon cube and some hot water for the dip will add a few cents to the cost). The sandwich rolls, though, come in packages of four or six, so once I've made my french dip I can make several more really cheap sandwiches (just the cost of the deli meat) over the next several days. (And they can be something different--chicken, turkey, and ham are all usually cheaper than roast beef.)

Which brings us, finally, to cooking. For not much more than the cost of one serving of deli meat, you can get a big hunk of raw meat--if you buy a cheap cut that's been marked down because it's approaching its sell-by date. Cook that in the pressure cooker (or roast it, if you happen to find a good deal on a nice cut). For example, last week my wife found a shoulder roast on sale for about $5. That plus $2 for the sandwich rolls and maybe 50¢ worth of onion and garlic made six sandwiches, so about $1.25 per sandwich.

I spent about half an hour cooking the meat: While I cut up the onion and a couple cloves of garlic, I browned each side of the meat in the pressure cooker pot over medium heat. Then I added two cups of water, put the lid on, brought it up to high pressure, and let it cook for 20 minutes.

I also spent a few minutes cutting the meat into thin slices for sandwiches and a few minutes more building the sandwiches--but I've waited longer than that to get served at a fast-food joint.

I don't think anybody disputes that cooking is cheaper and healthier than eating out. It's only better, I suppose, if you're a good cook--but you don't have to be a great chef to fix stuff exactly the way you like it, you just need to practice a bit. Is it actually faster than eating out? Well, it can be--if you stick to stuff that's quick to fix, or if you go to some effort to be very efficient, or (especially) if your basis for comparison is a nice restaurant rather than a fast-food joint.

I think it adds up to plenty of reasons to teach yourself how to cook.

This article is from Philip Brewer of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

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Teach yourself to cook

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Having it all