I love that Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer is rerunning one of her "greatest hits" for Works for Me Wednesday. I'm taking a page from her book and rerunning one of my past WFMW posts. Hey, the occasional rerun works for me!
Getting it Done The Night Before (ran April 11, 2007)
With frugality and simple time saving, something that has worked for me is doing things the night before.
Things that get done the night before in my household:
Lunches are packed. This means that we won't forget and have to run out and buy fast food during lunch hour. We usually take leftovers, so we don't have to worry about soggy sandwiches. We usually pack up lunches as we are cleaning up the kitchen for the evening. Even if we are taking a frozen meal, we put it in our lunch boxes and put the lunch box in the fridge. This may be especially helpful to new frugalites who think they don't have time to pack lunch in the morning. Getting your kids to pack their lunch the night before can help stop the school morning rush as well.
Set up the crock pot. If we are having a crock pot meal the next day, I will get all of the ingredients in the lift out pot the night before. I also put the heater part on the counter to remind me to turn it on the next day. It is so much easier when I don't have to chop things and throw stuff together in a half asleep state! Just pull it out of the fridge the next morning and pop it in the heating part- poof, you're done, and dinner is taken care of!
Pack purses/backpacks/briefcases and put them by the door. This was amazingly helpful when I was a graduate student who commuted. If I forgot my books or homework, I could not just rush back to the dorms to get them. When my bag was packed and ready to go the night before, I could grab it and go! Again, for those of you with children, having all the homework and stuff they have to take to school the next day all ready at the door the night before will be a time and sanity saver in the morning. I still use this method with my substitute teaching bag.
Know what you are going to wear. I don't actually lay out clothes, but I do actually go into my closet and look at them, just to make sure everything is ready and clean, does not need to be ironed, etc.Getting stuff done the night before saves time, and often in saving time, I save money as well. Hey, it works for me!
2 comments:
So simple, so FlyLady, so efficient, so....why don't I do this?
Your post is a great reminder to start doing this every single day. I seem to remember it when I have an extra-big event the next day, but not on the ordinary days.
I really need to start packing my husband's lunch, and making sure his clothes are ironed, the night before. This would save him time, and our family money, since he has a hard time packing enough for lunch and therefore buys lunch and/or snacks and/or breakfast out.
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