12 Quick Changes for Increased Efficiency at Home
Tiny improvements can build up to large changes over time (please read Atomic Habits if you haven’t already). It is much easier to implement a small tweak here and there to feel the improvement and confidence that comes from trying something new. This can motivate you to keep going because each change is not big enough to feel insurmountable - instead, each change builds upon the last one, creating bigger results you begin to feel as a bigger cumulative change.
Try one of these simple home organizing and routine tweaks and see how easy it is to make things easier on yourself. Sometimes the tiniest change can make the biggest difference in addressing a pain point in your home or routine.
12 quick efficiency boosters:
Place a pair of scissors in every room - the kitchen, the mudroom, the garage and each bathroom and/or wardrobe closet. This reduces trips to other rooms to retrieve scissors when you need to open a food or package or a delivered box, cut the tags off new clothing (stop ripping them), open a plastic wrapped cosmetic item, and tags on a new coat, sneaker or backpack.
Place a garbage can in each room (or closet) as well, but the key is also to make sure it’s big enough so that it is practical and you’re not constantly having to empty it (or shoving big things in tiny cans). This is especially important if you do a decent amount of online shopping and have frequent deliveries or lots of dry cleaning.
Place a step stool in every room (or closet) where you have items stored up high especially if you frequently access them. The closer you have access to the heights you need, the more practical storing things up high will be for you. The point is not to store them to forget about them forever. You should really only store things up high that are rarely used, but sometimes we need to use all of our vertical space regardless of frequency of use. Just make it easier on yourself.
Remove and throw away all dry cleaning bags once you place the clothes in your closet (unless it’s rare or dressier clothing that you prefer to keep protected). You can see clothing better and it looks less messy without all the plastic . It’s one less step for you when you go to wear it too. If you have streamlined, matching hangers in your closet consider swapping out the dry cleaning hangers to match - but if you do a heavy amount of dry cleaning, you likely won’t want to take this extra step - and that’s okay!
Remove excess packaging from food products and bathroom products as you place them where they belong - or very soon thereafter. Things will fit better, look better and you will save time every time you need to access each of those items. Just do the extra work all up front. Your future in-a-rush self will thank you.
Program your coffee machine the night before and run your dishwasher nightly (if you have a smart dishwasher you can even program that). Run it even if it’s not 100% full. Unload it every morning. Rinse and repeat (literally).
Move your kid’s socks to the mudroom or entryway where their everyday shoes are stored. This saves time leaving the house so kids don’t have to run back to their rooms especially if they’re on a different floor. Bonus points if your mudroom is connected to your laundry room, which makes putting their clean socks away that much easier. Personally, this was a life changing move for me when my boys were toddlers and we still store them this way now that they’re much older.
Turn off the TV and get busy productive. Use earbuds to listen to podcasts, shows or even online courses while you complete household tasks and random projects you can’t seem to get off your list (like decluttering your child’s closet or filing away those important papers). You’ll catch up or keep up with some of your favorite things to listen to (and maybe don’t need to actually watch while getting things done because listening will suffice). While I’m not a fan of multi-tasking (even though women are great at it), this tends to be an easy one. If something does require your full attention, make sure you focus and mono-task, get that one thing done, then turn your attention to something else.
Stop scrolling social media. Need I say more? So. Much. Wasted. Time. Think about what you could do with those 20 to 30 (or even 60+) minutes that are lost every time you start scrolling, admiring something about somebody else’s life or even doom scrolling. (Comparison is the thief of joy).
Wear your shoes in your house (unless you’re a shoe-less house - I totally respect that so please don’t come at me!), as this signals that you’re still in “go mode” as I like to call it. It’s really hard NOT to be productive when I’m still in my sneakers. My shoes signal to me that there’s “work to do.” I can’t be “off” while in my shoes, and won’t turn to just my socks or slippers until I’m ready to relax. I even have “in house only shoes” (if you’re really getting mad at me about the dirt and germ issue here).
Don’t waste time “sort of” decluttering. Declutter regularly and ruthlessly. If you wait too long between purges, and you weren’t ruthless the first time, it will take you 2 to 3 rounds of decluttering to finally get around to the harder decisions. Beware of wasted time caused by indecisiveness the first go around. Also, keeping up is usually easier than catching up!
Use voice assistants and voice commands to easily keep lists (on your app or platform of choice) for your to-do’s and your food and household shopping (hands-free). This can be dictated to your music speakers, your iPhone or your smartwatch while you’re in the pantry, in the fridge, or moving around the house (even in the car). Use modern technology to your advantage by learning some of its features that could make your daily life easier.
Efficiency helps you move through your home seamlessly, saving time looking for things and keeping your house streamlined which overall saves time in managing your home and things. Technology can be both a blessing (AI, voice assistants, entertainment) and a curse (distractions) - so learn how to differentiate the two. Time is your most precious resource so learn not to waste it.
If you need help getting organized and adopting some of these efficiency habits, grab your behind-the-scenes guide to working with me, Meg, a Certified Professional Organizer ® servicing in-home clients in Denver and virtually nationwide, here.
