Ten Personal Life Hacks for Efficiency at Home

A simple guide to simplifying your home life

As a follow-up to my post on how to be more efficient at work, I thought I’d share some of the ways I try to be efficient with my time and energy in my personal life.

1. “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down”. I only let myself listen to my favorite podcasts or play an online game (yay, Settlers) when I'm working out. By taking something I want to do and bundling it with something I don't, makes it more palatable, and it ensures I'm consistently doing both activities.

2. Cook in bulk. I love to cook, so every weekend my three kids and I prepare our family meals. We save the leftovers for lunch and dinner the first couple of nights of the week. When making a recipe, I double or triple the recipes and freeze some for later use.  When prepping ingredients, I cut extra meat and vegetables when making one meal to prepare for use later in the week. Batters for crepes and pancakes or doughs for bread will hold up in the fridge for a week. We bought an extra fridge from a Facebook Marketplace group so we can have extra space to store food. 

3. Multitask. I do things in parallel threads. When cooking, the Instant Pot, Zojirushi rice cooker, and a great Breville oven can be running without monitoring. I fold laundry while catching up on my favorite show. I catch up on email while I’m on the elliptical.

4. Take shortcuts. In my family, each person is designated a different brand of socks. Then we buy socks in bulk and never have to match them. We store our underwear near the bathroom to make it easier to get to after a shower. If I find a shirt I like, I buy it in several other colors. I plan out meals with similar ingredients and make a single Costco run.  

5. Split decisions so that only one person takes the load. Couples often discuss decisions in great detail and both invest energy in them. But it is better if one person takes the decision and sees it through from start to finish. My husband plans all of our meals (including shopping), sets up our vacations, and manages our charitable donations without much input from me. This also means that I have to trust him and go along without complaining. I do most of the cooking, managing the finances, and paying bills. We make sure things are done without reminders or asking.