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Post by midtnmama on Apr 15, 2019 14:41:41 GMT
There are little things I do that add up to time savings. Please share your time savings ideas here!
Here are mine:
Being frugal means making little time savings to give you time to reuse, make from scratch, take care of your things so they last longer....
When I store my instapot in between use, I put the lid upside down to air it ( the gasket) out. A clean kitchen towel over it to allow air flow, but keeps dust and dirt (and pollen now, Oh Wow!). Don't have to take time to clean before using, gasket doesn't smell.
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When taking clothes off hangers to wear, we try to put the free hangers in one place in the closet. Fast and Easy to take a bunch to the laundry room to hang shirts.
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Post by feather on Apr 15, 2019 16:09:10 GMT
Having canned the pinto beans, northern beans, black beans and garbanzo beans, saves me time when it comes time to eat/cook. They are pressure canned in batches of 7 qts to 9 pints per batch and it takes a few hours. That's 7-9 times I don't have to soak and cook beans from dried beans to a meal time. That's got to be a lot of time savings.
I wash all the produce that comes in to the house immediately when it comes from the grocery. Soaking it in vinegar and water, then drying it. So we know that each time we take something out of the fridge, or off the counter, to eat, it's ready to eat. So when DH goes to the store, I wash dishes so the sinks are cleared.
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Post by mzgarden on Apr 15, 2019 16:20:00 GMT
This is how it (generally) works on the morning of bread making day - fill up the wash basin with hot soapy bleach water for milking equipment washing. Use the now hot tap water to fill the bucket for udder washing. Put the hot baby bottles into the udder washing bucket to stay warm Go to the barn, feed babies, milk. Bring in milk, empty baby bottles & now empty washing bucket. One half gallon of milk goes into the pot on the stove on heat level 3 One half gallon milk goes into empty pitcher and into the refrigerator Wash bottles and milking equipment, rinse and set to air dry. Dump bleach water. By now, milk on stove is 170F Add acid (vinegar, ACV, lemon juice) and set off heat. Into the stand mixer bowl add 1 egg, oil and salt (for bread). Go back and drain cheese, save whey. Set cheese aside to cool. Add sugar & yeast to the saved very warm whey and let proof (for bread). While proofing, stir flavorings into cheese and set aside to finish cooling. Pour proofed whey/yeast into stand mixer, turn on. Pour in flour until thick doughy consistency. Switch to kneading tool and turn mixer on low to knead. While that's kneading, -put cheese in refrigerator -Pack up dried milking equipment for tomorrow -prep bread rising bowl and just barely heat oven, turn off oven. Remove dough from mixer, place in rising bowl and into barely warmed oven. While that's rising, clean up kitchen, wash bread and cheese making dishes and put away. Get a cup of coffee, catch up on news, reading, etc. After an hour, punch down bread, turn into greased loaf pan, put back in oven to rise again. *Free time, lol. After an hour, take loaf pan out, turn oven to temp, put loaf pan back in and bake. Not everything is this coordinated but I like it when I can make it work like a bunch of cogs working together.
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Post by midtnmama on Apr 15, 2019 17:32:49 GMT
This is how it (generally) works on the morning of bread making day - Wow! This is exactly what I want to hear! I know we are all busy but I marvel at how much folks get done on the Daily Journal and wonder what their tricks are. I'll keep thinking of how I try to be more efficient. This morning after washing dishes, I soaked jar to get the paper off in the leftover water (this water will be saved for the garden). Take the wet dishwashrag, wipe a big coffee stain on the laminate, add dawn dish liquid, sprinkle baking soda. Put dishrag over all and let soak while I weed. As I go to the garden, I bring a 5 gallon bucket of recycled dish/washing machine water to the garden, and a five gallon bucket with my hand tools for weeding and a bag of saved shredded paper. Quickly weed the peas putting shredded paper all around them. As I weed, I chuck stones into my 5 gallon bucket.The pulled weeds are put on top of the shredded paper to hold them down. The recycled water is poured over the peas to water them and to keep the paper from blowing around. Bring bucket with rocks and handtools back to the porch, drop off tools. In other hand bring empty 5 gallon water bucket. Unload bucket of rocks on a bare gravel place on the long driveway. Come in house with empty bucket, put in utility room sink to catch next load of laundry water for garden. Start load of laundry washing one out of four bathroom rug. I rotate washing a different one with every few loads. Scrub coffee stain with magic eraser sponge while leftovers are in microwave for lunch.
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Post by feather on Apr 15, 2019 20:05:32 GMT
Okay, well, my taxes are done, thank you me. So I won't be serving TIME. midtnmama, mzgarden, you both wear me out with all you do. Good on you.
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Post by mzgarden on Apr 15, 2019 21:01:49 GMT
feather, lol, glad you won't be serving time. As to my plan, just remember that there's always 'on the other hand' which is when everything goes South in a handbasket, which happens routinely. Lol, keep pedaling might be my motto.
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Post by Maura on Apr 15, 2019 22:34:52 GMT
I save time by cooking more than I need and refrigerating the rest. Hey, the refrigerator is on anyway and practically empty since I'm living alone. Some things I freeze (again, it's running anyway). It takes just as long and uses just as much energy to roast three chicken breasts as one.
I have two laundry baskets. One has towels and washcloths, the other clothes. No sorting after the fact. I put the heavy stuff into the dryer for twenty minutes before adding the rest of the clothes. Having less material in the drum means more circulating air and the blue jeans and sweatshirts loose moisture faster. The rest of the clothes are not tumbling in the dryer when they are already dry and waiting for the jeans to finish. Not over drying means I don't need dryer sheets.
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Post by laurazone5 on Apr 16, 2019 1:34:36 GMT
Before I start cooking / baking, I clean the kitchen, empty the dishwasher...... Set all of the ingredients on the counter, as I measure out, add, chop, etc, I put the dirty in the dishwasher, and put the ingredients away. By the time dinner is ready, or the goodies come out of the oven, the counters are clean and the dishwasher is running. When we are done eating, the dishes are ready to put away, and dishwasher reloaded.
Less time fussing with cleaning, more time with the kids.
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Post by midtnmama on Apr 22, 2019 18:29:11 GMT
When I chop vegeatables, I keep a piece of open newspaper or junk mail opened up next to my cutting board. i shove things for the compost or chickens onto the paper.
When I bake I measure over newspaper as it is easy to dump out what was spilled into the garbage and then compost the paper.
This one is from Flylady: When I handwash items in my sink, before emptying the sink of the soapy water, I use this to wet a rag and wipe the counters, mirror, etc.. in the bathroom.
We do puzzles on an open large piece of cardboard (current one is a trifold board like kids use for science projects). This way, the dining room table can be quickly cleared by carrying the board with the puzzle to another room when company comes over.
I see people go through their mail in their car when they pick up the mail at the post office. Junk mail doesn't even make it in the front door.
Keep them coming folks!
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Post by Maura on Apr 22, 2019 19:52:52 GMT
midtnmama When I handwash items in my sink, before emptying the sink of the soapy water, I use this to wet a rag and wipe the counters, mirror, etc.. in the bathroom.
I do this also. The toilet I get last.
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Post by Use Less on Apr 23, 2019 11:12:15 GMT
If you wait long enough, the deadline for some tasks, not required though they'd be nice to have done, will pass.
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Post by midtnmama on Apr 23, 2019 12:20:40 GMT
I have one laundry basket for Non-white clothes and one for white clothes. Saves time sorting.
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Post by themotherhen on Apr 24, 2019 3:01:24 GMT
I have one laundry basket for Non-white clothes and one for white clothes. Saves time sorting. I do this too, with the addition of a basket for towels/washcloths. Also (please don't judge) I no longer fold clothes for everyone. Each person has a basket and clean clothes are sorted into each person's basket. It is their job to fold their clothes every day and put them away. I do fold and put away DH's clothes and mine, but the children are now responsible for that task for their own things. Also, I forget who mentioned it but thank you to whoever posted about putting jeans and heavy things in the dryer first, then adding lighter items later. My goodness, what a difference! Not only do things dry faster but the lighter items don't get so wrinkled. Thanks!
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Post by christie on Apr 24, 2019 3:27:54 GMT
I sort clothes as I take them out of the dryer. If I don't have time to fold the entire load, I can fold and put away all of a given item. Cleaning rags/towels get folded when I take them out the dryer as they are stored near the dryer.
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Post by Maura on Apr 24, 2019 17:07:08 GMT
Our kids started doing their own laundry between ages 10 and 13. They learned to fold things as they come out of the dryer. Shake, fold. This means when laundry is not put away for three days, at least the clothes are folded and not needing to be ironed. I still do this with most things.
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Post by gracielagata on Apr 26, 2019 18:49:33 GMT
I have one laundry basket for Non-white clothes and one for white clothes. Saves time sorting. Washing white clothes?! I suppose I save time by not having any whites to start with?! We have a basket in laundry room. All towels and the like go in there. Kitchen scrubbies and rags get hung around edge or crammed into the little air holes to dry until it all gets washed. That likely is maybe once every 3-4 weeks by the time there is enough. Clothing is all in the hamper in our closet. I don't really sort it. Mostly just check it all out prior to washing to make sure bras make it into a bra bag, velcros get closed, and that most everything is turned the correct way (socks! lol) and load doesn't get over filled with heavy stuff. I will also separate out jeans, sweatshirts, or my fire dept clothes to wash with the towels et al if I have too much clothing and not enough towels. No wasted water that way. Dryer has the wool balls to cut down on dry time and prevent need for dryer sheets. I grab it all out as soon as it is done and fold my own and cleanly lay husband and daughter's clothes into the basket to prevent wrinkles. They fold their own as we all prefer our on style of folding and I don't have the patience for their method!
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Post by feather on Apr 26, 2019 19:07:35 GMT
We have a shute from the second and first floors, that goes to a large basket at the bottom in the basement.
We mostly have black and blue clothing (with green towels), a small batch of reds (house coat, tshirts, towels, sheets), and then the bleach-able whites. The bleach-able whites are towels for the kitchen (for cheese making and everything that need to be sanitary), and the white sheets and pillow cases.
I wash the whites. I cold wash my pjs unders and wool socks, then I hang them in the basement (in winter) or on the line (in summer). Dh washes the blacks and blues and reds.
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Post by Use Less on Apr 27, 2019 11:26:42 GMT
It's much better to do some things slowly and thoroughly than hit-or-miss. What takes time is deciding which column to put tasks in.
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Post by christie on Apr 28, 2019 12:02:37 GMT
Only saves time if I have a spill: when refilling containers, I recap/close the container containing the most product.
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Post by Woodpecker on Apr 28, 2019 16:37:42 GMT
When the kids were little, I too had a chute to the basement feather,ME. I would throw a small amount at a time down the basement steps, into a large basket. Then when I had all I needed for a load, I would go down to the wash room. Both of my children started doing their own laundry, when about 10 years old. In winter I dry everything on 3 lines In the basement, washroom. In summer, clothes go outside on the line. Nothing like the smell of fresh air. I do dry towels for a few minutes, before hanging or they’re too stiff, for me. I fold everything as I take them off the lines.
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Post by mzgarden on Apr 28, 2019 16:48:27 GMT
When I dry my clothes on the line, I put many of them on the hangers they will stay on in the closet. I can fit more on my line and it's faster all around. My clothes line is inside my greenhouse, so no wind to knock them off. Some things I still use clothes pins, but if I can use a hanger, I do.
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Post by Maura on Jul 4, 2019 16:36:45 GMT
When I had my first place, I wiped off the kitchen/dining table the same way my mother did. Sweeping everything over the side and into my hand. Well, one day I swept the floor, washed the floor, then wiped off the table. My little hand could not catch all the crumbs and such... sweep the floor again. Well, that's for the birds. Now, I wipe the little stuff onto the floor, then sweep.
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Post by solargeek on Jul 4, 2019 19:59:31 GMT
midtnmama When I handwash items in my sink, before emptying the sink of the soapy water, I use this to wet a rag and wipe the counters, mirror, etc.. in the bathroom. I do this also. The toilet I get last. Not meaning to be picky and not sure if someone else mentioned this but never use a rag/sponge dipped in used dishwater to wash down any surface. Many bugs/bacteria on cutting boards, plates, pans etc. are not killed by the dishwater (not hot enough) but with both loosening effect of washing AND RINSING and drying. You are actually just spreading more germs. IN restaurants I worked in we had 2 separate sets of rags- one to wash, one to clean OR they used cleaning sprays on the counters and the same rag. And we used only vinegar water. Not our soapy water for the malt machines. So, according to the sites I checked, rinse out your wet rag/sponge and then wipe counters. And vinegar water is great.
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Post by moldy on Dec 26, 2022 3:46:03 GMT
I clean out my car while getting gas. While the pump is running, I empty out the trash and clean the windshield.
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Post by mzgarden on Dec 26, 2022 11:02:30 GMT
I've changed my bread making process from the one above in 2019. Now I make up bags of bread - everything except the hot water and the fat. I make milk bread so the bag has flour, salt, dry milk, yeast and vital gluten. When I need bread, I grab a bag from the bucket in the pantry and dump the mix into the stand mixer with the kneading attachment. Heat 2 cups of water with 2 Tbsp butter. While the mixer is on, I slowly pour in the hot water/butter - let the mixer mix and then knead the bread for 8 minutes and it proofs in that same bowl. I can get bread to the proofing stage in about 10-11 minutes, counting the 8 minutes kneading. One bowl and one attachment to wash.
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Post by freelove on Dec 26, 2022 14:25:36 GMT
I've changed my bread making process from the one above in 2019. Now I make up bags of bread - everything except the hot water and the fat. I make milk bread so the bag has flour, salt, dry milk, yeast and vital gluten. When I need bread, I grab a bag from the bucket in the pantry and dump the mix into the stand mixer with the kneading attachment. Heat 2 cups of water with 2 Tbsp butter. While the mixer is on, I slowly pour in the hot water/butter - let the mixer mix and then knead the bread for 8 minutes and it proofs in that same bowl. I can get bread to the proofing stage in about 10-11 minutes, counting the 8 minutes kneading. One bowl and one attachment to wash. I do something similar for cornbread. I make jars of the dry ingredients and label them with how much of the liquid to add and baking instructions then I vacuum seal them so DH can make cornbread any time he wants.
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