Twenty-four hours in a day never seems to be enough. Where does the time go?! If you’re like many people, the answer could be Facebooking, channel-surfing, and primping! We calculated approximately how much time we “waste” during our modern-day routines and discovered that with the following modifications, you may be able to find up to six extra hours of free time each and every day.
1. Go to bed earlier. We all want to stay up late watching bad TV, surfing the internet, or reading juicy page-turners but the phrase early to bed, early to rise is very real. Snuggle up in the comfiest sheets at 10pm rather than midnight (or 9pm versus 11pm), let an awesome alarm clock wake you bright and early, and you can pick up two extra hours on the backend, when you’ve got more energy and are less likely to waste time becoming one with the couch.
2. Simplify your beauty regime. Fast and fabulous should be the mantra here. Ways to speedily put yourself together for women include applying a tinted moisturizer that provides coverage and nourishment in one step, brushing on eye-opening mascara, and quickly dabbing on bold lip color. If you do it right, you can transform a half-hour primping regimen into 10 minutes tops. That’s an extra 20 minutes you didn’t have before! Meanwhile, everyone, including the environment, can benefit by shorter showers.
3. Get a wash-and-wear hairdo. With spring and summer just around the corner, we can count on enjoying low maintenance “beach hair” once again. That means you can shower, massage a bit of wave-defining product into your wet locks, scrunch and you’re off! To further insure effortless styling, ask your hair dresser for a cut that works with your texture and hair type. Enjoying a cut that flatters your natural tresses will help you stop blow drying, straightening, and curling your mane into submission and save you 30 minutes or more!
4. Curb your online surfing habit. We all do it—check email, Facebook, Twitter, and Farmville a gazillion times a day. Those quick peeks can turn into major time sucks over the course of a 24 hour period. Limit yourself to checking a set number of quick catch-ups (think once at lunch and once at the end of the day, or even four times daily), and you can score a solid hour or more.
5. Wear gorgeous, affordable dresses. Ever wondered how much time you spend staring into your closet looking for the perfect outfit? Try 20 minutes or so—at least. Skip the saga by sliding on a one-piece outfit, which requires no other decision than complementary shoes. Time saved: 15 minutes or more.
6. Leverage your lunch hour. Got errands to run? Doing them during lunch eliminates after-hour responsibilities. Likewise going to the gym, if you have one near you. (Dressing for workout success helps.) Bonuses: A midday sweat will give you more energy to carry you through the rest of the day, and finishing your extracurricular errands at work saves you an hour after the fact.
7. Compartmentalize housework to specific times during the week. If you let them, chores can dominate your entire life, especially if you have kids. Let your type-A tendencies slide and relegate laundry, vacuuming, grocery shopping, cooking, and other repetitive chores to specific days of the week. Such foresight can save you at least one hour per day.
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