My Top 5-Minute Time Savers
Did you know that anything you spend five minutes on daily costs you over 30 hours of your life every single year? One of my biggest secrets to getting so much done in life is by cutting five minutes here and there wherever I can.
There is a caveat to all this. Before you look at cutting five minutes, you have to weigh whether or not the cost of setting it up and paying for the items below are equal to X amount of hours that you save. To determine this, take your net value of time and compare that to the amount of costs you pay upfront, and weigh that against how much time you're actually saving to discover when you break even.
Today, I’m sharing 15 things I do to save at least 5 minutes daily, saving me tons of time and energy throughout the year…
Automatic Gate Opener
We spend 3-4 minutes each time we leave and exit our property to open and shut the gate. This happens two to three times a day, which adds up to just over 21 hours per year. The gate cost about $1,000 and eight man-hours to install, which means we will break even in about a year. Then I’ll be able to reap the benefits of all the energy and effort that I've taken to set up this gate system.
Robotic Vacuum
This is a purchase that pays for itself quickly! I found my Roomba on sale for $250 and it didn't take any time to set up. That is saving me at least 5-10 minutes of my time every single day, which amounts to well over 30 hours per year. This kind of investment is a no-brainer.
Dishwasher
Upgrade your dishwasher to the fancy kind that doesn't make you rinse your dishes. You can put an extremely dirty plate in there and it comes out perfectly clean. Compare this cost against hand-washing dishes, we save 30+ minutes per day.
Pool Vacuum
Just like the Roomba, this will save you time scrubbing the pool.
Automatic Feeders for Pets
This is easiest with animals that are free-fed, like chickens and cats.
Automatic Chicken Coop Door
This is another automatic opener and closer that makes life easier.
Roll Away Nesting Box
This device causes eggs to roll away, which means saving time on collecting eggs three times a day. Instead, we can go out there once a day or every other day, check on the chickens, and grab the eggs.
Second Fridge
Less grocery store runs and we bulk up on fresh produce and items that we eat regularly.
Thermal Printer
This is a relatively inexpensive purchase that saves time printing, cutting, and taping labels.
Subscribe and Save
Lots of retailers offer this option, and it’s especially great for things like supplements and pet foods that we use on a regular basis.
A Nest System
This system lets us automate the alarm system, the temperature in the house, locking and opening the doors, and communicating with the family.
Watering Plants From a Pail
This one is simple and practical. While the pail is filling up, you can take the watering canister and dunk it in and keep watering your plants while the pail continues to fill up. This saves a lot of time compared to waiting for the watering can to fill up every single round.
Easy Folding
Stop doing Marie Kondo-style folding. While it saves space and makes things look neater, it takes too much time to fold. I’ve found huge time savings on simple folding.
Food Processor
You can get these in small sizes that will help make salsas, sauces, slaws, and more in minutes, versus hours of chopping and dicing.
Organizing
You don't necessarily need more organizing spaces or boxes, but if you can put something in a place that is more accessible and functional for your space, then that can help make a space feel homey and less cluttered. Keep in mind, the point of these organizational items is about accessibility and not about storing more useless things.
I have calculated the items on this list save me 547.5 hours per year. That is 22.8 days of my life! Implementing these things has saved me a whole month of time, which is well worth the effort and cost of these items.
I hope you find some value here too, and I’d love to hear what your favorite time savers are! Comment below!