Using Time Wisely

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Archives for 2011

Grocery Store Bound

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After avoiding the grocery stores for a month (due to a busy schedule), I have exhausted my staples. My pantry is still relatively full, but I have pieced together as many meals as my creativity can muster. Upon realizing that dinner was not to be had from my kitchen tonight, I requested dinner out.

Considering our choices, we decided to visit Firehouse Subs where kids eat free on Sundays and Wednesdays. With the allowance of 2 free kids’ meals for each paying adult, our family of 5 enjoyed 2 adult combo meals and 3 kids’ meals to the tune of $16.

Though I could have created a meal for far less, the night off was so nice. After watching another hail storm while at dinner and attending church, I came home ready to cut my coupons, organize my binders, and create a grocery list from the grocery store sales this week. With the help of Jenny Martin at southernsavers.com, I matched my coupons with the sales, printed my lists, and prepared myself for shopping tomorrow.

Although the sales were not outstanding this week, my family will enjoy having some of our normal meals again. I am pretty sure I have missed a ton of great deals and opportunities to buy ahead, but I chose to use my time wisely and hang out with my kids. Hope you are using your time wisely and able to snag some great savings while you feed your family.

RSS: Feed Reader – Part 1 of 5

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Photograph Credit: Wikipedia

Are you familiar with this little icon? Many web sites include this icon near the subscribing by e-mail or connecting through social media, i.e., Facebook and Twitter, images. On Using Time Wisely, this icon is located across from the title at the top right of the Home page. The icon color turns from gray to orange when the cursor hovers over the image.  In this 5-part series, I will answer the following questions:

  1. What is it, and what does it do?
  2. Where do I start?
  3. How do I add my favorite web sites?
  4. How do I customize it?
  5. Why are some of the feeds incomplete?

To begin, the icon represents RSS. I have found helpful this explanation from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

RSS (most commonly expanded as Really Simple Syndication) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format. An RSS document (which is called a “feed”, “web feed”, or “channel”) includes full or summarized text.

RSS formats are specified using XML, a generic specification for the creation of data formats. Although RSS formats have evolved from as early as March 1999, it was between 2005 and 2006 when RSS gained widespread use, and Firefox‘s icon was adopted by Internet Explorer.

So what does all this jargon mean? It means that there is a way to save you lots of time while reading the new information on your favorite web sites without visiting each web site. Yea! This is a huge time saver for keeping up-to-date in a short period of time.

This little RSS button will save you minutes, if not hours, of time. With one-stop access to all the newest content posted on your favorite web sites, you will use your time wisely while keeping informed. Come back next week for part 2 where I will show you where to start.

Timesaver: Veggie Cups

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Timesaver: Veggie Cups

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Do you get inspired from magazine articles? Though I do not read many magazines, I scan pages for ideas. One magazine I enjoy skimming is “Martha Stewart Living.”

Now, I do not have my own garden, bake from scratch, make my own spices, entertain each week, sew, or make my own centerpieces and décor.

However, I am a homemaker, event planner, and organizer, so I love picking out tips and tricks that will save me time, money, and energy.

The Inspiration

While browsing the latest issue of “Martha Stewart Living,” I was inspired by a party trick I can adapt for my style. The author suggested:

    1. Placing vegetable dip into the bottom of clear shot glasses or votive candle holders,
    2. Adding sliced veggies (carrot sticks, cucumber spears, celery sticks, etc.) to the containers, and
    3. Serving the glasses or candle holders on a serving tray among a layer of ice.

My Adaptation

I loved this idea. I often serve colorful, accessible vegetable trays at small parties. With a little adaption to my style and my budget, this event trick can be useful.

Buffet-style Event

I am thinking of events where many attendees need to be served in a limited amount of time. For this type of event, a buffet line works well.

With about ½” ranch dressing poured into the bottom of each clear plastic cup and a handful of veggies placed upright, event attendees can quickly pass through the buffet line, pick up a veggie cup, and  continue to the next station.

Sit-down Event

For a sit-down event, having the veggie cups prepared on the serving trays would make the delivery to the table quick and efficient.

Formal Event

For more formal events, the container could be upgraded to fit the occasion. Click here to view Snack Girl’s detailed instructions with a photograph showcasing her Veggie Shots.

Just taking a few minutes to glance through a magazine has inspired me to use a new tip at my next party. I’m excited as this solution is easy which helps me in using time wisely. Happy creating!

Question: What tip or trick have you discovered that can be adapted to your style?

Maintaining: Kitchen Cleanup – Part 3 of 3

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Photograph Credit: Free Range Stock (Adamophoto)

Keeping the kitchen clean is an on-going task. Having a routine in place after each meal helps to keep me organized. I go on auto-pilot as I complete the routine and end with clean surfaces and rinsed-off dishes.

The after-breakfast routine was covered in Part 1, with the after-lunch routine shared in Part 2, and today, I will complete this 3-part series with my after-dinner routine. By the end of the dinner routine, my goal is to have a clean kitchen which will await me at breakfast the next morning.

Dinner Routine:

  1. Clear off the table. My two older children ask to be excused and then take their dishes to the kitchen. I have a designated spot for their dirty dishes: on the counter by the sink. My children will then help clear off easy items while Paul and I clear off the rest of the table.
  2. Wipe down the table.
  3. Put away any leftover food.
  4. Rinse each dirty item and place it in the left-hand side of the sink.
  5. Unload the dishwasher. If the dishes are clean, then put away the clean dishes.
  6. Load the dishwasher. Add all the rinsed-off dirty dishes from the left-hand side of the sink into the dishwasher. If the dishwasher is full, then run the dishwasher.
  7. Clean all the countertops.
  8. Spray the kitchen sink and wipe it clean.

The routine is basically the same as my after lunch routine. Having similar routines keeps me on-task and helps me to use my time wisely. Though this routine works for me, it may not work for you. I share my routine to inspire you to find a system that meets your needs where you are. By finding a routine and sticking to it, you can arrive home or enter your kitchen without being met with a To-Do pile of dirty dishes. If you struggle with a messy kitchen, then try adjusting one part of your current routine until you find a system that helps you stay organized as you spend your time wisely. Wishing you time spent wisely creating a kitchen routine that fits your schedule.

Personal: Own Documents

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Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Having completed the fifth file slot in Box 1 of the accordion filing system, let’s proceed to the sixth file opening under the second category of Personal documents. (Are you following my organizational system? To help those of you who are visual learners, like me, a pictorial overview of my accordion file will be posted next week.)

With my husband’s personal documents stored in the fifth slot, I have placed these personal documents of mine in the sixth gap of the accordion file:

  1. LSAT Score. Before we had children, I toyed with the idea of going to law school. Though that endeavor did not materialize, I took the test, and I keep those documents in this file.
  2. Teaching Certificate. Though it is expired and states my maiden name, I keep my professional teaching certificate from the South Carolina Board of Education with my personal documents. Unlike my LSAT score, I actually needed my certificate in 1997, when I taught high school speech, drama, and 10th grade English in the public school system.
  3. Transcripts. Copies or student-issued, unofficial originals of my 5 transcripts are kept in this file.
  • Partial records for 9th -11th grades from one school.
  • Complete high school record from school from which I graduated.
  • Community college records for 3 classes took during summer sessions.
  • Undergraduate records.
  • Graduate transcript.

This file has been purged of SAT and ACT scores (college entrance exams), EEE and Praxis II scores (teaching certificate tests), and my GRE score (graduate school entrance exam).  Since I have already benefited from these tests and could request the information from the official boards, I have chosen to rid them from my file. If you have these documents and will be using them in the future, then please keep them. For me, I have exhausted the uses for these scores, so I choose not to have them clutter up my file. However, I have kept the LSAT scores since I may still profit from them.

If I obtain other certifications, degrees, scores, or other personal documents pertaining only to me, I will add those documents to this sixth file slot. At present, this file is complete. Next week, instead of continuing with the seventh file slot, I will show you my file box. The visual explanation may be more valuable than my written description. In the meantime, happy organizing!