Using Time Wisely

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Relax and Embrace the Gift of Unscheduled Time

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Relax and Embrace unscheduled time

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Between days at home and fun activities throughout the week, our summer days are anything but lazy. In using time wisely, I plan, schedule, and execute day in and day out. Though very productive, this cycle wears me out.

In realizing that rest is just as important as the busyness, I am learning to relax and embrace the gift of unscheduled time.

By making a short to-do list and knocking out those items as early in the day as possible, I can relax, read to my children, and play a game.

By combining scheduled time with chucks of free time, I can relax without focusing on the next thing on the list. These periods of rest clear my mind which fuels my productivity later.

As you plug along in using time wisely, stop to relax and embrace the gift of unscheduled time. You can begin today by celebrating Independence Day without dwelling on your schedule. Happy 4th of July!

Question: What do you do when relaxing?

2012 Second Quick Tip Week: Step Away from the Problem

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Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

We are already halfway through our Quick Tip Week. In taking a break in the middle of the week to refresh and rest, I plug along this journey with a stop in the miscellaneous category.

Quick Tip #4: Step Away from the Problem

In planning and organizing, I get stumped all the time. From trying to fit items into a container to choosing menu items for the week, I could waste a lot of time trying to come up with answers.

Knowing that problems will arise, I work towards a solution. When the solution does not come after a few attempts, I step away from the problem. During these times, I might do the following:

    • Take a walk
    • Clean or pickup a room

By replacing my time with something profitable, I give my creative juices a rest, work on another task, and return with a fresh perspective.

In using time wisely, take a step away from the problem and come back when you can focus without distractions. Happy solving!

Question: How do you handle problems?

How to Organize Your Daily Deal Vouchers

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Photograph Credit: Couptivate

As a subscriber to multiple daily deal sites, I love the deals available. When I purchase one, the voucher gets deposited into that daily deal site’s account. When I want to use that voucher, I access my account, print, and redeem.

If I only had one account, then I would just access that daily deal site. However, I purchase deals from multiple daily deal sites: Groupon, LivingSocial, and Plum District.

The Problem

With multiple deal sites, I must keep track of when deals expire and which accounts holds which purchase. When stretching your dollars and using daily deals sites for great deals, you may spend more time staying organized than you want.

For example, I planned an outing to a bounce house place for which I had a voucher. I went to Groupon, logged in, viewed my vouchers, and found that the bounce house deal was not purchased through Groupon. So, I logged out, signed into LivingSocial, viewed my vouchers, found the right one, printed, and then logged out.

This process involved lots of steps and wasted time to find the voucher I needed. I knew there had to be a better way to using time wisely.

A Solution

In looking for a solution without creating a spreadsheet to keep up, I read about Couptivate, a site that captures all your daily deal vouchers and holds them in one account. After taking the tour on their site, reading about their encrypted security, and verifying free registration, I signed up.

Upon creating a new account using my name, e-mail, and password, I landed on the My Accounts page listing all the available daily deal sites.

As of the writing of this post, Couptivate includes the following 13 daily deal sites:

Photograph Credit: Couptivate

  • Groupon
  • LivingSocial
  • Bloomspot
  • Lifebooker
  • HomeRun
  • KGB Deals
  • EverSave
  • Tippr
  • Plum District
  • Travel Zoo
  • Yelp
  • Gilt City
  • BuyWithMe

I selected Groupon and entered my Groupon user name and password. Couptivate accessed my Groupon account and added my vouchers. I then selected LivingSocial and entered my LivingSocial user name and password. After a moment of verification, Couptivate added those vouchers.

Now I can log in to my Couptivate account to view and print all my daily deal vouchers in one place. As I purchase more deals, I only need to log in to my Couptivate account, and Couptivate captures new vouchers before loading the MY DEALS page.

TIP: If you do not see a newly purchased voucher, you can select IMPORT MORE DEALS to refresh the page.

Benefits to this Solution

Couptivate allows you to sort your vouchers by expiration date, deal site, or category. In your account settings, you can choose one or both e-mail notifications:

1. A monthly voucher summary and/or

2. Expiration date reminder of your choice of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 20 days before the deadline.

SIDE NOTE: If you use multiple e-mail addresses (i.e., personal, junk, business, etc.) and have more than one account for Groupon or LivingSocial, then you will need a separate Couptivate account for each e-mail address.

For example, if you have a Groupon and a LivingSocial account with your personal e-mail address and another Groupon account and LivingSocial account with your junk e-mail address, and a Groupon account for your business, then you will need three Couptivate accounts: personal (1), junk (2), and business (3). At this time, Couptivate only allows access to one account per daily deal sites.

In using time wisely and stretching our dollars via daily deal sites, I keep my vouchers organized through the free service of Couptivate. Taking the fear out of forgetting to use a voucher, Couptivate offers e-mail notifications and holds all my vouchers for my e-mail address in one place. With many daily deal vouchers and accounts, Couptivate saves me time and energy while using time wisely.

Question: How do you organize your daily deal vouchers? 

2012 Quick Tip Week: Power Off Your Phone

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Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Hope you are enjoying this week of quick tips to using time wisely. Time constraints arise that limit our choices.

By choosing time-saving strategies, we can coast through the busy times until we make through to the other side. Then we can take the time to catch up and plan.

If you have missed any tips, here are the links to each tip: #1 – Designated space for “to be filed” paperwork, #2 – Use disinfecting wipes for quick cleanings, and #3 – Keep your brainstorming notes. The next tip comes from the miscellaneous category, specifically time management.

Quick Tip #4: Power Off Your Phone

Really?! How can I go without my phone? I understand. When you are in the midst of a big project, you need to stay accessible. However, when you need to get that project done and have a block of time to work, power off your phone and start. Without your phone, you can concentrate and produce without distractions by the texts, rings, and beeps.

Besides my phone, I also close out my e-mail and Google Reader on my computer. Seeing the tabs update at the top of the screen tend to distract me. With time to work, I prefer to cut the distractions by closing the extra tabs on my computer and turning off my phone.

In using time wisely, power off your phone and increase your productivity. Set the timer, power off your phone, and work. When the timer ends, check your messages, and examine your work. As I cut distractions, my level of productivity rises. Try it. This tip works for me, and it may work for you. Happy productivity!

Question: How often do you power off your phone?

Guest Post: Reducing your Junk Mail

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Today, I welcome Jim Wang of Bargaineering.com as he shares how we can reduce the amount of junk mail coming to our mailboxes. Less stuff coming into our homes equals using time wisely doing necessary tasks apart from sorting unsolicited mail. Enjoy!

There’s one thing that most families will do each day, besides eat and sleep, and that’s check their mail. There’s something fun about opening up the mail box and seeing what has arrived, unless it’s a fistful of bills or unsolicited mailings. If you want to save yourself some time, I can share some strategies to cut down on the junk mail you get (the bills are up to you!).

The easiest way to reduce the amount of mail you get, and thus have to open or shred, is to cut down on the junk mail you receive. OptOutPrescreen.com is a site set up as a result of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and it keeps a registry of names that creditors and insurers cannot contact with offers of credit or insurance, unless you initiate it. By signing up, you can opt out permanently or for five years, after which you’ll need to renew again. Signing up for this site has cut down my junk mail significantly because this effectively stops almost all of the unsolicited mailings I would receive.

What OptOutPrescreen.com does not do is prevent mailings from companies with which you have an existing relationship. If you have a Citi credit card, Citibank can still send you offers because that’s an existing relationship. In order to opt out of those mailings, you have to contact the marketing department of each company and ask to be removed from the marketing lists. This will take some time because you will need to call each company individually but it is well worth it.

You can also use a free service like Catalog Choice to opt out of catalogs, coupon mailers, and other large volume mailers. The service will help you find the proper forms to fill out to stop getting useless mailings like your local phone book (who uses these anymore?) and ValuPaks (if you never use those coupon books). In some cases, you can opt out of a service from within Catalog Choice and in other cases you’ll be redirected to the services’ website. I’ve used Catalog Choice to opt out of at least half a dozen mailings.

Finally, if you are still getting a lot of junk mail despite these efforts, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has a fantastic fact sheet on junk mail that walks you through specific steps you can take to cut down on your junk mail. They discuss everything from the Direct Marketer’s Association Preference Service to opting out of mailings from your supermarket loyalty card. It’s a fantastic resource.

There’s an extra side benefit of reducing the amount of junk mail you get – you reduce the opportunity for identity theft. Your credit and your identity are two of your most valuable assets in the modern world and keeping both in sterling condition is important, especially if you want to get a loan with a reasonable rate. Maintaining a good credit score and preventing identity theft is much easier when someone can’t just open your mailbox and steal a credit card application you never asked for.

For more financial tips, visit Jim on his personal finance blog, Bargaineering.com.

Question: How bothersome is your junk mail?