How to Streamline Every Area of Your Life

Today's blog post is based on an article from getpocket.com. I thought it was a really interesting article and I've written about some of the key ideas before.

I don’t believe every aspect of life should be optimised, every day planned out and every minute used productively. Because sometimes the unexpected, spontaneous things are what makes life worth living. 

BUT: I strongly believe in streamlining areas of your life that are repetitive and/or annoying, if it allows you to carve out time for the things that are more important in your life. 

Here is the ultimate guide for increasing your personal efficiency in every area of your life.

• Eating

• Plan your meals for the entire week and shop the ingredients in one go
• Meal Prep on Sundays
• Have a set of default recipes
• Always have your kitchen stocked with the basics

I've written about meal prepping before and I've downloaded an app called Meal Prep Pro, although I haven't started using it yet. I'm planning on doing my grocery shopping and meal prep on Fridays for the upcoming week.

• Household

• Have a basic “stock” list that you check every week
• Keep a running “to-buy” list
• Buy the stuff you need once a week
• Clean up after every meal and before you go to bed
• Make a cleaning schedule

Siri makes it really easy to create your shopping list on the go...just say "Hey Siri add toilet paper (or whatever) to my shopping list". If you don't have a shopping list yet, she will create one under your Reminders. I don't know if Google does the same thing.

Also, I'm pretty bad at cleaning up after every meal...I need to work on that. But there is a cleaning calendar that I like here.

• Errands

• Keep a running to-do list for errands
• Batch similar tasks together
• Get them done in scheduled time slots

I wrote about scheduling your to do list here.

• Traveling

• Have a default packing list for different occasions
• Travel hand-luggage only
• Check in online
• Prepare for your journey

Here's a handy resource for traveling light. I have the Red Oxx "Air Boss" bag that is discussed here on that site.

• Workouts

• Plan your workouts ahead
• Have a set of workouts you can do at home or while traveling
• Combine working out with other things

• Lost time

• Have a set of relevant podcasts ready
• Have a list of articles ready to read
• Have a running list of 1-min tasks
• Reply to messages
• Prepare

Along these lines are also e-books and audio books. Audio books work really well for me since my commute is about 90 minutes each way. I can listen to an entire book in 2 or 3 days.

Many people I know also use their lost time to send greeting cards.

There's a lot more detail in the article. I highly encourage you to go over and check it out.

Interesting days

Today - World Kindness Day, Symphonic Metal Day, Education Support Professionals Day and Indian Pudding Day

Tomorrow - Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day, World Diabetes Day, Spicy Guacamole Day, Operating Room Nurse Day and Pickle Day

Week long celebrations:

November 11 - 17: Human-Animal Relationship Awareness Week 

November 12 - 18: Talk Money Week

Next Wednesday - Name Your PC Day, Wobbly Wednesday, Absurdity Day, African Industrialization Day, Peanut Butter Fudge Day and Universal Children’s Day

Week long celebrations:

November 18 - 24: Road Safety Week

 December 13 - (I'm still having issues accessing pages from next month)

Month long celebrations:

November 28 - December 31: A Blue Christmas