Timesavers are Lifesavers
With daylight-saving time taking effect this weekend, it might seem the days are getting longer. But in the end, we still are trying to do all we can in the same 24-hour period.
As families pack more into their days and nights, saving time or making time becomes more crucial. But some families find savvy ways to make the most out of their hours.
Annie Hofler of Cranberry Township adopted the idea of valuing her time.
"The best thing I have done lately is to treat my time as I do my money," said Hofler, who budgets her time, but leaves some unplanned. "You can't plan for time emergencies any more than you can for money emergencies, yet you know that just like money emergencies, time emergencies will arise."
This home school mother of two realizes a child will get sick or get hurt, or a friend or family member will call and need help with an emergency.
"Even weather or an accident on the roads will slow you down — or any number of any other big or small changes to your schedule will require some time," she said. "If every minute of the day is planned out, then you have no room for even a simple spill that results in a mini-cleaning or change of clothes."
Hofler is quick to realize how simple this concept is but equally as quick to note it isn't easy to apply.
"Yet, when I can do this, it's very freeing and so nice to have a little extra fund of time left over when I don't experience time emergencies. I can breathe easier and look at my 'want to do' list instead of my 'have to do' list and pick something fun to enjoy," she said.
Hofler's other time-saving tip is the power of saying no.
"Our culture tends to think we have to be overinvolved, our kids have to be overinvolved and I think it's gotten so bad that even those of us who, by comparison, are living in contrast to our culture, are still overscheduled," she said.
Chores like maintaining a house or dealing with finances are a necessary evil, but Denise Tabacchi of Penn Township has figured out a system that works for her family."I occasionally ask my husband, Darryl, to take our three kids out to 'I don't care where' so that I can clean the entire house," said Tabacchi, who said destinations vary from a McDonald's Playland to an ice-skating rink or to a park, depending on the weather. "I ask him not to come home before 10 p.m. They go off to have fun, and I stay home and clean for about four hours," she said."I crank the music and do a cleaning blitz. I get done at least twice what I would if I had the normal regular interruptions," Tabacchi said. "When my name gets said about 500 times less in four hours, I sure can get a lot done."Carrie Hungerman of Cranberry Township also involves her family in cleaning.A home school mom of four boys, Hungerman and her sons team up for daily tidying sessions to help keep her home on track."Many times at the end of the day before dinner, we set a timer for 5 minutes and have a super clean-up pick-up as fast as we all can go. Then they are rewarded with a small treat if we finish in the time allotted." she said.Even keeping up with medical appointments for four children can be daunting."If doctors are willing, we will try to double up on dentist and doctor appointments," Hungerman said. "If we book far enough ahead, we can sometimes get them in back to back or at the same time all in one day," adding that fewer trips save her time.
Beth Thomasmeyer of Penn Township has five children, four of whom are boys."I have considered a cleaning lady, but I don't want my boys to think this is how life works," Thomasmeyer said about mobilizing them to do the house cleaning. "They scrub the bathrooms — including toilets — and they mop the kitchen and hallway floors. They do the dusting and the window cleaning.""They all have chores five days a week. While our home is not ever perfect, it is nice, and it teaches my boys to appreciate the work that needs done," she said.Thomasmeyer's car-cleaning tip is to keep up with the fill-ups."Any time I am getting gas, I go through the car and clean out all the garbage," she said.John and Laurie Schirra involve their five children in the kitchen during and after meal times."The bottom line is to involve the kids in everything so that they not only help us, but they learn how to do things themselves that they will need to know how to do as adults," Laurie said."We involve them according to their age and abilities in preparing brunch every Sunday and on our kitchen chores list. In addition to each child having to clear his own dishes from the table after a meal, he also has a specific kitchen assignment every day, on a rotating basis," she said.The chore list includes unloading the dishwasher, loading the dishwasher, setting the table, washing the tables and counters, vacuuming the kitchen floor and washing the pans."This helps get the kitchen cleaned up after a meal in a much faster way than if I had to do it all myself," Schirra said.
Another huge time investment is meal planning.Instead of tackling that daily, Cinnamon Shafer of Middlesex Township plans meals once a month for her family of six."I first heard about it on the 'Focus on The Family' radio show, but then I checked it out online," said Shafer, who utilizes the www.30daygourmet.com Web site. "It takes me an evening or two to do the planning, one day to do the shopping and one day to do the cooking."Shafer typically makes 22 meals for the month, allowing for leftovers and the occasional pizza delivery."If I start cooking when the kids leave for school, I can usually be done by the time they get home," she said.She makes a variety of meals with beef, chicken, pork and ham and stores them in her freezer."I usually defrost the meal a day or two before I need it, then toss it in the pan or oven, and dinner is done," she said.Shafer freezes much of her food in Ziploc bags."I'll line the pans for meatloaf and such with plastic wrap and freeze them. Then pop (the food) out into a Ziploc bag to help save space and keep my pans free," she said.Shafer has an upright freezer in her home, but she said the Web site shows the upper freezer of a refrigerator organized for the 30-day plan.Shafer noted that not only does she save time in the kitchen, but also from having to plan and make several trips to the grocery store."I do a big run about every six weeks, then just a quick produce, dairy and bread run every 10 days or so," she said.Limited grocery trips also save money, Shafer added.
Laundry for nine people could overwhelm a family, but the Costanza family of Cranberry Township is grateful for the advice they read in a publication years ago. They adopted the concept of a family closet."In our laundry room, each member of our family has a fairly large shelf on which to store all of their clothing," said Amy Costanza, mother of seven."My husband simply purchased wire rack shelving with six shelves, and I have a large, shallow bin under the lowest shelf for the baby."The hanging clothes also are in the same laundry area."Each child is allotted a relatively small section for their hanging items. This way, when I fold a load of clothes it never leaves the laundry area. All items go straight from the dryer or clothesline to the person's shelf or hangers," she said.Costanza said this also eliminates baskets of clothing being rummaged through and not put away."I can see easily who needs more of any particular item because nothing is hidden away in drawers but is clearly stacked in the open," she said.Large families tend to be short on storage space, but without dressers in the rooms, Costanza said the family closet also frees up much needed space."We try to live rather simply and are continually weeding out items that we don't wear often, which I believe makes this system possible. If the wardrobes are limitless, I'm not sure how this could work," she said.To save time on finding and sorting socks, Costanza also has her children diaper pin their socks before placing them in the dirty laundry."I cannot overstate what a timesaver this has been," she said. "All socks come out already mated — just remove pin and fold!"Costanza keeps a container of pins next to the dirty laundry sorter, which is a three-compartment sorter for darks, mediums and whites. Because the system saves both time and space, the family members don't seem to mind any inconveniences.John and Amy Merhaut of Butler have eight children ranging from two months old to 13 years old. They found it wasn't just socks that were overwhelming but also coats and shoes."We have many coats and pairs of shoes that the children used to leave wherever," said Amy Merhaut, whose husband came to the rescue."He hung up 24 coat hooks on the walls in our entry so the children didn't have to bother with hangers and the closet. We bought plastic shelves and colored plastic crates. Each child has their own color crate for their shoes, which we stack in the shelves."Also in their entry is a three-drawer storage container for hats and gloves in the winter."Our entry doesn't look elegant or fancy, but it does help with the clutter and saves time locating things," she said.
