How Much Time Do You Spend on the Internet?

In this 2010 comScore Media Matrix survey, it was found that average Americans spend 32 hours a month on the Internet. My age group (35-44) spent the second largest number of hours per month 37.4, while users age (45-54) top the scale at 39.3 hours per month.

I've been thinking lately about how much time I waste browsing the Internet. What would I do with the hours I fritter away each week? Write, research for new projects, monitor investments. Whatever I spent that time on would be more useful than checking our local news sites and email for updates.

I find when I am pushed to the breaking point, so overwhelmed I don't know where to turn, I waste more time online. That's not unusual. It's been shown that one of the reasons we procrastinate is because our schedules are too jam-packed. We need time to wind down. We need to stop saying yes to every volunteer opportunity that comes along. We need time just to snuggle up with our kids and let them know they are loved.

I would probably be amazed by how much time I spend online each week if I tracked it for a month.  How much time do you spend online each week? How much is work related and how much is leisure time? Are there places you can cut back so you aren't browsing the Internet so much?

Save Time When Grilling

When we first built our home, the hubby and I had no idea what we were doing. He had lived at home with his parents his whole life and I lived in small apartments while I worked three jobs to make ends meet. Now that we've been homeowners for twelve years, it's sometimes frustrating to realize what we did wrong--especially in the kitchen/cooking arena.

The first quote for our house was significantly higher than the budget we had set. Yes, the banks told us we could afford more, but being conservative with our money, we didn't want to stretch ourselves thin. So, we ended up shrinking the house length and width to bring us closer to our desired number. Didn't seem to be a problem at the time, but try entertaining. Everyone congregates in the kitchen. Even with our open floor plan, it's a tight squeeze between the half wall that separates the work area and the dinette. Our deck, which seemed perfectly placed off the family room, makes grilling a hassle. I have to walk through the kitchen and out the atrium doors of the family room carrying everything I need back and forth. Definitely not the best set up. Once we decide to go through with the renovations, we'll expand the deck so it connects to the back doorway, which is right off the kitchen.

Because of these challenges, I've had to come up with some time savers for grilling.

• Store grilling utensils outside. For a few years, I stored my utensils in the house. That was a pain because they were so long and awkward they didn't fit well in most of my cabinets. Now, I store them on the shelf that is hidden behind double doors where the propane tank sits. I use a plastic zippered bag that used to hold a comforter to keep them clean and dry.
• Heat up the grill while you're gathering supplies. I turn my grill on right before I pack up all I need to take outside. By the time I'm ready to cook, the grill is nice and hot.
• Invest in a sturdy tray. I want to make as few trips back and forth as possible, so I load up a metal tray with all that it will carry--plates, napkins, cups, condiments--and bring them out all together.
• Keep a cooler close by. We don't drink alcohol, and I usually make lemonade for cookouts, so I don't need my cooler for beverages. Instead, I use it to haul all the meats and breads outside. With a layer of ice on the bottom, I'm also able to keep the meats from spoiling before I cook them.
• Make clean up a breeze by storing supplies outside. I usually tuck a container of disinfecting wipes in the deck box where the cushions are stored. If the container is too big, I remove several wipes, put them in a plastic bag that can be sealed and tuck it in between the cushions.
• Clean your grill after you're done. One of the the reasons we ended up buying a new grill a couple of years ago is because while we were on vacation, our son entertained at our house and used the grill. When we came home, globs of greasy gunk were baked onto the grates. There was no way I was ever using that grill again. I would have needed a chisel and hammer to remove all the days worth of caked on goo. It was also an old grill, so it was almost time to replace it anyway. After I'm done grilling and the family has eaten together, I go out and clean off the grates with a wet paper towel and some dishwashing soap. Then I rinse with a clean paper towel, dry the grates, and wipe on a thin layer of vegetable oil. The oil keeps the food from sticking while it cooks. It also helps prevent rust.

How do you save time when you grill?

Time Saving Tips for the Garden

This time of year I am especially busy. Field trips with the kids, two birthdays, three anniversaries, Mother's Day, softball, art class...you get the picture. On top of all this, I decided to plant a vegetable garden this year for the first time in a long while.

Since the soil is so poor, I opted to use raised beds. That meant taking time to prepare the ground, set up the beds, and get some things planted quickly. I also had to clean out the shed so I would have a dedicated place to start my indoor seeds. It looks like my husband will need to mow this weekend for the first time--if it ever stops raining--so I need to go around the perimeter of the yard and cut back those low lying branches left over from October's snowstorm.

A post with how to save time in the garden seemed in order. I stumbled upon this article online, but it wasn't exactly the type of inspiration I was looking for. It was good advice, but not the angle I wanted to use. If you don't mind some average gardener advice, I'm your woman.

• Store your gardening tools in one location. Our shed isn't huge, but it serves its purpose. Before it came along, I had tools in the cellar by the door leading outside, tools in the house (good grief), and tools in the garage. Can you imagine how much time I used to waste looking for my tools? Keep tools together in one spot so you know right where they are. Even if that place is a cardboard box, it's better than scattering tools everywhere.
• Write a list of what you need to finish the job. We have a long driveway and we're situated on a couple of acres. While walking is great exercise, I don't want to waste precious time going back and forth for a tool or supply I've forgotten. Writing out a short list of everything you need to complete a task ensures you won't leave out the one thing you need to use the minute you kneel down in the dirt..
• Have a plan. If you're like me, you have several projects vying for your attention. Have an idea what you are going to tackle first and how. Even when I'm weeding, I start in a certain location based upon where the sun is when I go out. Having a plan in mind before you start allows you to hope right in and get it done.
• Bring water with you to stay hydrated. It took me a while to learn this, but it's best to bring a jug of water out with you--even if it's not very hot outside. Every time I would work in the garden, I found myself getting thirsty, but I didn't want to pull myself away to walk to the house to get a drink. Carry a jug outside and set it in a shady spot for water breaks.
• Have a water source on both sides of the house. Four years ago, a tree fell down in the yard and wiped out our hose and reel on the left side of the house. Being the thrifty girl I am, I figured we could get by with just one and drag it from one side of the house to the other. As soon as I had to water more heavily during those hot summer months, dragging that hose around the house was a dreadful task. Even if you don't have two spigots, perhaps you can set up a rain barrel so you have water closeby.

Hope this is a fruitful season for your gardens.

Tracking Your Time Will Make You More Productive

It seems wrong to mention a Wall Street Journal article on Thursday instead of Wednesday here, but it works in perfectly with this post. In the Monday, April 2, 2012 edition of The Wall Street Journal, H. James Wilson, senior researcher at Babson Executive Education, states that encouraging workers to track what they are doing makes them healthier and more productive. Wilson opens his article with this statement:

"Imagine how much better workers could do their jobs if they knew exactly how they spend their day."

I talk about productivity and tracking time in articles for Writer2Writer here and here. This seems so simple, but there is resistance to it:  if I am overwhelmed, how can I waste time writing out what I do each day? The reality is that because you don't have a clear idea of where your time is spent, you really can't see where time is wasted. You keep running in the same circles without finding a way out.

Wilson's article goes on to talk about auto-analytics, which are devices that help users, "gather data about what they do at work, analyze that information and use it to do their job better." Now, this won't work for the average stay-at-home mom or writer, but tracking your time isn't that complicated. I haven't done it for a while, and suddenly I find myself overwhelmed with no idea how to rein in the days that are flying by. So, I plan to go back to my old model--steno notebook and pencil. You can also track your time in a spreadsheet to be green and have less paper flying around. You can view my sample of a list here. If you're interested in reading Wilson's entire article, click here.

How do you keep track of your time? What do you think your biggest time waster is?

Getting Rid of Inbox Clutter

Well, my desk doesn't look like this, but if I printed off every email I receive and stacked it on my writing surface, it sure would. Between emails from companies I've purchased from, to blogs I've subscribed to, and to messages from various Facebook groups, I receive over 200 emails a day. That doesn't even count the emails from friends or business contacts I must respond to.

I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed the past few weeks. It's left me less than productive, and I know I need to make changes. One of those changes was spending time yesterday and today unsubscribing from mailing lists. Whether it be the online retailer I purchased one item from a year ago or from a blog I haven't visited in six months, out they went. I also spent time reviewing my incoming RSS Feeds. If I have months' worth of unread posts, why am I having the feed delivered to my Inbox anyway? I also cut down the number of Facebook groups where I am a member.

Taking just a few simple steps will help keep your Inbox less cluttered and find you spending less time checking and deleting email.