make more time

We all have the same amount of hours in the day. It doesn't matter what you need or want to get done or how noble your intentions are. Each of us only has 24 hours in a day--for good or bad, to waste or to use efficiently.

We will hear about people who give generously of their time to help others. Often, these are people who have families, careers and commitments. What makes them special is that they have figured out a way to make time in order to give their time and themselves.

How do you make time?

As we just said, we all have the same number of hours to work with. So how do we maximize our efficiency in order to have free time left over to give? How can you save an hour? There's an old saying, `You have to spend money to make money.' Saving time, as well, requires some effort or 'spending' on your part.

1. Cook in bulk. Bulk cooking is a huge investment and time saver. If you're preparing a home cooked meal, make several extra portions to put on the freezer. Since you're already cooking, there's very little extra time or effort involved. You can also prepare certain items or ingredients in advance as opposed to whole meals. Items such as ground beef or boneless chicken breasts are fantastic to cook in bulk and freeze in small packages for quick easy meals.

2. Plan your meals. Once you have meals or ingredients on hand in the freezer, the key is to PLAN! Know what you have in there and use it wisely by planning your meals for at least a week at a time. If you know what you will have for dinner each night, you will save time that would be spent trying to figure out what to have, whether or not you need to shop for something or even worse, spending extra time and money eating out or getting take- out at the last minute because you don't know what else to do.

3. Have a laundry schedule. Laundry should be something you throw in and then you go do something else. If you remember to throw one load in each morning, or each evening when you arrive home you won't find yourself constantly running out of clothes.

4. Consolidate your errands. Another easy way to save an hour is to try and group your errands. If you save your errands and try to run them all in one block of time, you will save time and gas money. Instead of leaving your house numerous times, make a list of the errands you need to run and plot them out according to location.

5. Institute a desk day. Try to have a time each week desk when you sort and pay all of your current bills and update your budget. If you are sure to check at least once a week, you avoid the chance that you will have bills slip by you. It's also much easier to stay on top of your budget plan and balance your checkbook once a week, rather than allow it to get out of control which will then take a huge amount of time to figure out.

Now that you have some time saved for sharing with others, find something that you love to do and pass along the joy.

Some possibilities:

• Volunteer in a soup kitchen

• Visit a nursing home and spend time with someone who doesn't normally have any visitors
• Help out at your child(ren)'s school for the next fundraiser
• Take a friend or relative, who may be going through a difficult time in his or her life, shopping, out to dinner or bowling.
• Spend an hour with your child(ren) at the park
• Go out on a date with your spouse, and give that person your undivided attention
• Create something and give it away...just because

For more organizing ideas, visit my website: www.andreadekker.com