5 Ways to Simplify Errands
We have limited time. That’s a fact of life. And few of us want to spend our precious free time running hither and yon doing errands. Here are five ways to simplify errands to make the time spent more productive:
Have One Designated Errand Day
Even though it seems like a good idea to run errands every lunch hour, save your errands and run them once a week. Knowing you run errands on one day will force you to consolidate your trips; for example, instead of going to store X four times to purchase one item each time, you can go once and purchase the four items. My errand day is Wednesday. My family knows if they want anything done, they need to let me know Tuesday night.
Look At Alternate Ways to Accomplish Your Errand
If you know that you need coffee filters, you have many stores to choose from. By grouping your errands so that you get the coffee filters at the discount department store rather than at the grocery store, you might be able to cut a stop out of your errand list.
Some errands can be eliminated. I discovered during the last holiday season that by using boxes on hand, my food scale and my computer, I could ship packages from my home.
Plan Your Route
Not knowing where you are going can cause you to backtrack. For instance, today’s errands went from the library, to the health food store, to the discount department store, to the warehouse store. I chose to make the warehouse store last, knowing I would have perishable items from that purchase and would need to get them home quickly. The middle two stores are between the library and the warehouse store, so I took them in the order in which I would pass them.
Write a list
Nothing is worse than going into a store for two items, not using a list, and realizing when you left the store that you forgot one of the two items. Having a list and sticking to in not only ensures that you will get what you need, but you will not do any impulse buying.
Pay Someone To Run Errands
If you are really crunched for time or detest a particular errand, pay someone to do it. I use an errand service to do my grocery shopping; my service will also do prescriptions, general shopping and deliveries. Sometimes errands are not worth the aggravation.
Photo by strangehill
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