Give Yourself More Free Time With the Help of Habits
Set up lifelong household habits you don't have to think about and the rewards might surprise you
If evening often rolls around before you’ve thought about what you’ll cook for dinner, and you only ever get out the vacuum cleaner when the house has descended into a chaotic mess, it’s time to welcome some new set-and-forget habits into your life. Far from filling your every day with chores, no-think habits actually free you up to spend more time and energy on what you actually want to be doing. See how you could tweak your day-to-day routine at home to make your world a better place.
Streamlined mornings
If you rush around in the morning trying to get out the door on time, it’s time to rethink how you do things. Organising your outfit the night before and making sure it’s ironed and ready to wear is a simple but super-effective new habit to welcome into your life. Same goes with lunch making. Chop up some extra vegies to throw into a salad the next day while you’re making dinner and healthy eating just got a whole lot easier.
If you rush around in the morning trying to get out the door on time, it’s time to rethink how you do things. Organising your outfit the night before and making sure it’s ironed and ready to wear is a simple but super-effective new habit to welcome into your life. Same goes with lunch making. Chop up some extra vegies to throw into a salad the next day while you’re making dinner and healthy eating just got a whole lot easier.
Small chores, often
The great thing about habits is that they free up time for you to spend however you want. If you leave all the washing, cleaning and cooking for the weekend, guess what you’ll have to spend your days off doing?
Instead, have shopping delivered – most online supermarkets and fresh produce delivery services allow you to save a standard list; throw a load of washing on the minute you walk in the door from work, and dedicate 10 minutes each evening to the household cleaning. If you can delegate some of these jobs to other members of the household during the week, so much the better – everyone will be better off come the weekend.
And that sunny day you can see out your window on Saturday morning? You’ll actually have the time to get out and enjoy it.
More: Learn How to be a ‘Tidy Person’
The great thing about habits is that they free up time for you to spend however you want. If you leave all the washing, cleaning and cooking for the weekend, guess what you’ll have to spend your days off doing?
Instead, have shopping delivered – most online supermarkets and fresh produce delivery services allow you to save a standard list; throw a load of washing on the minute you walk in the door from work, and dedicate 10 minutes each evening to the household cleaning. If you can delegate some of these jobs to other members of the household during the week, so much the better – everyone will be better off come the weekend.
And that sunny day you can see out your window on Saturday morning? You’ll actually have the time to get out and enjoy it.
More: Learn How to be a ‘Tidy Person’
Make it convenient
The easier you can make a habit to achieve, the easier it will be to do it without thinking.
Trying to build more exercise into your life, but can’t find the time? Make it simple to grab and go – it doesn’t get much easier than than bikes on brackets by the front door. Or place clean gym gear beside your bed so all you need to do when you wake up is mindlessly get dressed and head out the door. You know you’ll be glad you did it.
TIP: Think about any tasks you tend to put off. Rubin admits to letting the mail pile up before she gets around to opening and sorting it. Placing a rubbish bin beside the entry table where the mail lands was a simple move, but it made it more convenient to sort the mail, and made her more likely to do it.
“The amount of effort, time, or decision making required by an action has a huge influence on habit formation,” Rubin says. “To a truly remarkable extent, we’re more likely to do something if it’s convenient, and less likely if it’s not.”
The easier you can make a habit to achieve, the easier it will be to do it without thinking.
Trying to build more exercise into your life, but can’t find the time? Make it simple to grab and go – it doesn’t get much easier than than bikes on brackets by the front door. Or place clean gym gear beside your bed so all you need to do when you wake up is mindlessly get dressed and head out the door. You know you’ll be glad you did it.
TIP: Think about any tasks you tend to put off. Rubin admits to letting the mail pile up before she gets around to opening and sorting it. Placing a rubbish bin beside the entry table where the mail lands was a simple move, but it made it more convenient to sort the mail, and made her more likely to do it.
“The amount of effort, time, or decision making required by an action has a huge influence on habit formation,” Rubin says. “To a truly remarkable extent, we’re more likely to do something if it’s convenient, and less likely if it’s not.”
The same goes for any little people living with you – the more convenient it is for them to put away their toys, the more likely it will be that they’ll form the tidying-up habit. Open storage boxes like these are just the thing. Who cares if it’s a mess of mismatched toys in there – at least it’s out of sight.
An easy-clean home
Decluttering is one of the best habits you can adopt if you want your home to be a serene place you can truly unwind in. But an even better habit is not buying more than you need in the first place.
As Japanese professional organiser Marie Kondo recommends in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, go through your house and get rid of everything that doesn’t spark joy when you look at it. Call it your “spark joy” habit going forward – if you don’t absolutely love it, don’t buy it. The less you have, the less you’ll have to tidy up, after all.
Decluttering is one of the best habits you can adopt if you want your home to be a serene place you can truly unwind in. But an even better habit is not buying more than you need in the first place.
As Japanese professional organiser Marie Kondo recommends in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, go through your house and get rid of everything that doesn’t spark joy when you look at it. Call it your “spark joy” habit going forward – if you don’t absolutely love it, don’t buy it. The less you have, the less you’ll have to tidy up, after all.
Me-time is a must
Habits aren’t all about chores. Putting some feelgood habits in place ensures you balance out the often frantic pace of life with some you-time to spend on what makes you feel good. If you love flicking through a cookbook with cup of tea in hand, or pushing yourself in a sweaty yoga session, carve out some regular time in your day to do so. Once it’s a habit, you won’t want to miss it for the world.
Habits aren’t all about chores. Putting some feelgood habits in place ensures you balance out the often frantic pace of life with some you-time to spend on what makes you feel good. If you love flicking through a cookbook with cup of tea in hand, or pushing yourself in a sweaty yoga session, carve out some regular time in your day to do so. Once it’s a habit, you won’t want to miss it for the world.
Just do it
There’s something immensely satisfying about crossing things off your to-do list, and something so unsettling about having a growing to-do list hanging over your head. Follow Nike’s lead and just do it.
Printing out photos and framing them is one task that’s easy to put aside, for example, but instead of focusing on the hassle of having to get them printed, focus on how great you’ll feel not just for crossing this off your list, but also at seeing your happy friends and family on display as you go about your day.
The same goes for postcards, unframed paintings and other knick-knacks you’ve collected or created – make it a habit to get them up and on the wall as soon as you can so you can enjoy them.
There’s something immensely satisfying about crossing things off your to-do list, and something so unsettling about having a growing to-do list hanging over your head. Follow Nike’s lead and just do it.
Printing out photos and framing them is one task that’s easy to put aside, for example, but instead of focusing on the hassle of having to get them printed, focus on how great you’ll feel not just for crossing this off your list, but also at seeing your happy friends and family on display as you go about your day.
The same goes for postcards, unframed paintings and other knick-knacks you’ve collected or created – make it a habit to get them up and on the wall as soon as you can so you can enjoy them.
The power of writing
Feeling a little lost? Give your day some direction with a little early morning journal entry. Write down any dreams you can remember, things you’re grateful for, and what kind of day you’d like to have – setting an intention for the day ahead is likely to shape how you feel, react and act.
If you have a problem you’re wrestling with, writing in a journal is an effective way of sorting it out. Before you go to sleep, write down what’s bothering you and include questions, such as “what should I do about …?”. In the morning, when you wake up and write in your journal again, you might be surprised at the answers that unfold.
The trick is to make it a daily habit – thinking of it as time to reconnect with yourself will make it a pleasure, not a chore.
More: Mindful Living Made Easy
Feeling a little lost? Give your day some direction with a little early morning journal entry. Write down any dreams you can remember, things you’re grateful for, and what kind of day you’d like to have – setting an intention for the day ahead is likely to shape how you feel, react and act.
If you have a problem you’re wrestling with, writing in a journal is an effective way of sorting it out. Before you go to sleep, write down what’s bothering you and include questions, such as “what should I do about …?”. In the morning, when you wake up and write in your journal again, you might be surprised at the answers that unfold.
The trick is to make it a daily habit – thinking of it as time to reconnect with yourself will make it a pleasure, not a chore.
More: Mindful Living Made Easy
Staying on top
There’s no getting around having to pay bills and do life’s admin tasks, but good habits make this infinitely easier. Either pay bills and tackle admin jobs the minute they come up, or dedicate an hour a week to tackling household paperwork and phone calls you know have to be done. Making it a habit to stay on top of things will stop you from ever feeling snowed under.
TIP: Keep tabs on what you need to get done in a way that works for you. Trello is a simple visual method of keeping track of tasks that are on your to-do list, in process or done, or stick colour-coded Post-it notes to a window or whiteboard for a progress report at a glance.
TELL US
Which household habits have been the most effective for you? Share your secrets of success in the Comments.
MORE
Note to Self: 12 List-Making Strategies to Put You Ahead of the Game
Family Time: How to Use Chores to Your Advantage
9 Clever Tricks to Save Time on Backyard Chores
There’s no getting around having to pay bills and do life’s admin tasks, but good habits make this infinitely easier. Either pay bills and tackle admin jobs the minute they come up, or dedicate an hour a week to tackling household paperwork and phone calls you know have to be done. Making it a habit to stay on top of things will stop you from ever feeling snowed under.
TIP: Keep tabs on what you need to get done in a way that works for you. Trello is a simple visual method of keeping track of tasks that are on your to-do list, in process or done, or stick colour-coded Post-it notes to a window or whiteboard for a progress report at a glance.
TELL US
Which household habits have been the most effective for you? Share your secrets of success in the Comments.
MORE
Note to Self: 12 List-Making Strategies to Put You Ahead of the Game
Family Time: How to Use Chores to Your Advantage
9 Clever Tricks to Save Time on Backyard Chores
According to Gretchen Rubin, author of Better Than Before (and the same author that brought us The Happiness Project), a habit isn’t just the repetition of a particular behaviour, but a “lack of decision making”, a mindless task that requires no self-control because it’s something you just do.
If you get up around the same time every morning and head straight for the shower, that’s a habit and requires little to no thought or willpower on your part. The trick is creating healthy new habits that are just as ingrained and make your life easier. “A habit requires no decision from me, because I’ve already decided,” explains Rubin. “Habits make change possible by freeing us from decision making and from using self-control.”
TIP: If you’re keen to shed some kilos or just want to feel more in control of your health, try introducing some new habits that you plan to do not for a short period, but forever. Brushing your teeth or walking the dog around the block straight after dinner is likely to stop that post-meal snacking in front of the TV, for example.