Feeling short on time? Stressed? Overwhelmed? Take back your life (and your sanity!) with the time-saving services below.
You can’t buy more time. But you can use time-saving services that allow you to spend less time on household tasks. That gives you more time to focus on the things that are the most important to you.
Related:
1. Pre-cooked meal delivery services
While meal kit delivery services provide you with the raw ingredients to cook the meal yourself, you can save even more time by going with a pre-cooked meal delivery service.
Like meal kit delivery services, pre-cooked services allow you to select from a list of meals. You’re then sent the pre-cooked meals. The meals usually consist of freezer-friendly foods that can be heated in the microwave or oven.
In addition to skipping the Pinterest recipe hunt and the trip to the grocery store, you don’t have to spend any time in the kitchen cooking. No time spent chopping, peeling, mashing, or stirring. Plus, no cooking means no dishes to wash. I love these time-saving services!
Here are some amazing pre-cooked meal delivery services:
Estimated time saved: 9 hours per week
- 1 hour: Searching for recipes on Pinterest (I know I’m underestimating this for me!)
- 2 hours: Going to the grocery store to pick-up ingredients
- 5 hours: Time spent cooking during the week (this is on the low end for me, but you might be more efficient than I am)
- 1 hour: Time spent cleaning-up the kitchen and washing dishes during the week
2. Meal kit delivery services
With this service, you select from a list of meal choices for the week. You then receive the raw ingredients and recipe to make the meal yourself.
Because meal kit delivery services provide the recipes for you, you don’t have to spend your valuable time searching for the perfect recipe on Pinterest. Plus, the meal kit recipe is pre-vetted, so good-bye Pinterest meal fails!
The raw ingredients are all sent to you. That means you don’t have to make the trip to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients. And if you’re like me, the occasional trip back to the grocery store to get whatever you forgot.
I love meal kit delivery services and have tried several out. I’ve listed my favorites here:
Estimated time saved: 3 hours per week
- 1 hour: Searching for recipes on Pinterest (I know I’m underestimating this for me!)
- 2 hours: Going to the grocery store to pick-up ingredients
Related:
3. Grocery delivery
Even if you use meal kits or pre-cooked meal delivery, you’ll probably still need some groceries.
If I could use just one time-saving service for the rest of my life, it would be grocery delivery. In my area, going to the grocery store is a stressful experience. Parking is hard to find, the aisles are crowded, and the check-out lines are long. Plus, just when I think I know the store’s layout, they switch things up and I can’t find what I need.
Grocery delivery eliminates all that frustration for me. Grocery delivery is similar to online clothing shopping – you search for your desired item, add it to your cart, click checkout, and then arrange for delivery. In some areas, grocery pickup is an option at a local store.
Added bonus for grocery delivery: They often have the paper and toiletry products that you usually get from a discount retailer or pharmacy. So you can get all your groceries and household items together with the same service.
Here are the grocery delivery services I use:
Other grocery delivery services include:
Estimated time saved: 2 hours per week
- 2 hours: Driving to the grocery store, finding parking, hunting for grocery items, standing in the check-out line, loading your car, driving home, and carrying your groceries inside.
Related:
4. Clothing subscription services
I can spend hours looking through fashion blogs and scrolling through clothing websites. And then have very little to show for it afterward. I’m just not gifted when it comes to fashion.
Instead of spending tons of time online trying to find the perfect pieces of clothing, I rely on clothing subscription services to help me out. With clothing subscription services, you complete an online survey explaining your clothing preferences and needs. A stylist takes that information and sends you a box of clothing pieces designed to look great on you. Anything you don’t like, you send back. Anything you like, you keep.
Many of the services provide styling cards to describe different ways you can wear each of the clothing pieces. For me, this is a huge time-saver. Instead of staring into my closet, trying to figure out what will work together, the stylist has already figured it out for me.
These are the clothing subscription services I’ve used:
Estimated time saved: 2 hours per week
- 1 hour: Time spent per week at the mall, online shopping, or reading fashion blogs (I don’t do this every week, but estimate I spend 4-5 hours doing this during the month, so about 1 hour per week on average)
- 1 hour: Time spent per week trying to figure out what clothing pairs well together
5. House cleaning
Last, but not least – house cleaning services are one of the best time-saving services!
I used to be very skeptical of house cleaning services. It seemed like an unnecessary cost for something that I could easily do myself. But now that I have less free time, I don’t want to spend it cleaning my house.
Plus, while I’m very tidy, I’m just not very good at deep cleaning. I can spend hours trying to deep clean something that a house cleaning service can make spotless in minutes. They have magical cleaning powers.
If you’re skeptical, try it at least once. You’ll be amazed at how happy you’ll be after the house cleaning service finishes cleaning your house. It’s amazing.
You can find house cleaning services in your area through Yelp, but better yet – ask your friends and family. They might have a great recommendation to pass along.
Estimated time saved: 5 hours per month
- 5 hours: If it takes you 5 hours to clean your house, a house cleaning service might be able to clean it in half the time. And if you’re like me, they’ll do a much better job!
I hope these time-saving services help you to regain some of your valuable time! I’ll be using my extra time on regular Treat Yo Self days!
Comments or Questions?
Have a comment or a question? I’d love to hear from you! Visit me on Instagram @eastbymidwest and leave a comment or DM, or send me an email at pam@eastbymidwest.com.
