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3.0 WAYS TO SPEED UP YOUR CHORES; SAVE TIME; TIME SAVERS - HOW TO REDUCE TIME CONSUMING CHORES

== Clean less often - keep dirt out of your house.

About 75% of the dirt in your house is carried in by shoes. Place a mat in front of each door that opens to the outside and also place a mat on the inside of each door. Train your family to thoroughly scuff their feet when they come in on both mats.

== Avoid lines at banks.

There is no reason to ever stand in line at a bank. If you must go in person, avoid pay days (Fridays, start of month, mid-month) and lunch hours.

You can make most deposits through the mail (writing "for deposit only" on the back of the check) or at an ATM machine.

You can also really simplify your life by having your deposits sent directly to your bank through "direct deposit." This is safe and fast.

Speed up bill paying and mailing

== Stock up on stamps. Make sure you always have a full book of stamps available. Since bills must be mailed and received by a deadline, your should always have stamps readily available so that you can put your payment in the mail any day of the week, any hour of the day.

== Get a return address stamp. You can get a self-inking rubber stamp made or you can buy a kit and set the type yourself.

== Get a quick letter opener. We get so much mail at $AVVY DISCOUNT$ that we have learned to do it quickly. A specially designed small plastic opener with a razor and probe opens letters quickly and cleanly so that the envelope is not dog-eared. These are much faster than standard knife letter openers. They are cheap, as low as 70 cents, but must be replaced every couple of months when the blade gets dull.

Make a set of master lists that you Xerox

You should create a full set of master lists for regular shopping, stocking up, travel, closing up your house, etc. Keep these as unmarked originals and make copies. Each time you shop, check off items that you need on a copy.

Having master lists saves you tons of time because it helps you remember things you might have forgotten and keeps you from having to make the same list over and over.

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Using the phone

== Get your doctor to call in a new prescription. Then you can simply pick it up at the pharmacy instead of waiting half an hour.

== Call in refills yourself. Most pharmacies will let you call in a refill that they have on file.

== Call ahead for a take-out food order. Why wait while they cook the meal?

== Before doing any errands, run down your list to see if you should call ahead. If you are looking for an odd item such as a part, always call. Parts, in particular, can be hard to locate and are much easier to find by phone than by driving around.

Assign a dish, cup, saucer, bowl to each member of your household

Get each person to clean his or her dishes. By spreading the responsibility around, you might save yourself some time.

Buy two packages of food staples

Since staples will always be eaten, make sure you keep an extra box of noodles or sugar on hand. This guards against running out and having to make a last minute shopping trip.

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