I sometimes feel as though I am dog chasing my tail all day long. I am running around trying to get the laundry done, kids fed, house cleaned, garden watered and all the other daily mundane tasks…it seems never ending.

An anonymous, man who no longer wants to be mentioned in my blog, (aka my husband Joe) who loves to give me unsolicited advice actually gave me some really good advice once. I was complaining  about my daily chores and how overworked I felt, hoping that he may offer me a hand, but instead he offered another pearl of wisdom.  He said “work smarter, not harder”. Believe it or not, this was actually really helpful advice.

This has been my sort of personal motto lately…I have been trying hard to streamline my daily chores and really think of clever and easy ways to make the daily mundane crap a little easier.  Now, I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I’ll share a few little shortcuts that have me saving time and cutting my work load.

I keep an ongoing shopping list on the fridge. I am the type of person who needs to go to the store for something I forgot almost every damn day. By keeping an ongoing list my goal is to get that down to once a week…I’m working on it, but my list has saved me countless trips for forgotten milk, chicken fingers and cat litter!

I keep the box of garbage bags in the bottom of the garbage can. Do you know how often I have emptied the garbage and said “I’ll put a new bag in later”? Then when you have something gross you want to toss you have to put it down to get a new bag from under the sink, which of course has a baby lock on it. Keeping the box of bags or even a few grocery bags in the bottom of the can saves time and is just the “smart” place to keep them.

Keep your bedding under you bed. No walking to the linen closet, just strip the bed and pull out the new bedding without having to leave the room!

I spray the bathtub down with “Fantastic with Bleach” once a week so I NEVER have to scrub the tub. It’s always sparkling clean with no effort on my part!

I wipe the bathroom down with a “Clorox” wipe ever night. That way the bathroom never gets really dirty and I never have to spend time scrubbing hardened on unmentionable stuff from my toilet seat.

I cannot forget my favourite time saver, my Roomba…but also a wonder in my swiffer vac and swiffer wetjet…great for quick clean ups!

I have dozens of other silly little things I do to save me a few minutes here and there, but you get the idea. I’d love to hear some ways that you “Work Smarter, Not Harder”! Share your time and work saving tips with me…I love new advice….except of course from an anonymous man who no longer wants to be mentioned in my blog.