Are you too busy to manage your time? Work, children, part-time job, household chores, friends – the lists goes on and on. We have many things to do in our daily life, but not enough time.

Can you change the system by spending just 12 hours? Probably, not in a day or two but a may be an hour a day for a couple of weeks or half-an-hour daily for a few weeks. If so, it seems and you can do it yourself.

Here is a system which can be put in place in just 12 hours or even less. This may take a couple of weeks to set the system on track, but the time spent is worth and will be rewarded many times on the long run.

1. Setting up a calendar (Time required: 4-6 hours)

Many online calendars, such as Google Calendar, are available to set up reminders for each likely event in your life. Particularly, the frequent events like due dates for bill payments, children’s school programs, routine shopping, etc. They give the facility to browse through the upcoming schedules like the way we are familiar with. So use them than a reminder service (like Sandy)

If you put them all in the main calendar, it may clutter the view and you may see only the first few items for each day. So use a second calendar and you can put these events into the calendar:

• Due dates for Gas, Electricity, Phone, Cable/satellite bills
• Insurance premium, Mortgage/rent due date
• Periodical backup of computer data (according to your usage pattern and data volume).
• Trash pickup and pest control
• Periodical maintenance of your care like oil changes, regular tune-ups, and major auto tune-ups
• Periodical health check-ups
• Prescription refilling
• One day before the usual shopping day for preparing the list
• The schedule of your regular TV shows
• Due dates for tax papers
• Start of school year, and vacation schedules
• Two reminders for important events like birthdays and holidays – one on the particular day and the second to buy gift or arrange a party, etc.

The following dates may be included without reminder:

• End date for all the above billing cycles
• Periodical house maintenance
• Any other date for any recurring activity
• Dates for any automatic payments
• Dates for Direct deposits
• Dates for Automatic bank transfer dates
• Dates for dividend payments or re-investments
• Any other important date for which no immediate action is required

In the main calendar, allot specific time for the following:

• Weekly Grocery shopping and Laundry
• Family meals
• Bill payments
• Bi-weekly or monthly meetings
• Children’s sports events and other activities
• Weekend household chores/cleaning
• Commute time
• Gym/Health Club sessions
• Any sports you are interested
• Weekly review— you can add new reminders during the review
• Writing or other hobbies or any
• Any other activity

It is better to use your own best judgement to decide on which these events to set reminders. Regular activities like commuting etc may not need any reminders but the weekly classes etc may need them on the other hand.

2. Setting up passwords (Time required: 2-3 hours)

If you have got many passwords you may have to waste a lot of time in remembering them or searching everywhere each time you need them. It is advisable to use programs like LastPass, a spreadsheet (password protected), or a paper notebook stored in a fireproof safe,  to keep track of them.

• Bank accounts, Credit cards
• Stock trading accounts
• Emails and websites like you frequently use
• Your own website’s login, FTP, and admin panel password and other details
• Online payment services
• Phone service and utilities
• Parking permit services
• Government services
• Software registrations
• Web applications or any other account you have a password to

3. Creating Checklists (Time required: 2-3 hours)

It is always smart to create set of checklists for repetitive tasks, like grocery lists, in a folder in your personal computer, preferably if it can sync with your phone. The folder may be named “AAA checklists “or “_checklists” so that it remains on top of the documents folder on sorting.

About Out of the Office Virtual Assistance:

At Out of the Office, we are committed to providing earth-friendly administration and offer ideas and ways to increase your productivity, decrease your workload, and work more efficiently. We nurture a successful business relationship, while continuing to grow as your business partner. We are focused on streamlining your administration, social media planning and execution, and offering creative solutions for your business success.

Image credit: geralt | CC0 Public Domain