3 Tasks You Can Eliminate Forever

With all of the rushing around that most of us do, time-management has become a bit of a nightmare. It seems like we can never pack all that we want/need to do into the time available. Task automation and elimination is a great way to free up a minute here or there. There are three quick and easy ways o free up some time in your life, starting today.

1) Stop Paying Your Bills
No, sadly I don't mean that you won't need to pay your bills ever again, but you can automate the process, freeing up a significant amount of time, while ensuring that you never again get nailed with a late payment fee. There are three ways to approach this time-saver:
- Through the billing organization - most utility, credit card, mortgage, and loan companies have systems in place for automatically pulling your payment from your checking account each month. Usually they're free, and often they even save you a percentage point or two, as the companies love to know they'll be getting paid for sure, every month. The downside is that you need to track every payment from a different web-site or phone number. Account and name changes will take a very long time work out, as you'll need to contact each company individually.
- Through your bank - many banks offer an automatic bill payment service, either for free, or for a small fee. These folks will pay your bills, either electronically or by issuing a check, and send you a summary of what's been done. You should be able to track it all from your online banking web page.
- Third-party companies - Companies like http://www.mycheckfree.com exist specifically to help you automate your payments. They can retrieve ebills from the vast majority of credit card, utility, and loan companies and either pay them all automatically, or allow you to do so from one site with a single click of your mouse. Even if you like to see and pay all of your bills, this is a huge timesaver, as you can do it all at once, without writing a single check!

2) Cleaning the Shower
I feel a little silly posting this one, but it actually works. I hate cleaning the shower - the soap scum and residue doesn't come off easy, and standing in the damp bathtub with a sponge for half an hour, surrounded by the smell of cleaning solutions pretty much sucks. If it weren't for my wife's insistence, I'd gladly form a tolerant relationship with mildew and forego cleaning altogether. In desperation, I bought one of those automatic shower cleaners - http://www.automaticshowercleaner.com/ - at the grocery store and gave it a shot. These things seem gimmicky, and I had a hard time believing they could possibly do a good job - it actually works great. The shower is cleaner than it was when I used to clean it myself, and honestly, it's kind of fun to push the little button every day.

3) Reading Email Forwards
Forwarded jokes, pictures, and "virus warnings" are absolutely the biggest time-wasters in your inbox. Spam is usually easily filtered, but what about emails from people that you actually like? For a long time, I felt compelled to read and comment on these when they came from good friends or family members. I reasoned that if the emails were important enough to the sender that they would take the time to send it on, I owed our relationship at least a glance at the email. Last year, fed up with the volume of these mails coming into my inbox, I sent a polite and to the point message to an old friend regarding these emails, and was extremely well received. I have since done the same with dozens of friends and family members, and have yet to offend anyone. Use this boilerplate text to get started:
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Dear Friend,

Thank you for your recent forward containing a billion pictures of cute animals sleeping. It means a lot to me that you think to include me in your forwards, and want to share with me things that you have found amusing, interesting, or touching. Recently, the number of forwarded email that I receive has become unmanageable, and it takes me more time to read than I have available. I'd appreciate it if you'd remove my email address from your distribution list. Of course I still want to hear what is happening in your life, and to include you in the events of mine. The forwarded emails, however, are not personal, and I just can't make the time in my busy day to fully appreciate them. Given your busy schedule, I'm sure you understand where I'm coming from. Thanks,

Rick
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Remember to be respectful, and explain your situation - friends will appreciate your honesty.

Eliminating these three simple tasks should open up your schedule significantly, and if you sit back and think for a moment, I'm sure you can come up with even more ways to cut back on the number of daily tasks you need to cram into your day. Good luck!