5 tips for being a little less time poor

This is a sponsored post for BPAY View.

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There’s nothing like having a baby to make you realise how little time you really have, or how much time you had on your hands prior to giving birth. Before Luella I thought I was busy and time-poor. Man, I was living the life back then. I could vacuum and wash the floors in one go. I could eat lunch with TWO hands. I could even shower without an audience {yes, every morning I have two little faces watching my every move}.

1. Master the speed clean

As soon as Luella goes down for her morning nap, I am on to the speed clean. For me, I don’t feel right unless my house is tidy {not perfect, just almost visitor-ready} so if I can get a speed clean done and dusted early, a sense of calm comes over me. The morning nap is a minimum of 40 minutes, so I get my clean on quickly. First a load of washing, then the kitchen, quickly make beds, clear the floors and then turn on the vacuum cleaner {see point 2}.

2. Buy a robot vacuum cleaner

I thought those little automatic vacuum cleaners were only for the lazy, now that I have one I realise they’re for the smart and savvy. Not only does Luella love loud noises while she sleeps, but that little vacuum cleans while I do other things. I can’t rave about it enough. I think friends and family are sick of me professing my love for it. I do our living room/dining/kitchen once a day, and then once a week I pop it into each other room, close the door and let it clean.

3. Food: Cook early, cheat or outsource

With kids there’s a hectic period every day and that just happens to be around dinner time, but mamas, I didn’t have to tell you that, did I? I’m lucky to have a husband that works shift work, so he’s home in time to cook a lot of the dinners. We have a protein and salad each night for dinner when he’s home, so it’s not rocket science. On other nights, like this week when he’s on the late shift, I’ll use the slow cooker to make a casserole early. I also made a batch of soup on the weekend to freeze in portions. And if all else fails, the bakery near home makes killer quiches {pumpkin & brocolli, oh my!} for just $9. Or there is always toast.

4. Accept any offers of help

We’re new to my neighbourhood. Well, we’ve been here over a year now, but it still feels new. But we’re very friendly with all our neighbours, which I love. A handful of my neighbours have said that they’d love to help out if I need. I always felt that when people said that they were only trying to be nice. But one day Luella was fast asleep and I had to do school pick-up. I didn’t want to wake her, so I pushed her in the pram across the street to my neighbour and asked if she could watch her for 20 minutes. Well, my neighbour loved it. Didn’t want her to go. I won’t do it all the time, but I know that if ever I need I have an extra set of hands nearby.

5. Use BPAY view to pay bills online

My Ma is only young, being in her early 50’s. At one stage I might have said that’s positively ancient, but it’s seriously young… but she still pays all her bills in person. She also does all her banking in the banks. So if she needs to give someone $50, she’ll go to their bank and deposit it. That blows my mind. Even my aunt {Ma’s older sister} does her banking/bill-paying online. I need to bring my Ma up-to-date, pronto.

So unless you’re my Ma, you’ve probably tried BPAY before; where you log into your bank online and pay your bills using the codes on your paper bills. Now there’s something even savvier; BPAY View. Get all your bills sent to your online bank, get sent reminders when they’re due and pay them online. No late fees, no papers cluttering up the kitchen bench. You’re pretty much saving the environment.

All you have to do is register all your bills with BPAY view {check which billers offer the BPAY view service – there are lots}, follow the easy steps on the BPAY View site and then you’re on your way.

YELLOW-BREAK

photo credit: Βethan via photopin cc

32 thoughts on “5 tips for being a little less time poor”

  1. Great tips! I’m going to have to look further into one of those robot vacuums!! With a house predominately full of white tiles I can see it being very, very useful!!

  2. BPAY View sounds amazing!! & I’ve never really looked into the robiot vacuum cleaners but it may just come in handy (our floorboardss get so dusty!)

  6. I have a question on the robot vacuum…how and where does it hold the dust? It looks like it’s to skinny to be doing any sucky

  8. We also use BPAY for everything.I actually loath asking others for help unless i really really need to (could be just me) We wanted that robo vac but got decided on getting the Bissell vac instead 🙂 great tips x

  9. I really wish we had BPay in the US. I miss it so much, some places still require cheques or a mailed credit card authority, it’s nuts! I had never used a chequebook in my life until we moved to the US. And we don’t have bank to bank transfers unless you pay a $15 fee for a wire transfer. It’s insanity.

    I am a housewife right now (expat life, though I am a permanent resident now but the job market is awful for a former freelancer and the tax system here would mean I paid my husband’s rate of tax plus a penalty bringing it to like 57% so it’s not worth it…) and am really worried about the adjustment to parenthood on the time front.

    • That’s insane! And a little bit backwards.

      To be honest, having Luella has made me slow down. I don’t have as much time for stuff, but having Luella made me realise that stuff wasn’t that important anyway. And it gets easier, and you get time back as they get bigger. x

    • I’m an expat in the US too, we’re from Europe. It’s not true that we don’t have BPay as you call it. We do! I pay all my bills online, never use a check unless a repair person comes to the house to repair the food disposal or so. I never ever get a bill in the mail everything is paid by direct debit.
      The utilities also use direct debit. You sign up for it online at your electric/gas/water and every month I get an email stating how much we used and how much will be deducted from our checking account. Phone bill, the same AT&T also no bills, Internet Verizon FIOS, credit cards, you name it all is direct pay. These are of course recurring bills every month and thus it’s easy for them to offer that. For companies who I need to pay, like our garden maintenance guy I use the bank’s ‘Bill Pay’. You fill out the name and address and the amount that needs to be paid and when and they take care of the rest. They send that person a check and deduct the amount from your account. And best of all it’s FREE! Bank to bank transfers are also free unless it’s an international wire. My husbands salary is automatic deposit 2 a month.

      I have been part of a group that advised expats about the financial ins and outs of living in the US. Most of them, especially those from Europe never heard of ‘credit rates’ and the fact that you have to make debt in order to get a good credit score. Without a good credit score you can pay almost double for car insurance, impossible to get a phone on a contract, sign a rental lease. The rental lease is especially bad because without a good credit score your down payment can double. Buying a car without a credit score is almost impossible.

      The trick to banking is to dray away from all the commercial banks like for instance Bank of America. They charge a fee for almost anything! A Credit Union is a much better choice. Our credit union is used to dealing with expats because a lot of my husband colleagues also bank there. All services are free, unless you yes an ATM that the done have an agreement with than that bank charges a fee for getting money out of the machine. Online banking is also free, as is the automatic payments. The difference between a commercial bank and the Credit Union is that the commercial bank has high paid CEO’s and board of directors and need to make as much money as possible. The Credit Union is run by its members. So no high paid CEO’s and you can vote on a variety of matters. Other than that it offers the same services as a commercial bank.

      I don’t know who advices you on the joint tax filing if you would work but that number you quote does not seems right to me.

  12. I have 2 cats and one is a persian and he moults all the dam time, no matter how often I vacuum it looks like I havent. Do you know how the robot one would go with pet hair? I dont know if it would just get clogged up easy and be a waste.

  14. Great tips and I think I might invest in one of those robotic Vacuum cleaner thingies it is a horrid job and hard work too!

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