Connected appliances can play a core role in creating time-saving efficiencies in the home. Especially when they’re part of a broader strategy for home efficiency. Here are some other ways to create a more efficient household, via tips curated for GE Appliances, a Haier company, by Curt Steinhorst, efficiency expert, bestselling author, executive coach and Forbes contributor.
- Be intentional with your space. It takes time to set up and maintain an organized space. But you’ll avoid the stress—and time—of frantic searches for the things you need.
- Consider your surroundings. Don’t let what you can’t see hinder what you are aiming to accomplish. Pay attention even to things like temperature, background noise, freshness of the air—it all matters.
- Make time to save time. An efficient home is no accident. The tools to help us exist, but we rarely set aside the time to do the work needed to actually find and make use of them. Do an efficiency assessment: What tools, resources and technologies could make you more efficient at home? And how can you activate them or use them more effectively?
- Replace bad technology with good technology. Good technology relieves you of mundane tasks in an intuitive and easy-to-implement approach. Good technology doesn’t always mean “newest” or “most expensive.” Getting good technology comes from understanding what you and your family really need.
- Let technology do the multitasking. We aren’t as good at multitasking as we’d like to think. But the right tools can multitask for us. For example, you can initiate a preheat of a connected oven remotely—saving precious time at home by preparing your oven while you commute. The 15 minutes saved become even more meaningful with a little advanced prep of what you’re going to cook when you arrive home to a preheated oven.
- Convert attention-sappers into attention-savers. What tasks steal your attention consistently that could be automated or managed differently? We often return to these when we’re overwhelmed—even when other things are a higher priority—because they are easy and familiar.
- Allow for intentional inefficiency. Don’t get too caught up in shaving off every possible second just for the sake of saving time. Consider preserving the tasks you enjoy, even if they are inefficient. For example, making your own homemade crust isn’t the most efficient path to creating the perfect pie, but it’s a ritual many enjoy.