Experiment #2: We Need Batches! (Day 11: ....)

I apologize for the lack of a real post, this morning. My school just eliminated my position yesterday, so I need a day or so to come to terms with everything. Now that there will be no general music classes for the middle school and no choir program, I have to figure out what to do next.

Hopefully, I'll be back to my regularly scheduled posts tomorrow. The routine will probably do me some good.

Thanks for your understanding.

Experiment #2: We Need Batches! (Day 10: Dishes)

There is nothing I loathe more than doing the dishes by hand. It was always my designated chore when I was a kid. At best, I can slap on a pair of headphones and dance while I scrub. (I like to listen to old-school industrial, dubstep, and silly alt-hip-hop. Music is just about the only thing that keeps me motivated.) At worst, well...it can be a scary, angry affair. With every scrub, I think about how much time I am wasting, when there is a dishwasher sitting right next to me. My roommate refuses to fix it, and doesn't actually know if it's even broken. She gets paranoid about hearing a dripping sound in the basement, but will neither replace the machine or have anyone come to service it. It is a glorified drying rack. Now, I know that I am a horrible person--bah--but I admit to sneaking an automated load of dishes from time to time, when I know that she will be gone long enough. ...and you know what? It is liberating, every time.

There are times, though, when I simply have to bite the bullet and do the dirty work--and fit in as many awful idioms as possible. It's nice to have an empty sink, and it makes sense to me to wash dishes immediately after their use. Sometimes, though, this isn't possible, and batching can help to solve the problem.

Tips and Tricks

1. Rinse your dishes off as soon as you are done with them. It helps to loosen food particles and saves time on scrubbing, later.
   
2. Soak dishes when necessary. I find that soaking them while I am at work allows me to wash them quickly, when I get home. You can also soak them overnight, but I would recommend reserving some time in the morning to wash any overnight dishes, if possible.
   
3. Be sure that your sponges, brushes, detergent, etc. are up to the task. Don't try to wash dishes with a sponge that is crumbling in your hands. Stock up on supplies ahead of time, on grocery day.
   
4. If you are going to batch cook, don't drive yourself crazy by attempting to batch clean at the same time. Wash the dishes that you can wash, while you are waiting for your food to cook, and only if you have no other cooking-related tasks to complete (i.e. chopping vegetables, prepping other dishes, etc.) Anything else can wait until the next day, when you don't have to cook dinner. If you are batch-cooking on a weekend, and you have no problems filling an entire Sunday with cooking and cleaning (a.k.a. having no life), then have at it. Do both in one day and save yourself the trouble, later in the week.
   
5. Plan to do dishes every couple of days, to avoid both burnout and overflow. If you have a large family that requires more frequent dish-washing habits, delegate! Share this chore so that each family member has to wash the dishes on a given day/s.
   
6. If you have the resources, get a washing machine. It saves on water, energy, time, and aggravation.
   

My Rules My roommate is not particularly keen on communal living. We eat basically the same foods, but she isn't interested in sharing. In two years, I think that we have eaten the same dinner five times or less. Shared chores are also mythical, around here, so it can be frustrating, feeling like I am cleaning for two in common areas...i.e., I pay rent to be the maid. It is far too easy to rebel against these feelings, but this rebellion can be both beneficial and detrimental. Regardless of our mutually exclusive habits, things need to get done, and we need to do them.

1. I will only do my own dishes. This can be difficult to track, but I'm not steadfast with this rule. I refuse to count forks, but I also won't waste my time on someone else's dishes, unless they are willing to share labor on a regular basis.
   
2. I don't expect anyone else to do my dishes, either.
   
3. Given the increase in cooking, I probably need to schedule a batch of dishes every other day, or so. In the future, I can probably space this out to every three days without any trouble.
   
4. There will be dancing, and I will not apologize for it.
   
5. When I move, I will have a place with a dishwasher, if it kills me.

Experiment #2: We Need Batches! (Day 9: General House Cleaning)

The Dirty Truth

Neither I nor my roommate are neat freaks, and we both seem to keep ourselves so busy that we use our busy-ness as an excuse not to clean on a regular basis. She has a giant stack of mail, I have a giant stack of dishes. We have no agreed-upon schedule for shared chores, so they get done "whenever" or not at all. There are times when I feel like a glorified maid and others when I just stop caring altogether. Our living conditions speak of laziness and selfish tendencies on both sides, but more importantly, they speak of inefficient methods and time management.

I am genuinely hoping that batching my housework will allow me to set a better example without sacrificing my sanity or overall quality of life. Each day this week, I will be focusing on a different cleaning task, and how to use batching to address it. Today, the focus is on general house cleaning.

Tools and Resources

There are a number of different websites dedicated to the topic of clutter, cleaning, and organization. Here are a few to get you started:

1. FlyLady.com offers a wide variety of tips, tricks, reminders, and products to tackle housework. They have a section entitled Beginner BabySteps to help the longtime "messy"/novice clean-freak develop new, positive cleaning habits. You can also sign up for a list serve that offers daily reminders and inspirational stories. IMHO, I find the list serve cloying and disruptive. Don't bother signing up unless you really need to be sweet-talked into cleaning, or you need nagging reminders to get yourself to work. I would offer a similar review of their podcast and tendency to advertise their own cleaning products. The most--and perhaps only--useful thing here is that regular cleaning tasks are already predetermined and batched for your convenience, and rotate on a regular schedule. Head straight for the Weekly Sneak Peek, do the work, and watch your house clean itself, but feel free to ignore the rest of the site. The results won't be immediately noticeable, but as long as you do the work, your house will get cleaner.
   
   
2. Unclutterer.com has an extensive archive of posts on dealing with clutter, and emphasizes minimalist living over "stuff." (Many thanks to Elizabeth for the site recommendation!) I like the fact that I can search by topic and find exactly what I needed to read.
   
   
3. LifeHack occasionally publishes posts relating to boosting productivity through decluttering.

My Plan
I'm going to choose one or two days a week to complete all of the cleaning tasks from FlyLady's "Weekly Sneak Peak" as a single batch. Given that the site only publishes each list on Monday, I'll probably schedule this cleaning day later in the week so I can plan in advance.

I'm going to use my other days for more frequent cleaning jobs, such as dishes, laundry, etc. I'll post about these regular tasks in future posts.

Experiment #2: We Need Batches! (Day 8: Blogging)

As I mentioned in my Week One Update, I found myself scrambling to blog on a few mornings when I hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep. In addition, I truly want to avoid dividing my loyalties by losing focus or allowing myself to rush through posts. How can I reconcile my need for regular blogging and regular sleep? Blog in batches!

Step 1: Brainstorming

The easiest thing to batch is ideas. I started by setting up a draft post in which I created an ongoing list of experiment ideas, and another in which I listed post topics by day. If I ever forget what I want to write, or if I am struggling with making a decision, it is easy to refer back to my lists for reminders.

Step 2: Information Gathering

Reserve some time each week to do online or other research for upcoming blog posts. Copy-Paste any relevant links to resources in the aforementioned draft post, for easy access, later. You can do the same thing with any images, videos, or sound files you plan to embed in your posts. (This is the one thing I struggle to do, as I am concerned with finding both free and legal pics to add to my posts. It can be tiring and time-consuming to do so. I think that I will be more likely to include more media snippets if I get used to batching research and posting, though.)

Step 3: Write in Batches

Now that you have freed up some extra minutes with previous batching tasks, you should have more time to dedicate to focused writing. I genuinely enjoy writing first thing in the morning, while I sip my coffee and nibble on breakfast. Still, it can be hard to wake up early each morning, and you may not be able to blog on a daily basis if you are traveling. It could be easier to pre-write for an extended period of time, when it is available to you. Sunday afternoons are nice and lazy for me, so I'm starting to batch my blog posts, today.

Step 4: Schedule Your Posts

At this point, most blogging platforms allow you to store your posts and schedule them to appear at regular intervals in the future. Then, you can spend your mornings engaged in other things: promoting your blog, free-writing, creativity exercises, physical exercises, job-hunting, research, homework...your choices are nearly limitless.

Estimated time saved:

I honestly don't expect to save any time by batching blog posts, but I do expect to avoid a few other potential negatives: lack of focus, lateness to work, missed posts, etc.

Experiment #2: We Need Batches! (Week One Update)

So, how did it go? Did I accomplish everything I set out to do? Were there any unexpected consequences or benefits? Read on!

First of all, Happy Mothers Day! I don't know how all of you mothers do it. I can't imagine having to clean, cook, and organize schedules for an entire family. Congratulations on all of your hard-earned love!

I'm not going to lie; this week was pretty fantastic. I ate well, I handled work email like a champ, and had plenty of time to socialize and relax. Despite the fact that our musical run was last weekend, I had a performance yesterday, and we have our first choir concerts next week, things are surprisingly calm.

The biggest time and effort saver was planning and cooking my meals in advance. No more being "too busy" or "forgetting" to eat. I was never "too tired" to cook dinner. At this point, I'm not counting calories, but I did plan healthy and satisfying meals. I was rarely hungry, and as a result, I was less likely to snack. Unfortunately, all of that cooking has increased the need to do large batches of dishes, and to deal with trash and recycling in a completely different way. I have some ideas about how to deal with the kitchen, but I'll save those for another blog post.

In the end, I decided not to sign up for Direct Debit for my student loan accounts. It turned out to be more trouble than it was worth, at the moment. I would have to snail mail my request and seek approval, and if I ever wanted to discontinue the service, I would have to snail mail another request and wait for 10 business days. Honestly, it takes two minutes for me to pay my bill online, and I'm willing to spend those two minutes to set up on-time payments when I deal with the mail on Mondays.

It took all of two days before I found myself with large swaths of free time...and I had no idea what to do with it! I spent two whole evenings playing the new Mortal Kombat for Xbox 360. I was out all day on Saturday for a school celebration, grocery shopping, and then a friend's birthday party. It was lovely, weather and all. I didn't miss out on anything: TV, friends, video games, good music, good food. Everything should be this enjoyable.

Okay, that's a bit of a lie. As a caution to anyone who is thinking about trying this challenge, the up-front costs can be a little daunting. I spent an insane amount of money on my first grocery trip: around $183. I lost a lot of sleep over the first few nights, as I tried to batch-plan, shop, and cook. I think I may have gotten only about 4 hours of sleep a night, for the first three days. I was also late for work by a few minutes on two occasions, because I was trying to continue blogging on so little sleep. This stage was short-lived though. The benefits presented themselves within only a few short days.

Next up: Day 8 (Blogging!)

Experiment #2: We Need Batches! (Day 7: Staying Social)

I am notoriously terrible at keeping in touch with friends and family on a regular basis, and I have gotten less and less social, the longer I have been in the teaching profession. I have recognized a few factors that contribute to this bad habit:

• Burnout: I spend so much time talking/singing during the day, that when I get home, I find that I crave quiet time to myself. Having so much face-time during the week often leaves little room for self-reflection and silence, which I find not only lovely but necessary. It helps me to avoid sacrificing my whole self for the sake of my career. I love my job, but I'm not one of those people who exists solely to work. Life is far more interesting than that.
  
  
• Vocal rest: As a singer, I am very conscious of the effects that teaching has on vocal health...which is to say that it can be murderous. I am less likely to engage in lengthy phone conversations if I think that vocal rest is a greater priority.
  
  
• Decreased tolerance for wasted words: As much as I love my friends and family, I have less and less patience for chatter that pretends to be conversation. People spend an awful amount of time complaining and feeling sorry for themselves, or conversely, bragging. Insecurity is at the root of all of it. Most of my middle school students seem more well-adjusted and generally happy than the adults in my life. We all need to vent, on occasion. I just have more difficulty with people who never seem to get past the same complaints, or never take action to improve their outlook on life.

The Upside

Distancing myself from complainers has made me far less likely to complain, myself. I can't remember the last time that I was bored or genuinely unhappy, and I don't feel the need to compete for the trophy for "worst day/week". In addition, I waste much less time. I'm happy to be an attentive listener when someone really needs it, but I fail to see how listening to repeated complaints helps anyone. It starts to enable misery-making instead of encouraging empowerment. I'm more likely to spend my time with people who are making the most of life: eating good food, dancing up a storm, going on mini-adventures, enjoying the weather--even when it is raining; and being critical, creative, brilliant thinkers. I'm no longer drawn to pity, but rather, to celebration.

The Downside

People start to get insecure when you haven't contacted them, in a while. They let their thoughts run rampant, and they tend to include sentiments like "You don't care about me anymore; you only care about yourself," and "You're too busy to socialize." Leaving too much time between personal emails/phone calls can frustrate and sadden others, and they may be less likely to socialize with you in the future, if they think that you won't return the favor. As a result, your social circle starts to shrink, and then it is far too easy to get wrapped up in your own personal drama. In other words, you start to prove them right. You start to miss out on opportunities to make real, lasting connections with the people that you value most. Empathy for others starts to feel forced. Some days, I feel like all my compassion is spent in the classroom. It is exhausting, but it is no excuse to avoid caring for the needs of friends and family.

The Cure

Batch it!

Make a list of people that you haven't contacted in a while, and then eliminate those people who make you feel miserable every time you do. It might sound harsh, but there are "friends" that only seem to want your company when they need a wailing wall. If you feel that those friendships are still worth salvaging, take a moment to communicate your concerns. Try setting up a raucous/undeniably fun social outing, with one rule: "No complaining; we're here to have fun/adventure/new experiences." If you still feel like you are being used and abused on a regular basis, run...fast...and don't look back. Family is different, IMHO. With family, we take the good with the bad. Stay in touch, share your concerns, and stay honest and open. Still, don't allow your family members to use you either. Sometimes, a well-timed card in the mail, a five-minute phone call, or a two-line email is enough to tell them that you're thinking of them. It doesn't have to monopolize your entire day.

Once you have your list, pick one or two days each week to get in touch with each person, on a rotating basis. There are certain people that you may want to call every time (Mom, best friends, etc.) and others that you can contact less frequently. If you think that it will take more time than you have available, set a (silent) timer, or lead off with something like, "I have to make another call/eat dinner/run errands/etc." in a little bit, but I wanted to check in and see how you are doing." Sometimes, you can't avoid small-talk, but setting a limit on it will help you to avoid killing your day and your mood. If you know that your conversation will take longer, be sure that you have enough time to dedicate to that person without distractions, or consider sending an email instead. For those people who are casual acquaintances or new friends, Facebook or quick text messages usually do the trick.

Focus less on constant contact, and more on actually spending time with people in the real world, when you can. Most of the working world already batches social outings and events; they are called "happy hour" and "weekends." In all seriousness though, be sure to take time to socialize and rejuvenate, even though free days can feel like perfect opportunities to do more work. If you're looking for things to do, Meetup.com offers listings for group outings in your area, by interest. Seriously, in Baltimore, there is a group dedicated solely to eating at different sushi restaurants each week. Think about organizing or attending a Tweetup. Check your local city paper for events. Sign up for a weekly class that is NOT work-related. Plan to go with or without friends, and then start coercing them into joining you for everything from dinner to trapeze training.

...and on that note, I have to run! Today, I'll be singing at a school function/spring festival, and then I'm going out dancing for a friend's birthday party tonight. ADVENTURE!

Experiment #2: We Need Batches! (Day 6: At-Home Entertainment)

Batching at-home entertainment

Like most other people, I often want a decent chunk of time to relax after a long day at work. I want it to be free of work distractions, the same way that I want work to be free of social and personal distractions. Truly though, distractions are necessary, because they give our brains a momentary chance to switch gears and rest, if only for a few minutes. Right...a few minutes. My recent efforts at batching have already resulted in a few extra hours of free time, to do with as I pleased. I went overboard and spent the last two nights playing the new Mortal Kombat instead of pacing myself. My best advice for batching at-home entertainment is to avoid bingeing on it when you don't know what else to do with your time. Planning ahead will help.

How to avoid media bingeing

It doesn't matter if it is a video game, a favorite television show, or a habit of following every link that someone posts on your Facebook feed; it's easy to binge. Far too easy. So, we can manage this tendency by adhering to a few small guidelines:

1. Plan ahead: Don't try to cram all of your entertainment interests into one afternoon/evening. It will leave you tired and make you feel guilty for neglecting other duties--even if you didn't neglect anything at all. Instead, consider choosing ONE thing each day: an episode or two of your favorite TV show on one night, video games the next, a regular movie night, extra time spent on the internet, etc. You will still get your entertainment fix, without allowing it to control all of your free time.
   
   
2. Set a timer: If you are spending your time on or near a computer, try using one of the many free, online timers available to you. I like E.gg Timer for its simplicity. If you would rather use something more customizable, try Online Stopwatch. Here, you have options for both a stopwatch and a countdown timer, as well as chess timers, egg times, etc. The "Custom" version--you can find the link at the bottom of the front page--even allows you to change the alarm sound. Most 3rd gen. video game consoles also include a family timer which can stop play after a set period of time. Be careful, though. It's far too easy to reset or disable the timer for "just a few more minutes" or "just until I reach the next save point." Of course, you can always use your cellphone's alarm, an digital timer, or your alarm clock, in a pinch. (Just don't forget to reset your alarm clock before you go to bed!)
   
   
3. Change your outlook and go on a media diet: This tip may be the most difficult to accept, but it is worth a try, for everyone. Eliminate the hours spent on media that you don't care about, as well as media that adds more stress than it does entertainment value. Don't buy more games or start watching more Netflix episodes/television shows than you have time to enjoy, right now. Pick a small handful of things that appeal to you, and then accept that your time is too valuable to spend it obsessing over the things that you miss.
   
   
4. Next, automate the things that you can. Set a DVR to record your favorite television shows, and watch them when it is convenient for you, for example.
   
   
5. Finally, find other ways to spend the time that you suddenly have available to you. Take up swing dancing. Learn to play a new instrument and take lessons. Finish that home improvement project that you have been promising to complete for the last two years. Start meditating/exercising/reading/sleeping regularly. Check Meetup.com for events and people that might appeal to your sense of adventure. Volunteer. Above all, do good things!

Experiment #2: We Need Batches! (Day 5: Social Media)

Batching!

For now, this task is cake. I only regularly use Facebook to post content, so I can just batch-check my notifications and new posts. In general, I post first thing in the morning, without much regard to checking every new status update, link, or picture in my feed. At night, I have more time, so I generally do a second status update, but only if there is something I have to say or share. Then, I check everyone else's interesting posts for the day, and skim/skip the rest. Most importantly, I set a time limit. On weekday mornings, I'm really not willing to spend more than 5-10 minutes playing around on Facebook, and at night, no more than 30 minutes. (The 30 minute time limit assumes that I find an interesting link worth following.)

I also use Twitter, but I have fallen out of the habit of updating it, regularly. I think that I just have to decide what to do with that space, and then I will probably use it more frequently.

I also turned off the notification sounds for both Facebook and Twitter on my phone. It prevents me from obsessively checking social media sites during the day, instead of checking them at set times. It definitely helps to cut down on distractions, and I am actually more likely to post comments, @replies, and re-tweets when I can focus on doing so.

The Downside of Batching & Automation

Quite honestly, I loathe automated responses on Twitter, but I truly despise having to read the same update twice on both Facebook and Twitter. In my opinion, these two tools function in too similar fashion to email bots. There is a reason that Spam folders exist, but sometimes, I think it's a shame that we don't have anything functional for social media other than the ubiquitous "Block this person/app" button. Because Twitter integrates Facebook and can batch updates to post to both your Twitter feed and your Facebook wall, I find myself getting sick of my friends. It's a waste of time and necessary white space when I have to read the same things over and over again. Thankfully, Facebook has finally gotten wise, and allows most tweets to be buried in the feed, though you can choose to expand them. I almost never do.

I can see greater value in batching and automating social media updates for those people who must focus on marketing/advertising and customer service, but I much prefer a more human touch. For now, I am happy to avoid social media automation and instead, stick with batch-checking instead.

Estimated time saved

I don't anticipate saving much time, since I'm just lumping all of my random check-times into larger chunks of focused batch-checking. I do think that it will save time at work and at home, because I will be able to focus more clearly on other tasks rather than running to my phone every time I hear it DING! Also, I think that I will be more likely to keep in touch with people when I actually give myself time to respond, rather than trying to remember everything that I have checked throughout the day.

Experiment #2: We Need Batches! (Day 4: Bills)

Given that I am a renter, I have relatively few bills to pay each month. The major utilities are in my roommate's name, because she is the homeowner. Still, having fewer bills can also mean that they are easier to ignore. By batching my finances, I can avoid missing important deadlines, and also keep my bank ledgers up to date.

Batch!

I am starting to batch financial tasks on the same day that I open mail: Monday evenings. This enables me to pay bills or schedule payments as soon as those bills arrive, rather than losing them in the paper shuffle. The bills go straight into my Unpaid Bills folder in my portable file box, as I am dealing with the rest of the mail. Then, I just have to carry the box upstairs to my computer and pay any bills that are due before the next finance check. After I finish paying the bills, I can update my bank ledgers. I use both an Android app (Loot) and a Mac program to import and manage financial information from my bank, but I have to confess that I have been extremely lax about using either one on a regular basis. Batching these tasks should keep me on top of things, from here on out. I'm considering Mint, because I have heard so many good things about it, and I need to start adding financial information from my retirement and TSA accounts. I have to get a new phone to replace my clunker, first. (Tmo G1, whose WiFi just kicked. I'm holding out for a month or two, to see which HTC goodies drop.)

Automate!

Most of my bill payments are already automated (car and renter's insurance, regular car payments, Netflix, Rhapsody, etc.). Perhaps it is an old hang-up from my post-collegiate, nine-month period of somewhat impoverished living, but I still haven't automated everything else. I can't automate my rent--I put my check on the refrigerator--but batching will take care of that. Even though I always have the funds, automating credit card payments makes me nervous, because I worry about missing deadlines when they decide to change the payment due date on a whim. For now, I'm going to batch this payment, too. The one thing that I could definitely still stand to automate is my monthly student loan payment. It is always due on the same date each month, and always for the same amount, so it's a no-brainer. It will take me all of two minutes to set this up.

Estimated time and money saved

Honestly, I don't anticipate saving any time, with this one. If anything, I'll be spending MORE time on keeping my finances up to date. I will, however, likely save money by being more aware of my budget and avoiding late fees on bill payments. I could save anywhere between $0-$200 each month through regular budgeting, alone.

Experiment #2: We Need Batches! (Day 3: Other Mail)

Thankfully, the amount of physical mail that I receive is rather small, and for now, the system that I have in place works beautifully:

Eliminate junk mail, first

Unwanted sales flyers and other obvious junk mail go into recycling as soon as I bring them into the house. It takes no more time than adding them to the mail pile on our living room table.

Ignore it; it's okay

I reserve one day a week (Monday) to deal with the mail. Any important items go directly into a portable file box, in which I have designated--and color-coded--folders for:

• Unpaid bills
  
• Financial items to file (paid bills; health care, car, and insurance information, etc.)
  
• Other items to file (instruction manuals, warranties, articles and recipes torn from magazines, etc.)
  
• Non-critical action file* (event flyers, community calendars, etc.)
  
• To read (unread magazines, mostly)

Any items that require immediate action are things that I take care of on the same day that I open my mail, to save time and stress, later.

Shred it and forget it

Things of a more personal nature go to the shredder, including all of those solicitations for credit cards and insurance. As I said before, the volume of mail that I receive is small enough that I can usually shred mail on Monday, but I don't have to toss the contents of my home-office wastebasket more than once per month.

File away!

I'm still looking for a filing system that works for me, ideally, one that is simple and visible enough for me to find whatever it is I am looking for in under five minutes. If I had a larger volume of mail to contend with, I might opt for a mail scanning service like Mailbox Forwarding*.

I really love the idea of going completely paperless, with a digital filing system like OfficeDrop*. Here is how it works: you send the paper items that you wish to scan directly to the company. Then, they scan the documents, and make digital, text-searchable PDFs of your files. Finally, they upload the files to a cloud storage drive and provide support for download and integration into Google Docs, Evernote, etc. I'm tempted to try this kind of product, but I'm not quite ready to loosen the reins on security, just yet. I'll have to do more research, first. For now, I'm still looking for something that works for me.

*(Please note that I am not advocating these particular sites, nor have I used their services. I am only providing these links as examples of the kind of services usually offered by these and similar companies.)

Experiment #2: We Need Batches! (Day 2: Email)

Admittedly, I am a little insane when it comes to email. I have four separate accounts through Gmail alone, plus my work account. One of the Gmail accounts is something that I use rarely and is painless to manage. The work account is fine, but I do receive a lot of inessential email, there. I initially set up my other three Gmail accounts according to the following guidelines: professional, personal, and outside research. Now, things aren't so clear cut. Sometimes, I receive hundreds of emails per day in each account, mostly from work- or academic-related list serves. As a result, even with the tagging and prioritization features that Gmail offers, communications can get lost. Worse, I feel the need to constantly check and respond to email, even when it serves no purpose beyond maintaining my anxiety over the potential to miss something. Simplify, simplify, simplify. Here are the methods that I am using to tame the email beast.

Batch-check Email ONLY at Set Times

I was tired of feeling like I was "on call" all of the time, so the first thing that I did was to shut off email notifications on my phone. I still sync with Gmail periodically, to be sure that it doesn't take ages to update, but I am no longer running to check my phone every time I hear a familiar Ding!

Instead, I now check and respond to work email twice daily, for half an hour just before lunch and immediately after work has ended--which varies from day to day, due to rehearsals. I was also checking all of my other accounts during these times, but I'm going to cut back to checking personal email once per day, after dinner. I don't get a huge volume of personal messages, so this should be easy enough to manage.

Cut the Fat

I am in the process of eliminating all of the "clutter" email that arrives on a daily basis. Even though I love my academic list serves, not all of the messages hold the same interest, for me. Now when I check my accounts, I often delete these without reading them at all, and I feel no more guilty or unproductive than when I read everything. I have done the same thing with solicitation/advertising/coupon emails. It saves a ridiculous amount of time when you don't have to answer everything.

Also, I really need to reconsider and cut back on the volume of most of my emails, if at all possible. I always seem to fear missing important points, especially when emailing parents. Being more concise and more focused should help. If I do need to send an occasional, long email, I can work on them periodically, and then cut and paste the information into one email. Then, I can batch the information that I need to send, without constantly flooding someone else's inbox.

Automate, Archive, Trash

My goal for the day is to tweak my Gmail accounts so that the emails which come from academic list serves are automatically archived into folders/by label, so that they never see my inbox. Then, I can batch check them at the end of each week. Barring that, I think that I'm going to sign up for the daily digest version of each list for now--though I much prefer following individual conversations. I plan to do the same thing for emails that I routinely trash, one by tedious one. It will be much less cluttered if I can direct some of those emails into the Trash, and then go back to salvage only the ones that are of interest to me. I think that it will be much easier to see and deal with those emails that actually are a priority, and require my immediate attention. The best part is that Gmail will automatically delete the contents of my Trash Bin after thirty days. With the emails that are left, I hope to play around with the label coloring system and the recent addition of priority tabs, to create a more streamlined inbox.

Estimated Time Saved

If I only have to check and send email for 1 hour each day, I estimate that I could save 3-4 hours per week--assuming that I spend a total of 30 extra minutes, bit by bit, checking my email as it arrives. Learning to be more concise with my replies will help me to save all of this time, when used wisely.

Experiment #2: We Need Batches! (Day 1: Foodstuffs)

The Challenge: Plan, Shop, Cook...in batches


The months of May and December are typically the busiest months of the year for me, as far as work is concerned. With many longs days and nights ahead, cooking and eating well can be a challenge. We've all been there: at the end of a full day, you come home and have no interest in cooking full, healthy meals, and yet, what better reason is there to eat well than to feel your best during the hectic periods of the year? If you're anything like me, you probably start raiding the pantry for convenient munchies in lieu of an actual meal, or at worst, you spend more time and money eating out or ordering in than you'd like to admit. All of these moments of exhaustion/laziness come at the expense of both your wallet and your waistline. (I have to confess, my breakfast this morning was coffee and leftover Easter candy. Mmmmmm, healthy!)

In the interest of saving time, money, and muscle, I thought that it would be a good idea to start my first batching challenge with a focus on food. As a pescetarian (mostly ovo-lacto vegetarian, plus --preferably sustainable-- fish, I prefer to eat fresh, rather than frozen, and I have little expertise when it comes to either freezing or canning foods in large batches. Shopping for a month and doing large-scale cooking isn't really my aim, here. Right now, I'd be satisfied with shopping and batch prep. on a weekly basis. Busy times demand simplification, and since I'm only cooking for one, I'd rather rotate and repeat meals during the week, and treat myself to a not-so-healthy day out once per week. This is similar to "slow-carb" eating plans, with an emphasis on veggies, legumes, and protein at each meal.

Here is my batching schedule, so far:

• Wednesday night: Meal planning and recipe gathering for the following week.
  
• Saturday morning: Fridge and pantry check, and then AM grocery shopping.
  
• Sunday morning/early afternoon: Batch prep. and cook for the next six days.

Since I'm starting a day late, I'll be doing both my shopping and cooking this afternoon. (I already planned my meals for the week on Wednesday.)

Here is the menu for this week:
(I know that it lacks variety, but remember, I'm trying to simplify everything, this month.)

• Breakfast: egg whites, spinach, cuban-style black beans, avocado, salsa, coffee
  
• Lunch: hummus and veggies, plus a protein (grilled soy chick'n strips/seasoned tofu)
  
• Dinner: grilled/baked fish (3 days) or tempeh (3 days), veggie, curried lentils
  
• Snack: cottage cheese, acai puree; and fresh, organic oranges
  
• Other: one glass of red wine with dinner, afternoon tea

In addition to purchasing these basic supplies, I'm going to pick up some extra single-serving containers in which to pack and store my meals for the week. (Note: this will also help me to monitor portion sizes, which is always a plus.)

Tonight, I'll be batch prepping/cooking the following things:

• cook black beans
  
• cook lentils
  
• wilt spinach
  
• make huge batch of hummus...this is vastly better than the store-bought varieties
  
• marinate and cook proteins, if necessary
  
• chop or otherwise pre-prep all veggies, and then store

Oh right...and then I should probably wash the dishes.

Estimated time and money saved:

Even if I ate out/ordered in for every meal, I should still save 5-7 hours each week using this alternate plan. How much time do you spend each week on cooking, leaving work to eat, or sitting in restaurants? How many extra calories do you end up wasting on ordering in, for the sake of freeing up extra time? All of this time and health could be saved with batch cooking, and you could still splurge, during one day off each week. Even if I spend $100 on groceries for the week (which is an extremely high estimate for one person), consider the amount of money that you spend each day, on everything from coffee to takeout. I would save $10-$30 on coffee, alone. In general, I expect to save about $30-75/week, without sacrificing meals.

Experiment #2: We Need Stinking Batches! (Introduction)

I almost can't believe that the blogging challenge is over, and that I can start to focus on actual experiments again! I was half-tempted to delete the old posts from my failed C210K experiment and then reboot this newest endeavor as an actual Experiment #1, but I thought that I would be cheating if I did so. After all, the whole point of this blog is to focus on the process as much as the results. I found myself wanting to attack too many experiments at once, and I wasn't quite sure where the sword would fall. It landed here, on the one thing that I need to make the rest of my goals manifest: time. We all struggle with finding enough time in a single day to do everything we want to do, and it's easy to feel guilty when the "To Do" list has items left undone. I thought that finding some ways to free up time would allow me to get more done, hence, my immediate interest in batching and automation.

What is batching?

If you have ever read Tim Ferris' book The 4-Hour Workweek, his blog, or any of the related posts on Lifehack, you probably already have a good idea about what batching entails. Basically, batching involves saving routine tasks (house chores, email, etc.) for set times, and then completing them in bundles, rather than trying to accomplish little bits each day. As an example, you could do several loads on laundry on Sunday night, rather than trying to do a load each day.

What is automation?

Automation involves eliminating time spent on routine tasks by delegating and streamlining those tasks, using either human or technological assistance. A simple and oft-used example of automation is when you set up automatic bill payments through your bank, rather than paying each individual bill online or via mail.

The Experiment

Each day during the month of May, I am going to attempt to batch or automate one routine task. Ultimately, this experiment attempts to answer (number) key questions:

1. How much time can I save each day/week/month by batching and automating tasks? (I will need to record times as best as I can to compare them against my estimates for each task.)
   
2. How will this affect my tendency to avoid overwhelm, guilt, or avoidance associated with completing or failing to complete routine and necessary tasks? (I will also need to record emotional responses to the experiment.)
   
3. What are the overall benefits and consequences of batching and automation, as applied to daily living, both professional and personal?

The Rules In my preliminary online research, I did stumble across one other blogger (Eric G.) who had attempted this challenge. You can find his rules and results here, at My 4-Hr. Workweek. (As a fair warning, much of his blog focuses on and advocates Tim Ferris' principals in the original book. Feel free to take everything here, there, and everywhere with a healthy dose of critical thinking and skepticism.) My rules are slightly different from Eric's, but I may refer to/cite/link to his site if I use the same tools he does.

1. Like Eric, I won't attempt to set limits on how small or large the task needs to be. I will simply focus on those tasks which seem to demand my attention. I will not, however, make excuses to batch tiny tasks just to get out of handling larger, more pressing issues. My tasks will be highly relevant to my own needs, and may not apply to all readers, though many general tasks will have value to a wider audience.
   
2. Also like Eric, I will attempt to quantify the amount of time I spend on routine tasks. The goal right now is not to rush through tasks, but rather, to accurately record the actual amount of time I spend on each task.
   
3. I will be limiting my posts for this experiment to the month of May, though I may continue to batch tasks well after the experiment has concluded. As useful and worthwhile results or tools present themselves, I may "check in" from time to time after the official experiment has ended, and provide links to earlier, relevant posts.