1) Soak hoses
The soak hoses around our house, which is used to water the soil near foundation, was frequently damaged by the contractor who mows our yard - once or twice a season. It was annoying even though he reimburses us for each replacement we purchased. I tried to remind him be careful but he still cut hoses once or twice a season.
What else could I do to prevent it from happening? I thought about it and decided to help him on this: to raise the hose above the ground on the mowing day. We spent time to set up the anchoring points - nails on the wall. After this, the hoses have not been damaged any more. It also helped me to avoid the annoyance and extra chore.
I frequently monitor and (when necessary) supervise contractor's work at my house to solve the problems they were hired to solve! It costs me some time and causes inconvenience, but overall it helps ensure quality, avoid rework, minimize annoyance, it helped me a lot.
2) Make a little extra efforts to save a lot time
It is very time consuming to deal with Texas DPS (department of public safety) about anything. The trueID requirement makes the situation worse. One colleague spent 6 hours in line to have his driver license renewed for a trueID.
To minimize wait time, DPS created a "get inline online" system, which only applies for the same day appointment. The online appointment starts at 7am, and the appointments are gone in minutes, getting an appointment is like winning a lottery as DPS employees say.
This past winter break, I experienced the same trouble when trying to make an appointment to renew Nicholas' driving permit and my driver license. Initially I tried to make online appointment right at 7am, it took 5 - 10 minutes to get a response for every click I made, and in the end I was told there was no appointment time left for the day.
After a couple of failed attempts, I decided to get online later, at 7:30am for example, to make appointments at service centers 20 - 30 miles away from metropolitan areas. I got two appointments, one at McKinney, one at Terrell. With extra 10-20 miles drive, it was still hard but much easier to get the appointments there than at those in the metropolitan area. With appointments, the total time at DPS was ~ 1 hour, vs. 3-6 hours waiting in the line.
3) Perennial blooming plant
A few times last year, we realized we had not watered it for long time since it withered and leafs turned brown. With heavy heart, we poured a couple cups of water into the pot, and that resurrected it each time.
All it needs is the sunshine through the window and some water every week. We now water it weekly, and it blooms again and again after previous flowers withered. One cup of water, no more guilty feeling!
4) Clean restroom
My office is in a two story building - first story rooms are mostly offices, and second story is for a training center - which is not used all the time. First story has one set of restrooms, second story has another set.
One issue with the 1st floor restrooms is that they are heavily used, especially men's room. At peak hours it is full, stinky, and not so clean from time to time.
I actually use the restroom on the second floor most of the time. With a few more steps, I have a clean, cool restroom all for myself most of the time!
5) Forming good habits saves worries and time
When there was an incident in the neighborhood - e.g. thief walked into someone's house to steal, everyone became panic, installing security system, asking for more police patrol ... the fact is that all the victims needed to do is to remember lock the house even when they are in the house, especially when they are about to sleep.
Recently there is coronavirus from China - people got panicky. Not only Coronavirus can kill, more common influenza virus can kill as well. The key is to have a good habit - have vaccine each season, wash hands before eating, sanitize hands after shaking hands with people, rest and drink a lot of water... they seem like a lot chores, but if one forms the habit of doing them all the time, they are just part of your routine like breathing!
There are numerous examples in this category - place stuff (e.g. keys) in the same place so you don't have to look for them later; eat healthy so you don't have to worry about weight gain or high cholesterol .....
Helping others to help yourself,
Incur some inconvenience to be convenient,
Spend some time to save time,
...... sounds like oxymoron ... they are shortcuts in life!
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