Why You Need To Automate Your Life

Why You Need To Automate Your Life

It sometimes seems like there is never enough time in a day to accomplish all of our tasks. It may also feel overwhelming to make so many decisions. There is benefit in automating your life. Why do you need to automate your life? The simple answer is to save time because your time is valuable.

Reducing the need to manually perform certain tasks or make decisions reduces stress and decision fatigue. On a daily basis we make about 35,000 decisions ranging from what to eat to what clothes to wear. Therefore, automating will serve you well.

I discovered this article by James Clear about the value of time. There are various volatile aspects that determine whether something is worth our time, money, or if it is more worthwhile to outsource it.

Granted not everything can be automated but if possible automating the more trivial tasks can save you time and allow you to focus on more important things.

Grocery Pickup/Delivery

Many grocery stores offer order pickup or delivery. Walmart, Amazon Fresh, and Instacart to name a few all deliver. Most delivery orders come with a fee whether that is in the form of a membership such as Amazon Prime or Walmart+ or they will let you pay per order. If you prefer to avoid the delivery or membership fees for delivery you can pickup your order from select stores for free.

You just order online or through the store app, specify if you want to allow any substitutions, select a timeframe, and arrive during your pickup window.

Automating grocery delivery saves you money from impulse buying and typically any substitutions the store makes on your behalf, even if the item costs more, is not charged to you.

Meal Prep

Some people enjoy cooking and for others it can be seen as a chore. To save you time consider meal prepping. You can pick a day of the week that you plan to cook enough food to cover you for a specified amount of time. This can be prepped for yourself or anyone else in your household. You will not have to snack on junk food because you have not cooked nor do you need to buy outside food since you’ve prepared your meals. Meal prep also helps you stick to a specific diet of what you cook which is often times healthier than eating out. You will know what’s in your food and it’s also more frugal.

As an advocate for reducing plastic waste, you can easily find glass meal prep containers online and in stores of various sizes to fit your needs.

If you are worried about food spoiling you can utilize your freezer and make freezer friendly meals.

Pharmacy Delivery

There are online pharmacies such as Express Scripts and Capsule that deliver prescriptions for free prescribed by your doctor. Many just require you to transfer your prescription from a local pharmacy, add your address, setup a delivery window, and pay.

You also have the option to manage different accounts and get the medication of your family members delivered to them depending on if you administer their medication. This can be a great option for children caring for aging parents.

By taking advantage of pharmacy delivery you can save gas and time standing in long lines. For the elderly particularly this can help those who have mobility issues to receive their medication in the comfort of their home.

Money Management

It is important to acknowledge that not everyone will be comfortable automating their finances, especially if you have an unpredictable income. But for those who are able to, it will save you time.

You can automatic bill pay for rent, utilities, and insurance to name a few. You can also setup automatic transfers to savings. This reduces the need to remember due dates and avoid late fees.

Informed Mail Delivery

USPS offers a service called informed delivery that gives you a preview on what mail you will be receiving. Everyone does not check their mailbox daily. This is a great service for those who want to track important or time-sensitive mail. The service is free to signup for and you get daily digest notifications via email.

Computer Tasks

Whether for work or personal use you can automate computer tasks. You can enable automatic updates (make sure you also have automatic backups enabled). You can create a script to run processes. There is also the option to add certain programs to startup whether that be for your operating system or for your browser to automatically open a set of tabs.

This can be done using Windows or macOS.

By automating as many redundant work or personal computer tasks as possible can save you time.

Smart Devices

There are various smart devices on the market that can help you save money and time.

Many smart thermostats allow you to manage the temperature settings from an app or it automatically adjusts based on a specific timeframe or temperature. You may be eligible for a free home assessment that can include smart thermostats.

Mobile phones have a do not disturb or focus feature that limits distractions from notifications during specific activities or timeframes.

There are smart speakers such as the Echo Dot and the HomePod to name a few that allow you to set routines, alarms, and control other smart devices.

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Let’s face it…you’re busy but you don’t need to do more than you have to. The result from automating your life will award you more time to spend on your hobbies and with your loved ones. These things not only spark joy but they are invaluable.