I’m not good at multi-tasking. In fact, I’m terrible at it. I wish I could do more than one thing at a time but no matter how hard I try, I really can’t. However, we all know that less waste living requires more from you. More time, thought, planning, etc. Even when we try to live life slowly and simply, we still go to bed exhausted and not feeling like we accomplished enough. So when I started down this less waste lifestyle, I realized I was going to have to either steal a house elf or figure out how to make the most of my time.

For this series of posts, I wanted to share some things I do that only require time and very little hands on effort. In the evening, when you are finally able to relax, you can let these jobs work for you while you watch tv, read, take a bath, play cribbage, or learn to play the ukulele.

1) Soak your air plants- I love having air plants in the house because they provide life and greenery but require only a soak once every 2 weeks. Put them in a bowl of water before you go to sleep and in the morning, put them back in their terrariums.
2) Caramelize those onions- no those aren’t worms I’m cooking for dinner. They are the onions we will use on pizzas, grain salads, sandwiches etc. The key to caramelizing onions is to leave them alone! Spend a few minutes cutting them then throw them in with a pat of butter and glug of olive oil, set them on low and go binge watch a couple shows or learn a new uke song. The longer those guys sit the sweeter they will be. Then add a dash of balsamic vinegar to scrape up the bottom of the pan. These can easily be frozen, too.
3) Scrub that sink- I make a “sink scrub” of simply baking soda and some drops of lemon EO and clove EO and keep it in the cheese shaker I bought at the dollar store. I wet the sink, sprinkle some of that on, squirt some dish soap or Dr. Bronner’s, or rub a half of a lemon and give it a good scrub. Let it sit, go read a couple of chapters, come back and rinse.
4) Season your cast iron skillet- Is your skillet in need of reseasoning? Sometimes it is if you’re like me and get a little lazy with its care. If it is and you never seem to have a chance to do it, get it set up and in the oven, play a round or two of cribbage, come back in an hour and it’s good to go.

I know it’s a lot of work trying to balance living sustainably and “realistically” so let’s make sure we are working smarter as we do it.