3 Ways to Automate Your Life

Whether you’re a student, an employee, or a stay-at-home parent, you have plenty of things on your plate every day. When the many tasks in your daily life stack up, it can be difficult to accomplish — or even remember — everything. That’s especially true if you aren’t the type to create detailed to-do lists.

To make tending to your day-to-day tasks as simple as possible, consider automating some of them. While you won’t be able to automate everything, enlisting tech to handle a few small things here and there will definitely help.

The average person makes thousands of choices every day. By automating even a fraction of them, you may find yourself feeling less fatigued. If you want to lighten your daily load even a little bit, keep reading to find out more.

1. Get Needed Meds by Online Subscription

Caring for your health is non negotiable, and that often entails taking regular prescription medications. Time was, this required visiting your doctor, getting your prescriptions, and then waiting in a pharmacy line or drive-through to have them filled. Thanks to the internet and the emergence of telehealth providers, this model has been upended.

Today, you can obtain everything from acne medication to antidepressants to birth control online. After a virtual consultation with a licensed healthcare provider, any prescriptions you require will be sent straight to your door in discreet packaging. There’s no more having to take time out of your day to see the doctor or visit the pharmacy.

Best of all, since online prescription providers operate on a subscription basis, refills are automatic. Just when your supply begins to run low, a two- or three-month refill (depending on your insurance) will arrive as though by magic. Whether you’re trying to prevent pregnancy or manage an anxiety disorder, you need to take your prescriptions consistently. An online subscription will ensure you never run out of the meds you need to maintain your health.

2. Put Your Bills on Autopay

Adulthood has both its up and down sides, and there’s one task that definitely falls into the latter category: bill paying. True, there’s probably nothing that will make you enjoy handing over your hard-earned money every month. But at least you can make the process easier and less error-prone by putting your bills on autopay. Since on-time payments are the largest factor in your credit score, you’ll be doing your financial standing a favor, too.

Credit card payments, phone bills, utility bills, rent or mortgage payments — all of these can be automated. Whether you set up autopay with individual vendors or through your bank, you can choose a specific amount to pay each month. If you are making a mortgage payment through your bank, for example, simply log into your account and enter the payment details. Your lender will receive your monthly payments on time and in full without you having to lift a further finger.

Perhaps you are dealing with a payment that varies on a monthly basis. If it’s a credit card bill, you can decide to pay a set amount, the minimum payment, or the full balance each month. For something like a gas bill, you may want to take a semi-automated approach. You can have the utility take the full amount from your checking account monthly but set a reminder to check your statement beforehand. That way you can ensure that you have funds to cover the variable amount and monitor consumption trends, too.

3. Let Meal Kits Do the Grocery Shopping for You

One of the most laborious parts of your day may have to do with something you probably enjoy — eating! However, whether you are a single-person household or have a family meal to plan, meal preparation can be a challenge. After deciding what to make — no mean feat some days — you have to acquire the ingredients, then prepare and cook them. It’s no wonder the popularity of meal kit delivery services has soared in recent years. They handle the meal planning and prep steps, leaving you the fun part of stirring up delicious tastes and aromas.

You can find a variety of these meal kit services online. Whether you’re looking for paleo meals, vegan meals, or meals to please an entire family, you have plenty to choose from. If choosing is part of the problem, though, many meal kit services allow you to set your preferences to the chef’s choice.

Once you specify how many meals you want and how frequently you want them, you won’t have to worry. Dinner will be delivered to your desired address on the designated days. Not only do you no longer have to plan meals ahead of time, you can also avoid hours at the grocery store.

Reducing Your Mental Load

Some days it’s tough enough remembering what you have to do, let alone doing it. Here, too, automation stands ready to lighten your daily load.

Using the calendar feature on your cell phone, you can set reminders for everything from visiting the dentist to starting the dishwasher. And you can customize those reminders, too. While it’s useful to know your haircut appointment starts in 10 minutes, that won’t get you across town in that time. If you set a reminder for a day ahead and 45 minutes beforehand, you won’t be taken by surprise. You and your tresses can be in your stylist’s chair right on schedule.

With the power of automation in your corner, life just gets easier. It can help you stay healthy, preserve your finances, and keep you well fed. And though your brain may feel like a sieve sometimes, you’ll never miss an appointment or forget to water the plants again.