Life is busy. Time is precious, but we all probably spend more time than we'd like doing mundane and/or annoying things. Wouldn't you rather spend time playing with your grandchildren, having lunch with friends, or reading a good book, instead of grocery shopping, cleaning, and running errands? If only it was possible to snap your fingers and have the dull, necessary daily tasks done for you. Unless you're a genie, that is impossible. But, it's not impossible to do a little planning and tweak your routine a bit to create more time to do what you love.

For some help becoming more efficient with your time, we suggest you read the article How to Streamline Every Area of Your Life. Filled with practical and specific advice, it breaks down the following areas of your life: eating, household, errands, traveling, workouts and lost time. It's a long read, so we've highlighted the gist of it for you below.

The writer, Liz Huber, suggests cutting down time spent revolved around eating by meal prepping. This involves planning your meals for the whole week and shopping just once for the entire week worth of meals. This will eliminate any unnecessary trips to the grocery store during the week to pick up this, or that. To further maximize your time, she suggests you prepare most of your meals one day a week, usually Sunday for those that work during the week. By cooking all at once, you're able to cut out time spent cooking and cleaning up every day.

For household items, have a basic stock list that you check once a week and keep a running list on your phone of what you need. Shop for those items you need all at once, one time a week. How many times have you run out of toilet paper, tissues, or shaving cream and have had to make a special trip just for that item? That's time wasted right there. Also try creating a cleaning schedule and sticking to it.

For errands, the same concept applies. Try and plan ahead what errands you'll need to run over the course of the week, and group them together to be more efficient with your time. Don't drive to one side of town to pick something up one day, and then drive back the next day for another errand! Schedule your errands in time slots, too.

Traveling is fun but think of all the time you spend planning and getting ready for a trip. Have a default packing list for different types of trips, rather than creating a list from scratch each time. Use down time while traveling productively by downloading podcasts, movies and e-books ahead of time.

With workouts, it will increase your chances of actually working out by scheduling them. Have some shorter workout routines in the mix for busy times. You can multitask by walking during a phone meeting or biking to work.

Lost time is perhaps the most frustrating of all. We've all spent enormous amounts of time waiting in line or waiting for an appointment. Make the most out of that time by having a list of articles to read. Have some downloaded podcasts on your queue. Complete small tasks, such as canceling an appointment, making a reservation, checking messages, etc. Think about an upcoming meeting and prepare mentally.

Hopefully these tips will help you become more efficient with daily tasks and will allow you to carve out some extra time for the more important and fun things in life!