Productivity at Home

Increased productivity, the ability to get more value for our time, our land, or our invested money, is as important at home as it is in the workplace. Let's consider the case of our imaginary friend Jane, and her grandmother.

Jane's grandmother had just one occupation after marrying in her late teens: homemaker. She raised children, and she cleaned and maintained the family home. That was a full-time (and often more) job.

For example, Jane's grandmother spent at least half a day and often more, on Mondays, Blue Mondays, washing clothes. When Grandmother did laundry, she put a small load at a time into a wringer washer. First the clothes went through a wash cycle with soap. Then, she drained the washer, and refilled it with fresh hot water for a rinse cycle. At the end of each cycle, she fed each piece of clothing through a wringer which squeezed out the excess water. After a couple of wash and rinse cycles, the clothes landed in a tub, were carried outside, and pinned to a clothesline, one at a time. And after drying, each item was unpinned and carried back into the house. Of course, almost all of the clothing in Grandmother's time then had to be ironed.

On the other hand, when Jane needs only a few minutes to do a load of washing. She gathers up a pile of clothes, puts them in the washer, adds soap, turns on the water, and leaves. The machine automatically takes care of all those steps Jane's grandmother had to do by hand. When Jane returns to the automatic washing machine half an hour later, she simply moves the clothes to the dryer, which takes about a minute. In most cases, the clothes require minimal or no ironing, and Jane folds them and puts them away immediately.

Grandmother cooked on an electric range, which in itself represented a big improvement over the wood stove her mother used. Jane has a microwave oven, as well as an electric range, and can make a meal more quickly. After the meal, Grandmother spent at least half an hour washing dishes. Jane spends a couple of minutes loading the dishwasher.

Jane, obviously, is more productive than her grandmother. Not because she's necessarily better in any way or works any harder, but because she has tools that allow her to be more productive, to get the same amount of work done in less time.

That extra time allows her to earn an income outside the home, which in turn increases the family's prosperity. And so productivity in the home, like productivity at work, contributes to a family's increasing standard of living.

Robert F. Abbott is the author of the forthcoming book, Ownership Revolution: How Working People are Buying Up Big Business, from which this article is taken. If you contribute to a pension fund, mutual fund, or whole life insurance policy, you're probably one of the new owners of the big corporations. Find out more at http://www.thenewowners.com.

expert residential cleaners Bannockburn ...

In The News:

Apple's iOS 27 lets you add keywords to iPhone photos, while Samsung Gallery tags and Google Photos search offer similar organization tools.

A fake Claude AI download scam uses Google ads and Bing redirects to trick Mac users into pasting a hidden malicious command in their Terminal.

Ahold Delhaize's cybersecurity incident knocked online ordering and digital coupons offline at Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Hannaford and Giant Food stores.

The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Amazon's About You feature includes personality details from your shopping history, and some shoppers are finding hilariously awkward results.

Identity theft recovery starts with securing bank accounts, freezing credit and enabling two-factor authentication within the first 24 hours.

Apple's $299 HomeView smart display uses facial recognition to personalize screens for up to six household members and show live security camera feeds.

Domonique DuBose spotted red flags when a man on Hinge with 85,000 followers and a blue checkmark claimed to be a San Francisco 49ers player.

Your phone's location data can expose visits to doctors, pharmacies and places of worship. The FTC took action against data brokers selling this data.

Hackers targeted Danfoss refrigerator controls across French supermarkets, forcing chains like Carrefour and Monoprix to discard massive food stocks.

iOS 27 finally lets iPhone Shared Albums store photos and videos at full resolution in iCloud, but new items count toward the owner's storage.

A fake Facebook Marketplace text scam uses your real name as the seller to trick you into replying, and Malwarebytes warns even one response helps.

The Pentagon data breach exposed 2.76 million Social Security numbers and military records, raising long-term identity theft concerns for veterans.

Kodiak AI plans to haul IKEA freight on Texas highways with no one in the cab, raising urgent cybersecurity and safety questions for drivers.

Apple Intelligence in iOS 27 adds Extend and Reframe tools to Photos, letting iPhones generate new background areas beyond your original borders.

Microsoft's X account was hijacked to promote a crypto pump-and-dump scheme, exposing its more than 13 million followers to a scam campaign.

Scammers can combine your name, phone number and address with data breach details to attempt SIM swaps, phishing and even identity theft schemes.

ChatGPT Work, Meta Muse and Gemini Spark can monitor flight prices, sort your email inbox and track important deadlines, but savvy users start small.

iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel each hide a built-in tool that turns a video frame into a separate photo without any screenshot needed.

Operation KillSwitch dismantled KillSec's ransomware infrastructure, but investigators say a 16-year-old allegedly ran the entire cybercrime operation.

The Fox News Artificial Intelligence newsletter covers where voters will decide on AI data center ballot measures and Jeff Bezos' tech vision.

Apple's Impersonation Risk Detection in iOS 27 can flag suspicious activity inside apps, but the setting is off by default and must be enabled.

Federal Election Commission records can expose your name, address, employer and donation history once contributions exceed the $200 threshold.

Cybersecurity expert Morgan Wright says human skepticism remains the strongest defense against AI-driven phishing scams and voice cloning fraud schemes.

iPhone, Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy each handle security updates differently, and one screen saying "up to date" may not tell the whole story.

Productivity at Home

Time Management