We often have multiple errands to run throughout the week: a trip to the library to pick up and return books, a deposit to make at the bank, a stop at the post office to mail a package, picking up our milk from the dairy, grocery shopping, and so on.

Instead of making each of these a separate trip, I find it’s far more time efficient to group several errands together. Not only does it take less time if I link them together, it also takes less gas in my car and puts less pollution into the air.

I also find that it greatly benefits us to do our errands in one big group, as it then frees up other blocks of time during which we can engage in longer projects or to have uninterrupted free time to spend reading or cooking or making art or dreaming or simply just being.

Notably, since I run my errands with two young boys in tow, I also know that there is a point of diminishing returns after which their patience is exhausted and everything takes twice as long as it would otherwise. All that to say, how many errands you can group together depends on your individual circumstances.

But if you don’t do it already, I highly encourage you to give it a try. That way, instead of making 6 separate – albeit shorter – trips out and about, you can finish your errands in a day or two, and have your other days free to engage in other pursuits. It’s an easy way to free up a little bit of time in your week, and to give your schedule a few blocks of a day when you can have some uninterrupted (by other commitments, anyway) time.

Do you combine your errands into one big trip or do you run them one at a time?