Waste Hunt Continues: Spotting Everyday Inefficiencies at Home
Welcome back, Waste Hunters! 👀 We’ve already looked at waste in our inboxes, fitness routines, and digital habits — now it’s time to bring that same sharp awareness home.
This edition of our Lean journey takes us into the heart of daily life: the kitchen, the garage, the hallway drawer... anywhere that clutter, chaos, or clunky routines quietly steal our time and energy.
🔍 Why Hunt Waste at Home?
As always, we keep these Lean principles in mind:
✔️ Is it worth the hunt? Are small frustrations adding up? Repeated chores wearing thin? That’s your sign there’s waste to find.
✔️ You don’t need to fix it all. Awareness is step one. From there, change what’s worth changing — when it’s right for you.
✔️ Tiny tweaks > giant overhauls Frequent, low-effort improvements create lasting flow. Don’t wait for “the big clean.”
🛠 Real-Life Household Waste: What I’ve Found
Even with years of Lean practice, my home constantly reveals new areas to improve. A few small wins from recent weeks:
Contact lenses – I pre-separate them during downtime so mornings are smoother.
Allergy tablets – Pre-popped into a bottle instead of fussing with blister packs every day.
Garden tools – My husband created a go-to kit by the back door to avoid constant trips to the garage.
Battery charging – Investing in a multi-charger removed the bottleneck from DIY projects.
None of these are major changes — but they’ve made a major difference.
♻️ Quick Reference: 8 Wastes to Watch For (At Home)
Use this as your at-home Lean lens:
Transportation: Making unnecessary trips across rooms, floors, or buildings
Inventory: Stuffed drawers, forgotten pantry items, unused supplies
Motion: Reaching, hunting, bending, or pacing more than you need to
People Potential: Not getting help from the right people (including kids!)
Waiting: Delays due to schedules, queues, or shared resources
Overprocessing: Overcomplicating tasks like cleaning, cooking, decorating
Overproduction: Backups of everything — files, photos, ingredients
Defects: Replacing or repairing things because systems aren’t in place
🧘♀️ Lean Living, One Room at a Time
Lean isn’t about doing more — it’s about doing what matters, with less friction. These tiny adjustments have helped my home run more smoothly, and I hope they inspire ideas for your own.
This week, try this: ⚡ Identify just one daily task that feels clunky, repetitive, or annoying. 🔧 What’s one Lean-inspired micro-fix that could smooth it out?
Thanks for joining me again. Next stop in our Waste Hunt? You'll have to wait and see... 😉
#BeingLean #WasteHunt #LeanThinking #HomeEfficiency #EverydayLean #Leanier #5S #8Wastes
