EVERY SECOND COUNTS: TIPS TO WIN THE RACE AGAINST TIME

Do you want to save 1.5 seconds every day of your life? According to the dishwasher expert at the consumer organisation Choice, there’s no need to insert the dishwashing tablet into the compartment inside the door.

- Richard Glover

It’s fiddly and unnecessary work. The compartment, apparently, exists for the minority of people who still use powder. Most folks use detergent capsules, and they work better if thrown directly into the machine.

A day after the dishwasher revelation, I was at the beach with Uncle Mike and he watched as I closed the rear door on Jocasta’s hatchback.

“Have a look at this,” he said. “There’s a button to the left of the one you’ve been pressing, marked with a lock sign. Press that and it both closes the hatch and locks the car. There’s no need to separately lock your vehicle.”

Uncle Mike is not a braggy sort of fellow and so played down his contribution to my future wellbeing. “I’ve had the same car for years and only discovered that button a few weeks ago. It’s a tiny trick. Besides, it only saves 1.5 seconds.”

Sure, Uncle Mike. Tiny to you. But within two days, I’d heard twice about ways to save 1.5 seconds. The seconds were adding up. The car door thing, performed four times a day, is a sixsecond saving. Call it the Uncle Mike Saving. Throw in the Choice Saving and I’m up 7.5 seconds a day.