“What Became of the Time We Saved?” is the title of a column written by journalist (and later author) Laura Ingalls Wilder in 1917 (more than a decade before she began writing her Little House series of books).

In her column, she wrote, “We have so many machines and so many helps, in one way or another, to save time; and yet I wonder what we do with the time we save. Nobody seems to have any…….We must have all the time there is, the same as always. We should have more, considering the timesaving, modern conveniences. What becomes of the time we save?”

Just think of all of the many more “timesaving, modern conveniences” that have been invented since Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote those words in 1917, more than a century ago, and still we can’t seem to find the time that we’ve saved, or time to do everything that we want to do.

For some of us, work has taken 60 to 80 hours per week. On top of that, there is yardwork – several hours per week for eight months out of the year. And then there is housework — vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, dusting, cleaning windows, and other house cleaning. In addition, grocery shopping, cooking meals, washing dishes, washing laundry, and a myriad of other things must be done.

What has become of the time we are supposed to have saved?

Some will erroneously say that everyone has the same amount of time, the same 24 hours in a day, yet that is not so. A person who works 60 or more hours per week has less time than someone who works 20 or 40 hours per week. A person who does yardwork for six or more hours has less time than someone who spends half an hour or does no yardwork at all. A person who does their own housework has less time than someone who hires a maid. And a single lady has to do everything around the house that a woman usually does but also everything around the house that a man usually does, as well.

So, what has become of the time that modern conveniences are supposed to have saved us?