Twice as Nice: Two clocks help military friends and family answer this question quickly: What time is it over there?

Today’s end of Daylight Savings Time throws many Americans into a clock-induced tizzy for 24 hours, as they show up an hour early to grandma’s house for Sunday dinner or the kids’ football game. But those of us with friends and family in the military often look at the clock and feel out of whack on a daily basis. Is it too early to try to Skype to Afghanistan? Is it too late to expect a phone call today from Guam? How many hours separate me from Korea? Here is a super-simple solution I use to keep myself on track, and it works terrifically whether your daughter is deployed overseas or your boyfriend is gone for six months of training on the other side of the country: Hang two clocks next to each other. Set one to your current time, and set the other to match when your loved one is. 

This was my kitchen, below, when we lived near Fort Drum, New York. I picked up these two battery-operated wall clocks at Target for about $15 each. My clock was on top, set to New York time. My husband’s deployment clock was on the bottom, set eight hours ahead to Baghdad time. It’s a little thing, but it helps make separations just a little easier to manage. 

Two is better than one when it comes to clocks. Set one to your time zone, then set the other to the time zone of your military loved one.