Simple things that make your life so much edit?

[LeonoraFlorence]

Every night my phone battery would be low and without fail I’d be sitting awkwardly at a funny angle on the couch trying to look through Mumsnet whilst it charged plugged in. DH ordered me a charger for about £10 with a cable over 1m long and it has changed my life! What other small things have made your life much more pleasant?

And I can one-up on the key loop. We have a digital keypad for the door. Very common where I live and when I go back to the UK, I get really confused by having to remember to bring a key with me.

Podcasts are pretty much free, some make money by selling special episodes.

I also like to fall asleep listening to stuff, my favourite is In Our Time from the BBC because their boring, posh, droning on sends me off in seconds.

I listen to hours and hours of podcasts and never come across one that wasn't free. Some are funded by adverts or pester you to donate via patron but I've never paid to download one.

I assume if there was a paid podcasts, it would be quite clear, like paid apps.

I listen mostly in the car to Radio 4 comedies, Scummy Mummies, consumer stuff, true crime, travel, some serialised books, Fortunately with Fi Glover and Jane Garvey and some episodes of Woman's Hour but I pick and choose that as I sometimes get a bit behind with my subscriptions so don't have time to listen to them all.

I bet the Shipping Forecast would be good to fall asleep to Graph.

Ha, DH calls the shipping forecast "the sleeping forecast" for that very reason barbara

Bin bags that fit - I have a rather swanky Brabantia bin which obviously has made to measure bin bags fashioned by the queens tailor I recently made a tiny error when ordering them and now have 1000 in my kitchen cupboard, so likely they will outlast the bin.

Regular orders of stuff like cat food.

Alexa

Internet banking, I'm aghast that we ever managed without it. DM still travels into town to "do her banking" once every couple of weeks

@dementedma this is a must on a next car for me, Reynauds would be so much easier with it!!

Hmm not sure that keysafes are the best thing in the long run when you have DCs. They need to learn to remember to take their key. DC1 recently had an unfortunate experience at Uni having forgotten their key and no one was in the shared house. This was after 8 years of me banging on "Have you got your key? HAVE YOU GOT YOUR KEY?" every single day at home.

@PennyDreadfuI that’s a great idea! I spend so much time raking through my bag

On the back of this thread I’m tempted to go to Primark and buy enough bobbles for each child to have one per day for the rest of the school year because they just disappear!!!

trolley token. No more realising I don't have a quid in my purse

Dishomatic. 😂

The most powerful hairdryer I could find on the market. I have really thick hair and can blowdry in five mins.

The correct comfy pillows from dunelm for front and side sleeping. A silk eye mask from Amazon and silicone ear plugs, they block noise out much better than foam and these are on a cord so I never lose them. Also an aromatherapy diffuser for my own essential oils, its really lovely in the bedroom. A second (second hand) freezer for batch cooking.

I don't have a SmartTV but the kids bought me a Firestick for Christmas, so it's made my TV Smart! For about £50 I can now get Prime, Netflix etc (you do need a subscription though, it doesn't just happen by magic) on my TV! So much nicer than watching Stranger Things on my little laptop screen.

I have a rolling 3 week menu of meals for the DCs (Gousto for me and DH) - saves having to sit down every Monday morning and writing out a whole new weekly menu each time
Apple corer which sounds ridiculous but DCs love apples and it saves me finding mouldy apple cores all over the house - now they decore, put core in composter, eat apple.
Boot organiser for the car. Stops shopping sliding around all over the place.
Ironing board lives upstairs, so much easier. If I had space I'd have a whole utility room upstairs.
I bitterly regret not forking out the extra for keyless entry on my new car. Had it on the old one and it was brilliant.

Yes definitely the fabric bags especially National Trust one.

Those zip up fabric see through wallets are brilliant

Just not buying stuff and trying to use up things such as sachets and small toiletries

Oh and prestige whistling kettle. I prefer it to the electric kettle.

I get things done in kitchen whilst waiting for it to boil

I have a safe too.

Easy to keep valuable items together

Can you link @woodhill "Those zip up fabric see through wallets are brilliant".

I bought some on eBay and my original ones were from Lakeland. The zip bits fall off sometimes but I personally like them.

Made by travelon

I mean the pull bits but the zips work fine and prefer them to plastic as they have a fabric feel.

Idontdrinktea what’s the name of that car parking app?

Finding a warm jacket that goes with everything and has pockets big enough to hold phone, keys, purse, compact and fold up shopping bag.

Not having to cart a handbag around is an absolute game changer.

Usb sockets, each plug socket can now essentially provide power to four electrical items instead of two.

L. E. D ceiling lights that never need new bulbs. Me and dp are both pretty short so changing bulbs in ceiling lights was always a pita

Regarding spray mops (which are absolutely brilliant), if you buy a couple of extra heads, you can swap to a dry one after you've finished and go over the floor with it and it's dry in seconds. I tend to leave that one on then for the next time and shove the dirty one in the wash.

They just stick on like velcro and you can get multipacks for a few quid.

Just remember to buy 'no rinse' floor cleaner or you'll end up with a floor like an ice rink (learned that lesson the hard way)

@BillywigSting. Which brand do you use?

Moon cup!
It literally changed my life. Before using one I was missing days at work, cancelling plans - generally spending the first two days of each period stuck at home because no San pro could cope with the heavy flow. Now I almost forget I'm having a period and get on with my normal day.
Definitely made life easier for me.