Life hacks, day to day time saving tips, common sense to you but not to others?

[Namechange8123]

I've had a search and can only find (years) old threads along these lines, so I've started a fresh one.

What are your day to day life hacks that make things easier? Could be common sense to you, but others could benefit?

My contributions are freezing lemons and limes to double up with your ice in your gin, layer the cot sheets in DC cot with another sheet and bed mat so if they have an accident, you whip the top layer off and don't have to remake the bed, tin foil behind the radiators...

What do you have?

Going the beach or for a picnic, put bottles of juice/water in the freezer and freeze. You can use them to keep the rest of the food cold and as the day goes on it defrost and you always have a lovely cold drink on hand.

@LoisEinhorn

Going the beach or for a picnic, put bottles of juice/water in the freezer and freeze. You can use them to keep the rest of the food cold and as the day goes on it defrost and you always have a lovely cold drink on hand.

An additional tip here is to fill empty bottles half way then tip on their sides. Then freeze. Once frozen and ready for beach or wherever you can fill the rest and have drinkable really cold water instead of having to wait.

so I find these threads fascinating as I love some things and find others waste of time

duvet sets in pillowcase - just WHY? My cupboard has a pile, sheet pillow cases and duvet. I don't have anyone in there stiring it all up, so I just pick up th epile, why waste all that time squishing it into a pillow case?

flour and weevils. The only time I have ever had weevils in my flour is when we lived in Saudi Arabia, and there was a port strike and th eflour had been sitting on a ship in port for 4 months. Never had them in flour in the UK, even when flour has been in the cupboard for ages.

birthday card 3 weeks early -- errr, no.

pizza with scissors, no, just need a pizza wheel and a wooden board, so much better than scissors.

My cheese on toast has toast toasted on both sides, then add cheese and pop under the grill

packed lunches the night before, this, along with anyone who freexes sandwiches, are obviously done by people who don't like cucumber tomato or lettuce in a sandwich.

The only one I really agree with is - clean your shower while in it. I also used to clean kids bathroom while they were in the bath.
And we have a triple laundry basket - darks, colours and whites. Kids put clothes in right section, and it is easy to chuck a load in the wash

If driving to a self catering holiday let and it’s a few hours drive, I always freeze as many food items as I can and put them in a cool box so by the time I arrive they are still cold and have kept other items chilled. Assuming you take food with you of course. Handy if you are miles from a supermarket on arrival.

If going to a holiday in the UK, book a delivery from your supermarket for after you are due to arrive. It makes life so much simpler, and you don't meet to take anything with you.

I did that! Booked a Waitrose delivery.

I’ve done that too, but many more remote places don’t have online delivery.

We've been on the Norfolk Broads a couple of times. and you can place a food order with the boatyard for your arrival.

After you've put your shopping away, put the bags back in your car so you don't forget them next time

Also shared shopping list app with DH

When you get in your car to drive to the supermarket, put the bags on the passenger seat.

We get so many people in having to buy bags because they left theirs in the car...

It's obviously easier to remember to take them if you are going to do a big shop, but if you are just 'popping in' for a few things, the bags often get forgotten in the boot. If my customers are anything to go by...

I book a holiday food order too, and take a ready cooked meal from home for the first night e.g. spag bol or chilli. I make loads, take half with us to eat on holiday and freeze the other half so we have a meal ready when we get home.
If anyone goes camping fresh pasta cooks much quicker than dried and will save gas. So for the first night I take spag bol with fresh pasta. Then cous cous and noodles are good because they can just stand and cook in hot water instead of having to boil for ages which uses loads of gas.

Bar of soap in washing machine drawer instead of tablets or powder obviously remove it before it gets too slushy

Does this actually work? It would be a significant saving on washing powder if it does.

I always do an online shopping delivery for the day that we return from holiday. Sitting around a pool is a nice way to do an online grocery shop.

Another holiday one we do is finding a National Trust place (we are members) to stop at on the way and take a picnic. Much nicer than motorway services and the dcs can have a proper run around outside and it feels like we have already started the holiday. If there is no NT place there is sometimes a country park or nice garden centre with a cafe and toilets.

@ViciousJackdaw

To clean right to the bottom of glass bottles, bud vases, any type of long cylindrical thing that you can't get your hand in - stick about a teaspoon of uncooked rice in there, cover with about half an inch of water and gently agitate. Will get all the grot off the bottom.

Also, keep your stain squirter in the laundry basket and give all light-coloured t-shirts, shirts & blouses a quick squirt under the arms as you put them in the basket.

The rice trick also works with small animal drinking bottles when they start to go green. It’s a genius trick

when you've painted a room keep a bit in a jam jar (labelled) for quick touch ups

Sorry this has already been said, I’m still on page 5.

Use car wax on shower doors after cleaning, leaves them limescale and streak free for at least an extra week - a lifesaver!!

I brought the kids fun digital clocks for their rooms and tell them on the weekend the time they wake us up is the time they go to sleep. - they can never last past 09:30 and it really does work as they’re so desperate to stay up late lol! (Very cheeky, I know!)

Sandwich bag clips on sports bras, bikinis and minkys when washing in the washing machine to stop the liner/inners going all funny, if you know what I mean!

I've just thought of another one!
If you need to get into a very hot car, open the tailgate and the front windows (doors of you can).
A lot of the hot air will be dispersed, making it worth the 30 seconds or so you need to wait.

[quote GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER]**@RedRocketGirl, thanks for the pillow case tip. My airing cupboard is much too small for a 4 bed house, so what with all the towels as well as bedding it soon turns into an unholy muddle.

I look back with green eyes at the huge airing cupboard my mother had in a much smaller house![/quote]
@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER you are so welcome! I have a blanket box at the end of the bed so I keep the current duvet sets (I have winter and summer sets) in there and it makes it really easy to fit them in and fish out the set I want to put on. It would be nice to have an airing cupboard but now in the age of combi boilers they are becoming less common I guess!

I've been thinking about other hacks I do and most have been mentioned such as making breakfast and lunch & getting my outfit ready when I have an early start.

However, one other thing I do try and do is to write my shopping list in the order that the supermarket aisles are laid out so I don't end up going back and forth and when I do a weekly meal plan it really does help with food waste and budgeting.

I also have a travel toiletries bag which I keep stocked for any trips and I have also sorted my travel stuff like adapters and case locks into small bags. Oh and packing cubes for when you travel they are ace!

If you have long hair and want to curl it then tie a pony tail on top of your head. You can then curl your hair in 4 or 5 sections really easily without struggling to get round the back 🙂 total game changer.

The bed linen inside the pillow case hack is brilliant if you have different sized beds. Our house has single, double, king and super king beds. It’s very hard to tell the sheet sizes apart for the king and SK.

Saving my place to come back and read allllll of these, as I'm sure I'll need every single one.

Ive ordered an online food delivery when abroad too. Arrange for it to be delivered a couple of hours after you arrive.

@HasaDigaEebowai

when you've painted a room keep a bit in a jam jar (labelled) for quick touch ups

This is such a good idea! We keep all the of bits of paint in their tins but lots of different shades of white paint are hard to tell apart and having it in a jam jar would cut down on all the mess involved with getting out the tin and so on.

@ThankyouPeter

If you have long hair and want to curl it then tie a pony tail on top of your head. You can then curl your hair in 4 or 5 sections really easily without struggling to get round the back 🙂 total game changer.

This /\

If you want the curls to start closer to your head then split your hair into 4 ponytails. Not as easy as the one, but still easier than doing the back a bit at a time