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?

I've never sorted washing and with new items that are bright colours I wash separately, but other wise I've always usually bunged it all in.

Only separating wool, silk...

One thing that has saved money is buying the ikea wrapping paper storage.
Just loading it up I unearthed endless bags of random fru fru for Xmas, bdays... Bows etc. I'll never have to buy any ever again!!

I passionately love it. It gathers up all those sprawling wilful bastard wrapping rolls!! And keeps them strapped in place.

Beautiful creation.

Buy puff pastry and cut into square, separate each square with baking paper and freeze. When you have some bits of left over casserole/stew etc but not enough for a full portion defrost a couple of the squares put a couple of spoonfuls of stew in each and fold over the pastry so it forms a triangle. Bake until golden and it makes a nice extra addition to a lunch box.

Grow your own fresh herbs, or buy supermarket growing herbs when they're yellow stickered. Most of them usually need just a good water and re-potting into a larger pot.

Whenever I am batch cooking chilli or Bolognese, I place it flat in a sandwich bag, and that way it slides into the top part of the freezer where the ice cube tray usually goes.
Saves so much Tupperware and so much space! I think it also defrosts quicker because it's flat.

I also use the ice cube bags (very cheap from Tesco) and you can put anything in them; milk/juice etc for when you need it and forgot to pick up milk on the shopping trip.

Clothing that has completely had it (no good for passing on or sending to the charity shop) - cut into squares and keep a small pile on the bathroom cupboard. Every time you have a wee, damp a cloth when washing your hands and wipe a surface. Once it becomes a habit it's no more effort for 10 second's work. The rag goes straight in the washing machine.

I have a bottle gift bag which contains 3 rolls of wrapping paper - all generic enough they can he used for anything.
The bottle bag is in a larger gift bag that also contains gift bags I've been given, sellotape, scissors, cards and a pen. All occasions taken care of and it lives in the little gap between the wardrobe and the wall in the spare room.

Use 'dead time.' So while my washing is doing the 10 minute spin, I unload the dishwasher / clean worktops / lay table / chop veg. While waiting for bath to run, I put away washing / sorr next load / pair socks / change bedding.

My other is a shared online calendar and notes (we use the ones on our phones). Payday, Bill day, bonus payments, one off expenses, appointments, anything work related outside of usual days / times, birthdays, social plans, everything goes in the calendar.

We have a meal plan / shopping / freezer contents shared note which means we both know what's for tea so whoever is home first can get on with cooking. Things aren't wasted and we can add things to the shopping list / remove them from the freezer list as needed. Works well for us.

I have thought of a few more , I , like many others batch cook , in particular i use chicken thighs , they are relatively cheap and taste better than breast imo. .
I split a pack in to twos and stuff what ever marinade / flavouring i fancy under the skin on each pair and roast them , I stick a couple of spuds in the oven at the same time so I can have jacket spud and and chicken for tea / lunch the rest of the chicken gets frozen.

If you have a load of different changers , use a bit of electrical tape on the charger and the same colour on the gadget.
If there are arguments as to who's is who's charger use another bit of tape that is their colour ie DD is red her head phones and charger have red tape and blue tape to match the charger and headphones , green tape the match her phone and charges to each other . ( hope that make sense )

Set alerts on your phone about a month before things like car / house / pet insurance , phone contract etc are due to give you a chance to look around to see if there is a better deal out there .

After grocery shopping and before putting it all away, use a sheet planner to log use-by dates of perishables. Stick planner onto fridge using magnets.

I use the iPhone reminders to make myriad lists, so I have ones for summer to winter holidays, plus exam necessities list, kids sports day, business trip, going out for the evening. Every item I might need right there!

I also like the feature to set reminders by proximity, so (pre lockdown) if I has a form to hand in, I set it that when I get within 100m of dc school it pings me a reminder. You can set them. For any location, plus getting in or out of the car. Love them.

Just marking my place to come back to.

If you want to reheat something in microwave that has gone a bit dry (bread, cake, cold meat etc) put a cup/mug/dish of water in with it... brings it back to life!

@StrictlyAFemaleFemale

If youre jobhunting then put all your details into a wordpad document - it doesnt format. Then you can copy paste into any online or word or whatever document.

That’s bloody genius!

Buy a whole week's worth of school uniform if you can afford it, so you're only washing uniform once a week - especially if you only have one DC like me this is a godsend.

Laundry - everyone puts their own dirty laundry in the basket for washing (obviously) but I found I was doing all of the putting away, it was either that or me moving lots of washing around the house. I bought a washing basket each for clean clothes and now they are folded into each person's basket straight off the airier. They are then responsible for putting their own away and I'm only touching the dry washing once.

Every single thing that goes in my freezer is noted on a list on the door and that's where I start when meal planning.

When you have older teenagers and they start partying, keep a bucket in the car. Much easier to aim than into a plastic bag.

I've always used Notepad to remove the formatting from text, couldn't live without it.

I usually keep an updated shopping list on my phone, but I've been know to just take photos of the food cupboard and fridge with me to the shop, to remember what I have and haven't got!

Make a large batch of bolognese and serve half of it with pasta.
Next night, turn the remaining bolognese into chilli by adding a tin of beans, chipotle flakes and any extra bits like frozen peppers, sweetcorn, etc and serve with rice/tacos. Takes 15 minutes tops.
Low-prep and that's 2 mid week family meals sorted.

When I feel an outfit+accessories really works, I take a photo and keep it in a folder on my phone, so avoid having to work out what goes with what from square one each time (I'm a bit stylistically challenged)

We do a meal plan for the week on a Sunday, and have a wee chalk board with the days of the week on it in the kitchen for it. Once that’s done, I do a shopping list of extra bits that are needed - usually fresh veg, and a treaty thing for Saturday, including a pudding.

Since lockdown I’ve become nervous of having to isolate and not being able to go to the shops/get a delivery. So after the week’s plan, I then roughly do a second week based on what’s in the freezer. That gives us a base for the next Sunday.

Not really a hack, just common sense, but I always buy things like toothpaste, deodorant, shower gel etc when they are on three for two or BOGOF offer, and stick them in the hall cupboard. Similarly with food that can be frozen.

For those who do iron, iron clothes right out of the machine and hang on drying rack or hangers. Ironing is much quicker, especially for cotton things and uniforms are ready to go in the morning, straight off the rack.

Also, no ironing pile.

Another MN one - immac down the plug hole for a hair blockage. Squeeze, leave overnight and whoosh! All clean and fast drainage.

When freezing fruit (berries) or chopped up fridge gravel, or spare onion, or peppers or something you've bought a large bag of because they were on offer, freeze the pieces (or berries) flat on a baking tray first, before scooping into freezer / sandwich bags. Then when you want a few, they just pour out (like peas) individually, rather than all being stuck together in one big lump.

Am I being really thick? What does tinfoil on radiators do?

Re Word clearing formatting if you select all and press CTRL + space that will clear formatting.

To paste into word and clear formatting go to
Edit - Paste Special and choose unformatted text

@AnnaSW1 The clue is in the name surely,
cheese on toast- make the toast element by toasting the bread on both sides, top with cheese, put under the grill to melt cheese.

Otherwise it's cheese on half toasted sweaty bread

Calendar with pockets

www.amazon.co.uk/Busy-Mid-Year-Family-Calendar-August/dp/B083T615YS?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

So buy your birthday cards, put in appropriate months pocket.

REALLY useful for medical appointment letters as well, especially when it's a few months ahead. Just put it in the month that you'll need it. Also tickets.

Saved me on many occasions. It's got columns for each family member as well.

@SueGeneris

Re Word clearing formatting if you select all and press CTRL + space that will clear formatting.

To paste into word and clear formatting go to
Edit - Paste Special and choose unformatted text

Oh I didn't know this one! Thanks

I’ve only started menu planning since lockdown, but I now plan 7x dinners and 7x lunches before the ordering the weekly shop.

When the shopping arrives I write down the use-by dates of perishables on a piece of paper then sort the meals on my plan by day according to what has the use by dates. If there are too many items with short dates to see us through the week I put something in the freezer, and set a reminder on my phone to take it out of the freezer the day before I need it.

I usually try to plan a ‘store cupboard’ meal for the end of the week - that way if I end up with leftovers from earlier in the week we can skip the store cupboard meal and use the leftovers instead without anything going to waste.