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?

@BuzzShitbagBobbly I agree on both of your points there. If the spoons are all together in the basket they 'nestle' together. Some dishwashers do have a separater though.
And the bin bag thing? Does no one else get miscellaneous bin juice? Surely that just ends up all over the remaining bags in the bottom??

dishwasher - many new ones have a drawer for cutlery
they have little brackets for things to slot in that separate the surfaces.
no snuggles for spoons there!

I keep a roll of masking tape and a sharpie on top of the fridge. When freezing anything or storing left overs in the fridge, tear a bit of masking tape off and put it on the tupperware lid/food bag. Write what the item is, portion size and date.

Just write on the bag or box directly? You don't need tape. It stays on till you wash the container then comes off.

I use scissors for cutting pizza after seeing it on here once upon a time.

I have never got how handling hot, droopy pizza and snipping at it with a pair of scissors is any easier or faster than using a long knife or wheel to simply make 3 or 4 cross-pizza slices.

If you have big scissors and thin crispy pizza it's quick and easy. We always let pizza cool down for 5-10 minutes before cutting and eating anyway so it's not hot or droopy.

Cut up old t-shirts make great cloths.
Also I used a child's t-shirt without the neck or arms (so a tube) to store a large duvet neatly.

I do eat thin crispy pizza

Even crispy isn't stiff as a board. I slide it from oven shelf directly onto wooden board, then use a (carving?) knife to slice right across the whole thing. 4 single cuts, 3 if I am hungry - job done.

Surely no scissors are as wide as a pizza so you're going to be making several snips just to get across the width each time?

(Now I want pizza....)

We always let pizza cool down for 5-10 minutes before cutting

but but but then you don't get delicious cheese strings? I though those are the whole point of pizza

For those asking about bank accounts Monzo is great. I still run my current account but then transfer over an amount every month and it is split into different pots - transport, food shopping, holiday, Christmas etc. You can have as many as you want. I ask use it for 'round up savings', it adds up surprisingly quickly.

A few others I have seen/used over the years:
Write on Tupperware with a dry wipe pen in the freezer
You can also write directly onto your fridge door or on the inside of a cupboard door (check it wipes easily first) to do your meal plan/ cupboard stock lists

If you do your menu/shopping list at the same time then write on the list the actual meals you were planning so if something's out of stock you can replace

When you run a service wash in the dishwasher put a few of the really manky things in- the plug strainers, the shower strainer, the drawer from the washing machine. And your crocs (if you have them?!). They come up lovely.

Don't dishwasher the black fittings from your hob, but give them a good clean in hot water and then lightly rub with olive oil, they will come up really shiny and dirt won't stick as easily. You can also use olive oil for the black metal of the log burner (a really light wipe and then buff it, looks beautiful)

I use a car window cleaner spray that's suitable for glass and plastic to buff my kitchen counter tops, my tiles in the bathroom /kitchen and the shiny kitchen cupboard doors (use a tiny spray and a really soft cloth, or those really soft snuggle socks over your hands)

(However, The immac down the plug hole thing surely doesn't work? Immac doesn't dissolve hair! A tube of immac is considerably more expensive than a cheap drain cleaner. )

I keep a few pegs in my kitchen for closing opened bags, cereal bags etc.
If you open frozen peas or other veg cut the top 1cm off the bag all the way along and use that to tie round the top to close it.

@Notso you're doing it all sorts of wrong

Mine don’t top some of the other fab ideas but...

• card box - I buy cards when I see them and add to the box (saves a tonne of stress when a birthday sneaks up)
• waterproof sheets on all beds if you have kids (and washable pillows / duvets on the kids beds)
• Weekly meal planning and listing items we run out of in real time on my phone
• Freezing ‘spare’ milk and bread so you never run out
• Having wellies in waterproof drawstring bags so they are easy to throw in the boot and there is somewhere to put them before they are rinsed
• keeping a set of ‘spare’ medication in my purse (pill etc) as I always have my purse with me
• getting £50 in £1 coins out at bank / post office every few months for charity days / ice cream van

Keep all bathroom cleaning in the bathroom, not elsewhere.
I place my work bag next ti front door, that way I can’t forget , I always store my uniform in sets too.
Trousers, shirt and apron, helps just to take rolled up set.

@StealthPolarBear

Please someone explain the dishwasher thing? I have heard this loads and yet I simply don't understand how it's quicker to sort them when they're dirty than when they're clean.

I guess it's because you're kind of handling them individually when they're dirty anyway, but when they're clean in the machine you can just pick up the whole handful of spoons or whatever.

The ones with the tray on the top are the best though!!

If DH or I have a work meeting at an odd time or even normal work hours that absolutely no matter what cannot be missed or moved, we invite our joint family Google calendar to the meeting (or set up parallel placeholder in the work Outlook and invite from there).

Then when something is going on that week/day and we have to replan who is doing what, it is easy to see what is non-negotiable / extra tricky nice and quickly. Debate over who does what more easily sorted and no "oh crap I forgot I have to see that client who is coming over specially to see me."

Joint family Google calendar colour coding for people. Each person has their own colour used when the appointment goes in.

Any clubs, pre-lockdown, would be set up as a repeating meeting. If the class is off one week, half term or something, we don't delete it but instead edit the title from say "Toastmasters" to OFF: Toastmasters". This avoids worry over, did I delete that by accident or is it really off.

In the school holidays go onto the school website and put into your joint family calendar every holiday, inset day, early finish day etc for the whole year. Invite your work self and DH's work self to the events so the work calendars have it in there too (and any changes flow through).

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

Isn’t that a hugely expensive way of doing it? Tesco drain cleaner - £6.00 for 1000mls versus Immac -£3.00 for 100mls. Seems unnecessarily extravagant.

Never trust morning self. Morning self is as much of a moron as drunk self. Evening self has to do all the thinking and prep for morning self, who really is the most awful fuckwit.

I have tried to LTB but unfortunately I have to stay with morning self for the sake of the children and holding down a job.

DH and I have a special whatsapp channel where we put photos and notes of important stuff, like a photo of an insurance renewal letter, password for a child's online maths thing, etc. An address of a friend. Easy to search through. Can do it on the move.

Metal kebab skewer through a baking potato half's the cooking time

If you have a medical appointment or an interview or something like that where you have to remember some key facts from last time, always put the notes against the calendar entry.

So at DS's orthodontics appointments we would note the name of the dentist we were seeing, DS's NHS number, the pay by phone code for the parking machine at the hospital (copied and pasted from one appointment to the next). Then on the day immediately afterwards we put in the notes what was said. Then all we have to do is search "dentist" in the calendar to get a list of all the advice and who said what when. This is fantastic when sometimes I take him and sometimes DH takes him. Everything easy to find.

We do the same with kit lists for scout events and such like. Copy and paste the kit list from OSM, email whatever and paste it into the calendar entry notes section.

Freeze wine in ice cubes - chilled wine on a hot day that doesn’t get watered down when the ice cubes melt!

I batch cook a tomato baked sauce, with loads of grated veg (picky teenager here) and then freeze as a base for pizza, lasagne, bolognese etc.

Communal socks! This has been a lifesaver. We now have a drawer full of identical black socks. Saves so much hassle pairing up and trying to find missing ones!

@RedRocketGirl. Yes! This is a constant battle. I'm off to reorganise the bedding....

Put dish clothes, brushes in dishwasher so they get really clean, easy to do too.

@StealthPolarBear

But you're still having to sort them into the individual baskets surely Don't all dishwashers have those baskets?

Not now-I got a new dw a wee while ago and it has a shallow pull out drawer for cutlery. It took a lot of getting used to!