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?

Mine has a tray like this.

Super easy to sort as you load. Somehow feels easier sorting bit by bit as you load than doing it at unload.

@Adamandtheaunts

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.

Well I never!

Freeze pesto in ice cube trays. No more mouldy pesto lurking in the fridge.

Socks with coloured heels and toes. Find pairs at a glance, peg them on the line together and pair them as they come in.

If you have more than one bathroom, keep a set of whatever you use to clean it in each one

Mine are:

• buy frozen chopped onions (revolutionary!)
• buy frozen mashed potatoes (who knew...!)
• we have a vacuum sealing machine and bought some special food containers that go with it. The fruit and veg goes in prepped (washed and cut up if needed) and they last ages. No more rotten carrots at the bottom of my fridge. And I can buy strawberries in larger quantities as they last much longer. Also cheese never gets mold.

Use pillowcases as sheets for the baby's carrycot or moses basket that way if they are a tiny bit sick on it you can wipe it and turn it over.

Ditto frozen chopped onions - game changer for me.
Scissors for pizza - you don't then have to dirty a chopping board. Scissors for cutting fat off meat, cutting up herbs, etc. etc.
Alexa as a timer for cooking.
Addresses for Christmas cards saved on the computer - print off onto sticky labels.
Colour catcher sheets in the washing machine.
Hoover (small hand held) everything - crumbs off table/surfaces, cobwebs on ceiling, etc etc
Wastepaper bin in every room

What does tinfoil on radiators do?

You put it behind radiators and it reflects the heat back into the room.

Chop an onion and portion into freezer bags then freeze.You can cook from frozen,tastes the same and no waste.

If you are watching your weight or just want to use less cheese use a potato peeler ( the straight across one) to cut cheese.You get volume but dont actually much.

This won't suit everyone but -

I painted the inside of one of my kitchen cupboards with blackboard paint. I rest the chalk on the inside of the cupboard and it makes a great place to note down things I need to remember (I'm low tech and don't have an Alexa and my phone often isn't to hand). It also doesn't blow away or get put 'somewhere' like the bits of paper I write on!

Oh, and at Christmas, I make mince pies, freeze them in the baking trays (so they keep their shape), then tip them out and keep them frozen in freezer bags.

That way I can whip some out of the freezer, shove them in the oven to cook and have fresh, steaming hot mince pies to offer visitors (should we be allowed visitors again by Christmas). Rather than room temperature, boring ones (I only like mince pies hot from the oven, can't bear them cold).

Any left over lurking in the bottom of the freezer after Christmas make good impromptu puddings.

www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/D2D-Opt-Out-Application-Form-2015.pdf

If you opt out of Royal Mail unaddressed Mail they stop putting shite through your door. It used to really piss me off coming home to no actual mail but three leaflets for companies I would never use like Hilary’s blinds or talktalk.

Stocard app on your phone stores all your loyalty cards.

If your dishwashers big enough inside you can put the oven racks on top of cups.

I keep a woven bag for life in the utility room cupboard, I put all the recycling in it and take it out to the bins as needed.

Notso you're doing it all sorts of wrong

Nope. I'm with Notso. It's supposed to be cheese on toast, not cheese on half-toasted bread.

Have two sets of pillows/duvets for children's beds that can also be washed and tumble dried. I always wash them as a whole thing... don't take the duvet out the cover just needs shaking back into shape after drying. That way when beds needs changing I just bung one lot in the wash and there's a clean set all made up in the cupboard that can be put straight on the bed.

In summer a 4.5kg duvet with a cover on it fits in the washing machine.

No more summer duvet changes then.

Stocard app on your phone stores all your loyalty cards.

I have an issue with Stocard and Waitrose.
The Waitrose card scanners at the branches near me all have a little card-sized "ledge" to show you where to put the card.

But the barcode on the Stocard app displays halfway down the screen, so it doesn't fit in the ledge nor line up with the laser.

(Unlike tesco which has a mounted screen and a laser with enough wriggle room underneath to move phone around)

Biggest life hack is to train up your kids from a young age if possible.

I had mine using a spoon, drinking from a normal lidless cup etc, from a young age. And I never had to put clothes out the night before for mine; by the time they started school they were perfectly capable of opening a drawer and dressing themselves. And they were perfectly capable of reading a list and packing themselves for school trips and holidays.

They did a few jobs around the house too.

One it took me 50 years to learn:
Don’t chip away at melted candle wax in any ceramic or glass container. Just put some water in it. The water gets under the wax and it all comes off in one piece.

I’m with the scissor pizza cutters. Plate rims can often stop the pizza wheel before it gets to the crust. I have a pair of scissors with a triangular spatula attached for serving.

If you still use dishwasher powder (my machine is ancient and works best with powder) it’s the best thing for cleaning griddles and grill pans.

You can add store cards to Apple Pay too.

In winter I hang toddler bed sheets and duvet covers on those clippy hangers for skirts and hang them on the door frame to dry. They dry in no time.

Keep a flannel for each child in the kitchen. They are handy for wiping sticky hands and faces after a meal, saves money and environmental impact of wipes and they can just be chucked in the wash with everything else.

Keep stuff for cleaning the bathroom in the bathroom for quick wipes round. The bathroom is cleaned much more regularly since doing this.

Take photos on my phone of things like DC party invitations or letters from school so I still have all the details if I lose the original.

Keep a xmas notebook to jot down gift ideas throughout the year. It's especially useful when the dcs see something in a shop or at a friend's house they like, then xmas shopping is easier.

bio washing powder is great at cleaning bbq grids/pans or baking sheets.

Toaster bags are a total game changer for toasted cheese sandwiches. No faff, great, quick results.

www.lakeland.co.uk/10724/2-Lakeland-Toastabags---Toasted-Sandwiches-In-A-Toaster

Great tips! Love the sheet for the cot one. Going to do it right away!

@Plummy987

Put all the knives, forks and spoons in their own slots in the dishwasher so you can them all out at once to put back in the drawer.

This is genius and can't believe I've never thought of this before