What little things disproportionately improve your quality of life?

[BoogleMcGroogle]

I know that the big things (secure housing, relationships and finances, good physical and mental health) make all the difference. But I just turned on the car radio and it got me thinking about the small, inexpensive things that make life so much better. Here are mine:

Radio 4
The Sunday Times
Having a lovely coffee shop next to the small office I rent
Cheese from the market
Having a village library
Good footpaths nearby
An open fire
Being able to go swimming each week ( roll on Wednesday!)
Baths
Gardener's World and Call My Agent (French comedy drama)
Being on a good bus route (I'm now down to only one school run, thank God)
Brogues and colourful tights

What are yours'?

My partner bringing me tea every morning before he leaves for work.
The underfloor heating in my bathroom.
Paying to cut out the advertisements for ITV and Channel 4 apps.
Amazon
Shopping at the wholesalers who deliver amazing fresh food the following morning straight to my door.
My son learning to drive so I'm not doing countless runs in my car.

99p back scratcher from one of those tat shops at the seaside - bliss!
My lovely friends
Greggs hot chocolate - so cheap but so
delicious!
My cats purr
Cuddling up with ds to watch Avenger films
A good stormy night when I'm cosy inside
A good book
My super soft dressing gown
Relaxing in comfy clothes

@Jellycatspyjamas ahhh the middle of Lidl...I shall keep a look out thank you!

@TheHelpfulHiker me too I watch all things police...I have a particular fave on traffic cops and if he’s not in absolute waste of an hour haha!

Tea has been mentioned 44 times in this thread. I wonder if it would have been pre-pandemic. It's nice to see the simple things that make us happy

Tim's Dairy blackcurrant yoghurt. Our corner shop stocks it.
Our corner shop, so friendly and always a good selection of 'stuff', happy to order stuff in etc.
Our local butchers , always a cheerful chap and really lovely meat.

Great thread. Mine are

Spotify
Bar soap (I collect them)
Cups of tea
My kindle
Lipstick

Desert Island Discs
Walking through piles of autumn leaves
Seasonal food - mince pies, hot cross buns, saffron cake, satsumas, strawberries and cream
Flowers and trees changing with the seasons, I love spotting the first snowdrops and crocuses.
Warm winter gloves
Looking for Christmas trees and decorations down our road with my little boy
A glass of wine or a hot chocolate and a new book
The smell of freshly changed sheets
Home baking

Speaking of yoghurt, the Rachel's Dairy blackcurrant ones with cream on top are magnificent.

Lovely, lovely neighbours
Lots of green space within a minute's walk from my house
My mobile phone and a decent wifi connection (both a blessing and a curse!)

@SillyOldMummy I agree that lovely neighbors make a big difference to my life. Until recently, I had lovely ones on one side and a rather odd neighbor on the other ( I posted about him once).

The odd one moved recently and the new owner seems really nice! So now I have two sets of lovely neighbors, hurray!

Lots of things

My dogs
kindle
Gaming laptop
Nespresso machine
A good TV series, my favourites are true crime programmes
Warm Pjs & Slippers
Nice perfumes
Ninja XL grill, can put its temperature probe in a joint of meat. Walk away and it tells you when it's cooked to your liking.
Heated mattress protector
Chocolates
My SMEG milk frother, can use it for hot/cold froth or hot chocolate.
Eating out when covid allows
Autumn/winter

Listening to Magic/Heart radio while making dinner
Tea in my favourite Le Creuset mug
Bread with really cold butter dipped in piping hot soup
When my toddler laughs
Fairy lights and nice candles on a dark evening
That first sip of wine after a hard day
Cuddling my hot water bottle
New pyjamas

I'm clearly an indoors person 😂

The new windows ive just had installed in my house....no longer do i have to look at mouldy black rotten windows.

Wool, cashmere and sheepskin anything. There is nothing like the feeling of layers of natural fibres when it's cold. No synthetic can come close. (Obviously I don't find them itchy etc.) Today I had on a woollen top under a cashmere jumper, woollen socks and sheepskin slippers. Amazing.

Pub on a Sunday
Dds dog
My boiled egg cooker (wins by a mile)

Living in the countryside
Having lots of lovely walks on the doorstep
Books & audiobooks
The garden
Watching birds in the garden
Hot baths

Brown paper packages wrapped up in string...

My lovely, funny, kind (and hot!) DH

Our two sweet, silly dogs jumping all over us in the morning in bed

The dogs playing together in the garden

Being immersed in a really good book

Our Christmas tree, its so lovely

Lamps and twinkly fairy lights everywhere

People smiling and saying hello on our walks in the woods

Small children who want to stroke our dogs when we are out and about, they are always so sweet and gentle and the dogs love it 😊

Living rurally, having beautiful countryside that is like a fairytale forest on our doorstep

Going on drives in my car playing loud house music and feeling free

Friday nights - classical music, wood burning fire, good red wine, sofa, DH and dogs

Lazy Sundays, long walks, roast in the oven, movies in the middle of the day

Saturday afternoon at the pub, by the log fire, glass of red, good convos with DH

Having one of my best friends or my sister over to stay

Going out without DH and the dogs and coming back to them and my cosy house. Best thing ever

Lovely thick white bread, toasted with crunchy peanut butter.
Really great coffee
A good run
Clean bedding
Perfect poached eggs

Such a lovely thread.
My dog- he got me through dreadful depression and I love him so much
Cuddles and giggles from the babies I look after
Birdsong in the morning
Sunrises and sunsets
Choral music-the human voice can be just perfection
Books
Fresh bread and butter

Fresh flowers in the kitchen
Pot of Looseleaf tea, thin china mug and small jug of milk on a tray in bed in the morning
Friendly and/or kind people in everyday life
Clean, tidy house
Waking with a friend
Water - to drink and to look at
High thread-count crisp white bedlinen
Loccitane Verbena handsoap

Just a few... my fantastic yarn stash and crochet/fibre projects. Candles. Country walks. My vintage fabric stash. Audible. This obviously is as well as my family, friends and pets. But I'm content on the sofa creating something and watching good TV or listening to a book.

I just learned to make bread, now I bake a loaf every other day. It's brilliant from start to finish.

Listening to podcasts while I prepare dinner makes the whole process so much more enjoyable.

Silence at night, we do have neighbours but they are quiet and except for the resident owl, it is so quiet and peaceful
Having a garden, I reached 39 and had a colleague who showed me how easy it is in this sub tropical climate to grow food, who knew!
A public health system, DH is now chronically disabled ( degenerative disease) and cannot walk more than ten metres on crutches, we have had free equipment, minor house alterations thanks to other people’s ( and our own I guess) taxes and for this I am enormously grateful ( everyone gets the same here no one has to apply).
My neighbours go fishing, they cannot eat all the snapper they catch, it comes over the fence!
That I am employed, in good health, have a warm, comfortable home, enough food to eat and modest savings. I am incredibly lucky.
To have two very placid dogs who are just a joy
A very good carpet cleaner to clean up after the dogs....