Things you've done to simplify your life

[faithfulbird20]

Less laundry and drying will be mine for this year. I used to wash everything mostly after one wear. Especially my kids clothes. Just realised no wonder our clothes don't last and look dull really easily.

[quote Leftbutcameback]@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie - for veggie versions which you asked for: risotto (can be baked into balls the next day), sweet potato and bean chili which can be mexican (tacos) the next day, and Ratatouille which I have with everything![/quote]
How do you do the risotto balls? Mine have never worked out.

Great thread.

I bought an airfryer so my teens (hollow legs) could throw stuff in
Lowered my standards over washing bedding and towels. Likewise, my kids do not have fresh uniform each day. Nobody's been ill yet!
Cat food on subscription
Try to get rid of at least one item a day.
Stopped dyeing my hair and went silver at 47 - so much easier!

I have to remaster online food shopping. I tend yo order from Amazon yet the selection is not wide and I don't have a 'set' list.
Gave up on Tesco due to unreliability during lockdown.

Need to meal plan. I'm veggie so want to cook more of this to save cooking separate meals.

Most of mine revolve around food! 😆 I meal plan on a weekly basis and order an online shop. I also batch cook (when i can be bothered) and prep veg etc all together on day of food delivery eg chop and pop in containers in the fridge, prep salads for lunches and pop into clean glass jars. Then for lunch I just need to grab a jar and add some homemade dressing, pop onto plate and serve with some protein. I work from home so prepare dinners in the morning when I am most alert. If I leave until evening I can ways be bothered/ don’t fancy whatever I had planned.

Oh and I am a ruthless declutterer. I have a capsule wardrobe and use the ‘one in, one out’ system for everything in out home

@faithfulbird20

Do any of you have one of everything? One shower gel, one perfume, one shampoo, one all purpose spray? How does it work for you? Do you get bored or don't care?

Yes I have one of each of these, also one moisturiser, toner etc and most of my make up is just one of each thing, except lip gloss/ lipstick which I think Is 3 shades in total. I don’t find it a problem at all. I love all my beauty products eg perfume, shampoo so would never get bored or need to use anything different. Cleaning spray does the job well and I don’t have any interest in using a different one. I just don’t care as long as it cleans stuff adequately, is cruelty free and reasonably cheap

I get hello fresh to avoid spending as long on the supermarket and I don’t order any meals that take longer than 30minutes. I also do all of the kitchen cleaning while making tea, so if I fry the chicken for 6 minutes it means I have about 5 minutes to Hoover. If the onion needs 3 minutes I empty the dishwasher. Anything that doesn’t get done in that time has to be done another day. By the time I’m finished serving up I usually only have 1 pan left to clean and DP does it as a carry the plates to the table.

Basic meal planning - tbh it's just listing the complete meals i could cook now, and buy/top up any missing bits. I prefer having a list of possible meals I can pick from than an exact plan.

Put clothes out and pack work bag the night before.

I get eggs delivered, and now milk and ds's bread too. Anything to reduce shopping trips or big online shops.

@wizzler @AngelinaFibres I have recently sent a message to my friends with kids saying that I won’t be doing gifts. I don’t have kids of my own so don’t expect anything but I’m trying to save. 2/3 have just ignored the group message I don’t know if I’ve managed to offend?

Gousto/other brand meal boxes and don't order anything that takes longer than 20 minutes to prep. I felt a bit guilty about that reducing the choice available until I remembered that we used to have soup, fish fingers, pasta, pizza and beans on toast on rotation during the working week.

I halved the number of clubs and activities for the DC. I can't believe how much rushing around I used to do pre-pandemic getting them to 2 or 3 different places every evening.

Definitely be ruthless with the inbox. Unsubscribe from everything. If I want it later, I will find them on Google just like I did the first time I bought something from whoever.

Tumble dry clothes that would normally need ironing but only for 5-10 minutes. This is enough to get most of the creases out. Then a quick shake and hang them up on 2 airers. One in my bedroom and one on the upper floor hallway. Then once dry put items away. As they are already on the top floor it’s quick and easy and if I walk past an airer I often give the clothes a quick feel and if dry put them away. It’s made washing a lot easier and means we are spending less on electric.I still tumble towels on a full cycle to get them nice and fluffy.

And we’ve signed up to a milk round. I wouldn’t be without one now.

I no longer own any clothes which need ironing

I no longer wear heels. Don't miss the aah when I take off the heels.

Buy Christmas decs and cards / wrap in Sale (negates panic buying/full prices/crowds of other headless chickens similar to myself )

I write birthday cards for the year and keep to post

We have a small set of gift/gifts per person and stick to budget

Load money onto Sainsbury's gift card to one side for Christmas food /drink just in case someting goes belly up just before Christmas/unexpected bill

Declutter as much as possible

Take stuff to charity shop. Never think stuff is too good for charity shop (I used to work in one and we appreciated stuff to get good customers who would stay loyal and we got the best price for the charity)

This too shall pass is a good mantra for everything else

Split up with my boyfriend. My house is tidier so I spend less time cleaning. I batch cook and freeze my meals and now a batch does 6 meals instead of 4 because greedy guts always ate double portions. I also have an extra 5 or 10 minutes each evening to spend on something fun because I'm not having incredibly unsatisfactory sex. Should have done it years before I did.

Highly recommend being childfree, for an easy and blissful life.

Also, I don’t iron, don’t send bits of paper to people with ‘to blah blah, from me’ written inside, don’t buy gifts for anyone other than my husband, and don’t buy piles of tat that should be in landfill, and I don’t engage with any theatrics or shite from other people.

Oh and i quit FB and Twitter years ago......

Scrap make up. I use moisturiser, but that's it.

Short hair. Far less faff.

Thanks for the thread, OP, I need to do some of this!

I particularly like:

'If in doubt don't buy it.'

What a fantastically inspiring thread, thank you for posting this!

'The best weight to lose is that of other people's opinions'

Great thread - place marking!

I use almost nothing in the kitchen that can't go in the dishwasher or the washing machine.

We have days for things (Tidy Friday, Tuck box Thursday etc..) so no more stuff getting lost in the mix or nagging for extras.

I spend nothing without entering in my YNAB so I know to the penny how much is in my purse, my accounts, when the next water/gas/whatever bill will arrive & the average amount it has been over the past however long.
It even tells me when annual subs etc.. are coming up.

I have a blackboard in the kitchen & I put the main meal of the day for each day on it once a week then stick to it.
On the day I do it, my son can make a case for having Pizza or whatever on one day but once it's done I forget about it other than to make sure the stuff is on my shopping list.
Online shopping means no more random impulse buys of whatever from the aisle at the end.
No more decisions about what to have for dinner or realising you don't have the ingredients for what you just decided you want.

Robot hoover does the hoovering.
Clothes that require minimal ironing (or none if only worn in the back garden).

Next week I'm decluttering my clothes aka getting rid of at least 75% of them.
I look in the drawer & see brand new jumpers & so on I don't even remember buying, have boots I don't recognise (but I did buy them) & so on.
I have too many clothes etc..
Haven't bought any in well over a year & still haven't even worn everything once.
I keep finding things with tags on.
Less clothes will definitely simplify my life.

I keep scissors in the hall beside the front door.
Get a parcel, open it right there & put the box straight out into the recycling.

Actively didn’t apply to continue in a job I’d been doing temporarily for 2.5 years because it sucked all my energy. It was slowly taking over my life and it wasn’t worth the stress.

Moving kids from independent primary to a local state school, (5 min walk away)- saving 1 hour of driving a day, and gaining us many additional weeks of schooling. Plus an effective SENCO and bags of support. Choosing a new house that was on the bus route for the secondary the children will attend so they gain independence.

Saying no to things that don’t suit us as a family and setting boundaries without apologising.

The move of school was partly that we realised during lockdown that we were missing out on loads of family time with the daily driving, plus being there to see their work at school tipped us off to SEN which had been missed and low quality teaching.

A small blessing from many hard months of trying to home ed 2 kids with full time working parents.

Another tip is I have a laundry basket that is divided into 4 separate sections. I separate washing into darks, lights, linen and delicates. Then I can see what’s building up most and just bung it in the washing machine. It’s a frame on wheels and the individual bags which are very study attach to the frame via hooks. I keep this in the laundry room next to the washing machine.

Bought 5 litres bottles of cleaners (washing up liquid, hand soap, furniture polish, bathroom cleaner) from Viking online and dilute and put into spray bottles labelled with a sharpie. We don’t run out.

Same with shampoo. We buy a dozen bars of Aleppo soap online for showers, 6-pack of toothpaste, 12-pack of bamboo toothbrushes.

Declutter/ebayed/charity shop for old clothes and shoes.

No ironing

Meal plan once per week and sort grocery list. Have fishman deliver every fortnight, butcher ever 6 weeks, greengrocer weekly in winter, milk, juice, yoghurt delivery 3x a week. . Once per month online food shop. Very little food waste this way, and food scraps go into a composter digester which makes brilliant compost for the veg garden….we can nearly supply all our own veg in the summer.

20 decent recipes we make again and again.

Bread machine for bread/bottle fruit for chutneys and jams.

Throw out junk mail immediately before it gets into the house.

One magazine subscription that when we are done goes to a friend

No carpets…hardwood floors and 1-2 area rugs, and a Bissell Crosswave to clean the floors (very effective).

Janiforial supply for good floor mats that stop dirt being tracked in, and house slippers.

Saying no/enforcing boundaries with relatives and friends.

No telly=peace.

Food hampers for Xmas presents for adults, premium bonds for young people.