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.

Interesting thread.
I have simplified my life so much over recent years
Grew up with a mother who complicated and stressed over everything,made me think my standards needed to be so high to be acceptable
Once I realised I could relax and still be fine, life became mine.

I no longer check the receipts against the credit card statement to the point of obsessing
I go out no make up & hair scraggy
If I want.
I don't iron regularly, just iron as needed, most items go on a hanger unironed,and I feel smart enough/don't think about it anymore

Cut corners with cooking if I want to. A packet of crumble mix is just fine!

Stopped Facebook completely a year ago.
Take loads to charity shops frequently or those clothes bins.
Why keep clothes you never wear or feel uncomfortable in?
I use the Vinted app.
Declutter kids toys when they are definitely not popular anymore. Offer them to friends or charity or local selling site.
Don't buy Christmas presents for adult family members, company and a bottle of wine to share feels fine.
Minimal ornaments that give me pleasure,give away stuff that I don't like looking at any more-no guilt just do it for you.

I have read the whole thread and come to the conclusion that I am definitely not one of your people! As you were

I make a pot of soup using a bag of frozen casserole veg, frozen leeks, a chopped up potato, some lentils and whatever stock cube/pot comes to hand. Boil them up, blitz it with the stick blender and keep in the fridge. It's lovely, it takes less than 5 minutes to prep and 2 minutes to reheat in the microwave and a bowl is 3 of my 5 a day.

Thanks @Leftbutcameback
Risotto a good idea.

Blatant place mark

I use Koh cleaner. It cleans everything, kitchen, bathroom, floors, cooker, windows, mirrors, wood, carpets. I keep one bottle upstairs and one downstairs. No more clutter of different products under the sink.

I buy my toilet rolls from Who Gives A Crap. They are recycled and the company helps build toilets in the developing world. I don’t know why but a box lasts forever and it’s so quick and easy to order more. I

Also, have a subscription with Smol for dishwasher tablets. Again, never run out.

@CherryPieface

I buy my toilet rolls from Who Gives A Crap. They are recycled and the company helps build toilets in the developing world. I don’t know why but a box lasts forever and it’s so quick and easy to order more. I

Also, have a subscription with Smol for dishwasher tablets. Again, never run out.

I get my loo rolls from them too. I am always delaying my next delivery as they last forever. Was a godsend during the first lockdown when everyone was panic buying

Amazon subscribe and save for toilet roll, kitchen roll, tissues
Smol for dishwasher and washing capsules
Always cook enough to do another meal and freeze it.
Online shopping twice a month, top up at Aldi in between
Trying to meal plan more
Everything goes in phone calendar. DH invited to anything that affects him. Every piece of paper from school gets photographed and attached to calendar event.

@DroopyClematis - I feel your pain! When my DM went into care I had the job of clearing out her flat, and it certainly taught me that you can have far too much stuff. Also if she had something no longer useful and didn't know what to do with it she simply put it in the spare room. I dread to think what it would have been like if she had lived in a full sized house!

I used to drop all the stuff off at a charity shop after hours on my way home. They won't let you do that now

What an interesting thread. we all have kindles. I miss the piles of books though, and I quite miss being in some ones home and not being able to see what books they read, if they also use kindles:)

First and foremost, keep my possessions minimal to avoid clutter that needs to be maintained. Keep a charity donate box for things I no longer need.

On top of that:

I don't buy clothes that need to be ironed.

Use a slow cooker for most meals.

Recently bought a tumble dryer for the first time ever as we live in a flat with no outside space for hanging washing.

Cat litter and food delivered.

Don't overload my calendar, and certainly not with things I don't want to do.

Following

@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?

I don't have only one at a time as I like to have 3 or 4 of each thing stocked in the cupboard at any one time. But I always use the same products and don't get bored.

Eco warrior orange bar shampoo.

Dove bar soap, both for body and another at the sink for hands.

In the kitchen I always have my same favourite liquid soap.

I use a roll on lavender essential oil for every day perfume, for occasions I always wear the same scent: Ghost Deep Night. It's nice to have a signature scent I think.

My moisturiser, toothpaste, cleanser (just a bottle of witch hazel), deodorant etc are always the same kind every time. I use a safety razor as the packs of blades last foreeeeveeeer.

I don’t separate my washing out into colours, whites etc. always wash on mixed load at 40 and never had any problems!?!

I only iron stuff I absolutely have to.

I don’t wear make up-too much hassle! And if people don’t like the way I look without it then that’s their problem.

This year, I’m going to try to get better at batch cooking and getting the kids to help out more with housework.

@Dontgetyerknicksinatwist

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.

I need one of these! Where did you get yours?

I iron very, very rarely and most of my clothes don't need it. When I wear an outfit that really works I make a note of it so that when I'm having an 'I've got nothing to wear' moment I can pick something from the list. Ideally I wouldn't need to do this because I'd have a capsule wardrobe where I like everything, and everything fits. This is currently v unrealistic thanks to lockdown weight gain, but that's the goal this year. As well as doing bigger clear outs, if I put something on and then take it straight back off because it doesn't fit or I don't feel good in it, it goes straight in the charity shop pile and not back in the wardrobe.

Before I travel I make a packing list, and then I check off what I actually wear on the trip, and anything I forgot to take. That makes packing next time a lot easier.

[quote Matilda2013]**@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?[/quote]
Hopefully if they feel offended then they will have got over it by next Christmas. You are not obliged to buy presents for people for the rest of their lives. Smile, carry on with normal watts apps etc . If it ends the friendship then they were pretty poor friends in the first place.

@ArabellaScott

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

Absolutely this. I would also add losing the weight of other people's expectations too. If you want to do something and it gives you pleasure, benefits you as much as them then that's brilliant. If it's just a shed load of extra work for you on top of the stuff you have to do then the sentence "I'm so sorry but that isn't possible at the moment " or some version of that is entirely allowed.

Oh, bamboo loo roll and kitchen roll delivered monthly. Tru earth laundry strips - bought a years worth. Customer service ropy but product fab - condensed so takes up less space than powder/liquid. Smol dishwasher tabs delivered. Flour, rice and oats in bulk.

Clean everything with bicarbonate sofa and vinegar.

Catch ups with friends are a walk on the beach early morning or late in the day so we can get a parking spot and don’t need to think about where to meet. Gets in my outdoor exercise for the day too.

Same dinner every Friday night - a microwave macaroni cheese. Really easy to make and everyone likes it so no complaints.

I am following this thread with interest as i feel the same. I just want to simplify my life (she said as she is looking at 5 big boxes of Christmas Tat). I am terrible for saying I'm having a declutter then moving my tat from one room to the next (or even worse from the house to the garage- Out of sight, Out of Mind)

Spring clean from your life .....
Users
Cheeky fuckers
Friends with emergencies that arise because they are too lazy to deal with a situation in good time and then expect you to save them .
Friends who only call when they want baby sitting/dog sitting/plant watering but are never able to return the favour.
Neighbours who have plenty of money to pay for professional carers and several adult children who could organise things for them but constantly bother you.
People who want to meet for lunch but never have the means to pay their share.
People who always disappear before their round.
Anyone within 50 miles who is a boss babe. MLM hun.
Anyone who ever uses the word hun.
Manipulators.
Creepy male neighbours who pop round coincidentally 10 minutes after your husband has left.

@DroopyClematis

Understand completely as we cleared MILs house to sell. All I can say is that it made us re-evaluate what we were keeping. She never threw anything away. 13 full skips, 4 council collections, 150 bags of clothes, the same of rags, 3 furniture collections by local charities. And we still have a storage unit to go through. Crazy.

We started on our clutter in October. No way am I leaving it for the DCs.

Watching this thread with interest as once the decks are cleared we need good systems in place.

[quote SedentaryCat]@DroopyClematis

Understand completely as we cleared MILs house to sell. All I can say is that it made us re-evaluate what we were keeping. She never threw anything away. 13 full skips, 4 council collections, 150 bags of clothes, the same of rags, 3 furniture collections by local charities. And we still have a storage unit to go through. Crazy.

We started on our clutter in October. No way am I leaving it for the DCs.

Watching this thread with interest as once the decks are cleared we need good systems in place.[/quote]
Wow that is incredible.

Similar to what pp do, I ensure I bung all clothes into a wash so no separating needed as I find it doesn't seem to make much difference. I don't tend to have many bright white clothes anyway! I don't iron just fold once tumble dried. Christmas presents only for children in the family/friends kids. No presents for adults. Come off social media as it really is a massive drain on your time and totally unproductive. Regular decluttering of clothes, toys etc. Make every trip up and down the stairs worthwhile by taking something with me to where it needs to go. I also deal with my mail when I open it, rather than leaving it on the side.