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.

Should have said menu planning and shopping to menus. Less hassle less waste.

Decluttering by using up all the toiletries I've been gifted (except those to which I'm allergic, which I'll give away (I have v sensitive skin)). I have so many soap bars I won't need to buy any for about 5 years.
I've stopped ironing except for the odd thing.
Moved to a cheaper house and got rid of the mortgage and a heap of stress.
Jettisoned false friends, creating more time for the people who really matter.
This is a work in progress.

My list is:
-shampoo bar

• Frozen cauliflower cous cous/rice; savoy cabbage & brussel sprouts (all better than fresh). No waste

-tumble dry most things=never iron -cook from frozen chicken breast pieces (great for curries and stir fries) and mince (for chilli; bolognaise & lasagne, etc) -one in, one out - replaced all my light fittings in lounge/kitchen/diner recently and got more on e-bay for my old ones than my new ones cost Declutterd all bedding - kept only best cotton and discarded all others to clothing bank (I had single covers and sheets - I have no single beds!) -e-bay anything of value; mounts up in my savings account, and really helped over Christmas

• cook more than I need, divide into portions and freeze individually

All Christmas shopping done online and money put by to pay for it.
Oven cook most meals as easier.
Online food shopping.
Frequently used items in duplicate, one lot upstairs and one downstairs.
Dyson cordless hoover.
Laundry pretty much each day, good drying system, never ever iron.
Bins in all bedrooms and bathrooms.

Online grocery shopping and substituting as much veg for frozen as possible. Don’t even own an iron or ironing board, deliberately buy clothes that are less likely to need ironing.

Paying our cleaner to do longer hours and she even now changes all the beds. I do barely any housework nowadays.

I always have a good stock of wrapping paper, ribbon and birthday cards + several books of stamps.

Lots and lots of pairs of scissors.

Chucked away every old, blobby biro in the house and bought several packs of good quality Papermate ones. Any pen I grab now always works.

Ruthlessly, unsubscribed to a gazillion emails and ruthlessly culled my FB and IG. It's so much more peaceful.

Although my hair is short it has a strong, natural wave that takes me 10 minutes every morning to battle it with GHDs. I've just had a keratin blow-dry and, like magic, the pesky wave has gone. It's saved me 70 minutes a week!

Made a 4 weekly meal plan. The meals for each week use similar ingredients to cut waste. So if Mondays meal has bacon but we won't use it all, Tuesday or Wednesdays meal also has bacon.
Then on the back of each meal plan, I wrote the shopping list for those meals. Then each meal plan was laminated to keep them nice.
Then I made a separate shopping list of all the other things we buy regularly, since we tend to buy the same things over and over. This is split into sections in the order I come to them in the shop.
I then made a shopping list pro forma with sections for each area of the supermarket.
On a Sunday, I check the next week's meal plan. I turn it over to write down all the ingredients needed and add the ones we don't have in to the shopping list sheet. And then I check the master shopping list and add each thing we don't have in to the shopping list.
Actually doing the shopping is easier because the list is in order. And I don't have to meal plan each week which used to take us so much time and we could never think of anything. And I don't have to think what to eat each week and forget ingredients.
It has honestly saved us so so much time and effort. We went off the plan over Christmas and I forgot how truly rubbish it is trying to think of something everyone will eat and not having half the stuff in.

• batch cooking once a week
• shark small handheld vacuum so that I can hoover up crumbs and not have to get the heavy number out
• grocery delivery
• cleaner twice a week

.

Properly clean and tidy a different part of the house on the same day every week so there is always one clean space every day and I automatically just know the lounge & hallway will be cleaned on a Monday etc. If I have no time on a particular day I just do it the following week on the same day without worrying that I have to do it the following day. Made my life easier and don't even think about cleaning or waste a whole morning on it like I used to

If I had a cleaner, I wouldn't need any other tips.. ;-)

Robot hoover

Live near schools and shops, and things that teenagers can walk to.

Have a husband that does all the cooking and food buying.

Have laundry baskets for each person and they put their own clothes away.

OF COURSE no ironing. Are you mad?

Marie Kondo all the way. Declutter all the time.

Make sure everything has a place, then it’s easy to tidy up.

Charity shops for anything that doesn’t bring you joy.

Delete WhatsApp and fb. Those who like you will stay in the touch, the others won’t.

Buy 5 litre shampoo and conditioners - ‘faith in nature’ plus 12 soaps at a time.
www.faithinnature.co.uk/collections/refills

Ruthlessly, unsubscribed to a gazillion emails

THIS ! Saves so much time and money !!!

I get the idea of consume the most perishable first, but what kind of veg are people buying that's still good almost 2 weeks later, except some potatoes and onions? And no fruit in week two? Maybe oranges

Never heard of frozen veg??
I buy frozen broccoli, peas, cauliflower, spinach and brussel sprouts.
Then I buy fresh carrots, peppers, leeks and anything else that happens to be available cheaply. As I live on my own and most of the veg here is pre-packed (ie. can't buy small portions) I always used to end up with a lot of wastage because I couldn't get through it all before it went off. These days I buy it and chop and freeze the vast majority of it, keeping some to use in the first few days after purchase.
I prefer to buy frozen veg though as the quality of the supposed "fresh" veg is pretty poor (I'm in a central European country).

Fruit is a different matter - but I don't really like it anyway so no great loss.

Another one / get a decent mobile hairdresser who comes to the house and does family hair cuts and highlights. Cheaper and time saving !

When my children were primary school age I used to have a cupboard I called the birthday cupboard. We lived close to a tesco with a toy section. Whenever I saw a reduced toy that would be suitable for one of their friends I would buy it and put it into the birthday cupboard. I would do the same with cards and wrapping paper and I stashed sellotape in there too. It was in the 90s so no online shopping and amazon prime. I was working full time and it made it much easier if they came home with a party invitation on Monday for a Saturday party. No running about trying to get something that I had to pay full price for.

We have a central diary. Days worked, school stuffers. If the teenagers want deodorant or ingredients for food tech then write it in the diary!

1)don't iron clothes - hang up straight from machine to dry
Don't buy anything that can't be washed
2)don't keep fiction books ever - pure clutter-give straight to the charity shop when read
3)get a decent coffee machine that uses pods - saves time - and money if you fill a flask before you leave the house
4) don't watch terrestrial t v, so you don't need a t. V licence - get your news on radio 4 or similar
5) always wear trainers no matter what your outfit so you can walk every single day no matter what - best way to keep fit
6)alwsys keep milk powder and bread making kits in your store cupboard so you don't need to go out if you're unwell or self isolating unexpectedly - also build up a store cupboard so you never get caught out

Buy a set of drawers for each of your children. Seven drawers per set. One drawer for each school/nursery day, one for shoes and one for extra activities gear. On a Sunday sort out the drawers. Put full uniform and underwear in Monday's, underwear and clean shirt if needed in Tuesdays etc. Shoes in their own drawer. Sports kit in whichever day it is needed. Have school jacket hats and gloves on special hanger. Sort your own clothes for the week on a Sunday too onto hangers. Put shoes underneath the hanger. Add underwear, tights and jewellery to hanger. Clean out schoolbags every day so that no important notes are missed. Plan packed lunches for the week. It saves that running around in the morning panic.

@rrhuth

The basic principle is to reduce everything. Don't go to as many places, don't travel further than necessary, don't accept as many invitations, don't buy as much stuff etc etc.

For food focus on what really matters - nutrition and comfort. Repetition of favourite dishes is fine, no one needs complicated processes.

If in doubt don't buy it.

Factor in time doing nothing.

For things like last minute school dress up days - fuck it. Try to teach your kids not to give a shit about keeping up with everyone else.

This sounds like a perfect recipe for a dull life

I bulk buy tea,coffee sugar, dried fruit, washing up liquid loo rolls etc from Traidcraft, the fair trade organisation. Apart from it being easy having all these things in the house and saving having to frequently shop for them it's supporting producers in developing countries. Most of the food is organic and cleaning materials environmentally friendly. If you sign up to be a fair trader you get a discount and free delivery on orders overs £50.

I got a skip it was expensive I thought I'd never fill it turns out I need another one. I was determined to work my way through the house and chuck out crap. It's amazing how cathartic it feels it also focused my mind because I'd paid quite a bit for it.

Then I contacted the local YMCA for furniture and filled my boot with clothes

Put all bills on direct debit, but diarise them so you know when they are due. We have recently moved our account to Starling and it is brilliant for keeping track of upcoming bill payments.
As others have said, deal with post (snail mail and email) as soon as it arrives. Bin envelopes, junk mail and excess bits straight away,
Sort out all your crap. Our adult kids get wound up if we throw their stuff away, so it is in boxes in the loft with their name on the box.
Don't worry about doing chores everyday. Draw up a schedule and stick to it.

I’m getting a fortnightly cleaner, this thread has made my mind up for me.

Last year I stopped sorting and pairing socks. They live in the airing cupboard until people match up their own.

Also, stopped asking DH things more than once i.e. do you want a cuppa, coffee, more cake etc.? Working out great for me, him not so much! 😅

The first lockdown gave me an insight as to what retirement will look like (Still got 12 years to go at work) with a rediscovered hobby and a new hobby.

So once back at work I bought a dishwasher and got a cleaner (once per fortnight).

This gives me time to now do and enjoy my hobbies and walk the dog without stressing about housework.