Boring tips and tricks which have made your life easier.

[NoEffingWay]

Inspired by the purchase of a flat mop thing from wilkos with removable washable pads, and some method spray and mop bottle. No longer am I wrestling with a dirty looking mop, a kettle and a mop bucket. It took 5 minutes, the house smells like rhubarb (!) and the floor is shiny as.

Any more time-saving, life changing tips for me? I seriously hate mopping so this has made me a lot happier and life's most boring jobs!

Get the kids and DH to use sokloks or similar to pair socks before washing so you don't spend time sorting them.
Declutter the entire house so you have a place for everything.
Never bring anything into the house unless you have a place for it.
Robot vacuum cleaner which is good to go anytime if you keep the floor clear.
I clean/sort through very cupboard at least once a year at least (just spend 10 mins on most to clean/chuck/put back). It doesn't take long as I only do one at a time.
Bulk buy all cleaning products, toilet rolls etc. and get it via delivery.
Clean a shelf of the fridge whilst you are waiting for something to cook/boil.
Book in a yearly overn/dishwasher/washingmachine/tumbledryer clean with a professional.

I use my fridge’s vegetable drawer for jars and things I don’t need often that don’t go bad. My vegetables and nibbles for the kids like cheese strings now go in the door and on the top shelf where I’ll see them. We don’t throw away half as much rotten veg and the kids can find a snack I’ll say yes to more easily. If it was out of sight, it was out of mind. So put it where you see it.

@GeneLovesJezebel

If it’s to go upstairs, put it on a step and take it next time you go. Unfortunately, after years of explaining, I’m still the only person in the house who understands the concept.

Yup, even putting things in the actual middle of a number of stairs- the buggers will still manage to walk round them.

Buy washable coverless duvets the. You don’t ever have to faff about putting on duvets again!

@VioletOcean

Take off duvet cover and button the end, that way no washing gets inside it

Genius! I’m forever wrestling pillow cases and towels out of the duvet cover. Can’t believe that this never occurred to me.

@Fozzleyplum

I freeze cut up lemons and limes for drinks, and chunks of chilli and ginger for cooking, all in plastic Chinese food boxes.

As I lie in the bath, I can see the shelves where we store toiletries, so it's the perfect time to do an online Superdrug order on my phone for anything we're running out of.

We have a Word shopping list, ordered to match the route through our local Aldi, with all our regular basics on. It takes very little time to amend it to fill in any gaps and then print it off.

For work (I'm a solicitor), I have a single page document with everything I need to do on my active files which I update and re- order before I finish work each day. It saves a lot of " what do I need to do next?" mental energy and the incentive to clear off the list everything that I have highlighted for that day, makes me work more efficiently. The system works for other jobs too!

@Fozzleyplum

Is your single page doc an electronic page - and you update and then print? I’m trying to be more organised at work, but find a lot of systems too complex

Put anything to go upstairs on bottom step ( and vice Versa). Try to not go up or downstairs empty handed.

Put DC cereal out night before and place in table with another plate in top of bowl and a spoon. Put half a cup of milk in fridge.

Make packed lunch the night before ( currently "encouraging" DC to empty their own box as soon as we come in from school and make their own sandwiches after tea).

I use the freezer, stash jars and tins like a crazy woman. Good quality soups for standby lunches, deli bits in jars, naice bread sliced in freezer ready to be toasted with either. Cheesy ciabatta is our new fave. The smell of it toasting is delicious alone.

I also bought a soupmaker. It is easier than cooking and whizzing separately and I simply throw in what needs to be eaten up. Fast and righteous. Don't mind if I do.

@SheldonandAmy

Always doing something whilst waiting for kettle to boil (unload dishwasher, hang washing, wipe the sides etc)

Or while you are microwaving the cats' tea.

@FrankieBoyleSezLoveOneAnother

Bulk-buying stuff we'd otherwise keep running out of all the time: pasta, rice, dishwasher tablets, laundry liquid, tissues, loo roll, kitchen roll, foil, tinned tomatoes, baked beans, washing up liquid, cleaning spray, bleach, batteries, notepads, pens, toothpaste, mouthwash, shower gel, soap, sugar, tea, coffee, sanpro...

Laying out breakfast table the night before. One less thing to do in the morning.

YY to buttoning up duvet covers before washing. Fishing scrunched-up laundry out of the bottom of a damp duvet cover is bloody annoying!

Shirts and dresses go straight onto hangers to dry, haven't needed to iron in years.

Dehumidifier is brilliant for speeding up indoor clothes drying.

When we lived in Germany our German friends all had Kellars, it was often a room with loads of shelving and they bought, every 6 months, as much non-perishable food, cleaning stuff etc so they only needed to buy fresh stuff regularly. It saved loads of time and money through bulk buying.

On swimming lesson days, the swimming bag goes straight in the utility room. As soon as the swimwear and towels are washed they go back into the bag ready for the next lesson. No hunting around for anything.

-put things straight into the washing machine (keep whites in a laundry bag nearby), then when it's full put it on
-when drying up oven trays, just a quick wipe over with the teatowel and put back in oven afterwards - the warmth will finish them off
-wiping over any grimy bits of bathroom ie toothpaste residue on sinks with facecloth if you don't have time to do a full clean
-put items on stairs to be taken up next time someone goes up
-uniform and school bags ready the night before
-put a meal list on the fridge/meal planner
-wipe over kitchen sink with the tea towel you've used to dry up, then throw straight into the washing machine - fresh tea towel every day

• there's only two of us hear so we wear identical black socks - makes pairing so much quicker and easier

-wipe over bin lid with antibac wipe every time you change the bin bag -screenshot things to remember and keep them on your phone, periodically delete them at a later date when you have a few minutes to spare -keep plastic bag in the car to use as a 'car bin'. Keep antibac wipes in glove compartment to give the car a quick wipe over when parked up on the school run

@FaintlyMacabre

Colour coded towels for the DCs. Genuine life changer. I’ll let you know how this second one goes, but I’ve just tidied the freezer and have written in whiteboard marker on the outside what’s in each drawer. I have high hopes! Other than this my life is lived in a mire of last minute chaos so I’ve nothing else to add!

Years ago OH got annoyed that he couldn't find something in a sideboard drawer so he had a cunning plan. He reorganised the three drawers and catalogued the contents, left/right, back/front, so 12 cards in total He was so chuffed until he needed to find something but couldn't find the index cards! They never, ever turned up and NO, I didn't chuck them out!

Frozen vegetables for everything
Frozen herbs
Fabric glue for brownies badges
Fabric pen and made up stickers (stick to fabric too) for labelling, with my phone number on, so if my kids lose shit I get a phone call.
I don’t iron. Hang and fold ASAP.
Always have a couple of long life milks in the cupboard so I never run out.

I also do the rolling to do list for work as well. I have a repeating diary entry for 8am each day, I just update the notes every day.

I can't do the not ironing thing...I iron everything and I really enjoy doing it !
A top tip .. when you are folding the kids pj's, double the trousers over so one leg onto of the other then in half, so ankle cuff upto waist band...put to one side...lay the top face down on the ironing board and place the folded trousers on top, so the waist band/ankle cuffs are level with the neck of the top. Then fold the top (like they do in the shops ....but as you get to the bit where you pull the bottom of the top up to the neck, you role them up instead. So the trousers are inside the top rolled up , now when the kids go and get their own jim jams they don't make a huge mess and mix up the sets. I'll be brutally honest....doing it is wayyyyyy easier than typing how to do it...I'm knackered now!
My other laundry tip is to never use the draw on the washing machine...I use tabs or liquid in a ball thing, always do it for a shorter duration, when the wash is done I put comfort into another ball fling it in the machine and do a quick 20 min rinse cycle.
Clean the machine once a month, 2 dishwasher tabs in the drum on the hottest wash your machine does and the machine will be spotless.

Wrapping paper top tip that I've done for years..... always have a couple of rolls of brown paper, and a box full of every colour, style and thickness of ribbon. Everyone is covered.

A rolling stash of presents / nice wine / birthday cards for gifts

Seersucker duvet sets...don’t need ironing!

Fabric glue for brownies badges

Nope. It’s useless, they fall off and leave the glue on the top then you can’t charity shop it when you are done. Brownies should be sewing on their own badges.

I agree about the mop. I've got one.

@Rummikub

Don’t iron. I’ve not ironed for decade!

Hang up stuff on hangers while it dries.

Pl Can you explain how this works? Do you smooth it out by hand, on the hanger? Surely a cotton shirt, say, will have loads of creases (even if it dries on a hanger) unless ironed? Thanks!

You don't wear the cotton shirt.

@Jumpalicious

With my ex’s work shirts I’d take out of washing machine damp
Then give it a good shake
Put on hanger
Button it up
Let it dry
Sorted!

@bossybloss

Seersucker duvet sets...don’t need ironing!

Yep love mine!