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!

I bought labelled drawstring bags for the children's clubs. Filled with kit and equipment on a Sunday evening and hung in hallway next to a printed timetable.

As long as they knew what day of the week it was, they grabbed the right kit bag on the way out the door in the morning!

@Gotthetshirt23

Has anyone used a silicone toilet brush? Great thread, am making notes

We have Joseph Joseph ones, they aren't brilliant tbh

Tip from me is to plan your next day - I never ever feel like doing this but every time I do I am grateful to myself! So, plan it when you are ending the present day - at work, in the 15 mins before you finish for the day, and at home/personal life at the end of the day/sometime in the evening.

I do this. Every night I write a post-it with jobs I NEED to do the next day.

I always feel so damn accomplished and grown up when I plan tomorrow.

I don’t do it often though because I’m a fool.

@Blurp

For those struggling with printing labels, you can get A4-sized labels to print onto, instead of the ones with loads of little labels on one sheet. You don't have to worry about lining it all up properly; just print and then cut them out.

That is so brilliant, so obvious that I'd never have seen it in a million years.

@branflakebrain I had no idea Siri could set alarms. My life might be about to be transformed. Thanks!

One of my last favourite things is meal planning.

A tip I love is to write a list of favourite dinners numbered 1 - 31. They don't all have to be unique; you could put, for example, chili con carne on the list in 2 or 3 different places if you want.

If it's 1st of the month, you make number 1, if it's the 15th you make number 15, etc etc.

It's much less predictable/repetitive than having a set meal on a set weekday, and you can have a much greater variety of dinners on there too.

When struggling with meal planning just start recording what you are every night for a couple of weeks/a month - then you have a list to look back on of meals that work for your family.

Mine is buy stuff you use, when it's on offer
I thought everyone did this but my colleagues said otherwise
Stuff that isn't perishable, so coffee, tea, toilet rolls, cleaning products, baked beans, anything like that
The coffee I drink is £5, I never ever pay that price because I buy it when on offer whether I need it or not. Means you spend less money and never run out. Add it online to favourites and check the price when you shop online

Same with Amazon, if I see price drops on stuff like cat food/litter, I buy and stash it. Which is why I have 10 bottles of flash bathroom cleaner currently... went down to £5 on Amazon

My dad mocks me for having a stash of stuff until covid hit and he realised I had 7 bottles of hand soap

ihaveonecat

I have always done this years before covid, comes with rural living I think. Not always possiible to nip to the shops and often roads would be blocked for days in winter.
I live nearer shops now but do it for convenience and economy. I have shelves built in my garage full of bulk provisions.
If something is on offer I buy lots of it, it takes money to do this initially, but saves cash in the long run.
So long life milk, cat food, canned food, dried food, rice, pasta, cleaning materials, foil, parchment, pickles, soy sauce,shampoo, toilet rolls, I rotate stuff so no old dusty cans at the back. I also keep supplies of things like spices, but in smaller quanities, so I rarely run out. If kitchen sipplies are empty then there is always back up in the garage. It cuts down on shopping trips, so I am not just nipping out for one or two items.

@hopelessatthinkingupusernames

I have an overdoor shoe organiser on the door of the coat cupboard. It holds all the hats, gloves, face masks, etc for everyone so easy to grab and no hunting for matching gloves, etc! In the summer it has sun hats, sunglasses, sun cream.

What a brilliant idea!!!!!!! Thanks -just ordered!

For those struggling with printing labels, you can get A4-sized labels to print onto, instead of the ones with loads of little labels on one sheet. You don't have to worry about lining it all up properly; just print and then cut them out.

Avery and other label manufacturers have templates for all their different label sizes, so lining them up isn't a problem. It's getting the addresses from an Excel spreadsheet exported into the template that seems to be the problem!

@PinotPony

I bought labelled drawstring bags for the children's clubs. Filled with kit and equipment on a Sunday evening and hung in hallway next to a printed timetable.

As long as they knew what day of the week it was, they grabbed the right kit bag on the way out the door in the morning!

This is genius and would have been so helpful when mine was younger!!

I buy 5 litre refills of washing up liquid and hand soap, and decant using a cute little funnel! Washing up liquid is BioD which is better than Fairy and doesn't wreck my hands. I get ecover hand soap for basins but I use Dr Bronner bar soap in the shower and it lasts for ages.

Totally agree re buying special offers.

I have a shopping list/menu planner which I use each week. The top section is spreadsheet and it details all the items I usually buy over a month or so, with a column for any extras needed. The bottom section is 7 columns where I put what we are eating for our main meals. I highlight any items needed in the spreadsheet and ensure ingredients for the main meals are included and then take this shopping with me.
I have cut weekly shopping bill by around £20 since I have started doing things this way and we don't run out of anything. Before I'd have huge surpluses of some things and would continually run out of others.

@NETSRIK

Frozen chopped onions Lazy garlic

Lidl's version is great and cheap!

Thanks for the tip on the frozen onion, celery and carrot mix, got yesterday and it made last nights dinner of spag bol even easier to make 👌

I also use the shoe organiser, one downstairs hall cupboard for scarf gloves etc and one in thr spring cupboard upstairs for extra bathroom bits.

@ihaveonecat and @speakout what you're describing is actually a prepping tip

I got into prepping (as much as I could money and space limiting) in the run up to the brexit deadline as I was worried I wouldn't be able to get certain products when it hit (mainly cleaning stuff - I have ocd)...

Then the pandemic and lockdown hit and I was SO GLAD I had learned what I had from the prepping board on here!

I wasn't totally sorted but I'd have been a LOT worse off if I hadn't done this.

Then later I got Covid myself and at one point was too sick to even deal with putting delivered groceries away and cancelled that weeks delivery - I was able to do this as I knew I had enough provisions in to see me through (plus tbh I was barely eating anyway!)

That confirmed for me that this is the way to go for anyone who can do it!

But even before this I always used to buy my beloved original green fairy whenever it was on offer I'd stock up! Another tip - if this is an option for you (where I live only major supermarket is Tesco but this has applied when I've lived places where I could access others)- the offers tend to "rotate" around the big 4 supermarkets!

So eg when fairy isn't on offer at Tesco check Asda, Sainsburys and Morrisons - chances are ONE of them will have it on offer!

For cleaning products and toiletries add in wilko too!

@Graphista definitely. I've done this since I was at Uni. It makes me feel comforted that everything is there and ready to grab and I don't need to worry about running out

For cleaning products and toiletries add in wilko too!
"Savers" are very good-I usually get my laundry products there.

Something I learned on Mumsnet that if you hold down shift+S+windows key it brings up the screen grab snipping tool. Life changing.

Also, my chips always used to stick to the tray and then fall apart when I tried to serve them up so now I put greaseproof paper on the tray and I now have great chips! So simple but yet so satisfying!

@RB68

I use plastic trays and baskets in my food cupboards so a) storage more effective, b) things don't get knocked off shelves or fall c) easy to clean - pull out wipe down, if I am pushing it take contents out tidy , wipe out basket and return items then slot in cupboard. d) I am short so in spices cupboard I just pull out tray and put on surface to sort through e) no trying to reach or see things at back - pull out like a drawer. f) if you have to empty cupboards for what ever reason takes 3 mins

bins with bin bags, tear a few off and store underneath the current bin bag so once old bin bag full remove and can quickly access right size ones underneath and can just be done when you see its full.

No Ironing here unless special occasion or I am sewing

I am a sink cleaner and shower cleaner when I am actually using them, so I finish my wash then clean sink or shower quickly before finishing. I also use the hand towels to wipe round when have finished cleaning just before they go in the wash, this helps with hard water stains particularly

www.onlinekitchenware.co.uk/novo-organisers-kitchen-basket-medium-tall-clear/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA9OiPBhCOARIsAI0y71CfTXfzEjG2JRO-y650sq-3dbC0EKoAg4YM2mldrQOyRDz7k_UQT4kaAtHbEALw_wcB

These and similar can be found on Amazon too.
I've got loads. I'm not short, honest, but I do have high ceilings and my cupboards are to the ceiling. Brilliant for little spice/ herb pots but mine hold many many other things too.

@Darbs76

Walking around during phone calls with headphones in. Do this during work meetings when working from home so get lots of steps in, fitter and thinner. I rarely sit down during the day

Bit difficult to do this if you’re on video!

A small lidded bin in the bathroom for recycling. No more empty shampoo bottles waiting for someone (me) to take them downstairs, now everything gets rinsed and straight into the bathroom recycling bin and emptied into the main wheelie bin once a week.