3 top things that make life a bit easier!

[VAM24]

Full time working mum to a toddler and just interested in little things that have made your lives a bit more convenient in getting every day jobs done that I can start doing too! (in the absence of being able to afford a full time cook/cleaner/gardener!). Could be something you've bought/ something you do etc.

For example (and this is mega basic) but getting my DDs nursery outfits for the whole week sorted on a Sunday makes my mornings much less frantic and I am considering getting a hive connected to our boiler so I can more easily control our hot water and heating around our lives.

Looking for inspiration! X

Following for ideas!

I'm a SAHM but with large family and everyone says I'm so organised but I'm not really but here's some of the things I do.

I have a paper planner, more like a filofax. Week to a page type down one side, blank on the other for to do list for the week. It literally goes everywhere with me. It's got my life in it!

Prescriptions (disabled child so sooo many medications) all ordered through the doctors app and I schedule them a week in advance so we never run out amd have to drive a 2 hours round trip to hospital to get an emergency supply like we did once and never want to repeat

online food shop we use ocado. Slot booked automatically each week and it adds a typical basket for us so I just need to edit it through the week. Add things on the one click thing as I think of them.

Bulk buy things like Tinned soup, tinned tomatoes, cereal, school snacks, toilet roll we buy 48 at a time, any cleaning stuff we buy in 5litre bottles and decant into smaller ones. Saves money, never run out and better for the environment.

Milkman delivers bread milk and juice. We never run out and saves me popping to the shop for a pint of milk and spending £20 on crap.

We have a vinted bag and a charity bag on the go always. As soon as clothes or toys are outgrown they are either put straight in the charity bag or quickly upload to vinted which takes seconds then put in vinted bag and hopefully sold. Every half term charity bag taken to shop and anything in the vinted bag that's unsold also goes to charity.

Load of washing on every night after dinner. Then either hang up to dry or put in dryer then turn dryer on first thing in morning.

Every person has own washing basket and i do one person's wash at a time so then when I put it away it's all for the same room/person.
School uniform/work clothes all washed at weekend i don't do a midweek uniform wash..again each person individually, washed tumble dried and straight away.

This is an essay sorry I'll stop now 😂

Different coloured towels for each family member. Washed weekly.

Box files. Open post. Pay it, bin it or file it. Straight in, in date order. Dates from and to on the side.

Cordless vac

Click and collect

Everything ready the night before.

Tidy before bed: cushions, put stuff away and always wipe down the kitchen worktops, hob, everything in the dishwasher.

Expensive but a Quooker tap.

Meal plan of breakfast, lunch and dinner
Slow cooker - saved so much time and energy and easy to make healthy meals. Buy a larger one and you've got two or three portions for you both which last up to 5 days in the fridge depending on what it is or can be frozen and eaten another time.

This is such a good idea, can't believe I don't already do this

I do this too. I brought one of those cheap little white boards from Poundland and write it on there, easy to just rub off when used something up and pen stores on the side of it.

Love threads like this I always get so much inspiration! Here’s my contribution:

1. Filling up my car on a set day of the week - I always fill my car on a Friday, even if I’ve not driven much and still have plenty of fuel. This way I never run out of petrol, it’s easier to budget for as it’s smaller amounts more often, and now it’s become part of my routine I plan it into my day and go to the stations I know are cheaper. I love never having to worry about if I have enough fuel.

1. All my bedsheets are plain white so I don’t have to try and keep sets together. Good crisp white sheets remind me of a hotel and also means if they start looking a bit dull or get stained I can soak them in Milton or bleach without worrying about ruining patterns.

1. I run the dishwasher every night, even if there’s room for a few more bits. There’s never enough space for two full days, so running it every night means it can be emptied first thing. Now that it’s habit, DP knows it will always be empty, so we both remember to put plates etc. In throughout the day.

Declutter and streamline your life, house and schedule: This is a game changer and it really helped me overall.

Plan meals on a weekly basis and do online food shopping
Ninja Foodi: It’s a great help. It can air fry, slow cook, etc.. You can batch cook plenty of meals.

Bags of rice or veg you can steam in the microwave; Lazy garlic and pre-chopped onions saves me so much time.

Sorting out DC clothes for the week and placing them at the front of the wardrobe for easy access. Then lay out each outfit the night before.

Google calendar: Assign and colour code appointments, house chores, deadlines, special dates, school events/functions etc.. for you, DH and DC.

Gifting bag: In a storage bag, (I use the skubb from Ikea) stash a year’s worth of cards and store gift bags, ribbon, tape and gift wrap. It makes life easier for sorting out presents for birthday parties and sending cards etc..

Online shopping as everyone said. you will probably edit the day before delivery, so build a habit to do next week’s order then.

A spare freezer so you have plenty of room for batch cooks, ready meals on special and easy meals like fishfingers. I find big batch cooking stressful, but I do always cook double and freeze. You need lots of low effort food. Cook delivers and is good for freezer food.

Meal plan stuck up so you can assemble packed lunches and pull meals from the freezer without thinking.

Cleaning routine stuck up so you don’t ‘forget’ what room needs a quick blast today.

2 weeks or 10 days worth of clothes if you can so if you get behind on laundry you have time to catch up slowly.

Have a one in one out rule so you don’t build up clutter.

Divide work between you and your partner by areas - you do dentist, I do haircuts, you pack sports kit, I pack lunches. That way you don’t end up doing it for him.

Slow cooker. U can put a chicken in there on low, 6 to 7h I leave 7.when uake make mash, make extra then freeze. Chicken dinner mid week with frozen veg. Nice time saving treat.

Don't iron anything unless it's absolutely necessary.

Separate light and dark laundry baskets, and do a load every day without fail. On my days off I catch up with an extra load for either towels or bedding. Put dry washing away the same day so it doesn't get a chance to pile up and get all wrinkled.

Always have extra meals in the freezer.

I also do a weekly online shop and update my basket regularly as I think of extra things, usually when my kids are in the bath so I am making sure they don't drown while also doing something productive!

ziplock bags in bulk from Costco for everything and anything (food,stationery) to save on buying loads of storage boxes and it’s clear

If you can, get rid of anything requiring ironing and high maintenance washing eg wool/cashmere jumpers because you just don’t have the bother/time for it.

Waterproof coats/jackets. You will always need one for school run/nursery walk

like others have also said - online calendars for each person/area of household eg each child, household, holidays

microsoft todo for shopping lists and audits on pantry (ok maybe oTT but I ended up doing this a few weeks ago since we threw out so many herbs and seasoning bottles bought in bulk by OH)

coverless duvets

Notes app! Life changing!

Me and OH have shared notes; shopping, meal plan, etc. And I have a ‘weekly plan’ one too that I add to constantly.

A set of really useful drawers (6 in total) with days of the week labeled on them for each day - 1 being dual focus for Saturday and Sunday.

They're by the door in the hallway with whatever is needed for those days of the week in them so it's at hand right before we leave the house. This is also especially useful if your child is at school so it can have pe kit or particular text books etc in for various days to make packing bags easier.

A bottle of bleach and water I keep mixed to spray the shower tiles etc down each evening to prevent mould growth (never airs enough to fully prevent it). Saves me having to scrub the grout every week as it just doesn't develop now and a quick wipe over does the job.

A really useful box (I should have shares in this company....) with drop files in labeled with each room and then the instruction books/guarantees etc for everything are together in each rooms file.

Another larger RUB (35litre) with a drop file for each bill/company (gas and electric, water, TV and sky, house insurance etc) and all relevant letters, account numbers and details filed away in the right file as it comes in.

Another large 35litre RUB with drop files again in with each family members name on and their official information (birth/marriage/death etc certificate, medical info etc) to keep it all together.

An A4 day to a page diary that is kept purely for what happens that day. My short term working memory is poor so I can't always remember exactly when things were done so I write it down. Just brief Info such as "called such and such company on this number at 1.30pm. Spoke to Joe Bloggs who confirmed they received ABC and would pass it to DEF and get back with their response by Tues 14th Feb." "posted letter to GHI at 11am" and staple the proof of postage in etc too. That way I know where I am and what I've done and can recite it off when ABC company starts to try mess me around as I have a record with times and dates and people's names all in one place.

The best thing I ever did was ruthless declutter/get into minimalism.

Our style of minimalism isn't bare empty rooms. But we do just keep the things we use and enjoy and life is so much simpler.

Our drawers and cupboards are neat and not overstuffed = everything has its place and we all know where things are.

I used to get clothes out for the DC the night before. Now I don't need to as they know exactly where to look for their clothes and aren't scrabbling around making a mess.

Ditto for my clothes. My wardrobe contains only clothes which I like and which fit me. Its not crowded so I can easily see everything. Everything is an option to wear which reduces thinking.

My coats I reduced from 11 to 4. So if I need a short jacket there is only one available and I don't have to think about which one to wear.

I used to buy next sizes up in the sales for the DC but now they're primary/secondary school I can't predict what size/body shape they'll be. I'm actually saving time and money by no longer doing that. No wasted money on clothes that will never fit. No time wasted on storing clothes for years.

Also minimalism mindset = no impulse buying. Ive reduced the amount of stuff I buy by a huge amount which saves me time (shopping, waiting for deliveries, unpacking, finding somewhere to store new item).

The minimal mom and Joshua becker on youtube have fantastic videos which explain better than I do.

Baskets for the kids crap - one each so at the end of the day I can chuck everything in and the house looks instantly tidier

Chopped and frozen veg (onions, mushrooms, peppers etc)

Batch cooking

Get rid of kids, dh and pets (kidding, kind of, sometimes)

Meal planning
Batch cooking
Store cupboard meals in stock for when it all goes pear shaped - ie: vacuum packed tortellini and pesto
Kitchen chalkboard to write down things that come into your head.
Keep a stash of birthday cards and generic presents in stock
Hairbrush by front door

My dc are 11 and 14 now - the best thing I ever did was put DH down as the main point of contact for school.

Wine

Divide tasks equally with your partner
Get a cleaner
Lower your standards

I buy sale item gifts from Boots after Christmas, generic stuff like Soap and Glory sets, keep them in a draw with birthday cards and gift bags to give to people if I've forgotten. My dd is a teenager and constantly has emergencies gifts to give friends

Family calendar in the kitchen

Alexa to shout items to be added to the shopping list

Meal plan and over cook so I have ready meals in the freezer

Microwave, air fryer and tumble dryer

Stock take fridge, freezer and cupboards every week and meal plan for the week. Add missing items to shopping list or online shopping app basket. I do a mixture of online and in store shopping. I try to buy in bulk where I can which is more expensive to start but saves repurchasing as often and running out.

Paperwork is dealt with as soon as it comes into the house. Straight onto the calendar, I have a stock of greetings cards and stamps that are ready to go.

A load of laundry every day.

Or put on the floordrobe 😂. At one time I would have done this but you’re absolutely right, literally a couple of minutes to put stuff away is sooo much easier than putting it off.

It's getting yourself into the habit.
Don't get me wrong, if I do this earlier in the day and get to bedtime after a couple of wines and see even a few bits of clothes to put away, I am still guilty of putting it back in the basket 🤣

I agree putting stuff away once it is dry is best.
Disagree about little and often with washing, just give the job to your DH as I do. It is years since I did any washing.

Give everything a place when tidy. It sounds daft but I never sit down in a room until everything is back in its place. It also makes cleaning easier.

Costco for non perishable items that I store in the attic. I buy six months of loo roll, kitchen roll, washing powder, washing up liquid, etc. If you can afford to this saves hassle and money. Their garages are usually at least 10p a litre cheaper than any other to if you have one close by.
DH (who isn't lazy) will cook a meal or wait for his coffee to perculate and just stand there. I'll be doing a job like cleaning the window, cleaning the fridge, etc.

Never go upstairs empty handed.

I have sprays and cleaning cloths stored in most rooms and a vacuum upstairs and down.