What do you do/pay for to make your life easier

[Lorie94]

Hi all,
What do you all do to make your life easier ?
I've went full time and also now studying so would like some tips and tricks.

I have a gardener and mainly do online shopping to save time.
We have started getting Gousto to try eat fresher food and we are actually spending less on groceries

I have been considering getting a cleaner to help more with the deep cleans as my house isn't as clean as I'd like.

Is tumble dryer worth it ? Or a chest freezer to batch cook. I only have space for 1 of these and unsure which one to go for.

Is there anything I'm missing which can make my life easier during this busy time 😅

Don't overload it thats my tip. . Also sometimes I dry on line and finish off in dryer. My dryer is a really good make though. Got it black Friday was 600.00 down to 300.00 years ago. I had some gift vouchers too. Bit lazy sometimes I put stuff in there that's dry just to freshen them up before wearing. I don't have a dishwasher so this is my cheat lol.

I found having a regular cleaner a hassle and always a bit underwhelming.

Now I have a 6 monthly deep clean with x3 people for a full day and it's brilliant. It's the full works involving moving all the furniture / beds / fridge and giving the oven a professional clean etc. They even decant all the kitchen cupboards contents, clean and put them back and clean the washing washing.
To be most effective they ask us not to be there for the day so they can go full attack mode as a team without working around us in the house.
Lovely to book a fun day out or work trip and know the house will be simply amazing on return. Wouldn't give it up now and look forward to it.

We're not very messy and don't have pets or young children anymore so just means we can do the quick basics like hoover up weekly, wipe surfaces as we go, clean the bathrooms and that's it.

Get it done in spring after we've 'hibernated' all winter and then again in autumn when the doors and windows have been open for long periods of time.

Get a cleaner. Tidy up before they come and get them to clean the bathrooms, kitchen and hoover/mop everywhere every 2 weeks. Should take about 2 hours for 2 bathrooms and a kitchen?
will make a world of difference for you.
If you can afford it get them to do the whole house or more often

I have a cleaner, two hours a week and I know the bathrooms, kitchen and floors have all been given a proper clean. I use the tumble drier for everything - I don’t have patience for stuff hanging around the house to dry, it always makes the place look untidy. I have a freezer stocked with half batch cooked meals, including soup for lunch, and stuff I can just pop in the oven when I can’t be arsed. I rarely cook an evening meal mid week. Frozen veg is a life saver - no more sorting out veg going a bit mouldy in the veg basket or trying to think of how to use the last sweet potato, courgette and cauliflower.

My life is ruled by my paper diary, everything goes in there - appointments, school events, work commitments- as they arrive. The kids know if it’s not in there it simply won’t happen.

Enough school uniform for the week, that way I know on Monday I don’t need to think about the kids clothes for the week. I also have a sort of work uniform so I’m not thinking about what I’m wearing. The less effort I need to give to routine stuff the better.

God, I outsource just about everything.

Cleaner
Gardener
Gousto box during the week
Always eat out at weekends
Mobile car valet service
Professional gel manicure & pedicures
Oven cleaning company
Tumble dry everything

Having a cleaner is the BEST.
I'd economise on a lot of things before I let my cleaner go.

Tumble dryer I also consider to be invaluable. Saves so much time. Also much better for the house than having wet washing hanging about making the house feel damp.

Then I get people in when we need to decorate, and I have a wonderful DIY person who does all those odd jobs that we never get round to.

With a few possible exceptions batch cooking is grim. It never tastes right when it's reheated. I'd rather cook something quick and fresh. I'm guilty of buying pre chopped veg for the soup maker. And I get my car valeted every so often to keep it within acceptable boundaries of kid introduced mud and wotsits 🤣

@UsingChangeofName I'm doing my house up and have decided to get a handywoman I know to do things like putting up blinds, fixing the railings on the stairs etc. I could do it but it will take ages and not be as good, it's one of those where time vs money is a clear decision.

Cleaner
Gardener
Some ironing sent out
DIY man on call
Tumble dryer
Biggish freezer
Supermarket delivery every week
Amazon Prime

Lists and calendar auto-reminders for absolutely everything

I take 10mins every weekend to look at the week ahead and make sure I know what's coming up, what I'll need each day etc.

• Takeaway or m&s fakeaway once a week
• Cook extra roast and veg at the weekend to get midweek stirfries, soups etc on the table faster
• Making double of eg casseroles and freezing the extra as individual healthy ready meals
• Grated cheese bags
• Prepared veg in bags
• Bread, milk, grated cheese and butter in the freezer so we never run out
• Keeping one ahead, eg open new ketchup bottle then add it to shopping list to go into the cupboard ready for next time

I forgot the air fryer. It's not brilliant for everything, but I can get stuff like chips or salmon fillets cooked much faster as there's no waiting for the oven and it's really great at heating up leftover bits and bobs for WFH lunch.

With a few possible exceptions batch cooking is grim.

I agree, spag Bol and joints of meat are the only thing I deliberately cook more of. I also find the thought of losing a few hours of my weekend to batch cook depressing, I'd much rather spend 30-45mins a day cooking a fresh meal listening to some music unwinding from the day. It's pretty rare that I simply can't be arse to cook (but DH cleans up, if I had to do it all takeaways might be more prevalent ha!)

After school care

I'm trying to be like you 🤣

Some absolute great tips on here,
Wrote some down in my notepad which I would like to start.

I feel fortunate I am finally in a position where I'm able to outsource some things and hopefully no longer feel overwhelmed.

Dh abd work a 10 day shift pattern which is always the same. I have created a menu that rotates (early x 2, late x 2, night x 2) and is planned for how much energy I can summon up each particular shift. It rotates every 10 days with meals (lunch and dinner) planned fir ever day at work. It consists of all our favourites. There are two variants of the menu.
ergo set one
early - honey mustard pasta salad; jerk chicken with pineapple salsa and rice
early - ploughmans; carbonara
Late - seafood roll; lasagne and focaccia
late - ham sandwiches; chicken jalfrezi with rice, poppadom, chapatti and a bhaji
night - cream cheese bagel with carrot, cress and celery; jacket potatoes with tuna or prawns
night - tomato soup with cheese toasties; club sandwich with wedges
rest days I where I choose the dishes according to what I have/fancy making

i don't have to think about what I'm making or the shopping list as it's pre written per shift set. Saves a lot of thought

Getting groceries delivered and a cleaner coming weekly. The cleaner definitely has the biggest impact.

Oh and the tumble dryer and dishwasher really help. Hadn't really thought of those until reading other comments, I'd hate doing washing up!

Frozen mashed potato, really nice and so much easier than chopping potatoes.
Frozen and chopped onions. Same reasons as above.
Dishwasher. Got my first one about 5 years ago after DH persuaded me and now wouldn’t be without it.
Wood chips out the front instead of grass= No more mowing

My significant payrise this month should enable me to employ a cleaner!

Dehumidifier to help dry clothes (don’t have a dryer). Also, I always pop washing in the eve on timer so it’s ready first thing when I wake up. Batch cook, air fryer, bulk buy toilet roll and other household stuff in Costco.

Oh and a good quality silk pillowcase. Not satin, it has to be real silk. Your face and hair will really love you for it.

Tumble dryer definitely! Or washer dryer if no space

I don't use a tumble drier, I find them really wasteful in terms of power I'd have to be very pressed for time to use one. I use a dehumidifier which really speeds up my washing dry time. But I'm not sure if you needing it to be really convenient means this isn't relevant!

I've also not really found online shopping massively time effective as I end up having to pop to the shops still. I do like to go to the shops though! If you are going to keep shopping in person if definitely recommend the scan as you shop and a quiet mid week evening for time saving.

I do get my car cleaned for £35 it's def worth it for the time and how much I hate it!

We replaced the lawns with bark and gravel.
I hire a decorator when any decorating needs doing.
Gardening and decorative are jobs that we hate doing.

The top two for me are undoubtedly my cleaner and tumble dryer. I wouldn't be without either of them.

Other things I pay for to make things easier:

Amazon subscribe and save for various items so I never run out. Laundry detergent, soap, vitamins etc.

Pre-prepared food to make cooking after work easier. Frozen chopped onions, those packs of Mediterranean vegetables in trays you can roast, packets of fresh pasta etc.

Lunch out in a café at the weekend.

I suspect you don't know how to cook. Anything from pasta sauces to stews to sweet and sour can be batch cooked well!