Tell me at one or two small thing you've done to make your life easier

[listsandbudgets]

I've done 2 this year

1. I've unsubscribed / marked as spam from nearly all my mailing lists. Now my inbox is an oasis of calm and I don't spend what feels like hours every week wading through emails I don't want My spam file is brimming over!
2. I found a sharpie and (once I was sure they were the right way round!) labelled my double fitted sheets with side and top - wish I'd done this years ago not having to shuffle them about trying to work out which way up they go

When I was due to go on holiday a few years ago I started a list of things I needed to pack in my notes app on my phone and added to it each time I remembered something else. I added the tick boxes and then as I was getting my stuff ready to pack I ticked them off.

When I finished packing I unticked them all and now everytime I go on holiday I use the same list, and if I think of something that would have been useful when I travel, I add it to the list! No more panicking about forgetting things for me and I am now calm before a holiday 😁

I do this but how do you add tick boxes?

Do not write directly on your passport, unless you want to make your passport useless.

A handheld clothes steamer. Best purchase ever. I never use the iron now. Just hang up clothes on the back of my bedroom door and give them a quick steam if needed!

You would think the clothes would smell of damp, but I have never had a problem with this.

I guess if you were going to be in transit for more than 24 hours it is not the way to go but I have done it lots of times without a problem.

I agree about handwashing in the shower or sink, have done this; hotel laundry definitely depends on your budget, yes.

Which one would you recommend @Kaybee50 ? I’m after one!

Thought of another one: put the crust ends of a loaf of bread (the heel?) in the food processor then freeze in a bag for instant breadcrumb toppings for fish etc.

MIL has dementia and dh picks her up for Sunday lunch. We have a spare pack of hearing aid batteries and a spare set of her clothing at our house. Just in case... makes life easier all round.

click here

The notes page on my phone doesn’t have that.

Oh yes it does. Thanks so much!

I keep all the manuals in polypockets in a lever arch folder. Make a note of the date I bought the appliance on the manual, as well.

Just chuck the free Allen keys from flat packs and buy a single set to keep in the toolbox.

Also buy a cordless screwdriver doodad with a set of Allen key fittings and heads, makes making flat packs a doddle.

Actually a really good toolbox with the right small tools, properly looked after, and tool cupboard with all the little things in pots and labelled, so you can quickly find cable clips or something and attend to 2-minute jobs in two minutes. And also not buy cable clips over and over again. Sometimes Ikea gives you extra dowels: save those to plug wall holes before filling, or for little DIY bits. I use old yoghurt pots and a whiteboard marker, no need to buy a label maker or boxes. Label maker = extra thing to store!

Also chuck the instruction manuals from everything and Google what you need when you need it.

Find what works for you: I find it quicker to scrawl “curry” on my whiteboard than I would to make visual magnets, store a hot glue gun, print and laminate pics etc, and also I want less stuff in the house not more. And I dream of the day I live alone and won’t need to meal plan and can throw out the whiteboard! For me, the more I throw out (tip, recycle, Olio etc), the easier life becomes. Same with the document pouches upthread to save sticking an address over reused Jiffy bags – since I’ve got sellotape in the house anyway and an endless supply of paper (there’s always a letter or circular about something, or the back of an envelope), it’s quicker (for me!) to use those and one less thing (the pouches) to find a home for. As with the label maker: I just use pens, possibly some washi tape if needed. Use what you have! Always declutter ruthlessly before buying storage!

I organise the medicine cabinet this way too, so painkillers, hay fever, cold remedies, bums and tums, etc, and keep the kids’ red books in there too, because logical. A friend has all her household medication in a giant plastic bowl like outside the greengrocer, so you need to rummage; it makes me clench at the chaos!

Paper: I never buy notepads for shopping lists, keeping track of DC calpol/nurofen when they’re poorly and need it endlessly, quick on-the-day to-do lists. Every time we get a letter that’s blank on the back, tear it in four and shove it in the bulldog clip on the fridge. Free notepad!

Now all I need to do is get DP on board with the “buy less” ethos. The man has 102 T-shirts and has yet to grasp this causes more washing, not less…

Thanks @Heather37231 , this will be so useful.

@Wherediditgoto I've just added tick boxes to a list I already had. If you select the whole list, and press the box button, it adds to each line of the list

So many things!

Small things:
I have a stash of birthday/Christmas cards and paper so there is always some available. I buy them when they're on offer, or when I happen to see something nice.
I have a selection of plastic mail bags and labels so I can send parcels easily
I have an up to date address book and some stamps! (Some things cannot/should not be done electronically)
I have a whole heap of my favourite gel pens
I have a stash of nice notebooks and I use them as journals (not diaries) to help me make sense of things/feelings
When a guest/family member leaves the spare room I tidy and clean it and make up the bed again, then shut the door on it until just before I need it again, when it gets aired and a hot water bottle put in the bed
when making something like a stew or similar, I make much more than I need and freeze the rest in meal-sized portions
I always have a spare of things like tomato sauce, cheese, baked beans, oats, anything that goes in the store cupboard and is used regularly, so that there is never a panic about things running out
I have a small stash of things suitable for generic gifts, nice things that I pick up when on offer or in the sales

Big things:
We did a BIG declutter and sort out, and now we only have things we love or need and everything has somewhere it lives
I reduced my hours at work so I now only work 3 days a week and have more days off than working days
We have a cleaner once a fortnight just to do the difficult bits
We have a gardener once a fortnight just to do the difficult bits
I go swimming every week - it's my only form of exercise

We are both old/getting old and neither of us are in good health. We have decided to get help where we can and enjoy ourselves as much as we can while we can.

I misread this as ‘Polly pocket’ - the children’s toy😂. I had visions of a heart shaped house taped to a fridge.

My biggest win is having a daily to do list saved in my phone for every day of the week. It already includes all the known things like what kids clubs are on,my working days, reminders to take dinner out to defrost etc. Then as soon as anything new is scheduled- appointment, dress down day etc I can add it to the relevant day and never forget. I also have a running shopping list I add to all week and include in meal planner/shopping list that week. I don't shop on line as use aldi which doesn't deliver - worth it for value though.

I walk early every morning, love listening to an audio book - kindle library much cheaper than Audible. Feel huge benefit from fresh air, very slowly getting fitter and I've lost 8 pounds since Christmas.

I empty dishwasher, bins make lunches/dinner prep and get myself ready/hair/makeup before kids get up. While they're having breakfast and DH gets them dressed for school - clothes and bags laid out night before- I tidy round and put washing on. As soon as school run is done I'm ready to start wfh. Washing to drier at lunchtime, bathroom cleaned. After school, finish work while they have snack then fold laundry and dinner prep while helping with homework/reading.

I make week's worth of school snacks on Sunday, so just pull out of fridge daily. School dinners for kids every day. I'm salad of some kinds so make 2/3 at a time. DH sees to himself.

School uniforms and all kits - down to underwear, shoes and hair bobbles - are sorted and laid out in spare room for the whole week on a Sunday.

Meal plan 3 meals & 2 snacks a day for 1 week at a time. Big shop weekly mid week and top up of fresh ftuit/veg at weekend. Massively cut down shopping bill. Batch cook and use chest freezer. Keep list of what's in freezer and do a big cull running it down and restocking every 3 months or so.

Deal with any school email or form as soon as it's received, all dates in family calendar.

Buy cards wrapping paper 6 months in advance.

I really need to start devluttering and definitely clear the loft!

Incorporating washing my bedding into my morning routine before I go into work. First thing, I put the laundry on a 30 minute cycle - and then get ready as usual. I hang it up before I leave for work. It's then dry when I return home.

If you ever forget your curtain peg, trouser hangers with clips from hotel wardrobe will do the same job

If you get your curtains hung properly they will meet in the middle/overlap slightly. Ring up your local curtain shop and get them to send someone round.

When I'm cooking in the evening I make and extra portion of whatever it is so I always have something for lunch the next day.

What is the app called please?

Try asking ChatGPT: “if I like Cath Kidston/Monica’s apartment from Friends/lots of wooden furniture, how would you describe my style?” Then check whatever it says against Google images until something sings to you.

There’s no prize for doing this, and I think a perfectly styled and curated home is out of reach of just about all of us in the real world - but my mate is furnishing a flat from scratch and asking “should I buy table A or B?” In this case, a defined style can really help cut down decision fatigue!

You’re meant to be able to do this with clothes too - the book The Curated Closet is a game changer… for other people. I’ve yet to be able to do it successfully!

Can I just say about unsubscribing/marking as spam for emails, I work in marketing and you should really unsubscribe from within the email and mark the reason (usually not interested) unless its actually spam, unless it really is spam (aka you didn't sign up for emails).

If you mark emails as spam, particularly on small businesses, it effects how their emails land in inboxes everywhere. So if you tell gmail it's spam, gmail will mark it down and it could end up in spam folders for others too. Obviously it wouldn't effect tescos or similar, but small businesses it really does.

Thought of some others, rather than just the ease of hotel sheets, mentioned earlier.

OneNote on my ipad. I file photos of documents, links to accounts and information.

A charger shelf, away in the cloakroom cupboard. All chargers are plugged in under it, devices rest nicely on it (IKEA picture shelf) All devices are charged in there each evening.
I also bought some tags to go on each charger wire, so that we can identify which device/person they belong to. Saves the frustrating trial and error scenario of many wires!