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

I contributed earlier in the thread but AIBU to wonder how many men are on this thread?

Finally! s

Someone noticed me! 😂

we don’t have food recycling in Nottingham City/Nottinghamshire

What a marvellous thread!
I’m on page 16 of 37 and slowly getting through it, screenshotting all the tips I’m going to use later 😀
Another thanks for Whistlefish from me!

I have various membership numbers / entry codes etc and have set up a contact page in my phone’s contacts for each one, so I can find it easily when booking online, just copy and paste.

Keeping a daily diary for my son who has leukaemia has been invaluable. Daily temp, blood counts, height and weight, dates of chemo, lumbar punctures, any medication changes and so on has made it really easy to keep track as it’s all in one place, wish I’d thought of it when he was first admitted to hospital and we were constantly trying to remember information. It’s been a game changer, for inpatient stays and when we’re at home.

My DD had leukaemia 25 years ago, it took over my life - I set up a spreadsheet for meds etc and used it religiously every day for the 2.5 years of treatment. It kept me sane and her alive. Good luck and stay on it 💐

may i please ask what's so great about Whistlefish and why is everyone so keen on it? how does it differ from other card suppliers?

They're great quality and price.

There is an app called STO card. You can add all your store cards (nectar, hobbycraft, AA) anything really. I don't have any cards and only ever take my phone out to the shops, no wallet as I use my phone to pay too.

Yes I use that. It’s great.

I like the fact it's a smaller company, they are sustainable and support local charities.the cards are lovely and currently if you order 10 they work out at £1 each. Sign up to their newsletter and get a further 20% off.
I ordered 20 beautiful cards for £18. I'm sorted for the following year and won't have to pick up last minute cards so now I have removed a stress.
There are other card companies. I just liked the artwork on these

This also works if you search "handwriting" - I have photos of a couple of handwritten notes (usernames) on my phone and that's how I have to find them every time. It knows it's a picture of handwriting <<witchcraft>>

You can also use Apple Wallet a lot of the time if you’ve got an iPhone. I have Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Nandos, Boots, John Lewis etc all set up there.

Just waiting for National Trust to enter the 21st century and do away with physical membership cards! I only have a very small card wallet now and it’s a faff making sure they’re in the right car glovebox.

I love them because they are genuinely gorgeous cards with pretty designs on quality card and they are manufacture in the uk. We've never been to Cornwall but I believed they have a shop in St Ives and lots of the artwork on carfs and their other products are influenced by the area. They have lots of cute dog ones too!

If you buy in bulk (which many of us on this thread appear to do) they work out at £1 a card which I feel is good value for how nice they are.

In last years Christmas sale I got a gorgeous Snowman and Robin tin with 30 random cards for about £20 which I was very happy with

Another one I've remembered.

For years, we did a Sunday roast dinner. When
I was mooching about cooking it, I would also do a double batch of something for Mondays dinner, so I only had to reheat a sauce when cooking pasta/rice/boiling already peeled potatoes etc. Or turn off the oven set on a timer.
Things like spaghetti Bol, chilli, curries, stews, lasagna, shepherd's pie, chicken and mushroom pie, smoked fish and broccoli pie etc.
The second batch was frozen to enjoy another day next week (and I had a previous week's frozen offering for a different busy midweek night his week).

So that was 2 nights a week where I had minimal cooking at the point of arriving in, emptying school bags, hearing the news of the day etc, for the sake of a little extra work when I was already in the kitchen anyway.

It was nice pottering time anyway for me as we tend to wash and dry laundry as the week goes on to keep control on the mountain, but all clean clothes go into a hamper (which can be invaded if urgent clean clothes are needed) to fold in front of a movie at the weekend (usually together). And DH does all the household ironing watching country file on Sundays while I cook.

Please..... thebestinterest ...... I also want to improve my maths and reading comprehensions. What do you use? Thanks

Yep, no food recycling in Ryedale DC in North Yorkshire either. But then a lot of us have chickens or dogs, who manage to do away with leftover food!

Waste disposal use for vegetable waste is not very green . You are wasting lots of fresh drinking quality water creating a slurry that adds to the overload of our sewerage processing plants.

Perhaps It would be better to parcel veg and Fruit waste and offer to nieghbours or local allotments who wil gratefully turn it into useful compost.

This thread has stopped giving tips to make our lives easier!

I did the same thing as the person organising their recipes but I did it electronically using an app called Paprika. I particularly love that you can download a copy of recipes from the best known websites. I was suprised how little time it took to type up my favourite recipes initially, I did them one a day initially in 5 - 10 minutes and it's been so worth it. I can find them all, I have a New category and can see the recipes on a phone, tablet etc and OH can too so buying ingredients out and about is easy. I also use the Groceries list.

I am not disciplined enough to use the storecupboard section where you tell it what you have in your cupboards and freezers. I make a big list from time to time but then forget to mark things off when they get eaten! An app that was well worth paying for.

I keep a sharpie in a magnetic container on the fridge, and everyone knows to mark on mayo etc the date it was opened.

I always write a list of what and when medication or painkillers were taken, so I can work out the 24 hour rule.

Poundland do a pack of two with bamboo lids for £5

@MoonWoman69 The reason breadbags are great for food disposal is that you already have the bag anyway as you bought the bread, and it’s getting a second use. Our council encourages this. What you are doing is just incredibly wasteful.

Cereal bags also work!

Wanted to say thank you so much to everyone on this thread for all the great tips! Been making notes!

Another thing we do is not to even bother doing separate washes. Sometimes we may do a separate sheets wash but we mostly put colours, whites, delicates all in together and it’s fine. I just put a colour catcher sheet in when washing new clothes for the first time.

IKEA do them with wooden lids too.