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

This one is rather depressing, but a laminated label on the door side of the tiddler's car seat, with name, DOB, ICOE contact numbers, and medical info so if we're involved in an accident and I'm incapacitated the emergency services have the info.

Admittedly it's not making my life easier, so maybe doesn't fit in with the thread, but I think it's a good idea for peace of mind.

I'd love to do most of these but at 53yo I have given up and just declared myself the world's most disorganised person. Well done to everyone that can get themselves sorted.

decluttering for me, just less stuff to manage.

School are terrible for sending emails only 1 or 2 days before saying DS needs to come in fancy dress for whatever obscure event.

The first year I was perpetually driving to 24h Asda late at night to get pudsey ears or frantically mcgyvering a book character out of crap we already had.

the second year of school, I hit Vinted in September and got a book day costume, puddly onesie, Halloween costume and several back up generic fancy dress outfits. Total game changer!

Podcasts and audiobooks while I’m cleaning / sorting endless laundry. I use BBC sounds and our local library app so it’s all freeee. It’s great! I get really engrossed then find I’ve done loads without really realising. I love reading but I have 4 DC and I work so little time. This is the next best thing.

Going to bed early: boring but I feel SO much better for it.

LOVE this thread! Thanks @listsandbudgets 🤩

audiobooks - makes me look forward to my walks/get fitter/lose weight

This is my dream!

I keep a clothes peg in each bedside cupboard so when I’m changing the duvet cover I can attach the peg to the corner of the duvet when it has reached the corner of the cover so it remains square and in the corners.

absolute genius!

I grew up using top sheets and it’s truthfully much easier to wash a duvet cover than tuck in a top sheet every morning. It’s also snugglier in a cold climate.

Bought 12 boxes of Kleenex on Amazon. Stuck one in every room and the car as with a toddler you’re forever looking for tissues.

We run spares of consumables so have a very ready stock of loo roll, toothpaste, etc.

I send my bulky washing to the launderette, I bought two huge canvas washing bags from Amazon.

I Fill one to the brim with towels, sheets duvets, blankets and one with darks and mixed bulky clothes, jumpers, joggers etc and she only charges £10 a bag.

I don’t separate anything other than whites as I chuck in some colour catchers to go in with the mixed wash. I just wash small bits everyday and put away same day as I used to be so stressed with piles of washing everyday.

This.

And dust accumulate on beds, everything needs washed on a weekly basis. I’m not sure about the hygiene on this. A duvet cover means both to top side and underside are getting cleaned. I can never stay in hotels that have this.

I remember having that sort of arrangement in the 80s and those wool covers never smelled very nice. I was a child and had no say then, but I would never subject my own children to this.

And the top sheet was constantly getting displace, the feet would be touching the cover instead of the blanket, or it would ride up or down. Nightmare!
Much more difficult and fiddly than just washing your duvet cover once a week!

I can’t see a single benefit.

Good thread, marking to read later

A black plastic box by the door for use as a 'safe space' by delivery peeps.

A check list for stock taking of toiletries so we don't end up with too much of something then buy everything needed at the start of the month. Same for food and pet supplies.

Bulk prep protein porridge mixes so I just add it to a food flask with boiling water. It streams in the flask and is perfectly ready by the time I am on the bus.

Batch cooking obsessively. I can have dinner in front of me in less than 10 minutes. Also pre-prepping lunches for the week.

Pill sorter for meds where you can take just a days worth with you, just grab a strip and go in the morning.

'home made uniform'. I recently bought 5 long polo shirts and good leggings. No longer need to plan what I'm wearing for work. (Appreciate this wouldn't work for corporate jobs but mine keeps me looking smart and fit for my physical job)

Not getting involved with the toxicity at work. Give my brain space to breathe instead a ball of anxiety. I just say 'ok' and walk away. So much happier.

And the most obvious. EVERYTHING on direct debit/standing order. Even my bus ticket and savings. By 5 days after pay day everything has been paid and the rest is free to spend.

I've stopped ironing. I'll only iron a formally shaped shirt when I need it. I used to iron everything only to find my son pulls out a t-shirt and makes a complete mess of his ironed clothes.

I have one washing day, while I work from home, and I set a timer on my Google home device to remind me to go unload and load. I save training videos and conference recordings and watch them while I'm folding the laundry on a Friday.

I've reduced the amount of bedding we have to two sets, and store them in one of the pillowcases so I have the whole set together. I store each bed set under the relevant bed.

I did this during lockdown, it was so much better for me and my stress levels. I've carried it on and only really watch the local ITV news now (and that's because it covers stories like a local town going from weekly to fortnightly bin collections so hardly stressful).

In a lot of European countries it's very normal to hang your duvets out of windows and on balconies every day to air though, even through the winter months, so perhaps this makes the difference?

To the people that have shared calendars what app do you use for that please ? X

Put things away, not down. This means I'm no longer hunting for scissors, needle and thread, sellotape, pen, allan key, window lock keys, etc.

This might be weird to most of yous but buy teatowels in the colour you have least of. Mine used to be white, because I had virtually nothing white. So making a wash load up was a pain. White things used to sit in the basket until I had enough to make a full load. Buying only white teatowels meant I would have enough within a week.
They have now gone to the great teatowel heaven and I've got blue.

Take photos on your phone of where you put important things, or order numbers or your birth certificate or your passport. <<< this comes back to put it away. But I had to find my birth certificate recently for a new job and despite almost tearing the house apart i couldn't find it. Bought yet another copy and have a photo now of where it is. Havent needed birth certificate for 14 years, so it's no wonder I couldn't find it.

Had to organise a recycling pick up of someones fridge by the council, knowing that it could be taken by anyone before the council picked it up, but using this persons email etc. So I screenshot the order number in case it needed cancelling and sure enough it was taken and I've had to cancel. Would have been impossible without the order number.

DP buys cheap glasses, poundshop and similar, puts them everywhere.

We have a Costco card and use it for bulk buys mostly. Washing powder, loo roll, toothpaste, pasta, tinned tomatoes, dog food, cat food, kitchen roll. Fyi the nappy sacks in Costco (I think box of 600) make brilliant dog poo bags.

When I cook easily portioned and easy freeze meals, I do twice as much, this includes baking. I'll never make just one cake, I'll make 4 and freeze three, and I'll make crumble, and cobbler and freeze portions, as well as lasagne, shepherds pie etc.

Sorry I'm being thick, I don't understand this one??

Bought a set of recycling bags (plasticy ones with a frame so they stand up on their own) from IKEAfor much cheapness. They're white, grey and black. They sit on the landing for dirty laundry, white for whites, black for darks, grey for colours. As soon as one is full it goes in the machine.

It is a happy coincidence that a full bag is a loads worth. It saves me having to ferret around in dirty pants too much (the kids have a laundry basket in each of their rooms so some sorting is occasionally required if they haven't decanted) but it means DP can put a wash on without having to ferret, because they're not his kids and it feels very uncomfortable for him to be going through their dirty smalls.

It took me until 40 to realise that I could make packed lunches the night before and nothing bad would happen.

Unfortunately both Dd's were in secondary school by then, but every morning I get up and it's done is an absolute delight.

Plus now they mostly do it themselves.

I wish I'd realised this when they started school! All the stressy mornings!

I also hang socks on the high up airer in the utility room. They get hung in pairs and dry fairly fast. If one sock is missing it stays up there until it's partner materialises.

I use Google calendars, you can select which ones you want to see eg family, and individual, I also combine my work Google calendar so in the morning I get told all my appts on Google home, plus my to do list for the day which keeps me organised.

Huge difference, no doubt… but who has the time or will for all of that! And it rains here too often to hang anything out reliably in winter.
The only solution would be getting it regularly cleaned, what a faff.