Things or items that make your life easier

[CrazyCatLady008]

Most of the time like most of us I'm really tight on time.
I'm a disabled carer, and spend most of my life doing things for those I care for and when I do have time for me I'm spending it cleaning or doing laundry and it's giving me no down time!
I'm just looking at ways to make my life easier in the long run... other than a cleaner & a butler (ooh to live the dream!) 😂

What do you do to make your life easier or have you purchased anything recently that helps you? I'd love a dish washer but we can't fit one in the kitchen!

A handheld vacuum cleaner - like the ones you can use on the sofa etc

Would defo recommend.

I wouldn't be without my robot vacuum. I deliberately bought a sofa which has space for it to get underneath when we decorated to save me a job. It goes round every day and means we rarely have to get the big hoover out.
A decent food processor - makes breadcrumbs, pastry, scones, paste, chops veg for sofrito etc. Saves loads of time as I like to cook from scratch.
Multi charger keyring - has usb plus chargers for all phone/ kindles etc. Saves me endlessly trying to find the right cable for things that don't get used often. Ditto a charging cube for DS bedroom.

Slow cooker - plus freezing meals
so I have large beef casserole on and I let it cook and it will do for dinner tomorrow night and I freeze a few potions. So on certain evenings I have no cooking or dinner clean up. Most Sundays I do this so I have a stash in the freezer then (eg bolognese or curries)

Slow cooker. So easy and can batch cook soups, curries and casseroles.

Fluffy dusters. No polish required, and brilliant for skirting, high shelves, cobwebs.

Micro fibre cloths. I use them (different colours) for everything.

Dehumidifier for drying laundry. Only in the winter. Cheaper than tumble dryer.

Cordless vacuum. Easy to wizz around, light and bagless.

It depends how big your household is, but do you have space for a tabletop dishwasher?

Cordless vacuum that converts to handheld.

Good knives and a sharpener.

An attitude of pick it up and put it away.

Decluttering regularly. Serious attitude to space being manageable so things can get put away.

have you got space for a tabletop dishwasher?

I’ve had one since I was in a tiny flat (it used to sit on the draining board as there was literally nowhere else to put it! but since I moved iv been able to put it on the worktop next to the sink.
they work just the same as a normal undercounter one but obviously are much smaller.
actually though the amount of normal plates bowls etc you can fit is decent (at least 4 of each normal item) if you don’t put pans or big casserole dishes etc in or you could run it more often so you can leave room for pans and things.
i have now plumbed mine in (in the same way you plumb in a washing machine) but before I lived here I didn’t have the choice to do that so while i obviously had to have an intake pipe plumbed in to feed water into the machine but the waste pipe just used to empty into the sink. Mine has been going strong for well over ten years now and was only about 130 to buy although I’ve no idea how much one would be now I assume still a lot less than a big undercounter dishwasher. My suggestion though if you go for it is to get dishwasher powder (Amazon do it) rather than the tabs as they dont always disintegrate properly.

I just wrote this on another thread but I think it works for this one too

definitely a dehumidifier!
stick it next to the clothes horse or in a small room with multiple clothes horses and washing is dried in a couple of hours-an afternoon depending on how much!
I wheel it into the bathroom if I have clothes on both the airers as it then only has to work in a small area so focuses on the clothes but when I only have one I just stick airer next to the dehumidifier in the hall because that’s where dehumidifier normally sits
I have done 3 loads of washing this weekend and it’s all dried. the king size bedding set with 4 pillow cases is even folded and put away.
before a dehumidifier I would take literally days to dry a bedding or towel wash!
best part is it pulls the water into the machine rather than releasing it into the house. You can then either use it to water plants or another job that doesn’t require fresh out of the tap water or chuck it down the sink.

Sorry that was a massive post 😳

@Ginkypig the more tips the better!

Herr are mine:
Squeegee and wipe with a microfibre cloth after each shower
No dry clean or hand wash clothes
Controversial but I use colour catchers so I can mix colours in a load
Microfiber mop and floor wipes for quick cleans
Having plenty of specialised cleaners like hob cream to cut down on elbow grease, they are cheap at savers, pound land etc
As others have said batch cooking and countertop dishwasher

Another big one: bulk buy cleaning rags, microfiber clothes, socks, underwear and tights. That was life changing for me and there are cheap things at primark and m&s

this is the one I have which is probably not available now but I am posting it so you can see the size and it shows roughly how much you can fit in it. Although that picture of it full is probably about half what I can fit with strategic filling 😂😜

https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/77456520%2F1%2Ficd661/indesit-774565201icd661-freestanding-dishwasher