Life simplification hacks please!

[ShineyGreen]

I'm a single parent, 3 dc, work full time and have a relatively straightforward life. Always looking to simplify what I already have though.

I have a routine that works ok for laundry and dishwashing (1 load washing goes in washing machine whilst doing dinner, then when finished straight to tumble drier/airer depending on weather, dishwasher gets turned on at bedtime).

Other things that help are my new robot lawnmower and robot hoover. And my airfryer which I just use as a mini oven, I thought it was just for "brown" food before but recently have used it much more extensively and love it now.

I love automating things- e.g. my robots, and Alexa for creating grocery shopping list. (Used to be able to add things straight into my Tesco shopping basket using ITTT but alas no more and have fallen out of love with online shopping since that, a quick whip round Aldi on the way back from the school run takes 40 mins max because it's so small, and doing online food shopping seemed to take forever when I had to select each item rather than Alexa populating it for me. Direct debits set up for regular stuff, Amazon subscriptions for some bits and bobs.

What else could I be doing? Looking for ideas that take the hassle out of life admin please

Yes! Mine are a bit old for multiple birthday parties but I keep other types of cards including anniversary, and blank cards.

meal plan
batch cook
sort packed lunches / uniform / work clothes / PE kit etc the night before so you just grab n go in the morning
never watch TV adverts - either watch TV on catch up or use the ad breaks for small chores like putting the bins out

Chat GPT will create a shopping list for you including prices from any UK supermarket depending on your meals. It’ll also make recipes to the gram if you ask it to and amend the shopping list with how much of x product you need with prices to meet that recipe.

It’s been an absolute game changer.

That's a good one @CosmicCuppa

Cook once eat twice. Eg batch cook bolognese and freeze it. I also make and freeze extra mash. Tub of bog sauce tin of baked beans and tub of mash equals cottage pie in the oven in 5 minutes. (I always have tinned potatoes in the cupbaord so that I can slice them to top a hot pot if I run out of mash).

Never go upstairs without taking something that should be there up with you.
Same for going downstairs.

Continuous de-cluttering:
Always have a carrier bag in the bottom of the wardrobe for the charity shop.

Whenever you find yourself holding a toy or piece of clothing they have outgrown, or something of yours you no longer want, do a two-second assessment: "is this good enough that someone would buy it?" If yes, it goes into the charity bag, if no, it goes in the bin.
Then when the charity bag is full, put it in your car, ready to drop off. Put a new carrier bag in the wardrobe.

Don't think in terms of of doing a "big clear out" every six months or year, which is stressful, likely to be put off, and you have to live with the clutter and excess stuff in the meantime.

At the risk of sounding like a complete dinosaur- how does one access ChatGPT

@EuclidianGeometryFan makes a very good point about decluttering! Every week on bin day I tend to go round the house with an extra bin bag and look for anything else that can be thrown away or recycled.

Also consider turning all of your hangers in your wardrobe the wrong way round. When you wear an item of clothing put it back in the wardrobe the right way round. Every 6 months or year you'll see what you haven't worn and can consider donating it to charity. It has really helped declutter my wardrobe and taught me I tend to buy too many clothes when I only wear half of them!

Mine is a cleaning hack. I pretty much keep a few essential cleaning bits hidden out of sight in most rooms.

Eg bedroom, I keep a dustpan brush, lint remover and spray polish and cloth in a cupboard. I find that if I see something a bit dusty etc that bothers me, I can deal with it quickly then and there. If I had to go to the kitchen for supplies, I find I tend to leave it til it’s time to do a Bedroom Clean.

Even though my bathroom is close to the kitchen, I find myself cleaning the basin and taps more often when the supplies are literally within arms length.

The other tip is the old one - Put away, don’t put down - but this usually falls apart if others don’t follow this. Then it’s you putting away after others have put down.

Always get ready the night before. I get my clothes out, my stuff packed for work, car keys next to my bag, ready to go. Saves so much time in the morning - I even get my coffee mug out and the pod in the Nespresso machine the night before! One less thing to do in the morning and makes life far less stressful.

My mum had a present cupboard for birthday parties 😂

It's a app you download it 😊 from Google Play or the apple store

@ShineyGreen

expect you've googled the hell out of this kind of thing

Thank you. I now have it on my phone....

Listonic is a great app, i can write a shopping list and share it with my husband so he can add stuff, even when i add something after sharing it appears on his list. So whoever happens to be out can pick up the shopping without calling the other to ask what they need.
I don't like to cook so my husband batch cooks my faves, so there is always a portion of something for me in the fridge.

2 things that I'm pretty sure I picked up from a similar thread on here are
Putting sets of bedding together, folded, inside the pillow case.
Buy all the occasion cards for the year in one go (I used whistle fish when there was an offer on).

DH and I have a shared calendar - whoever's thing was put in first happens. Used for everything from appointments to gigs to organising visits to and from family.

We also have a shared list on our phones that we use as a shopping list. Add things to it whenever we run low and means either one of us can do the shopping without missing anything.

Other lists that I find really helpful are Gift ideas for anyone we buy for and a holiday packing list (after forgetting medication/sunglasses more than once)

Shoes off, hands washed the minute you get home and no food upstairs means the house stays much cleaner.

Bulk buy identical socks for DC so you don't have to find matching pairs.

If you have young DC that need supervising in the bath, use the time while chatting to clean the bathroom or sort laundry. Clean the bath with shower gel and hot water after they get out. No need for harsh cleaning products- soap does the job and is quicker to rinse away.

Other 5 minute meals: filled pasta or fresh egg pasta with pesto or fresh tomato sauce and salad or with herby cream cheese, smoked salmon, lemon and peas. Take less than 3 mins to cook.

We have a large magnetic whiteboard on the fridge door and every Sunday night we complete it with anything that is happening the coming week and what is needed. Its also has a shopping list section so if we notice we are running low or have ran out of anything it goes on there for the next shop. Its been a real help with organisation.

Whatever it is.... Don't leave it, do it now! That is my most valuable tip. It is what I live by when it comes to tidying up, sorting things out, getting things done in general. It stops jobs building up until they become unmanageable. It's not because I am organised, it is because I am easily overwhelmed.

Second most important tip - I put ALL appointments, reminders, important dates etc. into my calendar, including my DH's appointments, and I make him do the same.

I have a stash of birthday cards and paper, and a small stash of generic presents.

I batch cook roughly once a month so there are usually some tasty meals in the freezer.

I have a very well-stocked food cupboard, of things like pasta, baked beans, rice etc. so if I wasn't able to shop for some reason there is always something to eat.

Every 6 months or so we go through our direct debits, subscriptions, insurance etc. so that we can stop anything we don't need and sort out anything we need to arrange/change.