What ingenious little life hacks would you like to share?

[Rainbunny]

Apparently I have vastly improved the quality of a friend's life by sharing my method of storing (for disposal) used tampons. It's probably not original but simple and easy. I throw them into scented biodegradable doggy poop bags (I buy the them in bulk anyway so they're really cheap). Then they can be thrown into the kitchen trash without any unpleasant sights or smells. Very useful when we're staying as guests at other's homes. My friend is preparing to temporarily move in with her inlaws and has actually been a little worried about this since her inlaws are maniacally houseproud and any reminder of human presence is frowned upon . Just wondered what other little things people do to make life easier?

[Sgtmajormummy]

Top and tail carrots and keep them in a Tupperware box in your crisper drawer. Thay way they don't go rubbery.
The Ninja tshirt fold.
Both gleaned from MN.

[celeste83]

lol destiny that has the potential to go painfully wrong though

[cherrytree63]

Re the bin liners, if you don't separate them you can leave a few in the bin so when you pull the full one out the next comes up with it, saves you scrabbling to reach the fresh ones.
Biodegradable nappy sacks are cheaper than dog poo bags, Tesco's sell some big blue ones. We use them as dog poo bags and also for the kitchen waste food caddy, as the bags sold for that are really dear.
Use a bit less washing powder and put a bit of soda crystals in your wash to keep the pipes clean.
If you're a smoker, a bit of furniture polish in the ashtray means you can just give it a quick wipe in between washes.
Close the curtains on a sunny day so you can't see how dusty everything is, or how grimy the windows are

[cherrytree63]

Ps, re the steaks/cyclists... The Argentinian gauchos put steaks under their saddles (horse, not bike), and when they stop the meat us tender and cooked!
I'm a vegetarian but happy to lend you a horse to put it to the test!

[multivac]

Popped to the shops during your lunch break at work? Make sure you don't absent-mindedly go home and leave your shopping in the fridge, by putting your car keys in the bag with it.

[elQuintoConyo]

^^ gives a whole new meaning to 'rump steak'.

Lean the bathroom while children are having their bath. Surprisingly quick and the steam helps remove gunge

DS gets dressed downstairs in the morning. Last Christmas I made him a sheep pyjama case, v cute. When I dress him, I bundle the jammies into the sheep and if I happen to leave it on the sofa and someone pops round, it just looks lke a cuddly toy!

I made (but you can buy one, we're just poor ) a Swoop Bag for Lego. Flat round circle, lays on the floor, child plays with bits, doesn't want to lose them, etc. When it's time for bed or you want to tidy up, just pull a cord and it all scoops up like a bin bag and can hang off a hook/door handle out of the way. It's bloody brilliant!

[elQuintoConyo]

www.google.es/search?q=lego+swoop+bag&prmd=isvn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjq_sDxgafLAhVIyRQKHeiYC5EQ_AUIBygB&biw=600&bih=1024

^^ Lego bag link, hopefully

[elQuintoConyo]

My lego bag effort.

(Don't laugh at the70s tiles, we're in a rental!)

[Libitina]

Skids under the water will not disappear with just bleach. In our house scrubbing is needed.

Put a few squares of toilet paper in the toilet before you poop and you'll have no more skid marks team toilet brushes are gross.

[RudeElf]

Bleach clears any skids under the water here.

[FuckOffIAmMNetting]

In the same vein as bedding, couldn't you fold pj trousers and tuck it into the matching top and then fold the top? Never tried it, would it work do you think?

[DropYourSword]

All of you non toilet brushers are not giving any consideration to toilet brush owning visitors who may leave a skid mark and not know what the hell to do with it!

[CoperCabana]

Packing cubes are great when you have little babies and are travelling. Helps keep track of what you have packed as you are packing, and makes it easy to put your hands on bibs, muslins, socks, wipes, nappies, sleepsuits, vests, if you use one cube for each type of thing. You can also shove the whole cube into drawers which saves unpacking everything.

Another travelling one - take a pop up laundry basket to store dirty clothes and if you are away for a while and taking toys, take another to store toys.

[SoupDragon]

I lay pj bottoms flat, put the top on top and then roll the trousers up with the top on the inside. Like a Swiss roll.

[PeggyBlomquist]

I do that too Soup. I also do it with dd's outfits when we go on walking holidays adding in the underwear and hoodie so she can just pull an outfit in the morning and I can grab a spare for my backpack.

[Cuppaand2biscuits]

I'm not clever enough to make a lego bag but I always put a blanket down and then tip the lego out on to that. At the end I swoop up the blanket and empty lego into its huge plastic storage box.
I keep all.swimming kit, ballet kit in its bag hanging in coat cupboard ready to go.

[Quoteunquote]

Rubbing alcohol

Very cheap and brilliant, takes off all sticky label marks, used with a micro cloth can clean all electronic devices, it will save you a small fortune on special wipes,cleans glass and mirrors, a bottle last a very long time, you can even use it on to clean cuts. It has a lot of uses. You can even use it to get old print off clothing.

Every household in the USA will have bottle.

do keep it away from burning children.

[Evelight]

Here's one that I use regularly, discovered it by myself, and it has been life-saving. More of a parenting tip than lifestyle, but whatevs:

When your DCs are quarrelling and bickering, don't try break up the fight and get embroiled in the horror of what is fair and who you like best. Merely bark out some household chores for them (Hey, DS, tidy up the lego! etc). They won't do the chores, but they will magically become quiet, even invisible and scurry out of your line of sight/hearing.

thenewcomer.wordpress.com/2012/10/21/unique-parenting-tip/

[CaurnieBred]

When on holiday, and if there is space in the room, keep 3 cases/holdalls open - one for dirty white clothes, one for dirty dark clothes and one for dirty mixed colours. Hey presto - washing pre-sorted before you even get home (we have had a triple laundry bag at home for years but it only occurred to do this on holiday last year!). Prior to that, everything was just chucked into the bottom of a wardrobe and then was a pain to sort through.

[HazelBite]

We often have people staying overnight (with little or no notice) we have two sofa beds and I keep two king sized duvets in their covers in vacuum storage bags with the pillows in their cases. One duvet acts as a very comfy bottom sheet and is easily tucked under the mattress while the other covers, saves no end of time in making a bed up in a hurry and prevents wear on the mattress part of the sofa bed.

[TheIceCreamCometh]

Run cleaning cycles on your washing machine and dishwasher once a week.

Dishwasher: upturn cutlery holder and take out filters etc and put on the cleaning racks. Shove in about a cup of soda crystals and a generous squirt of white vinegar. Run wash cycle as normal.

Washing machine: soda crystals and vinegar straight into the drum, run the hottest, longest cycle,

When I'm particularly organised I wash the washing machine drawer in the dishwasher as part of its cleaning cycle first.

Am sure I got this off Mumsnet (have also started doing the bedtime in a pillowcase thing recently too).

[TheIceCreamCometh]

And - from a cleaner - after deep cleaning bathroom/ kitchen tiles, wax them with car wax. It's a bit of effort but after that they just wipe clean for aaaaaages.

[multivac]

do keep it away from burning children

Wise words. When children are burning, any kind of alcohol is likely to exacerbate the problem.

[Sadmother]

Mine was a top tip in viz from years ago. Sorry I am not taking the piss, I actually love these kinds of threads.

[FinallyFreeFromItAll]

RedOnHerHedd
" if you're potty training a toddler at night, layer the waterproofer and bed sheets like so:
Mattress, waterproof, bottom sheet, then another layer of waterproof and bottom sheet. 2 or 3 layers is good, so if your LO has an accident in the night you can quickly whip off the wet layers and have a lovely dry layer already made underneath.

I like that idea. Would have been good when DS had an awful sickness bug too.