To ask: please share your life hacks?

[IDoDaChaCha]

Are there things you do that make your life easier? I'm a single mum hoping to have another baby (both with donor sperm) and I want to learn how best to manage time, which isn't finite!

Share your life hacks with me?

I like stuff like: running bleach around the rim of the bath and taps and same with the sink, going off to do something else and rinsing it all later.

I need to pick your collective brains!

Instead of vaccuum packing food:

Put it in a ziplock bag
Put a straw in
Seal the ziplock around the straw
Suck out the air
Pull out the straw and seal fully

Voila! I then freeze flat and stack.

This technique also works for storing salad leaves in the fridge. They keep for much longer.

Life is too short to be ironing all the time.

Lemon juice is fantastic for limescale removal. Cheaper, smells and works better than nasty chemicals.

I decided a while ago life is too short to peel potatoes, so I just buy tubs of ready made mash.

I just mash them skins and all - you don't notice them once mashed.

I don't iron - put things on hangers when wet - I have stupid radiators under windows so I (well my carer) hand things on the curtain rail to dry.

Meal plan before shopping (and do that online using mysupermarket).

OK I admit I am a little anal when it comes to kitchen cupboards - stack your tins one on top of the same thing - or nearly the same thing and put in rows so you can see what you have and don't have before shopping or when using, so if you have 5 tins of soup and two are tomato stack tomato on tomato and put at the back of the cupboard with the other soups in front in a row, beans in a different row etc etc.

And I admit to being very vert anal about my freezer and may have a list of what is in it that I tick off when used.

I have tubs in the veg drawer of the fridge so if something goes mushy - usually cucumber it is all mush in one pot.

I have downloaded an app onto my laptop which controls access to websites.
There are a few of them, some free, so I can only access MN for a couple of hours in the morning, briefly at lunchtime and in the evening.

Never leave a room empty handed, I'm sure most people have something in the wrong place that needs to go to the room you're going too.... if that makes sense!

@MissBabbs What's the name of the software/ app? I definitely waste too much time on social media!

SheSaid thanks, added it to my Amazon wish list

Hotfootit never thought about freezing wine! Brilliant

Fartniss excellent thrift

I have signed up for the Freedom app. I think I paid about 7 quid initially -
it is priced in dollars.
It seems quite straight forward.

I've posted this before about batch freezing - I freeze things in a tubs of the same size, make sure I smooth the tops then when frozen tip them out and stack them in a bag
As long as they are well frozen and you are quick they don't stick together and don't take up much room.
I find plastics go brittle in the freezer, take up more space.
I wash all the tubs in the dishwasher and keep them stacked in the top of a cupboard with their lids -I only use that type for batch cooking.
I defrost and heat the sauce in a soup plate, which when I dished out for everyone else I use for my meal.
Here is a photo of my chilli and bolognaise - each block is enough for one average meal for the family - I also make a few shallower ones - for smaller amounts.

I only use cheap containers with lids - something like 4 for £2 (if that) from poundstretcher or somewhere.
I freeze them with lids so I can stack them in the freezer (I rotate them cos the middle ones take longer to freezer) then I just dip them in hottish water for a few seconds to loosen.
To give an idea of how long - I put an inch or so of water in the sink (just deep enough to do go up most of the sides ) and put three tubs in a time - I take the first one out (and then the others) straight after I put the third one in - if that makes sense. Then tip them all out straight away. That should be enough for them to just drop out -if not you have to give them a few seconds longer (you don't want to give them too long - not only will they then stick together but I guess it could be a bit dodgy from a food safety point of view). And if you don't tip them out straight away they will refreeze to the tub.
I then stick all the tubs in one dishwasher load... I use that type of tub only for my batch freezing. I started doing it in the first place because I found in the past that keeping plastic containers in the freezer makes them go brittle and break over time -this way they don't and last for ages -with the added bonus of taking up much less space.

This is aimed at unlucky83 after reading about her ruined fridge, but is a generally useful tip. Hairspray will remove biro/permanent marker from most surfaces and also fabrics. Either spray direct on the unwanted marks or onto kitchen roll/rag and rub gently. It is a solvent so don't use on precious wood surfaces as you might damage the finish. I have a can of Tesco Value spray in the cleaning cupboard just for that as using Elnett is expensive.

If you get a food stain on clothes wet the area with cold water and sprink Bio washing powder on it. Leave to stand, rewtting if it dries out. Should come out first time when you put it through the machine.

Stains on upholstery/carpets will often come out if you brush on a little bottle steriliser, leave to soak and then rinse. I keep a paint brush and a bottle of Milton next to the hairspray just for this. Test on an unseen area first as it might lift the colour as well as the stain (it never has for me, but better safe than sorry). I even used this when someone splashed red wine onto a painted wall, it took the stain right out and didn't damage the paintwork at all.

If you burn a pan sprinkle in some bio powder and boil it up. Burn should lift away. In really bad cases use oven cleaner.

Freezing wine!!! This is why I love Mumsnet ;)
I meal plan but have taken it a step further -
Monday is meat night (usually mince in some form)
Tues is pasta
Wed is fish (cos the fish man comes)
Thurs is chicken
Friday is pizza
Sat DH "choice"
Sun usually a roast/sometimes eat out

It means my very fussy kids get a rotation of different food but I don't have the whole "what am I eating tonight/this week. It also means if I am defrosting e,g, chicken I can make gougons for the kids and we can have a stir fry. Or I make one mild and one hot chicken curry and we all have rice.

Great stain tips Liiinoo (hopefully not spilled...)