To ask for your ultimate life hacks/time saving ideas/easiest recipes/money saving tips all in one go.

[shakeituntilyoumakeit]

I’ve been unwell and off work for a money and the combination of getting back on my feet and January and kids and school and washing and ALL OF THE THINGS to be a bit much at the moment and need some ideas on how to make life easier.

I’ve just started making overnight oats for everyone which is very cheap, very quick, vegan, a nice kids activity for them to learn to chop fruit and pick what they want and thought of the time I could have saved over the years. This combined with the fact it’s really healthy and it’s a nice activity to do with the kids made me want to reach out for hive mind collective wisdom.

What am I missing! I’m looking for your smuggest tips!

Batch cooking , a slow cooker, overnight oats , I'm currently cooking soup which may do a few lunches for me. A spray mop (I got mine on groupon ). Wilko antibacterial wipes that are 50p (I don't flush them down the loo)& glass cleaning wipes that are also 50p. Wilko or cif bath cleaner spray that you sort of leave on the bath or shower then wash off with the shower. A carpet sweeper. Try flylady or the magic mum method. I have adhd so I need strategies to manage life. I work full time and also have a degree. So I had to develop strategies to manage my life. There u go.

I have some time to myself tomorrow morning and I have to cook Sunday lunch and do a bit of work but I’m going to sit down and make a list of these!

Samsosa fold carrier bags -

It took me half an hour to do all of mine in one go but now I just do each one when I've finished using it and it only takes a few seconds. They take up so much less space in the cupboard and in handbags when taking them out shopping.

I meal plan monthly which I find easier than weekly. When I did it weekly, I found I was repeating the same meals each week. We rarely have the same meal more than once each more.

Omg. I love this thread.

Mine is to wrap the present and write the card on the same day that I bought it.

I utilise apps on my phone.

I have stocard that saves all stores loyalty cards so I don't need to carry them.

I have a shopping list app outofmilk and use my google calendar always.

I meal plan every week and stock take the freezer and store cupboard beforehand, try to make meals out of what I have and add only what I need.

I have 3 laundry baskets, lights, whites and dark, everyone fills them up and when one is full it goes on. It's really simple and works perfectly.

My main cheat is to clean as I go, it's a simple thing but being naturally lazy, my mindset is to leave it for another time.

I bought a job lot of plain paper gift bags from Amazon. Can be used for most occasions. DS decorated them for his friends birthdays, environmental friendly.

Bulk buy birthday and other occasion cards from card factory

Only life hack I have is that you can sharpen knives on the back of a plate.

Who I love that! Like origami but useful! Going to sort mine out tomorrow

Google keep for shopping list/food plan/to do list. You can have private lists or share. Dh and I basically share the mental load via this app. You can have it on desktop too so not just confined to your phone. Google calendar is the same. Life changing for me! Updates in real time so I can see how far round the shop dh is, or add something to the list while he's at the shop.

Also the bedding in the pillow case thing is genuinely revolutionary, I can't imagine not doing it now.
Batch cooking is the way forward, I cook a big pot of something (dhal/veg chilli/pasta sauce/casserole) have it for tea that night, and portion the rest into stackable tupperware. In the tupperware cupboard is a box with labels, a pen and scissors (to cut the labels much smaller to minimise waste) so it's always easy to do the whole process properly.

Oh and scissors in every room! I saw that one on mn and it is a game changer

@kateandme. Re 'meat tongues'. The confusion is due to the homophones tongues and tongs. You mean that you wrap tongs to wipe blinds. Others are understanding that you use part of a dead animals gob.

My biggest hack was only having one child, though I note the fundamental error of having one at all.

Like Karen said earlier - if you use something, put it back in the wrong place, then move it to another place, that's three jobs. If you use something and put it back in the place it lives, that's only 2 jobs. So the quickest way to cut your workload is to have less stuff and to have places where it lives.

If you have to rub cold butter in, grate it into the flour. Makes scones much quicker.

Don't always wash the grater (see above). A quick wipe is usually enough for a couple of times.

Have an e-mop or similar with washable cloths on the head.

I have a year planner now as well as the Google calendar - I find the visual year ahead helpful. I put school term dates, holidays and big things like school trips on it. I've just started writing all the birthdays for each month at the top of the month.

If you still have an address book (works much better for me than electronic records) add the full birthdate of friends' children. I dont buy presents for random kids, but its really helpful to have some idea whether they are 4 or 14.

Family bed-making session at weekends.
Veggie Thursday (and Tues now too) and Fishy Friday.
Cook once, serve twice.
Cook double, spare for freezer.
Store folded duvet with sheets and pillow cases inside.
One load of washing per day without fail.
Sports kits washed, ironed/folded and immediately put back in specific kit bag with shoes, socks, hair ties, water bottle (to be filled later ).
Clothes for next day out night before.
Swish and swipe bathroom five/ten minutes every day so never a big job.
Always rinse hand held blender, food-processor blades, juice squeezer or similar immediately after use to prevent dried on food.
If possible, clean stove top while warm from oven (if one above the other).
Use a staple remover to put a new key on key ring without damaging your nails.
Stiffen end of cotton with hairspray to help thread needle.
Use time while waiting for child to come out of school/extra curricular activity to clean inside of car/inside of car windows/clean out door pockets with wipes and kitchen roll.
Make eco wipes from cut up tea shirts stored in large lidded mason glass jar with vinegar, distilled water, surgical spirit, lavender or lemon essential oils, tea tree oil, peppermint essential oil (see nature's nurture blog for quantities) it's the best recipe I've come across and I've tried a few.

Use stick-on LED lights to light dark cupboards or stick under cupboards to illuminate surfaces.
Fix a metal bathroom cup holder/horizontal ring to bedroom wall beside mirror to stick your hair dryer in.
Keep a separate shoebox or similar hidden just for yourself containing pens, pencils, paper clips, stamps, measuring tape, sellotape, blue tack, calculator, loose change, small hammer, screw driver, Allen key etc etc that no one else is allowed to access. Ever.
All birthday cards bought in one batch on-line (I use Orchard cards) at start of every year.
Prep one 'going out' / 'special occasion' outfits for winter (prep in August/Sept) and one for summer (prep in Feb/March) and hang up in suit bag in wardrobe with jewellery and tights/underwear/ jewellery, so you are ready to go and it's not a big hassle if you are invited somewhere.

Forgot one last one!

Use Sharpie to identify which tupperware lid goes with which box or bowl.

Freezing bread has been a revelation for me, much easier to spread butter on, cut and make up a sandwich and defrosts in no time plus I’m not wasting 1/4 of a loaf each week.

I take a day off work once every 2 months or so where I’m on my own, so I can go around the house cleaning all the bits that usually get missed, chucking out things we don’t need any more and batch cooking. I can usually fit in a trip to the gym too and I find it so relaxing and de-stressing that it’s worth “wasting” a day’s annual leave.

@BigusBumus Maybe I'm not getting it, but seems like that would save all of one second.

Only one kid here and a husband who keeps his own passport on him though so maybe that's why.

whoknows - that carrier bag folding trick is going to change my sad life forever! Thank you

Three more 'hacks' I've thought of

I use google calendar like a religion. I have set up every entry to auto send me a reminder 1 day and 4 days before as an email. These can be edited for every entry, so some have 12 hour reminders, or one hour reminders. As I check my emails regularly this tool has really helped me not forget things

When school/college send through information (eg school trip) I enter the trip into google calendar with the word 'click' at the end. This tells me I've added further info. I then copy and paste the school email into the 'notes' section, including the date the email was sent and then I don't have to go searching for the further info when the time arrives.

I use Trello on my laptop and phone as an organising and list-making tool. I have all sorts of boards on there: for work, for personal, for hobbies and it is so easy to save a recipe, a tip, an article etc from my phone onto the relevant board. This includes saving tweets, photos, recipes, articles - all sorted and in the right place to find again.

I run a physical diary/notebook too - week to a page on left and notes on the right. I get so much done each week using it and every Sunday I carry over tasks/reminders to next week. The one I love is from Blox Stationery

Sorry - that was four things!

One more

Socks. Trained everyone, including DH, to pair socks as they go into laundry basket by turning a little bit of the cuff of one over the other. They go into the basket together, get washed together, get hung up together and go back into the big 'clean underwear' basket I keep on the landing together (I don't distribute - they all have to come and find their own). Has resulted in far fewer unpaired socks.

Have a work uniform. I have 5 pairs of black linen trousers and an assortment of blouses, they are all the same style just made out of different materials.

I have a couple of jackets and cardigans.

Buy presents when you see them. If I see something and think, 'X would like that' I buy it and put away for Xmas / birthday'

Use your local butcher and greengrocer, you can usually hand in a note and then collect later, so put a note through the door on the way to work (or hand in, my local butcher opens at 7am, 6.30 some days) and collect on the way home, or the next day.

The butcher also runs a 'Christmas club' so you can pay weekly and at the end of December pick up your Turkey, ham etx with no huge expense.

Get things delivered, and if you use something regularly then get a repeating delivery, I get coffee delivered every month, pre ordering gives mer a discount.

Anything I need to remember to take I leave just inside the front door so I can't get out without picking it up.

If it is something that can't be left there then I put a post it note saying, "cheesecake in the fridge"

ElizabethMainwaring oh good god I'm so sorry.no ,I do not regularly go to my butcher sand ask for dead animal tongues to clean my house! I meant the ones u use on the new.ffks.😶😶

Bbq*

use a lindt roller to pick up their glitter.
use take out sauce containers to keep dummies in.
if they are struggling with left and right on their shoes put a cool plaster on the inside of their shoes.

Buy a 10kg sack of potatoes from farm shop. Peel about 60% of them.

Cut some into roast potato size and parboil for 5 mins. Cool with cold water, toss with semolina/polenta, put in large freezer bags, spread out on baking sheets. When frozen, store in bags and put straight into hot fat for roasties.

The rest of the peeled spuds cook til soft and mash well. Put in freezer bags, flatten to 2cm thick and freeze. Take the bag out the day before you want mash and put in an dish. Oven-heat or microwave.

Cut the unpeeled spuds into wedges, parboil for 5 mins. Cool then put in freezer bags and toss with oil and paprika/spices/herbs. Freeze them spread out so they don't stick together. Cook straight from frozen on a baking sheet.

Adjust your quantities according to your needs! I also sometimes freeze blanched potato slices to make a quick boulangere or dauphinois.
DONT FREEZE RAW POTATO AS IT WILL GO BLACK!!

I think there's confusion here based on a spelling mistake.

Tongues are organs in the mouth. Tongs are a kitchen tool.