Life hacks

[thisisasurvivor]

Aibu to ask for your life hacks

Very unorganised

So far this year

I got a set of cards ready for birthdays , thank you etc

Have cash in the house for clubs etc

School uniform set out for each day on a Sunday

Ok so far that's all

Any one else any good ones???
❤️🙏❤️🙏❤️

Deligate, dont over extend yourself and make sure you get enough sleep.
Wear clothing that suits your body shape and limit your colour palette to a few shades that suit you.
Dont compare yourself to others.
Buying yellow sticker ingredents saves a foutune and batch cooking saves time.

Pp mentioned bulk buying toilet paper from who gives a crap. I will add to this : kitchen roll and tissue boxes from WGAC. Set up a subscription (I have yet to do this) so it automatically arrives every X months.
Also bulk buy for the kitchen:
dishwasher tablets, rinse aid, washing up liquid for dishes, washing powder for clothes, bin bags
Bathroom: bulk buy and/or subscription:nappies, wipes, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, soap (I got about 7 bars of soap last year for Christmas, not sure why and I didn't have to buy it all year)

I would love for more items to add to my subscription list so feel free to add more

I appreciate that bulk buying assumes both the spare cash and storage space to facilitate this

Newlifestartingatlast "I use a technique from Japan used in manufacturing and production to organise things. It’s about eliminating wasted time and resources for people looking for things/tools on production lines. Every item in garage and utility is hung up but on open displays behind the item is a picture, the outline (can be drawn in marker on garage wall), or name of the item . When you’ve finished using anyone can put it back in exactly same place- but more importantly you can spot tools that you’ve left in the garden flower bed easily as you’re putting them away as you can see they’re “missing”. Look up “5s “ lean manufacturing if interested. Also used the “red tag” technique ruthlessly nice on a PTA shed ..good I loved blitzing 20 years of crap 🤣🤣🤷🏼‍♀️"

could you expand on how to use this in a home? I'm moving to an ever smaller flat and need to learn to organise myself better but can't quite see how I'd apply this. Thanks.

These are just amazing !!!!!

Real eye openers

Sick of being stressed and constantly forgetting things

YY to the freezer whiteboard. Ours is divided into the same number of sections as we have freezer drawers, so as well as knowing exactly what we have it also saves frozen fingers from extended rummaging to find the item you want.

Keep a cloth next to every sink. Each time you use the sink give it a quick wipe, and get everyone in the household to do the same. No need to be thorough because its done so often, so it takes 2 seconds and doesn’t feel like an effort.

I use subscribe and save from Amazon for anything we buy regularly...dog food, toilet roll, kitchen roll, tissues, vitamins, poo bags

A steam cleaner, if you have one, is good for this too

Duplicate bottles of cream cleaner etc, one in the kitchen, one in the bathroom, so you’re not constantly carrying them back and forth.

Plan less, Do less, Have less, Simplify .... (and make sure you have a pension).

Only in summer.

Ok, have a look at this American lady- she’s using a domestic example to show what it means.
www.leanvlog.com/5s-concept-applied-to-a-cabinet-in-house/
some of the things she does are so simple it’s 🤯

Then this picture is a good one to show shadow boxes- like in my garage

So red tagging could help you with downsizing, but it is pretty much common sense- like a lot of things though, when it’s done in work it gets taught in fancy language by expensive consultants 😉

Basically take an area. Agree a set of criteria over what should be stored there eg if it’s a kitchen cabinet it will ONLY be for things you use in kitchen, , and you’ll only keep stuff you’ve used in last 6 months ( eg actually useful)
for each item use criteria,

1. either it stays put as meets all criteria you agree ( even if it’s just yiu deciding that 😉)
2. as it fails all criteria and therefore is easily identified for recycling ( waste/charity)- put it in box marked waste,
3. pit might be useful and needed, but only used at Christmas - move it to a specific designated area which will be for very occasionally used items ( under the stairs?)
4. its needed but belongs somewhere else based on your criteria ( eg it’s that pesky screwdriver your partner keeps leaving there- take to the toolbox in garage immediately- the toolbox will need a red tagging event later!)
5. you don’t know what to do with it ( don’t know when last used, or it as inherited from your mum and your attached to it, or your partner insists it’s needed there )- stick a red label ( but you can use any colour 🤣🤣🤷🏼‍♀️) saying the date it was red tagged, who red tagged it, where it was and then move to a designated red tag area /box in another location ( out of sight out of mind). After say a couple of months go look at red tag location, and find items due for review- if you’ve not missed them in last 2 months, chuck them, or in meantime someone has identified a need for it and put it exactly where it now belongs, removing the red tag as they’ve rescued it.

I believe Kondo based her techniques , understandably, on 5s lean methods.

Actually, an even better life hack, tell your undomesticated partner to go on a lean manufacturing course and learn about 5 s. He’ll have a lot of fun then mansplaining you how to do housekeeping , and you’ll have even more fun watching his epiphany and effort for housework..YouTube is, as I’ve just discovered, full of men telling us how to apply 5s in the home - their enthusiasm is to be encouraged 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤦‍♀️

Newlife thanks. Sadly, it looks like more space is needed for that kind of system. I'm thinking I'm going to need to keep some sort of inventory.

Wear an underwired bra over a cotton t shirt to stop the digging in, and wear another top/jumper over it. It’s very comfy.

How is keeping sticker books in the first aid kit, outing!?

Where else would you put it!?!?!? 🤦🏼‍♀️😆

Who gives a crap is EXTORTIONATELY expensive! Just because each roll has a fancy wrapping. I actually laughed when I looked at the price! 2 x Aldi luxury 3 ply 24 packs for £10 (They're big rolls too!).

Whereas 48 rolls from WGAC - £44 😳

I sort out laundry before I go to bed and load up the washing machine, then in the morning I just need to press the on switch. I don’t know if this qualifies as a life hack really, but it makes me feel more organised….so if my mum pops in first thing then obviously I’ve been up for ages since the washing is already on 😁

Number 4 - does this mean you had a list of 56 meals to go?? I struggle to think of different meals on a weekly basis, I couldn't even think up 55 different things to cook if it was my specialist subject on mastermind 😬😂 Good on you!

@QuestionsFromThePublic thanks for the tip re borrow box! Much appreciated!

Actually the best piece of advice on this thread so far (in my opinion). Get enough sleep. I feel like I can tackle anything if I have enough sleep and I appreciate it so much now that my little one sleeps through the night.

I've got two baskets for laundry. Whenever we have dirty clothes, the lights go into one basket and darks into the other. It saves having to divide laundry up when washing as you grab and go.

I second having a hand written, on the wall calendar! Put everything on that thing. They're life savers.

Boiling water gets candle wax off EVERYTHING. Pour slowly over candle wax and mop with a paper towel.

Have a small, screw in hook hidden on a wall somewhere for wires. They're tucked away and easy to access and don't get tangled up.

Store underwear into one big, preferably cotton shopping bag.

I have a 'DO NOT LOSE' box. It contains all my most vital documents, plus niggly little items that are really important but don't really have another place to live.

Since implementing this I have still lost things, but I immediately go to the DO NOT LOSE box and have found them. I don't even remember putting them in there half the time - but it obviously works.

~

In a similar vein, it is 100% worth the effort to sort out the kitchen junk drawer and keep it useful. It's stressful having a drawer wedged with unknown stuff that you can barely open.

I have little trays in ours containing:

• batteries (dead batteries go into a bag labelled 'dead', so they don't get mixed up with the new ones before being recycled);
• a ball of elastic bands;
• bulldog clips;
• 2x screwdrivers (one flathead, one Phillips) - the main tools are in the garage but having screwdrivers to hand is useful;
• a small torch;
• the key to the meter box;
• tape measure;
• little clippers I use to deadhead flowers on the balcony;
• lint roller.

There are a few other bits and bobs but I do minimise the useless crap in it these days, and try only to keep functional things.

I used to have a terrible kitchen junk drawer, but the change to an organised one has made a small but significant improvement to my somewhat sad life!

It becomes less outing when everyone thinks ‘what a good idea!’, and copies it! 😜

Freeze milk and bread. In fact get a huge freezer and freeze most things, cuts down on shopping frequency

Ummmm doesn't everyone do this??