Simple things that I should have done years ago to make life easier

[malificent7]

My lovely cat has been waking us up at 5/6am for 6 years.
Last night I had the genius idea of closing the lounge door so she couldn't come to our room.
Hence we slept longer. Why did I not think of this earlier? I love cat snuggles but love a lie in more.

Am I thick or does anyone have similar stories?

Keep flies and mosquitoes away while you're eating outside by burning coffee grounds. Light it about 10 minutes before you sit down so it's smoking gently when you eat. Al fresco life changer.

@oellegrina- great tip- I didn't know that

I have to say though, nothing on here is a patch on the 2 vintage Mumsnetters from years back - one of whom saved time in the mornings by putting her kids to bed in their uniform the night before, and the other who invented the worlds first hands free telephone by clamping it to her ear by putting a pair of tights over her head...

Loving this thread! Hope this hasn't been mentioned already but for years I resisted using a digital calendar. It's been life changing - we have separate ones for myself, my partner and my son that can be viewed together or separately. Once a Birthday is in it's in forever via the repeat function. You can search for key dates and entries. Wish I'd used it years ago!

I like travelling, but I detest faffing around looking for this and that for trips away.

So I have a box where I have the following ready to go -

Travel size toiletries,
Spare chargers
Single adaptors and a multi plug adaptor (can fit three items)
Small zipped cross body passport holder - can fit other items but sits close to body.
zip bags of different colours for packing different items (Tiger shop game changer for me)
Anything I find I missed when away I add for next time.

I don't use the above except when travelling so I then just need to pack clothes and shoes.

@pellegrina just Google Keep

Organise food cupboards with trays or shoebox lids. That way you can slide out all the breakfast stuff in one move and baking ingredients stay together at the back.
Have a dog walking “grab bag” that everyone uses (ours is a small Decathlon backpack) with house keys on a lanyard, tissues, collapsible bowl, space for your phone.
Break poo bags apart in advance and keep them in the front pocket so you can pick one out blindly while keeping an eye on the spot in the long grass!

Oh I love this idea! Free cash for a takeaway treat, genius.

I have a physical diary in which I record birthdays and anniversaries with ages and years and transfer to the next one adding a year. I've also put them in my Outlook calendar with a reminder a week before to give me time to get a card. During lockdown I was more organised and got cards 3 months in advance.
I also use Outlook for other reminders. One year I broke the Christmas tree when I was putting it away. I put a recurring reminder in my calendar for 1st October to 'buy new Christmas tree' and cancelled the reminder once I'd done so. Things like car MOTs and insurance renewals are put in a month before as 'book MOT' or 'get insurance quote ' - saves a mad panic the week before.
A friend used to forget about theatre trips we had booked so as I put the dates in Outlook I send her an invitation and when she accepts they are on her calendar too!

Wash your shower doors with dishwasher rinse aid.

Disclaimer: I saw this on Instagram yesterday and used it on ancient shower doors that we are changing in September. It worked well but suggest everyone experiments judiciously until we know it doesn’t cause any long term damage.

When my children were young they used to help pair socks and sort underwear as they came out of the tumble dryer whilst I folded the larger items. We got a dishwasher when they were about 7 and it was their job to empty it in the morning (after I'd removed the sharp knives).
In our house we all have specific mugs and generally use the same mug all day rather than a clean one for each drink. It's very rare for anyone to have anything other than their preferred drink so just one mug each which saves space in the dishwasher.
When I go shopping I will stock up on things we buy regularly when they are on offer. I also pay £7.99 a month for the Tesco Clubcard Plus app that gives me 10 per cent off two big shops a month (up to £200) and try to combine offers. For example favourite wine on offer at £6 a bottle. Buy 6 or more bottles and save 25 per cent. Big shop offer save another 10 per cent. Brings the cost down to £4.05 per bottle! If it's not a week that I am doing a big shop I look to see when the offer runs out and decide whether it's worth taking advantage of anyway or if it can wait until the next week. The date the offer finishes can be found on the bottom of the shelf edge label in reverse order : 230630 would be 30th June 2023

I’ve seen shutters mentioned a few times, and I have to admit I didn’t know you could get internal ones (in the UK anyway).

I have an awkward half bay and hate the curtains - I wonder if that would be an alternative?

"I keep make-up (I use very little) daily tablets, paracetamol, glasses cleaner and a mini hairbrush in another bag on my dressing table and use stuff daily directly out of this. When it's time to pack I just zip it up and put it in the case."

I love this!!! Totally going to do it, and it'll make my chaotic bedside table much tidier too!!

Agree with PPs about just buying more of the cutlery / utensils that you keep running out of... We survived on about 5 forks and 5 plates for YEARS because I couldn't get ones to exactly match our existing ones and couldn't afford to upgrade to a whole new set - eventually occurred to me that it really didn't matter if I got cheap ones that didn't match!!!

Does drive DH scatty that our white dinner plates are all slightly different sizes though, for some reason 🤣

@Leftbutcameback re shutters, my house was built with them but you can definitely get them retro fitted. work so well in a bay cause they can be recessed back when open and look fab.

Thanks @bunhead1979!

@pellegrina ha, ha- love those!!!

This is me. I have stuff from my late parents and even photos of great-grandparents! It’s only a box full so not too bad but I also have all my old diaries / I’ll let my kids have a laugh at them when I’m dead - even I can’t read them now really as too cringe.
I did keep a diary in covid times - mainly for future generations- even reading it back now it’s odd.

Love the idea of trying rinse aid on shower doors - going to test that out.

Also, I use RainX for car windscreens on my shower doors as it repels the water and leaves longer between needing cleans.

This sounds good but I need a photo

please

Love this thread thanks some great ideas. Home compost bin line with newspaper and grab mint leaves from outside door to make nice smell. Used to take ages to scrub out every time. Religious use of key drawer saves so much stress. We’ve at last thought of obvious solution to clothes worn once but clean and have put shaker style peg board in each bedroom so no moth problem and no messy half worn clothes. My pet hate is having to soak off labels from storage jars now just use white paint pen to write on contents.Easily comes off when need to change. No more scrubbing the gluey labels.

I'm astonished by some of the replies on this thread. Why not just wash the few things by hand? Its really quick!

Because as my post said - if you can't, because of time or because you're overwhelmed by depression, fatigue etc - then it's a real game changer.

I know people save time by using frozen chopped ginger, but I like it fresh and thinly sliced. Struggled for years carefully peeling the skin off, then recently realized that if I chop off all the nobbly bits first it is really easy to slice the neat cube that is left.

Also used to freeze leftover milk in small amounts because only one of us has dairy. I even bought some small tupperware pots and thought I was being efficient and frugal. What a twit.... It finally occurred to me that I should buy the milk in smaller containers to start with! Now I buy 4 one pint bottles every week and put three in the freezer and one in the fridge. The pint bottles are fairly quick to defrost when needed.

I have discovered if I leave the microwave door slightly open after using it, it doesn’t end up with condensation inside.

Also, when the dishwasher has finished, trap a tea towel inside the door (so that some of the the towel is hanging outside the door and is visible). After a while it will have absorbed the steam and the dishes will be completely dry for when you put them away!

Thought of a few more. When cutting up chicken or meat before cooking, use scissors and cut it back into the tray it came in. It's easier to get fine strips for stir frys and saves making a chopping board dirty.
Also, I keep a yoghurt pot with a lid by the hob and drain any fat or oil into it when I'm cooking. This is kept for about a week (depending on the weather) and then thrown in the general waste on bin day. Saves risking fats and oils going down the drain and potentially causing a blockage.
We use a compost caddy and then the contents go into our own compost bin. The caddy liners work well to keep the caddy clean but do not degrade very quickly so we empty the contents into the compost bin and the liner gets two uses before it is binned (we have a lot of fruit/veg peelings so that's probably less than a week). The caddy then gets washed out or goes in the dishwasher.