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?

Why do you think matching crockery is a requirement?

of course it isn't, we could eat straight out of the pan, wouldn't starve. But it makes me happy.

I like matching crockery etc

Moving house: gather some shoeboxes/shoebox size boxes and put small items in there before putting in the big mover's box. Goes for kitchen drawer content, dresser drawer content, all the stuff that is pretty small and could easily get lost otherwise.

Holidays, especially if you travel with just a car and stay in different places: instead of suitcases/totes, use collapsible crates. Instead of folding t-shirts and trousers/shorts flat to stack them, roll them up so you can have 6 or so t-shirts on a layer, easier than digging through the content (can even leave the crate in the boot and just grab a clean shirt for the next day). Each their own crate.

Holidays, especially if you travel with just a car and stay in different places: instead of suitcases/totes, use collapsible crates.

if you travel by car, use IKEA bags. The ones with zip are perfect, as the bag itself takes no space whatsoever.

Used semi-permanent make-up.

My eyebrows and eyelids are now tattoo-ed in. I wake up ready-to-go without having to apply any eye-related makeup. The beautifician is more skillful at applying the colour than I ever was in 35 years of doing it. The make up does not slide down my face over the course of the day. I spend zero on eye brow and eye liner.

Best of all, I look great WFH, zoom-ready at at times and collecting post from the mailman

Used semi-permanent make-up.

ooh yes that - I have eyebrows, liner and lips all done. Might not be life-changing if you have some colour, but I'm pale as Casper the Friendly Ghost, and spent ages every morning painting my face on.

It's amazing, isn't it. As you age, the colour can wash out of your face so SMP reverses that. Permanent lip blush is my next on my list.

If you watch the Simpsons, SMP is even better than Homer's make-up gun.

SPMU, not SMP duh!

I thought everyone did this for small bits, things like table legs etc we taped to the relevant top.
In that big bix don't forget the kettle!

@JudgeJ we always did too - but the removal guys told me many people didn't- packed everything in the rush and then were frantically trying to find a knife to open boxes etc at other end. Or packed a box and then let it go on the van not properly marked-- so didn't have instant access at other end.

We do the box but our default is to tape bolts etc to the piece of furniture. Stowing them all in the kettle box is a much better idea.

Using Amazon subscribe for household things like toilet roll, dishwasher tablets etc so we never run out of them and I don’t even have to think about ordering them , they just arrive ! And it’s cheaper than getting the stuff in Sainsbury’s- I wish I’d done it years ago

I use a lovely china spoon rest my son bought me one Xmas kept next to the kettle, fish out the teabags straight onto the rest, no more drips. A glass ramekin next to the hob for fat remnants then into food caddy when necessary.

Beauty - when I put mascara on, use an old clean dry mascara wand to brush out excess then swipe that over my brows. Much easier/faster than any other products I've tried.

Signing up to a local milkman and getting a Huel subscription. I always have food (not very nice food, but nutritious and quick) and milk in the house.

I love all the clever tricks and organising on here. This is my porn 😅

You give each person a colour.

So my sister was black, brother grey and I was white. So always fine for school.
Dad was dark blue.
Mum wore anything she liked ha ha

Mum would buy about a dozen pairs of socks for us, all the same style, job done. Paired in an instant and everyone knew who theirs was!

Or, there are some with coloured toes and heels, or embroidery on the side.

Plain black is Ben. Coloured toes= Mac; Embroidered: Alex.

Where did you get two stylish bedroom sized coat stands please? This sounds a great idea!

• Row of hooks on back of wardrobe door for ‘in between clothes’
• Mini clip on rubbish bin in the car - love this. All litter in one place!
• Amazon repeat deliveries for essentials - never run low on loo roll or cleaning stuff
• Apps for everything; including pension and investments. Has encouraged me to save so much more.

I buy bamboo fibre loo rolls 96 at a time (four boxes of 24) and store them in the coat cupboard. When I get to the last six, I place another order. I never run out and it is the softest thing to grace my behind bar silk pyjamas.

The tape dispenser has arrived! I said it to the post lady, she also said she loves hers 😂

@00100001 do you still wear your colour? Or did you get to the stage of buying your own socks and go crazy?

Keeping track of pill-taking: instead of the faff of pre-filling those little day-marked boxes, I discovered it was much easier to mark the days already taken on the pill package itself. Then you can see instantly whether you've taken, or not. Much easier to see than explain, so I hope my photo upload works.

OK so my 'pills' photo is bigger than intended. For absolute clarity, I mark the 'taken' days with the initial of the day, so S (Saturday), S (Sunday), M (Monday) etc. Because they are in sequence, no risk of confusing the days.

Life's too short for ironing. I pop all my clothes in dryer for 7/8 mins enough to get them hot and steamy, take them out pull flat and hang them up either on washing line or clothes horse as flat as possible. Seriously only ever iron if really, really needed.