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?

use a colour catcher

It's too early for me to think of any simple revelations (but I have many, I'm quite dumb at times!), but if you shut my cat in ANY room, she puts her paw under the gap and thumps the door back and forth against the door frame.

She doesn't howl, scream, or trash anything. Just does that little trill noise while she does it like she's concentrating really hard to annoy us until we let her out again. She's basically worked out how to knock, irritatingly.

She doesn't quit either. Terminator Cat.

I picked up on MN a brilliant hack a few years ago.

The poster said that when unpacking the dishwasher, start with the bottom shelf and work up, so that any water drips don’t fall onto the clean crockery.
🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

I can’t believe I reached my 50s before someone pointed it out.

I am quite sentimental and love keeping things my children had made/school certificates etc. I had the genius idea a year or so ago of taking photos of these items, which allowed me to the bin the physical item! This meant that, whilst we still have the memories of the pieces of art/certificates etc, I was reducing our piles of ‘stuff’.
I am quite impressed with myself for thinking of that one 😁

maybe that’s the bit they don’t mention about swedish death cleaning - make your junk someone else’s problem?

My mother tried to do it to me.

But if the dishwasher is full of clean things then there's no room for dirty stuff to go in?!

Curtains. Eyelets are the only way. Banish curtain hooks from your life. Ignore MIL or others who go on about box pleats, pelmets, curtain rails.

Yep, curtain hooks are bullshit.

My DM did this to me with some of GM's stuff. A large box of random old stuff was handed over.

Having gone through it I realised it was all just 'stuff'. I binned the lot.

DM has never asked me about it so I guess she couldn't bring herself to bin it (she does have hoarding tendencies) so handed the problem over to me.

Not keeping too much stuff.

Speaking to my dad last night (70) and he mentioned he’d found his old passport from the 1970s. And that he was going to keep it, it can go with all the cards/letters he has belonging to my grandmother and grandfather. Who died more than 25 years and 50 years ago respectively. What am I supposed to do with that when it comes to me? He said it meant a lot to them so he kept it, but it doesn’t to me.

I bought a nice deep decorative basket (the sort you'd put a big plant pot in simliar to the picture) for the bedroom and keep all my hairstyling equipment in there, so hairdryer, straighteners, brush, comb, Babylis Big Hair, styling products etc - so much more practical than taking up drawer space and easier than rummaging around the room looking for a misplaced brush.

I think you've answered your own question really. It doesn't mean anything to you, so you will get rid when the time comes. I totally get that it's more work for you at a time when you're grieving but you can't tell your Dad not to keep this stuff when he wants to.

I used to have work clothes and home clothes - home clothes were always nicer and a bit more special. Recently I lost a lot of weight, and a lovely dress I'd bought for home and had never worn no longer fitted and I was so disappointed. I now wear all my nice things wherever I'm going and have got rid of all the shabby work clothes. It gives me joy and there's less washing and ironing to do now too!

It's probably boo now, but when DC were little and we would go for a day trip ect. I would put stickers on their drinks bottles (yep the throw away ones), on sandwiches and other special treats. No arguments and they always knew straight away which was theirs!

Do an indirect Swedish death clean: Whenever my hoarding grandmother 'kindly' offers something useless to my mum or I, we take it home and bin it. Mm

I have three cats. Two of whom do the pre dawn gallop around the duvet, dribble on face, relentless picking at bedding thing. I too have recently started shutting them away at night. To my amazement they have adjusted perfectly well.

Cat number three is my heart boy, and simply creeps under the duvet for a cuddle in the early hours.

The other thing is that any task you put off gets larger and larger in your mind, and you mentally calculate it will take longer and longer to tackle, so is put off constantly, exacerbating the problem. This is almost always an illusion.

For example- I needed to sort out one of my rooms, move the furniture around and declutter. It's been put off for months.

Yesterday I took the plunge. It took less than an hour.

Will read through later but my contributions are

during summer nights dry washing on line overnight too, by morning its usually dry (even if spiders have rubbed their willies on it).

if you forget to take the washing out of the machine after a wash, don’t rewash completely, just put it on a rinse cycle with a bit of fabric softener or white vinegar.

ironing is a waste of time if you have teenagers (or indecisive adults like me who take stuff out of the wardrobe to try on and leave it in a messy pile on a chair)

Family history? For generations to come?
I'm a big fan of decluttering but I think some things are worth hanging on to.
I've got incredible postcards my great grandfather sent to my grandfather from the front during WW1.
Thank God nobody decided to bin them.

Buy a good quality sellotape dispenser. My god, the time it’s saved around Christmas and birthdays, not fiddling around finding the end of stupid tape and it all splitting and putting strips of tape all over the place. It’s a joy to wrap now (almost).

@TokyoSushi you need a cat flap, then you don't need to get up.

colour code people to cups/ towels/ other items. Especially if lots of you in household. That way there’s no mistake of that green cup was yours or not. They also know the green towel is there’s so no excess washing towels as you don’t know who used it.

24 Pcs Washing Line Hanger Hooks,... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BXJHKV7Z?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

The DC don't have such a variety of activities anymore but I used to have numerous bags/ backpacks ready packed for swimming lessons, dance, taekwondo etc stored in a cupboard in the hallway. As soon as an item came out of the laundry, it went straight into its respective bag. Saved a lot of time and hassle.

I was 35 when I realised I didn't have to just have white underwear, and that black pants would be useful during my period.
It was a revelation.
🤔

Socks don't have to match, ever! It was a revelation when I though "You know what? I've had enough of trying to pair up socks which obviously are trying their best not to".
I don't chop carrots in cubes anymore, slices only. Much easier.
I never iron unless it's obviously too creased. So I iron 10 pieces of clothing a year. Hubby does his own shirts.
I have clothes baskets for everyone in the house. Washed dried clothes get sorted quickly as I throw them in each basket when I'm ready to tackle the pile. Most don't make it to their designated wardrobe.

By no means have I got my life together so will watch this thread with interest!