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?

Lulling you into a false sense of security.

Vengeance will be visited upon you when you least expect it. 🐱

We’ve shut our cat downstairs at night from day 1. She now goes out and (I suspect) finds a neighbour’s bed to sleep on.

Also - automatic cat feeder on a timer so you don’t get pestered and don’t have to be home for feeding time.

Two laundry baskets one for lights one for darks. Everyone knows to put laundry in the correct one.
Each laundry basket holds about a load’s worth, so when it’s full it’s laundry time.

If there is a kitchen item that’s always in use, buy an extra one instead of fishing it out of the dishwasher and washing. We now have two peelers, two pairs of kitchen scissors and two small colanders.

Yes to blackout blinds. We also use draught excluders along kids’ bedroom doors where there’s a big gap, to block light from the landing skylight.

Libby app for library books and audiobooks. Total gamechanger, especially for bored kids in the car.

If I buy cut herbs then once the packet is open I now put them in a little pot of water like a bunch of flowers, they survive much better that way

Squeezy plant watering bottle like this much easier and neater for watering houseplants, especially if they are on a shelf

My cats would bang at the door and wear me down to get in.

All of the above.

And don't get married. Men leave rubbish all over the house.

I use a cm strip of elastic as a name band for school jumpers. It can also be used to hang the jumper up on a hook.

When my little girl got confused to where the front of her pants were when she dressed herself in the morning, I marked the front with a sharpie.

Throwing out all my socks and buying several packs of matching pairs. I started with black but used to mix up mine and DS’s, so now he has black and I have white it’s brilliant.

Yes to this! Someone gave me a sellotape dispenser as a present, at the time I thought it was an odd choice, but OMG it is wonderful, what is more it automatically cuts the tape into small lengths so you don’t have to wrestle with long sticky bits that only wants to stick to themselves while trying to hold two edges of paper together with your other hand. One small strip : the paper is held in place, several more small strips : the present is wrapped. Uses less sellotape too.

“wear me down to get in” 😁

They are masters in manipulation and psychological torment. 🐈

See, the black socks thing... my DD only wears black socks but they are different depending on where I buy them from (and I can never remember from one time to the next).

Some are tighter, others looser; some have more stretch than others; some come up to just above the ankle, others almost mid-calf; some have quite a deep 'cuff' at the top; others not much at all and some are crimped.

So basically I can't just bung any two black socks together and call them a pair - they would look and feel different on.

She is autistic and is able to feel when things 'aren't quite right' so maybe that's why I spend ages matching up black socks according to stretchiness, length and the type of cuff they have.

DH and I have a variety of differently coloured and differently patterned socks and they are soooo much easier to pair up.

An automatic timed feeder works for early cat feeds.

I'm autistic and have coloured socks for this exact reason. I hang them out on a sock dryer in pairs, pairing them as I hang them. When I take them down, they are folded as they come off the line.

No-one needs a new glass every time they want a drink. When the kids were young we had a laminated piece of paper with a square for everyone that they put their glass on

Nope but bigger socks also fit fine on smaller feet! I'm a size 5 and he's an 11 and 8-11 socks are fine for both of us to wear. We just bulk bought like 30 pairs and when those are all dead we will buy more.

I do this
"Ooh yes I'm sure I can make use of that broken coffee machine / size 26 evening dress from the early 80's / odd shoe"
>>>>>>>> BIN

Love this thread!
We also keep our cat downstairs at night and it has massively improved our life- we actually get some sleep! We coaxed her with cat treats and now, at 10.30pm, she goes and sits in the kitchen to wait for us to give her treats before bed. She gets quite annoyed if we go to bed later!

With socks, I always roll them back together when I take them off and put them in the washing basket- DH does the same. They then wash in the ball, I unroll them to peg them out together and roll them back when they’re dried. That way, pairs are always kept together. Never had a problem with them not being clean.

This may be a super obvious one but it blew my mind when I realised how much easier it made life. When I put cutlery into the little dishwasher compartment, I make sure all tea spoons are together, knives, forks, etc. it takes no time at all. Then, when emptying, I can just lift the cutlery compartment out (they all have handles and should lift out easily), grab the handful of teaspoons, chuck them in the right compartment in the drawer, same with the forks, etc. it saves so much time!! Before, I used to chuck them in anyway and it would take longer to sort them out.

Oh and always open the dishwasher straight after a cycle and leave for a bit if you can- we run ours just before bed and leave overnight. The steam escapes and the dishes dry on their own, so you only need to put them away, not dry them (bar maybe the odd thing that’s turned and collected water).

One more dishwasher one- the top drawer of dishwashers are adjustable and go up and down to accommodate different sized cups etc. I can’t express how much my mind was blown when I learnt that!

Buying a tumble dryer! I was so obsessed with not getting one for years due to the cost of running it (this was even before the energy price increase). I don't have a garden so was making myself completely miserable with multiple loads of wet washing hanging around that just wouldn't dry. This was even worse in the warmer weather as couldn't even finish it off on the radiators!
I finally caved and bought a heat pump tumble dryer and the cost to run it is a drop in the ocean compared to the general price increase and has made my life so much easier.

Flasks!
So we tow a caravan and usually take a huge flask with coffee in and 2 separate insulated mugs to pour it into. So while hubby is driving I then have to try and retrieve said flask from behind my seat, then the mugs, then hold the mugs between my legs and try to pour coffee into them without spilling any onto my legs, causing third degree burns....then wrestle flask bag behind the seat....
Light bulb moment whilst on amazon the other day....
Why don't we just have a smaller insulated flask each that we can fill before we go, will sit in the cup holders and we can drink out of it as we travel!!
Took me 19 years of towing to get to this!

Socks are sold 'size 8-11' etc so fit lots of sizes.

We have a big, decorative, shallow bowl for my DH’s crap like his keys, wallet and whatever else he used to like to drop all around the house. He actually uses it and has done from Day 1. He likes not having to search for stuff so it also saves us time when we’re trying to leave the house and he’s looking for something.

He also likes draping his worn but still clean clothes over our nice chair in the bedroom 🙄 so I got him a half laundry basket to keep stuff like this (hoodies) at the bottom of his wardrobe. He couldn’t be bothered with hanging them back up but will put them out of sight in there.

Drawer dividers with babygrows, vests etc. rolled up - it gets all the creases out of them so they don’t need ironing usually (especially ones for bedtime) and it takes up much less space.

We put all knives, saucers etc next to each other in the dishwasher so you can lift them all out and put them away together at once. This has made putting it away far less of a chore. I bloody hated it (but I’d never do the tip above about washing stuff again! A dishwasher uses so much water, regardless of whether one has unlimited money to spend on water or not. 😱)

Fridge and cupboard shelves and freezer drawers are loosely organised according to “open and needs to be eaten soon”, “unopened with a long shelf life” etc which has really helped meal plan for the following week and has made me plan recipes/dinners using up stuff before it needs to be chucked out.

Actually meal planning in general has been a great time saver and “Why haven’t we done this years ago?!” thing as it avoids the time-consuming top up shops throughout the week to get ingredients for a dinner I have had to think about after a long day at work. We all get a couple of choices each week so we have a good variety of meals. I try to make a couple of big dishes/tray bakes that age well like a lasagne or chili con carne on certain nights so that’s also dinner sorted for the following night - or at least it makes portions for the freezer. This is great when I know I have a late meeting at work or something one evening. We try to have fresher stuff earlier in the week like salads and recipes using cupboard/freezer ingredients later in the week to also avoid the midweek top up shop as much as poss.

I love my tape dispenser, it's quite heavy so only one hand needed to get the tape. I am delighted every time I use it. 😂

It's the little things.

We have a large, heavy frying pan with a glass lid. We also moved it constantly around the kitchen for months before realise could store it in the oven!

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.

See these are the sorts of things I'd keep. Future generations may thank you for it. Sentimental letters and photos are priceless. Physical "stuff", however, can go!

An idea from MN years ago changed my life. Get a concertina-type file for each new financial year. Label each divider: work, gas/elec, council tax, pension, etc. When paperwork arrives, deal with it and then pop it in the appropriate section in the file. Voila - no more paperwork on any surface in the house!

Nowadays most stuff is online so much less paperwork, but I still have a file each financial year for the minimal paperwork that arrives. I keep the files in a drawer under the bed. Feels sooo good to not have admin lying around!

I have these from Lakeland. Brilliant and as you say tops are straight from line to wardrobe. No ironing required which Is why I am very selective about buying clothes and stay away from fabrics which I know will require definite ironing.

Mine is ever so simple... I've almost halved my washing pile by wearing a lot of clothes twice!

For years I'd wear something once and wash it. Now I've realised that, thanks particularly to a climate controlled workplace, nothing gets sweaty or stinky after just one wear!

Totally agree-I'm size 6, my DH was size 11!
Caspianberg ·
They also know the green towel is there’s so no excess washing towels as you don’t know who used it.
Unless someone has an infectious disease, what's the problem with sharing towels?