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?

Not me but a colleague years ago had all of us in stitches. Her and her Dh had bought a lovely old farmhouse and moved out of the city with their two, at the time young, DC. Over time they'd been doing work to the house and modernising it. One thing that had annoyed her from the first day was that outside the kids bedrooms were these little plaques that had been made for the previous owners. But, sorting out the hallway outside the kids' bedrooms simply wasn't a priority when they had to redo kitchens/bathrooms/electrics etc.

They'd been living there for YEARS and she was standing in the doorway chatting to her now teenage son and she just found herself picking at the plaque. It came off in her hand completely!!! So she went to the other DC's room and sure enough, a bit of picking and off it came.

nearly 10 years they'd been annoying her!!! 😀

Pack all your Christmas mugs, tables cloths, napkins, candies etc away with the decorations.
That way they're not taking up space in cupboards all year.
I'm probably late to the game but I've done this for the last few years and it's great

I haven't read all of the thread but...socks! Throw them all out and buy all matching ones. Saves on odd socks and spending hours pairing them up!

Or - if it is important to you but you don't have space - take photos of your favourites and then create a photo book.

I have to admit this is something I probably read on here years ago when my kids were small - take photos of their art so you don't end up with eleventy billion scribbles that you thought were perfectly cute when they were three but now they're twenty three you can barely remember which kid made it. Keep in a folder till the end of the school year, then take a pic of your favourite few and then when they leave nursery/infant/junior school, create a photo book. And then they've got something to look through as well.

So mine had a phone from y6 for walking home we live 15min from the primary and 20min from the highschool and both work FT (though moat days for me from home and days I'm not GP picks up and treats them to Costa) but both school have strict rules on the phone being off and away in school and the highschool also have the rule if your caught on it, it is confiscated for 24hr and only a parent can collect or 48hr if a parent can't due to work. They give the child a bog standard old Nokia foe safety walking home

Mine have smart phones and on theirs and mine and my dh we have a family group life 360 so I can track them walking home and know where they are

With the policies the high school has in place as both there now y7 & y8 and the ground rules we have in place and consequences from both us and highschool if they don't follow I am happy that my DC have a phone and are safe and have been since walking home alone from school a necessary evil for anyone one working FT

I know that my youngest DC parents all have the same rule on phone usage as well so we don't get kick back on rule following tbh which is good

I live in a hard water area and had to pre wash everything before it went in the dishwasher. Put two (decent quality) tablets in and it’ll move burnt on lasagne.

Because they could attract moths.
Even if clothes look clean and have only been worn a short time they'll still have skin cells and smells which the moth can detect.

Apologise posted on wrong post ignor me !

I don't get it either. My mil did a swedish death clean during lockdowns. It took some time after 50+ years in the same house. But all I got was a vase and a couple of pictures. Happy enough with that.

On the theme of cutlery. I had a set of 8 knives, forks, spoons and teaspoons. But some days we used every teaspoon and I got fed up of it. I bought 30 more teaspoons. I never run out in the day now. No they dont match, yes 30 was too many and I gave 10 away. But I no longer have to wash up just because no more teaspoons.

I also bought cake forks and extra long teaspoons for knickerbocker glorys/the coffee caddy/giant coffee jar.
This took 8 years to figure out.

I use random china . I buy cups,plates etc if I see something I really like/ need a replacement. Can be from new or from a charity shop. It's all colours that look good together but arent a set. If something breaks or we need to add more for something ( or I see something I love) then I buy it.

My socks are all black.
DH socks are black with coloured toe/heel
DD socks are black with embroidered "thing"at the top - animal head, aliens, hearts. Most supermarkets have at least one.

I like the tip about taking photos of childhood art. My attic is full of memory boxes 😯

For years, our recycling bin was stuffed full by the fortnightly collection day. As soon as it was emptied, it got filled straight up again with the bits we couldn’t fit in. Last year I ordered a second bin from the council, it was delivered within the week and only cost around £30. Absolute game changer

I have a lot of what I would call “mementos” but others might call junk! Things like, interesting carrier bags from abroad, cards the DC gave me and wrote lovely things in, some older collectibles I don’t display but would struggle to part with, etc etc.

I decided recently, I’m going to take photos of all these things, then get rid of them. Actually have the photos printed and have an album or two of “memories”. So when I feel nostalgic I can look through them. But they will take up a tiny % of the space these things currently take up.

Mine has ripped the carpet at the door when I accidentally left him in the living room, he also likes to tap my nose to wake me, or lick my arm if that doesn't work! my other one knocks hell out of the door anywhere between 1am and 6, they give me more sleepless night than kids.

Not RTFT but I used to spend hours when changing bed linen simply looking for a duvet cover that matched the pillow cases and where on earth have the bottom sheets gone to etc. Then I had a revelation - duvet cover, sheet and second pillowcase are stored in the other pillowcase - makes bed changing so much easier.

@gabsdot45 what a brilliant idea!

Re. socks. When I put my washing on the line I do the smalls last. Knickers and underpants, then socks. Rather than constantly bending to pick up the items one by one, I sit and sort out a handful and grab a bunch of pegs to do them all at once. Took me bloody years to figure this out. When the socks are alone in the basket it's easy to line them up, then peg them in pairs. When they're dry I can roll the pairs together as they come off the line.

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.

debatable.
Eyelets might look better, but they are such a faff. Hooked curtains take 2 minutes to remove, pop in the washing machine, and hang again once dried (I even wash the "dry cleaning" ones).

I have to dismantle the whole thing with eyelets. I don't wash curtains very often, but still wouldn't spend more time than it took me to write this!

Yes and I do, but on windy days the whole lot comes off the line, plus they all bunch up together on the line so nothing dries.
These separate the hangers out across the line.

In lockdown I got so fed up of this that I bought different coloured silicon wristbands that go round the glasses for exactly this reason
Each child knows which is theirs

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

We do similar - any older veg and half eaten tubs etc go on a “needs eating” shelf in the fridge, so we know to use those first before they go off. Especially useful now supermarkets are getting rid of use by dates 🙄

Has anyone mentioned frozen pre chopped onions and soffrito yet? Love those here.

@crummyusername thank you! I have just bought a heavy take dispenser on your recommendation. I have a crap light plastic one which I never use. So end up with little bits of Sellotape all over chairs etc when wrapping at Christmas.

Only buy plain socks.

Emptying ours isn't a 3 minute job. If I don't catch it just as the stuff is mostly dry and still hot and open the door, the stupid thing (Siemens, new type) starts to create steam and makes everything soaking wet again. It has never actually dried a full load. This results in emptying it and either drying by hand or stacking it on the drainer to dry properly before it can be re-loaded.

Can also not put anything else in it once it has finised a wash becuae it is always full to bursting due to the racks being designed only for certain shapes of stuff, therefore takes a lot of fiddling about to get it all in.

I just leave it all on the side until the previous load is actually dry or I can be bothered to stack it on the drainer.

YES! Been meaning to steel one from work for ages but we have just moved offices and can't find any 😃