Please tell me your life hacks to cut tasks and get rid of unnecessary tasks

[dancinginthesky]

I'm trying to simplify my home (I'm disabled) and any tasks I can get rid of to manage better I would welcome learning about

Inspired by another thread- so far I can think of these hacks I already use:

• no tea, coffee canisters, just using the packet in a cupboard (no cleaning or refilling)

• no iron, I buy cheap clothing that gets chucked in the dryer and if folded or hung right away while warm doesn't need ironing - i keep an ice cube tray available for chucking an ice cube in with anything that gets wrinkly so it can go in the dryer for a few minutes and come out crease free

• no separate bedding - I sew my fitted sheets with a blanket and cover over (L shaped) so it's all attached and to make the bed is a pillowcase and one sheet to get on not the whole thing and all comes off together for throwing in the wash and dryer in one go

• water bottles for family members or one personal mug they must reuse ♻️ through the day to cut washing up down massively - we have mugs but just a few nice ones for guests when needed

• no zillion cleaning products- I have a spray bottle of part water part washing up liquid and clean everything with it. I still buy bleach for the loo and have antibac wipes if something needs it

• After we use a towel in the bathroom whatever you used, you use the same now dirty towel to wipe off the water- stops it ever needing more than a light rinse with soapy water to clean

Anyway... what are your time/energy saving hacks and what do I currently probably use that's totally unnecessary?

I'm with you on ironing, it's a waste of time and does nothing to improve how a garment looks after washing. Another laundry tip is don't pre-sort washing, in my house everything goes in the same wash. I don't think garments have ever been ruined because of this.

Throw away clothes and soiled items rather than washing them and giving them to charity or trying to sell them.

When boiling vegetables just boil the whole lot in one pan, adding them at different times depending on how long they take. Some people would boil one pan for potatoes, one for carrots and one for the peas for instance. Waste of time and bad for the planet because it wastes water and energy.

Don't bother to sort recycling - much easier just to chuck everything in together, it saves time sorting and cleaning rubbish.

@Dotjones ooh actually I do sort my laundry by colour but darks, whites and red/pinks and do it by having 3 laundry baskets and getting us to put dirties in the correct one. Maybe I'll risk it on an old white school t shirt and see what happens next time I do darks or reds and see if I could cut that

"When boiling vegetables just boil the whole lot in one pan, adding them at different times depending on how long they take. Some people would boil one pan for potatoes, one for carrots and one for the peas for instance. Waste of time and bad for the planet because it wastes water and energy."

Don't boil vegetables. Steam them in the microwave. Quicker, cheaper and healthier.

"Another laundry tip is don't pre-sort washing, in my house everything goes in the same wash. I don't think garments have ever been ruined because of this."

I separate the whites only. As a single person I wouldn't have a full machine of just towels or just bed sheets or whatever so all non-whites go together.

"Don't bother to sort recycling - much easier just to chuck everything in together, it saves time sorting and cleaning rubbish."

I don't recycle perfectly because I only have bags for certain things and not bins, but just not doing it at all is pretty irresponsible I think.

I kinda already do the veg thing, but via a countertop steamer and adding when needed- I also have a microwave and now contemplating if having a microwave steamer would be less hassle than a countertop one (worktops being free of clutter for easy cleaning)

@dancinginthesky Wait, what?!?! An ice cube in the tumbler with already dry clothes gets rid of creases???

@Minikievs yep 😁

It's like having it iron it for you! Evaporates fast to steam and blows through without wetting it so much it needs drying again

We have 2 kitchen bins next to each other. It's no more difficult or time consuming to chuck the empty carton in one or the other.

I would think long and hard about food recycling though. That is a chore, smelly, messy etc.

Robot hoover, if you can afford it, keeps on top of the floors.

Keep a cloth and spray handy in bathroom and kitchen for quick wipe downs.

DH has one plate, bowl and cutlery (at his work address where he lives during the week, not home) so he's forced to do his washing up after every meal.

Already have a robot hoover- love it 😍 also have a Henry but I actually use that to suck up crumbs from countertops before wiping and as an aid to lift stuff off the floor (don't use my grabber stick anymore as Henry is much easier, obviously I couldn't pick up an earring without losing it to Henry but I can suck up larger items to hand level and I couldn't have picked up tiny items with a grabber anyway)

Definitely going to give us our own set of plate, and cutlery and leave the rest for guests. I did it with mugs, no idea why I haven't with the rest yet!

Don't bother to sort recycling - much easier just to chuck everything in together, it saves time sorting and cleaning rubbish

Check your local policy - some councils send all mixed ("contaminated") recycling to landfill. Some things just have to be done

I buy printed duvets so no need to struggle to change the duvet covers.

I wipe the bath and sink with a sponge when I’m in the shower so rarely have to clean them seperately. Ditto giving the loo a quick wipe with loo roll when I’m in the bathroom then bung some bleach round and flush.

Cook double portions whenever possible and freeze half for easier dinners.

No desire to turn this into a typical mumsnet debate but are you saying you use clean towels every time you shower? Everyone in the household? My hack is this: dry clean body on towel and hang towel up to dry and air. Use same towel for around a week and then wash.

Clean bathroom as you go along with a micro fibre cloth.

And in general do stuff as you go along so jobs don’t really accumulate. Most meals I cook are pretty much cleared up by the time it’s served, just a couple of pans to wash and to load the dishwasher. Much more relaxing than a bombsite some people create.

But each to their own. 😊

A giant clothes airer which I take time to stack efficiently. I only have a combi dryer that isn’t very efficient at drying so I need to hang things.

washing goes on throughout the week, about 4 or so loads- then DH and I strip it and put it away together one evening.

Cotton underwear (not lacy bits) and socks are kept in a separate laundry bin- then this has its own wash and dry cycle so I’m not fucking around with a socktapus

has gotten rid of laundry mountain, which was the bane of my life.

Before you throw away soiled/ruined clothes - check if your council offer a textiles recycling collection. Mine do. I just throw anything that can't be saved/donated into a bag and when I have a full bag I order a collection online. Just have to put it out on my doorstep the morning of the collection and they take it away for recycling. It's not a hard job but definitely helps the planet.

@MatildaTheCat we do, yes. I think probably because I just realised we have no pegs in the bathroom and therefore they're never aired dry. So some pegs could fix that and a towel kept for drying down surfaces specifically and would cut my washing down

I like things to be dried by whoever uses it because I just don't have the strength to scrub limescale and it's all sparkly clean looking when dried after

Sheet pan dinners (google or Pinterest for inspiration). If you buy a few thin sheets you can prep these, and stack them in the freezer.

Also I cook mince in bulk , portion and freeze it for quick and easy dinners.

Totally agree with you on cleaning spray - I researched cleaning products extensively during the early covid weeks and switched to washing up liquid and bleach too.

Let the product do the work - you don’t have to scrub as hard if you wait a minute or two.

A flat mop is great for cleaning vertical surfaces like walls, mirrors, windows.

Put a nylon stocking/tights and elastic band over the hoover nozzle if you’re worried about earrings (or previous missing Lego in my case)

@BellaJuno printed duvets?! I never knew they existed- would they fit in the washer and dryer? I'm guessing they must or how would you clean them? That could cut my sewing whenever I replace them down

Puremate fan (the one with the HEPA filter) has cut down the amount of dusting that needs doing by a very significant amount. You need to hoover the filter regularly and then replace the filter every so often.

My friend mops her walls and skirting boards (she has a separate mop head for this). I mop skirting boards and kitchen base boards (again separate mop to the floor mop).

If I could (I won’t go into the reasons I can’t), I’d put cubbies and a big mirror into my utility room and everyone could use it as a changing area.
That would eliminate moving clean and dirty clothes around the house. All the clothes in one room. Straight off bodies and into the washing machine and start a load when it’s full.

Op, you sew a blanket onto a fitted sheet? My brain can't process what you mean by this. I think I need a diagram or a picture!

Yes mine fits in my washing machine and tumble dryer, I bought my first one by accident from Amazon and haven’t looked back!

OP you might enjoy The House that Cleans Itself