What new routines/gadgets have made your life a lot easier?

[despondentatwork]

I'm a mum of 4 (17/15/10/8) one with ADHD and a few pets. My husband works erratic hours (from home) but travels a lot and can be away for 2/52 at a time. I'm soon to start studying and FT work (a promotional MSc) for the first time in 16 years-been PT since our eldest was born. Can't wait, but also really anxious about home life. We've discussed a Nanny or Au Pair instead of a Nursery, but need to look into that further. Don't really want a cleaner-would rather we all mucked in and the kids learn from this! What routines/meal plans/kitchen or household gadgets have made your busy family life easier?

very different circumstances here but for me routines rather than gadgets are what's making the difference to helping to keep the plates spinning when life is manic.

e.g. I always meal plan on a Thurs night because on Fri I do the food shop on my way home, meaning that I can spend time doing food prep for the coming week on the weekend. If I skip this step, we eat poorly, then I feel rubbish and things start to spiral. I batch coo as much as possible and freeze the excess so we have an easy homemade meal in the freezer.

I have a list of life admin that I tackle every weekend (checking my diary for the week ahead, updating our shared calendar, clearing personal emails, paying bills and dealing with post, ensuring that the laundry is up to date etc). This helps me feel like I've set myself up well for the coming week - life never goes as smoothly if I miss this,

I'd start by working out what your daily non negotiables are to keep the house and it's occupants ticking over, then figure out when these things will happen and who will be responsible for them. Then stick to the plan consistently to build the routines (i'm a big fan of checklists to help with this).

Hmmm…definitely routines plus allocating jobs for people that you don’t have to think about. A robot hoover is pretty useful as well.

I am intrigued about what a promotional MSc is though-do tell!?

The Organised Mum Method (Tomm) really helped me out.

IRobot.
saves me hours every week.

on the meal planning front, a system that helps with decision fatigue is having a theme for each night. So Monday might be veggie, Tues pasta based, Weds rice or noodles, Thurs leftovers, Friday fakeaway, Saturday X with chips, Sunday roast. Your meals change from week to week, but the themes stay the same.

Making sure that there's always something quick and easy in (e.g. frozen pizza, pasta and jars of sauce) helps for those nights when you really can't be bothered but need a meal on the table fast.

One of the best steps forward we've taken towards stopping the mental load falling entirely to me is a shared calendar so we can see each other's schedules. It means Hubby can't claim that I never told him about event X. We have a 'control centre' inside our mug cupboard (sounds odd but its because I hate visual clutter. Locating it in one of the most used cupboards in the house means we still see it multiple times a day). We have a paper calendar containing all birthdays, term dates bin days, appointments, and reminders of key things happening that month (e.g. sort MOT by date X). Next to this is a small magnetic whiteboard where we write our meal plan for the week and list anything that we need to pick up when we do the next shop. Inside the tea & coffee cupboard there is a pin board (made by sticking cork placemats up with double sided tape). Here I stick to do lists for the week - if hubby can see it, he's far more likely to take on a task without me having to ask/delegate/nag/remind.

think about tasks you can batch to save future you some time - e.g. why go to the shop to buy 1 birthday card when you can go armed with a list and buy all of the cards that you will need for the next 6 - 12 months? If you can afford to, buy loo roll / cleaning supplies / toiletries in bulk so it's one less thing to worry about.

Definitely meal planning with some back-ups that everyone likes, quick and easy etc.

Plan laundry - when you buy new sheets, towels, socks or whatever, think about washing and matching them. We only have white sheets and towels now. Everyone has different socks, but they only have those socks iyswim - so all the plain black socks belong to X and, as they're all the same, they just pair up.

Declutter - I'm a bit evangelical about this, but it's the thing that has made the biggest difference. the fact that everything fits in the storage we have and that everything has a home. Not 100% there yet, but getting closer.

Yes to anibendod's suggestions - automated deliveries of essentials. Somewhere to store a spare bag of this and a box of that. A box of cards and wrapping paper, spare bulbs, batteries, fuses etc - anything that reduces the 'must do that today' list.

As far as cooking goes? Im part of the air fryer brigade. Bloody love mine, had my original one for 6 years and he served me well before my heating element started to pack up. If your not sure, id say start with a cheaper one and invest in a dearer one once youre hooked. Saves time, electric and so much less faf

I took all my husbands socks to the charity shop, and bought 14 prs of identical black ones, and 14prs of identical beige ones. Saves so much time.

I tackle one thing a day that will make a massive difference, eg yesterday, it was the fridge. Today it was the kitchen surfaces including window sills, tiles and cooker top. I also get my eldest to chip in, so I’ll load the washing machine, they’ll hang up, I’ll fold and put away. Re fridge, they’ll take all the food out, I’ll clean it thoroughly (takes an hour 😭) and they’ll put the food back in.

Ruthlessly decluttering & TOMM (The organised mum method) has done wonders for me!

I think I’m pretty organised, although my perfectionist DH disagrees. I do things like:

1. Cleaner once a month. They do a great clean and everything else is a cat’s lick. iRobot most days.

2. I give my 2 teens a short list of chores to do everyday. Also, they have regular things to do e.g. DC2 empties dishwasher every day.

3. Teach your DC to cook. My eldest cooks at least 3 meals a day, the other one is learning. DH cooks at weekends.

4. DC have to tidy their rooms thoroughly once a week.

5. Always have a charity bag in the go. Declutter as you go. Once full, drop it off. Same for food bank, don’t keep stuff. Someone else can use it.

6. Don’t have loads of stuff. I’m running down all toiletries and cleaning goods. Less stuff = less cleaning and poor stock control is wasting money.

7. Batch cook. I recently bought Pyrex dishes that are cooler to freezer. We now have great home cooked meals in the freezer ready to go.

8. I’m in the middle of creating a list of 100 healthy(ish) recipes. Sounds like a faff but it is taking no time. I’m on holiday now and will pick it up when I get back. I basically flicked through my recipe books and wrote down the title, book and page of things we’ll like and put it on a spreadsheet under headings like chicken, fish, veggie. I think this will take out the angst of what to eat.

9. Finally, the most productive thing I’m doing at the moment is getting up earlier. I used to get up at 6.30 to leave for work at 7.15. Now I get up at 0600 and put on a wash, tidy up the kitchen, remove dried washing, get my packed lunch together instead of picking unhealthy options in my canteen. It has made a massive difference to my organisation.

Poor DC1. They cook 3 meals a week, not a day. Please don’t call SS.

All term dates and important school dates are put in my work calendar as soon as I get them.

DH has a spreadsheet for food shopping. We eat the same meals a lot.

Lists on my phone.
Cleaner.
Online shopping.

This fantastic! Keep them coming!! I have found my people 🤗

I make enough ham or cheese rolls for everyone s packed lunch for the week and freeze them. Whoever needs one can grab one in the morning and add crisps fruit etc. The roll is defrosted by lunchtime.

In terms of tech, shared Notes on an iPhone.

For example I share a Shopping List with my husband. If something is due to run out or we want to get something on the next shop, it goes on the list. If any of us is popping to the shops we check the list and pick up the item. This tends to be a list of items (nouns).

Another shared note is House Jobs. Something breaks and needs fixing, or an appointment needs to be made. This tends to be a list of actions (verbs).

Yes to most of the above suggestions.

We've started using the Paprika meal planning app. Has all our recipes, and shopping list. Both DH & I have it and it's made meal planning & shopping a lot easier. It's still not my favourite job, but not one I dread. It sorts your shopping list into the relevant supermarket aisle (although it's American so squash would probably go in fresh produce...). Quite a few features I've never even used, eg I think you can set menus so you could have a weekly / monthly menu that repeats.

I did a big declutter over several months about a year ago, and it made a huge, huge difference. Now I focus on maintaining the decluttering.

Robot Hoover is great. Also a spray mop - it's so easy to use that I actually use it. Bonus is that the kids love using them.

We have a meal planning routine, days that DH is in the office (twice a week - long commute) we have a “dump dinner” (slow cooker meal prepped and frozen so it just needs to be dumped in the slow cooker) one day and either takeaway or ready meal the other, days he’s at home we usually have Gousto meals and then whatever we fancy at the weekend. Im currently studying for a professional qualification and the most important thing for me has been to set aside specific time to do my work, no interruptions, no excuses, same time every week.