What small household fixes have made everyday life noticeably easier?

[HardyPinkPanda]

I’m between jobs at the moment and have decided to use some of the time to basically snag my own house.

I’m going through every room and making a note of all the little things that have mildly irritated me for YEARS, but which I’ve somehow just accepted as part of life. You know the sort of thing - not actual problems, just things you regularly curse under your breath and then continue living with for another five years.

So far I have:

1. Ruthlessly slimmed down the kitchen cupboards so I could lose one cupboard and fit a tumble dryer. Every winter I normally spend approximately 46% of my waking hours hanging damp clothes around the house and rotating them like prize livestock, so I’m disproportionately excited about this.

2. Reorganised the Tupperware so every container now lives WITH ITS OWN LID. No more rummaging through 17 lids while slowly losing the will to live.

3. Thrown out about 12 random, ancient, slightly raggedy towels that had been granted permanent residency in the airing cupboard. It now has SPACE. Things are FOLDED.

4. Replaced the sieve that hasn’t had a handle since approximately 2020. Why did I just... live like that?

5. Put bigger shoe storage by the door, so we no longer have the traditional hallway shoe landslide.

6. Rewired a switch so it finally works the way you instinctively expect it to work rather than requiring a tiny moment of irritation every single time.

Honestly, none of this is exactly world peace, but the cumulative improvement to my quality of life is ridiculous. I keep thinking, WHY DID I PUT UP WITH THIS FOR SO LONG?

So humour me: what tiny, boring, seemingly insignificant thing have you changed/fixed/bought/reorganised in your house that has made you disproportionately happy?

I want the really mundane ones. The things nobody is putting on Grand Designs but which have genuinely made your day-to-day life better.

Basically, tell me what else I should be wandering around my house looking for 😂

Me again, I'm loving this discussion, thank you everyone! 👏

Lists - I have electronic lists and templates for everything, packing lists for different types of trips, lists for our Costco stocking up trips, lists for Christmas food shopping, lists of "where things live in the house" for those seasonal things I inevitably tuck away somewhere and then can't find 🙄 (just me?)

I use Evernote as I've used it for years the free version is now limited but their are other free products that do the same thing.

To do list - I drop everything i think of into a to do list and just slowly work through it.

Both of these allow my brain not to have to remember and hold information which I find really helps me.

DH who has been our main housekeeper for years keeps a list of regular tasks on the fridge, when things need descaling, a gutter that needs clearing regularly, a wall that tends to get mouldy so needs a regular check out acts as a reminder of when something was last done and when it needs doing again.

We also keep a note pad in the kitchen where we jot things that we remember that we need to do so they are visible to both of us.

It's not to add anxiety, it means we can record things and not have to use brain power to remember!

My elderly aunt has kept a household manual for years, she can tell you when she bought a washing machine in 1984 and what the serial number was! It's a great idea to record purchases, serial numbers, warranty details etc. Rather than having to drag the washing machine out to get the serial number at a later date!

This, lives in the cupboard under the stairs, stored on end.

it makes me smile every time I need to wrap something.

We are empty nesters , have 2 “spare rooms “ one for DD and one for DS
All beds have the same plain white 100% Egyptian cotton bedding
We also only have plain white towels
3 sets per bed ( possibly excessive , but we used to run a BnB and that’s what worked )
My airing cupboard looks like something out of Pinterest!

Big wooden chest by front door for outside shoes , though for some reason DH thinks beside the chest works as well as inside the chest

Totally agree with the cleaning spay , bleach etc in each loo / bathroom

Here are a few boring, easy, things I have done to make life run a bit more smoothly:

1. Colour coded socks! DH only has grey socks, mine are only black, DC’s multicoloured (or white for school). Mine and DH’s are always from the same place, so every sock can be part of a pair. Has made putting the washing away faster and less annoying when you can’t pair them.

2. I put up a small rail in DC’s room. In the evening we hang up the clothes and bits needed for the next day so that mornings are a bit quicker and involve less rummaging through drawers and mess making!

3. I set up a low cupboard containing breakfast bowls and cereals etc. That way DC can get breakfast without us as they can reach what they need.

I like the idea of a list app as I love a list! But wondering if it’s any different to the notes section of my phone that I use now?

Yeah- ours are all long gone due to my inherent clumsiness! 😂

It an a bit of an outlay but I bought a Karcher home steamer. I went round and steamed the living bejesus out everything. Walls, skirts, grout, kitchen cupboards oven. People were coming around and asking if I had painted the walls again. I sprayed upholstery cleaner on all the soft furnishings and steamed them too. Got UPVC cleaner and cleaned the window frames inside and outside. Cleaned out the shed and the garage. Organised my kitchen cupboards and bought containers for the stuff that spills everywhere. So all the flour sugar, lentils and pulses etc are in glass labelled jars (luckily my lovely neighbour was offloading a bunch of them).

I organised all my paperwork and started a proper budget. I made a spreadsheet with the dates that insurances etc renewed and added a link to where the digital doc was.

I also treated and painted about 6 metres of fencing panels before they went up.

I also took myself to M&S for a nosey and a nice cup of tea and went to the cinema!

This is one of the best thread so far on Mumsnet!

Thank you- I have just ordered one!

Probably not, Evernote allows for templates, checklists and notebooks which is funky but something more straightforward forward can work just as well. The key point is the habit of using it!

https://amzn.eu/d/0be4nsgg

enjoy ☺️

It's not your fault, if anything's inherent it's the bloody chippability (is that a word? It is now) of the glasses!

Thank you for a great thread. Buying the rack organiser now, but please could someone recommend their spray mop? Might make me clean the floor more often

I was once told on a training course not to have a to do list but to have a schedule.
So anything that needs to be done goes into my iPhone calendar at a time when I know I have sufficient time to do it.
recurring tasks are in the calendar as well.

Worth a try! Or is there a way to screw doors on somehow?

I used fabric hemmed along a stretchy curtain wire to hide the washing machine and open under sink cupboard in our first house. I did find the washing machine bit a little annoying as it kept getting trapped in the washing machine door.... When it was first done and looked all crisp and clean though I was very pleased with it.

I too have a wee label printer and I’m really not sure why I’ve not labelled the plugs yet, especially as I did that very thing at work a while back. I bought a wicker basket a while back to store them in a I was fed up of the large, unruly pile on the floor by the table but I don’t think DP was thrilled having to go through them all yesterday to find the one he wanted. I’ll get on to it!

wWhat I’ve done recently is reorganise drawer storage so it makes sense. For example, in a five drawer unit I had outdoor stuff (hats, gloves, etc) which gets used rarely at the top and cloths (which I get out multiple times a day) at the bottom, which meant much bending down every day. Now the cloths are the the top making it much easier to get them. I also put all mine and my DD’s hair and nail stuff in another drawer so that, technically, we don’t have bobbles lying around everywhere as there’s a place for them. Only when I did that did I realise just how many brushes we have between us!

I am intrigued by clothes steamers, does it make the garment damp? Cannot do delicates? What sort do you have?
I do iron but it is my least favourite job so if a handheld steamer can replace it I want one!

No it doesn’t really make the garment damp. You can wear it immediately after. Steaming is much better for delicates. I bought mine for a silk dress but we use it almost every day now. We also have a hook on the bedroom and steam shirts etc rather than iron.

Okay here goes, trying to think of things which haven't already been mentioned but the thread is moving fast!

The toaster lives on a big tray inside a cupboard and only comes out when required. Tray catches spare crumbs. Saves space on the counter.
Have a basket by the front door for seasonal extras. Sunglasses and hats in the warm, hats and gloves in the cold.

Retractable multi charger in the kitchen means no more multiple cables lying around

Idk if this counts but DH and I have a Google sheet for 'house things' which has tabs such as
'where things are in the attic'
'broken stuff we need to fix'
'who runs our utilities'

And a variety of packing lists for winter/summer weekends away, camping trips, that sort of thing. We update this one when we're away if we've forgotten something so we remember next time.

Means we rarely have to think/remember stuff, can just check the sheet.

Have another one for the weekly shops. Have meals on a 4 week rotation, one set of lists for spring/summer and another for autumn/winter. Can obviously mix it up but the lists are there if wanted.

Such a useful thread!

No it doesn’t make clothes damp and I do delicates with it. I have this one …

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B08CXRBL92?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

it’s nothing fancy but it does the job and I use it daily. I just hang the item up and it only takes a minute or so when heated up.

@poweredbyteaandtoast

These are the ones I have but you can get similar better now with slightly more protruding spout (more space for your hand). The large bottle mouth is so convenient if you hate refilling and spilling soap everywhere.

Similar to this I have tied a tick remover to shelf next to the sofa with a long ribbon. Every time the cat jumps up and I find a tick I can easily remove it.

Doing something similar with the remote would be sensible.

I’m afraid that this is what haopens to the boxes for clean laundry in our house. It worked for a few weeks then all went to pot.

Motion sensor ceiling lights in the utility room tiny dressing room and front cloaks cupboard. Best idea ever.
Wall mounted, discrete, low down under the towel radiator, an extension lead plug for my hairdryer.

DH hasn’t spotted it yet cos there would be ructions 🤣🤣
They manage on the continent not to electrocute themselves sooo….