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 😂

Casters. I've attached casters to heavy furniture and now I can just tug it out of the way. I particularly love the ones on my TV unit as I'm forever needing to get to the plugs and tech behind, and my little table in the lounge which is used mostly for jigsaws, drawing and solo dinners. I can wheel that table away from the window or in front of the TV so easily.
I've only done it to things that will remain stable with casters on, so not wardrobes or anything like that.
And I've switched the feet on my bed for gliders so I can move it more easily to hoover underneath. It's still heavy but it does move a lot easier now.

Morrisons do sliced red onion and I freeze my own. I also freeze half jars of pesto and half tins of coconut milk ( in plastic containers)

Lakelend clingfilm and baking parchment are the only good options left now that Waitrose have changed theirs to some pathetic alternative.

A bank of narrow bottom cupboards in the kitchen. When we moved in, I thoght what a useless idea, but actually, they are brilliant, my small appliances are now all 'at the front' so I never have to empty a cupbaord to get to the one I want.

A handy husband who tackles all the running repairs - lights, silicone, grout, etc, almost before I've noticed them. It helps that he WFH.

Cling film - try Costco if you or someone you know has a card. They are big rolls that last forever and cut beautifully! (Their foil is a thing of beauty as well!).

I was influenced by an advert online to buy those rubber scrubbing toilet brushes, you know the slim ones that are more flexible to get under the rim etc? Well they’re crap, but I paid £20 each for them and have four toilets. I’ve been inspired by this thread to throw them out and go back to the £2 regular ones and just chuck them out more often.

Have spent the best part of two hours on this thread, which I had planned to spend cleaning...I feel this is an equally valid use of my time! I am a listaholic and love pretty/multi-compartment storage (our coffee table is a replica spice chest) so already do a few things, but have now got loads of new ideas to take away, thank you everyone. Also thanks for the shared experiences, good to know other people also struggle with best efforts being thwarted by other household members putting things next to/near/on top of storage!

Snagging tasks I need to get round to: touching up paint scrapes/gaps, fixing unstuck tiles, hooks for dressing gowns (currently on a random nail), lots of webmin to close old email and shopping accounts, kitchenware refresh, culling and labelling bedding.

Things that have been revolutionary for me:

• organising domestic admin in folders, and keeping the car one in the car
• keeping a winter box in the car
• putting candles, torches, batteries, fairy lights etc in an easy to find place (hall cupboard)
• also leaving fairy lights up all year round
• seasonal clothes being swapped out and stored in vacuum bags - I have little clothing storage space and find both switchovers oddly joyous
• taking clothes for mending/alteration to a seamstress - done properly rather than my hamfisted efforts for very low cost

The big one was releasing myself from the previous owners' style. The people we bought the house from had strong emotional attachment to the house, which we felt obliged to honour, and generously left some nice furniture; but also, furnishings, knick-knacks and a garden scheme that weren't us at all. Getting rid of the tacky lights and curtains I hated, the stair runner that didn't fit and resisted hoovering, changing the planting, all did wonders for my happiness at home.

How big is this storage thingummy? Wrapping paper currently spills comedically out of a cupboard whenever I open the door, because the rolls are slightly too long for the shelf. I could do with tidy storage, but worry that I'd exceed capacity! Tape, scissors and ribbons all have other homes already.

Also, off topic, but I really like your carpet! Looking for similar for our stairs soon.

@SquirrelStateOfMind - this is the link for the Wrapping Paper Box.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Really-Useful-Wrapping-Organiser-Container/dp/B01E970L1M/ref=sr_1_16?crid=37OD1XFRKQO56&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.RJGT5d2q0x-FWol9r2kDcDKWsjnPA9fjI-AtD9LY3RrfxMT9z5fTCViMIWt38klvvi8F_krZHbDNjTLP3iuSjxNwQtt691bBhVjWUFd96EUULv0629ogR2V8CzVtAbUGNq5LCIcyoPoFbhgt_rr5VqYPjfQoJjHgMhsVmPFuyV_DsqK-X7LLSpagEDdqk3X1TaQNjgn__mqASi8R6Iye5nDpmsWTMBUUUUM4-EqCyX-L9wk2ThP-IFXAV5sN2Xrx62yQSPso3y39rDoOGHC0YnhIfkrUFU0QIk1yKu-8mbI.o0Vgk4hL3qiSSQC_6Ittu0lbKIoMwzvMg1JncVBvNYs&dib_tag=se&keywords=wrapping%2Bpaper%2Bstorage&qid=1789814778&sbm=true&setroute=search&sprefix=Wrapping%2Bpaper%2Caps%2C124&sr=8-16&th=1

It is a Rug, not a carpet but came from Hare & Wilde https://hareandwilde.co.uk.

Will and Laura who own the business are really lovely and if you wanted something in the same pattern (I don’t think it would be safe for stairs because of the weave) I am sure they would try to source it for you.

You rewired a switch????

I was very pleased to find a magnetic lint bin recently that attaches itself to the side of the dryer. No more tumbleweeds of lint wafting around the laundry.

I'm another one who has only one variant of socks -- all the same black kind except for my grippy yoga socks which are hot pink. Speaking of socks, I put all of the socks in a laundry bag before popping them in the wash. No more vanishing socks or clean socks falling on the floor during transfer between washer and dryer. Makes them much easier to pair up once dry as well since they are all together.

Tongs. We never had enough so I bought like 3 pairs and it was amazing. No longer am I scrabbling around for a clean set, they are always available.

I have been finding joy in getting rid of the mismatched collections of things and buying a matching set in a kind I actually like. So far, this has applied to coathangers (the old horrid ones left marks in the shoulders of my tops, now they are properly shaped wooden ones), cutlery (battered and bent mixed varieties replaced with one matching kind), mugs (mismatched branded tat, now a lovely blue-purple stoneware set), glass tupperware.

Only buy wrapping paper that can suit for multiple occasions eg. gold stripes or silver spots can be used for christmas, birthdays, weddings. I keep it together with a stash of blank cards, a pen and colourful ribbons, all ready to go.

I use a plastic pill organiser to keep my earrings together when travelling. Pairs stay together and they cant get crushed.

I use an app called CopyMeThat (although there are other similar ones) to store all my recipes. It can convert my selected meal plan for the week into a shopping list. I then check the pantry and copy what I need to buy directly into the online grocery delivery site, and schedule delivery for Friday so the fridge is full ready for the weekend. In the grocery app I keep a saved list so I can tell when the more expensive things I buy go on special and stock up.

Thanks to this thread I am very excitedly off to get a new set of oven decals from amazon.

organising domestic admin in folders, and keeping the car one in the car

As most of my documents are digital I do this on my laptop and have folders created for insurance, DH's health stuff, important documents, recipes, utility bills, receipts and guarantees, hobby groups etc.

It makes it much easier to find stuff because I can just enter what I am looking for in the search function instead of scrabbling through mounds of paperwork.

I would hesitate to keep anything in the car in case of a break in or the car getting stolen.

Thanks for this thread am now immersed in Cookery and household management by Elizabeth Craig.

I've added this to my list of books to look for at Charity Shops and second hand book shops!

I have just bought a robot vacuum off the back of this thread . Costco has £120 off on the website just now

My oven decals have been dispatched and I keep checking the tracking progress - fingers crossed they are good 🤞

probably not the brilliant ideas so far, but given I’ve moved into a one bedroom bungalow I’ve had to declutter several times over the 20 or so years. But I had a plastic box with tacky christening gifts, out they went apart from the Royal, Doulton money boxes. Also shredded a lot of previous ex husbands wedding photos, only keeping those with family in. I now have an empty storage box!

I have taken to throwing things away when they annoy me. Partner less socks have one week and a full wash cycle then they go out. Anything that gets left lying around it ruthlessly binned. Things im
keeping because someone gave them to me… binned. I feel ruthless but liberated !

@coronafiona I think that point about not keeping things because we were given them is important. Many of us have gained "stuff" from previous generations which can be problematic.

As a family we've stopped buying each other "tat" we don't really buy birthday presents other than for children. Grown up children get cash to spend on what they want

For Christmas we've moved to Secret Santa for one side of the family - £15 max and must be consumable. For the other side of the family we build hampers of nice things again all consumable and we reuse the hampers each year!

I try not to buy tat and anything I win in raffles or similar mainly gets donated back to that or the next raffle.

Awful things. They work by creating an abrasive paste of micro/nano plastics. Which as PP said can damage the surface you're cleaning as well as being dreadful for the environment.

Should be banned.

It's not hard.

I had a 2-way landing/hall switch that was only 2-way if one end was in the correct position. It created a lot of unnecessary running up and down the stairs. Just needed 2 wires swapping over. Took 5 mins.

Dymo tape. All my jars of pasta etc are labelled with the name and cooking time, herbs and spices are labelled to be readable in their racks etc

Throw away everything that is plastic. You will be surprised by how little you have left.

Life is easier, prettier, more comfortable, and healthier when you don’t have plastic things around you.

Sticky hooks. The doors in my new-build home are hollow so can’t take drilling. I now how have sticky hooks instead where I can hang towels, coats, dressing gowns, bags etc … helping me be slightly less untidy.

I like my OXO spray mop , too, which only needs refilling occasionally, and means Im more likely to keep on top of any spillages, paw prints and the like.

I also like the little plastic basket I bought to put on the small occasional table next to my sofa. I use it to store my tv remote, headphones, notebook, diary, pens and the other bits and bobs that seem to accumulate on the sofa. Means everything is to hand and not spread everywhere in a random mess. Cheap but a great solution!

I keep a list of what's in the freezer by writing it on the door in wipeable felt pen (different colours for meat, fish, veg) then I can just amend or wipe it off as I use things. Our fridge/freezer's in the kitchen so even if it looks a bit messy, no one sees it but family!

Uh oh, a dangerous website of lovely things!! Thank you; am sure I can find a home for a rug like that and do something different with the stairs. Our house is all about the textures.