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 😂

Agree. Can’t stand margarine -Anchor spreadable tastes likes butter /world rather have this than messing around cutting to putting in crocks etc.

It sounds very interesting - do you have a picture, please?

This is amazing! How do they work and have you got a link?

I do that too - a lifesaver when it got to mid 30s as it’s much cooler under the trees.

A couple of small things:

1. plug in nightlights on the landing and in the hall
2. added a gas meter key to the back door keys
3. glasses and sunglasses all kept in a container by the front door (I was always trying to find them!)
4. charger for the hoovers kept next to the hoovers but away from sight rather than permanently plugged in on the worksurface
5. cork tiles on my office floor as I work standing up. Just cheap ones I put together myself.

It is I'm afraid. It falls into nova category 4. It isn't a criticism it's just a fact. I am sitting here eating a bag of Discos so Im no angel when it comes to UPFs but spreadable butter is a UPF. Switching to pure block butter is a positive change for ones diet.

On the subject of nightlights in the hall, (another) one of our WiFi repeaters is plugged into a socket just above floor level, outside the bathroom. The light on the front is in the form of a blue ring, which gives a lovely glow at night - so it’s dual purpose. The model number is RE550, for anyone interested.

If your dining table is a little small for Xmas Day, you don’t need to change it. Order a piece of thick chipboard with slightly larger dimensions and cover with a nice tablecloth. Even 20cm extra all round will make a huge difference to the numbers you can fit around it on the big day. Store it upright in the shed / garage for the rest of the year.

As I’ve mentioned the C Word…this one was my late father’s idea, for a large room or a low ceiling area. Screw a hook into a beam (or joist above the ceiling) where you want your Christmas tree. Then choose a tree that’s almost as tall as your floor to ceiling height. Wrap wire around the top of the tree, add an angel and exit the wire though the back of her dress, onto the hook, thus hanging the tree. Arrange your bucket below it so it’s easy to keep watered. The genius is that the tree is always perfectly straight.
They did this for 45 years, the tree was always a welcoming sight in the (lowish) hallway of their cottage. When we sold it, I made sure that I explained to the estate agent why there was a small hook in a random beam, in the hope that the new owners would continue the tradition - although I suspect they’re messing around with stands etc.

You are a star, that's so kind of you to link it! I've just ordered the 2000w version, so I'm looking forward to no tangled wires now! It says on the blurb that it has a flexible coiled cable. Happy Days!

Ok I’ve now added WiFi repeater and retractable multi charger to the Amazon wishlist and I’m sure there was something else above!

I was changing the bed today, and I thought I’d mention my V shaped pillow (often sold as ‘nursing pillow’. I’ve had one for absolutely years, wouldn’t be without it because it’s the only way I can be comfortable reading in bed. The only thing I’ve ever nursed is a book! 😆

I read before I go to sleep every night andI don’t know how people manage without one, I chuck it off the bed to go to sleep but it’s so comfortable for reading. I have been known to take it on holiday with me.

Re spreadable butters, there are some (all the ones I've noticed are Irish or Northern Irish) that are just butter. No oil added at all. I think they may whip a bit of air into it to reduce the hardness.

You guys have given me the inspiration and motivation I need to get some jobs done around the house I have been putting off for way to long.

This week so far I have decluttered under kitchen sink a bag full of cleaning stuff I have not used in years and ordered from amazon a shelf unit that is made to fit on one side of the cupboard. Once it arrives I will be able to arrange the cupboard better and use its full height rather than just the space on the base.

Early today I took all the pans, baking trays, sieves, frying pans, woks, saucepans etc out of the two busting full and messy cupboards they were kept. Turns out I had three sieve, three woks and 6 frying pans of different sizes, not to mention several unusable slightly rusty baking trays. After a sort through and being realistic about what it is we actually use I now have a black sack full of stuff for scrap metal bin at the recycling centre.

I have also repurposed a plate drying rack that is not longer needed to use as a saucepan lid holder. Now everything fits in just one cupboard and looks so neat and tidy. Not to mention I can see and access everything.

All my kids have their own washing basket in their room. Each basket in washed and dried individually so I don't have to sort through it to work out who things belong too. Apart from white shirts which are put to one side and all washed together to make a decent load. These I write their name on label with a sharpie.

It's nova category 2 and not UPF.

They are UPF and Nova 4. Butter itself is Nova 2. With the exception of a couple of spreadable such as president 100% butter spreadable butter, they are ultraprocessed and contain water, oils and colourants at the very least but most also contain emulsifiers and stabilisers. Lurpak spreadable contains seed oils and colourants, Anchor spreadable contains seed oils and colourants, Things like utterly butterly barely resemble butter.

But thats fine, you do you. If you like them eat them. Most people's diets are a balance and a series of trade offs. After my salt and vinegar discos at lunchtime I have just had four Cadbury's chocolate fingers so, as I said, I am hardly an angel.

Did anyone ever mix olive oil with their butter for a home made spreadable butter?!! Would that even work.

I just leave my Nova 2 (every day's a schoolday..) butter out on the worktop. Kerrygold is my favourite now. Like a pp, I cut the large block into 4, use one, freeze the other three, and use them as needed. Defrosted the night before obv. 😊

The butter I mentioned is just butter and rapeseed oil, and the oil is nova 2. That's a fact.

Mine are all connected to amazon echo. Its lovely I can turn single lights, groups of lights or the whole house on or off either vocally at home or through my phone. I use the plugs for side lighting rather than the bulbs, they are cheaper and I can use the plugs and bulbs I like. My remote garage doors are plugged into remote plugs so If I turn the plugs off (they are up on a rafter) then no one can open the doors even if they have a garage remote which would work.

Correct. Nobody is disputing that rapeseed oil is nova 2. Butter is also nova 2.

When rapeseed oil is blended with other ingredients it becomes Nova 4 which is UPF.
(Edited since I'm not sure how reliable that website I linked to is)

Anyway we are derailing the thread. AS long as youre happy thats fine

Can we move on beyond what is upf and what isn’t and just give each other tips that are really simple, cost little yet for some reason we left for months/years as per the spirit of the Op? 🙏🏼

Yes please.

I bought a jar of coloured elastic bands recently. I've been wrapping lots of Xmas presents and found if I had an awkward shaped one a pretty elastic band could be used if I just scrunched the paper together and put some ribbon round it.

Christmas present wrapping in September?!

Today I sewed a bit of elastic on the hand towels for my bathroom so they don’t keep falling off the hooks (hooks that I stuck on the wall 🤣) very happy with myself

When I have washing that needs to be dried but can't go in the tumble drier, I stand the airer in the bath and put the wet clothes on it. It doesn't take up floor space and doesn't look a mess.

We have an airer that’s made to go over the bath

And.... I have put a wooden cutlery sorter in one of the kitchen drawers and store little balls of string, safety pins, pens, drawing pins, rulers and pencils etc in the different sections. Much neater than just bunging everything into the drawer.

i need that for my junk drawer! Why did I not think of it? This is the kind of obvious tip I need