What one thing do you do to increase quality in your life?

[Springhasspung]

What one thing do you do to increase your energy, or improve the quality of your day, I'm trying to steal little ideas that could make my life with two dcs under 5 and a busy DH tips are appreciated!

Get things ready for the morning the night before.
Clean kitchen, packed lunches, clothes out for me and the DCs.

Watching with interest!

The best thing I ever did to improve my quality of life was learn to cook.
It makes such a difference to be able to have tasty food whenever I like.

A close 2nd is the flylady

Keep a clean and organised house. I can't function if the house is messy, and doing it every day takes less time overall than doing it once a week.

It's a bit sad but my roomba robot Hoover has transformed my house.

A quick 5 minute run around by all of us in the morning picking up toys etc before we leave and then set him off. The kids always help with this as they know he "eats" their toys.

You then come home and the house is tidy and clean - breakfast crumbs etc are gone.

When his battery died and was waiting for a new one I couldn't believe the difference - coming home to a mess is something that annoys me. Also found because we weren't setting him off we didn't bother to have that quick tidy up.

Definitely agree with NoIamAngela about getting organised the night before.

And from the minimalist threads here, figuring out that storage is not the solution, less stuff is. I like this blog: Slow Your Home

I have two coffees if I fancy it

I use the gym crèche three times a week.

I keep my nails shellacked so I always feel groomed.

Ooh and after the workout, I shower at the gym and sometimes even dry my hair. Just helps me feel a bit less bedraggled.

Keeping on top of the housework. It really makes me better equipped to deal with the day.

Doing lunches and sorting clothes the night before.

Making time to nap during the day .

Get up early enough to shower and do my hair and makeup - makes a big difference to me.

That slow your home blog is great. Could be just what I need to help declutter my house.

It is Eeb. She makes a lot of sense to me, and I've been able to let go of soo much stuff. I wish I had counted it actually, as I think it easily hit the 2000 items mark!

I think storage is the answer, I'm much happier with having all my stuff organised than getting rid of it, I love being able to produce anything we need for DIY, craft etc at the drop of a hat. I do declutter, but part of the benefit is that it allows me to buy things that I didn't previously think I had space for, such as a stand mixer. No minimalism in our house.

YY to getting ready the night before.

Planning weekends away with the girls at least 3 times a year for a break

I only realised a couple of months ago that my gym has a spa and it's included in my membership. So two or three times a week I have a sauna, steam, hydro-pool and swim session.

My Roberts radio. Love it. Soothes, cheers, diverts. Happy mum happy family!

Other boosts I found invaluable:

A decent electric toothbrush. Look good feel good.

Most of all relocating south again. As they say, the heart knows what the heart wants.

trying to take a tiny bit of time out each day even if that is just 15 minutes for a coffee and sit and stare.

Sometimes I just allow myself to sit down and ignore the washing, cooking and cleaning.

Reading.

Listening to the radio 4 play.

Listeing to audio books in the car (particularly good for books you might not otherwise choose - I use my library here and order all those 'I should read' books).

Walking the dog.

Always have a to do list. The feeling of crossing things off is delicious. Also, include things you want to do, as well as stuff you have to do.

Have a bath with a good book if I'm feeling frazzled and need 30 mins to myself.

Keep the house decluttered - all my clothes fit and work together making dressing easy, I can find what I need to when I need to, stiff isn't lying around making the house untidy.

Occasionally, coffee and a good people watching session alone in the coffee shop down the road- bliss! :)

Making a real effort to get to bed at a decent time rather than faffing about doing trivial stuff when I could should be sleeping.

drink decent coffee by day, and decent wine by night.

Bought a dyson handheld so I can clean the stairs. DH is notorious for never cleaning them and I can't use the Hetty for longer than 5 mins due to back problems. Getting a tumble dryer so we don't have wet washing hanging around the house (just dry ones instead ).

Drinking coffee and joining the gym.

Stick classic fm on and sit down with a cup of strong tea

Have set days for doing chores otherwise i find i just go round in circles

Once a week i treat myself to a coffee and cake at a garden centre or tea rooms and sit and read my book

Saying 'No' to things I don't want to do.

Decluttering the house - was really ruthless and bought storage ( wicker baskets inc one in bathroom for towels from asda, wicker baskets for toys. Expedit etc from ikea )

Bought a label maker and vacuum bagged stuff and labelled everything

Also bought luxurious throws and cushions for the sofas and I buy flowers once every ten dad for the main room so after baby goes to bed I light candles and it feels nice

Bought expensive mugs for my tea! They make me smile everyday. They were a treat but I love them

Also I batch cook a lot and sometimes buy microwave rice so some night I have a break from cooking and catch up on things.

Oh yes, I treated myself to a hotel swimming pool membership