What do you do to make your life easier?

rowsew

Because I have had serious back problems I have had to limit some of the things I used to do.
1. Ironing - don't do any at all. My husband does all his work shirts and the children's school uniform ones. All the washing is hung on the line outside or airer inside when it's raining, so often it just needs shaking out and folding. Nobody has accused me of looking untidy, so I don't feel bad!
2. Shopping - I have to walk everywhere, which is fine, but I can't carry very much without being in serious pain, so I have a trendy shopping trolley and have done since back surgery days. It means I can only put in what I can drag up our hill, which is also good for the budget. It also takes the strain when I take the children and their thirty books back to the Library every week!
3. Food - I meal plan - this really helps me, I don't have to think too hard about what to make each day, especially when I've been at school with a bunch of 5 yr olds, or when I have an assignment due for Uni. It also means I can plan ahead for some of the cooking, to use the oven more efficiently, keep my standing time to a minimum, or to batch cook and freeze ahead. Also helps my budget as I am not wasting food, what I have is store cupboard stuff or planned for food.
4. Cheapo blackboard and corkboard in the kitchen (stuck on with no more nails!) - these just help in the general 'being organised' category. I write things we run out of on the blackboard to organise the grocery list, or urgent reminders like 'check the meter reading tomorrow'. The children's school lunch schedule is pinned on the cork board along with the calendar, tel. number for log man, vouchers or coupons, tide tables, notes for school that we need to deal with etc.

Hope all this helps

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

First thing read my signature.

Day four tv free.

rowsew

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

First thing read my signature.

Day four tv free.

More time for MSE :rotfl:

banwa

Great thread. I am going to do the Christmas reminder thing!


Here's what we have done

1. In the living room, we put in wooden floor and have a leather coach so cleaning up the cat hair of two cats is a 2 minute job every day
2. We have a squeegee in the bathroom to clean the tiles after a shower. Takes 10 seconds and means the bathroom always looks clean.
3. Bought a really really good iron. Pressurised steam and all that. Makes such a difference
4. Both now have jobs that provide a laundered uniform. Don't have to buy work clothes. Dont have the wash work clothes. Can rock up to work a right scruff and it doesn't matter. I LOVE it:D
5. Use the iphone's (which work pay for) calendar. I am much more organised and reliable these days.
6. Did up the house. Got a new kitchen with more cupboards. And drawers that didn't fall apart when you open them. It was 5 years ago but it made such a difference, I still marvel at it.
7. Bought a bag with little zip pockets for keys and phone. And use them.
8. Made up my mind which brands I think might be more expensive but are still better value. Ie even when on offer Andrex might be dearer than Aldi loo roll, but it lasts longer and is nicer. It makes my life easier because I don't have to use loo roll that feels like a chore. And I enjoy looking for them on offer. Other brands include fairy, ariel and mitchum.I might be waffling now:D.

aeb_2

Great thread

I too make a shopping list on a home made black board. Before shopping I take a quick photo on my mobile - saves me copying it out

msgnomey

Some great ideas everyone

thanks for sharing

Now all I need to do is actually follow some of them!!

angela110660

When I have been to the gym, I empty the bag of gym wear to either wash or air dry and replace it with the second set of stuff I have so I am ready to go next visit. Saves time and effort

Rummer

I have started a home management folder and I am going to get my house in order

Every weekend I prepare all the clothes for the week which saves time in the mornings and helps ti keep our family happy. I also order my food shopping online as I have found it helps me to spend far less (even with the delivery fee) however I am hoping to cut this down to once a fortnight instead of weekly.

I also buy things in bulk where I can so that I do not have to think about them again for a while.

What I need to do now though is to spread my chores etc throughout the week instead of doing them all at the weekend :rotfl:

sunflower_2

msgnomey wrote: »

Some great ideas everyone

thanks for sharing

Now all I need to do is actually follow some of them!!

i couldnt have said better myself :beer:

PLEASE keep them coming - i need to organise my life

bossymoo

In my hallway I have a storage unit with 4 deep baskets. The bottom two house the kiddies shoes, one each. There is enough room for a pair of wellies, a pair of trainers and a pair of smart shoes. They are 2 and nearly 4 and they know where the shoes go now. One of the top baskets is for hats and mitts (or sunhats etc in summer). The other is for spare slippers for guests.

I have a set of hooks behind one door where all the keys are hung.

I have more hooks just inside the garage door, kiddies nursery bags live here. Their library book bags hang on the garage door so we don't forget to return them, but we get to read them too!

The garage is our playroom, and has storage with more baskets, one for toy cars, one for dolly things, one for happyland stuff etc. they have a box for jigsaws and a craft box. They have a small leatherette storage box each in the living room. DS has a wooden train track in his, as he likes to build it in lr, and DD has dressing up stuff in hers.

Storage - a place for everything, and everything in its place. This makes my life easier.