Changes you've made to make life easier

[NHdisneylover]

I do this too! Everything is put away or put in the laundry immediately, before anyone sits down or goes onto another activity. Getting it all done at once makes it way less stressful.

I thought of another one that works for me - I keep literally nothing in my car. I don't allow anything to be left behind when we leave the car except for my daughter's carseat and a box of tissues. The reduction in stress that I feel by having a clean car all the time is wonderful!

We also leave the car basically empty. We keep 4 shopping bags in the trunk, a coin purse stocked with coins in the glove box and a little case with tissues, pen, hair brush, pain killers and band iads in the passenger door---but otherwise nothing is EVER left in the car when we arrive home.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yep, I forgot to add we each have our own king sized comforters!!!

MJ

I know mine I use is a king (and we have a king-sized bed) but my husband's might be a queen or full which is funny because I'm 5 ft 3 and he's over 6 ft 5 . I'm a total blanket hog and end up wrapping myself up in it.

It's been separate blankets since we met

 

[DisneyHardin]

We also leave the car basically empty. We keep 4 shopping bags in the trunk, a coin purse stocked with coins in the glove box and a little case with tissues, pen, hair brush, pain killers and band iads in the passenger door---but otherwise nothing is EVER left in the car when we arrive home.

I do this too. I don't leave ANYTHING in my car. It might get dirty with dirt, but my car is never cluttered.

 

[chiisai]

10 minute declutter of main level before kids go to bed. Everyone in family helps put things away.

 

[ten6mom]

I’m with you. I like the top sheet. Sometimes on hot days, it’s enough.

I live in Phoenix and am a day sleeper, so for me, it's FREQUENTLY enough! I don't know how anyone can sleep under even a lightweight blanket in summer!

 

[barkley]

I have two different friends who have run into bad luck on vacations with prescription meds, made worse because the actual prescription bottles were at home. Added to your routine I would include snapping a picture with your phone of the label of each script so you have it with you on vacation in the event of a problem -- especially when doctor's office is closed.

i get what you are saying, and if we are traveling anywhere that's not within reasonable driving distance home i will often opt to schlep the actual scrip bottles but i learned on a prior trip out of state that in the event of a not having the scrip drugs i am up s--- creek because despite having the scrip with a nationwide pharmacy chain the state i was in didn't allow out of state scrips to be refilled AND unless a doctor has out of state licensing for the particular state a person is traveling to they can't call in a new scrip. fortunately the scrip wasn't one that had to be taken on a daily basis b/c my only recourse would have been to go to an e/r and hope i could make arrangements for a local scrip.

now when it comes to controlled medications-those we always take in scrip bottles (and we've found that most pharmacies if told of travel plans will provide very small travel sized bottles labeled and ready to go).

 

[cabanafrau]

i get what you are saying, and if we are traveling anywhere that's not within reasonable driving distance home i will often opt to schlep the actual scrip bottles but i learned on a prior trip out of state that in the event of a not having the scrip drugs i am up s--- creek because despite having the scrip with a nationwide pharmacy chain the state i was in didn't allow out of state scrips to be refilled AND unless a doctor has out of state licensing for the particular state a person is traveling to they can't call in a new scrip. fortunately the scrip wasn't one that had to be taken on a daily basis b/c my only recourse would have been to go to an e/r and hope i could make arrangements for a local scrip.

now when it comes to controlled medications-those we always take in scrip bottles (and we've found that most pharmacies if told of travel plans will provide very small travel sized bottles labeled and ready to go).

One friend's issue partially revolved around dosage, information from the label would have helped.

You bring up a good point -- controlled substances should always be carried in the prescription bottle. That could open a real can of worms nobody needs.

 

[ronandannette]

OK- so I got remarried a couple years ago and my husband hates the top sheet, as do my two kids (who are products of my first marriage, so no blood relationship there). I thought THEY were weird for not wanting to use a top sheet, but judging by the number of people who liked your post, maybe I am the weird one! What's not to like about the top sheet???

My DH doesn’t get a choice as long as we’re sharing a bed but our DS won’t keep one on either. I feel like I’ve failed a little as a mother.

I retired after 42 years of working!

The ultimate solution!! Lord knows what I could accomplish with that 10 extra hours a day. Turns out for now at least, most measures to make things easier are actually too much work or take too long. We’ll just continue to happily make due with our low-grade chronic chaos and prioritize the needful.

 

[PollyannaMom]

low-grade chronic chaos

Brilliant phrase! I see myself using this.

 

[StephMK]

Love Clicklist! That is my biggest time saver and they don't even charge me the service fee anymore.

Smaller items-
I always put my purse and keys in same location.
Cleaning products in each bathroom.
Cleaning products for other areas stored in bathroom closest to where it will be used.

 

[DopeyDame]

This feels so indulgent I'm almost ashamed to admit it...
But a few months ago we got a laundry service. Once a week, I leave a bag of dirty laundry out front, and a few days later, a bag of clean, perfectly folded laundry shows up on my door step. It's like magic.

 

[NHdisneylover]

This feels so indulgent I'm almost ashamed to admit it...
But a few months ago we got a laundry service. Once a week, I leave a bag of dirty laundry out front, and a few days later, a bag of clean, perfectly folded laundry shows up on my door step. It's like magic.

That sounds heavenly

 

[adelaster]

I live in Phoenix and am a day sleeper, so for me, it's FREQUENTLY enough! I don't know how anyone can sleep under even a lightweight blanket in summer!

I only use a t-shirt topsheet and a really breathable thin loosely knitted cotton blanket year round. I need to be "covered" to sleep but I also like to be chilled to relax. If it gets super cold I'll use an additional "real" blanket.

 

[Hisgirl]

Some of these are so hilarious, and useful!

I set up automatic bill pay on most all my credit cards, utilities and also stopped keeping a detailed and meticulous budget. I didn't really 'need' to keep a budget, it was just out of habit but it took forever.

I have a housekeeper twice a month to do all the things I hate to do.

We take the dogs in to get their nails trimmed and stopped the trauma for them and us.

I have almost stopped cooking and we pick up dinner items frequently and we keep plenty of fresh items in the frig to easily grab.

We only do what we want to do, and go where we want to go and stopped doing things just because we felt we had to . It's freeing and a much less complicated life.

 

[AlohaNow]

What a great thread! I’ve learned a bunch and will take some suggestions into consideration. I have a rare form of arthritis that has been affecting me more and more as I age. Because I always pretty much feel exhausted, the whole saying no thing has become very easy for me. I simply have to reserve what little energy is left after work for my family. And the older I get the more reality is smacking me in the face. When I turned 40 I declared my 40’s the decade of not giving a @#$&. Watch out when I turn 50 in a few years!

DH and I finally just made the decision to upgrade from a queen to a king-sized bed. We plan to go ‘Scandinavian’ and ditch the top sheet and have two duvets. It sounds like many of you are already light years ahead of us!

With my old position I was able to work from home one day a week. I took a new job and that is no longer a possibility, but it’s actually not that bad. My commute isn’t terrible but I did like the little gas savings before and being able to bake brownies for the kids just before they got home from school!

We have a milk delivery service and boy do I wish this had been offered where we lived when the kids were younger! It is priceless never having to run out to get milk. Funny thing, for the first time in five years of having the service both DH and I forgot to bring the 3 gallons in yesterday! So they are toast. Talk about getting older!

You guys have convinced me that we ought to look into a cleaning service as well!

 

[lunasea]

The 60 second rule. If it takes less than 60 seconds to do something, do it right then. Rinse off that dish, wipe down the counter, put shopping away instead of leaving it on the dining room table. Its amazing how much neater and cleaner the house is with doing something so simple.

Also - think long and hard before you buy anything from new clothes to furniture to DVDs to house knick-knacks. We were really bad about buying things because they looked useful, and had a bunch of junk. We will have purged half our belongings between selling and donations by the end of this month. Can't tell you how freeing it is, and how easier it is to clean with several furniture items gone that no longer need to be dusted and vacuumed and cleaned under. I can see all my clothes when I open my closet and dresser drawers, as well as each pair of shoes. And I can find anything immediately because I don't have 50 things stacked on top of whatever it is. Very minimalist now, but we're rarely home anyway. When we move next year, we are getting the smallest place we can. 1200 sq feet for 2 people and 2 cats is way too big.

And to everyone who ditches the top sheet - how?! No seriously, that has become a big millennial thing and all I can think is you'll take my top sheet when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

 

[Aliceacc]

Sorry, I NEED a top sheet to sleep!

Christmas dinner is the 5 of us plus my mom (the big celebration is Christmas Eve at my sister's house, with 35 or so of us.) About a year and a half ago, we decided to have it catered.

One half tray or Skirt Steak, one half of Chicken Francese. I make potatoes and veggies and a dessert. Somehow, not making the meat makes the day incredibly easy for me, so I enjoy the holiday as well.

 

[gotomu212]

I don’t think I saw this mentioned, but each member of the family has their own laundry hamper and does their own laundry (we don’t mix other people’s clothes into our own loads). It makes it so much easier to take the clothes from the dryer straight to that person’s room and put them straight away without having to separate this is yours, oh this is mine, wait who has the white socks with red lines??

Another bonus is that my husband, 10 year old, and I all do our own laundry and no one can complain that someone shrunk this or that or ask hey did you put my shirt in the wash?

 

[low-key]

Everything seems to becoming more complicated

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I don’t think I saw this mentioned, but each member of the family has their own laundry hamper and does their own laundry (we don’t mix other people’s clothes into our own loads). It makes it so much easier to take the clothes from the dryer straight to that person’s room and put them straight away without having to separate this is yours, oh this is mine, wait who has the white socks with red lines??

Another bonus is that my husband, 10 year old, and I all do our own laundry and no one can complain that someone shrunk this or that or ask hey did you put my shirt in the wash?

This summer for the first time ever, both my college kids decided on their own to do their own laundry. They think it's easier because what they want/need to wear is clean on their schedule instead of on my laundry schedule. Hey, it works for me!!!!