Changes you've made to make life easier

[eeyoresmom]

I'm hoping to share some tips on changes you've made that have made your life easier or just better somehow. Things that once you've started you wished you had done sooner. We are all so busy that sometimes we dont stop and think if there is a better way to accomplish something. I just recently placed my first order to have groceries delivered to my home. My work schedule is erratic and it takes me 3 hours to food shop and put away all that food each week. For the past year or so I have been dreading food shopping. I'm hoping grocery delivery will make my week a bit better. I was resistant for so long because of the extra cost but I'm pretty sure I'll make up for it by not impulse buying! Any tips or thoughts you'd like to share?

 

[mickyzzzzz05]

I started using Fly Lady over 10 years ago and wish I had started earlier. My house is always ready for company. I follow a morning routine that takes less than 10 minutes most days and I can not emphasize how much easier my life seems. You can follow the suggestions as much or as little as you want and the peace of mind it has brought to me is wonderful.

 

[tvguy]

I'm hoping to share some tips on changes you've made that have made your life easier or just better somehow. Things that once you've started you wished you had done sooner. We are all so busy that sometimes we dont stop and think if there is a better way to accomplish something. I just recently placed my first order to have groceries delivered to my home. My work schedule is erratic and it takes me 3 hours to food shop and put away all that food each week. For the past year or so I have been dreading food shopping. I'm hoping grocery delivery will make my week a bit better. I was resistant for so long because of the extra cost but I'm pretty sure I'll make up for it by not impulse buying! Any tips or thoughts you'd like to share?

Wow, 3 hours? We hit 2 stores and stopped to pick up coffee on the way home and were home and had everything unpacked in 90 minutes yesterday morning. We shop once a week. We have Schwans also, and love their products, but the hassle with delivery is you HAVE to have someone home to accept the delivery within the delivery window.

 

[easyas123]

I started getting dog food delivered by Chewy.com, the household stuff I usually got from Sams or Costco such as tp, paper towels, trashbags and laundry soap from jet.com, arranged automatic payments from a checking account for my monthly bills like Directv and internet. Started mowing mid week if possible so more of weekend is available to us (on a farm, always something to do! Adult sons have moved away meaning we've lost a lot of our labor force!! haha).
Folding & hanging up the laundry as soon as it's done - this one is hardest for me because I readily admit I'm a bit of a procrastinator. But it has helped a lot. Also have started getting up earlier to get a few household things done before the workday starts.

 

[mmouse37]

Got rid of the top sheet on the bed....my life is much better....and I am serious. I always hated the top sheet but felt it necessary for some reason. Now its a fitted sheet and comforter and we are happy!!!

MJ

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

We don't have grocery delivery, but I'll start using it the second Kroger starts in our area (the web site promises it is soon). I do use ClickList though, and it is worth the service charge and tip.

I have a yard man for cutting the yard. It has definitely made things easier, and I no longer consider it an option.

This is a medical one - I started on bioidentical hormones recently. I cannot tell you how much easier life is. I have energy, and my mood is better. I wish I had looked into this 10 years ago. I get regular healthcare, but none of my doctors ever suggested it.

I started using Fly Lady over 10 years ago and wish I had started earlier. My house is always ready for company. I follow a morning routine that takes less than 10 minutes most days and I can not emphasize how much easier my life seems. You can follow the suggestions as much or as little as you want and the peace of mind it has brought to me is wonderful.

I looked at Fly Lady a few years ago, but it was almost overwhelming because I needed to do a serious purge. It might work better now that I have purged a lot of stuff. Even my laundry is almost under control.

 

[Meriweather]

lists are my friend
and I have a routine I follow for cleaning.

 

[GreatLakes]

Amazon Prime

We also use home meal services and have tried them all I think at this point. Our go to is HomeChef. We want the ingredients to make our meal, not already prepared meals, but for busy weeks it makes it easier to eat real food instead of out of a box.

Working out over lunch. I stared hitting the pool or gym over lunch a few times a week so I don't have to after work. On days where I need to double up (gym + run or swim + run) it makes it much easier to get both in when one is done while I'm at work. This became a necessity once we had our son.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Online bill paying

Had a dishwasher installed. DW didn’t have one growing up & the one in our trailer never worked right. So, when we built the house, she insisted we omit the dishwasher. Now, she’s wishing she had put it in from the start LOL.

Potted tomato plants - right next to the house & no weeds to hoe.

 

[NHdisneylover]

We moved into a small condo (830 SQ feet for three adults, DS is 19 and lives at home while in an apprenticeship). We have a big terrace (569 SQ feet) and o e small storage area (30 SQ feet).
I love it.


There isn't room to have clutter, so we don't
It's easy to keep such a small place clean.
And we don't have to hanfkzany of the exterior building upkeep ourselves.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I asked my DH for a Roomba for Christmas 2 years ago. It runs in the family room/kitchen every night at 3:00 am. I’ll run it in a bedroom or the office during the day as well. It keeps my house so much cleaner.

I want to start the click and pull at our Kroger. It would save me so much time if I just had to drive by and pick the grocery order up!

 

[firefly_ris]

I had a bunch of kids so they could do my house chores.

 

[kimblebee]

Wow, 3 hours? We hit 2 stores and stopped to pick up coffee on the way home and were home and had everything unpacked in 90 minutes yesterday morning. We shop once a week. We have Schwans also, and love their products, but the hassle with delivery is you HAVE to have someone home to accept the delivery within the delivery window.

Our house can take close to the few hours too. We only shop for three but my husband eats enough for 3 himself—he’s 6’7” with a crazy fast metabolism. We don’t do just a quick in and out. My bank account sure wishes we could, though.

 

[tvguy]

Our house can take close to the few hours too. We only shop for three but my husband eats enough for 3 himself—he’s 6’7” with a crazy fast metabolism. We don’t do just a quick in and out. My bank account sure wishes we could, though.

My wife has a game plan. Walmart Neighborhood market, start on the right in the cheese/yogurt section, head to cereal, eggs milk in the back. Paper towels/TP soaps and OTC medical section, then out.
Regular grocery story is even easier. Produce on the left, then frozen vegetarian section for DD's food, almost far right to the bread, then meat, then out. I think we waited longer for our coffee than were were in the regular grocery store.

 

[Klayfish]

We stopped cutting the lawn, vacuuming, doing laundry, doing dishes...pretty soon we're going to stop showering to save even more time.

Seriously, the biggest time saver we have is in food prep. We only cook once a week, on Sunday. We cook enough to last from Sunday-Thursday dinners for everyone. So Mon-Thur we only need to heat and eat. Same for the kids lunches when school is in. On Sunday, we make sandwiches for the week and make about 20 snack bags. On a school morning, we just grab a sandwich, a snack bag, a piece of fruit from the fridge and a bottled water...takes 2 minutes or less. I do the same for my stuff. I prep a weeks worth of protein shake powder, breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks so I never have to do it after work and it only takes me a minute to pack for the day.

Yes, that makes for a busy Sunday morning (the whole thing takes about 60 minutes with DW and I working together) and a lot of dishes to wash Sunday night, but it's an invaluable time saver during the week when our schedule is out of control busy.

 

[Kogo Shuko]

I'll admit it.

My change that I've made is wearing a fanny pack on a regular basis.

for so long I only used them at theme parks, because it was just so useful. Especially at parks where you lay your bag down in a communal area. This way no one could steal my car keys/phone/wallet/etc.

But this summer, I decided to drop the purse during the nice weather months, and wear a fanny pack in its place. I even ended up getting a new one that has two spots to put water bottles. It is super useful, and can hold my entire DSLR in it (when broken down), and has little tabs to tighten it and make it smaller.

It is uuuugly, but my shoulders no longer hurt, and it makes getting to and from work so easy! And it's SUPER great when I do a full day horse show as a photographer.

 

[nkereina]

Is the grocery delivery service you are using Instacart? We tried Instacart when it was new to our area because I had coupon codes which made the higher prices essentially even out for us the week we used it. While it was nice to have someone drop our groceries at the door, it took me a while to set it all up on the app. For each item, I had the option to submit an alternative one in case it was not available. That was time consuming to input, but I felt like I needed to or else I would have to run back out if it wasn't available and they didn't substitute it. It turns out, a few of the items were unavailable so the shopper had to move to the alternative I selected. Instead of just purchasing it, the shopper sent me a text to confirm it was acceptable. I was not near my phone when these texts came through (I was driving), and after about 20 minutes, the shopper called me to confirm. I confirmed it, but though it defeated the purpose of me entering the alternative in the app if they were going to have to rely on me to confirm it anyhow. Just buy it!

So, although I loved avoiding the grocery store, I didn't have a significant time savings and the pricing would be too high to justify continuing to use it for us. If you have a Wegmans in your area, they offer curbside pick-up at select stores which I found more convenient and easier.

 

[Pembo]

Be less busy.

 

[lauracitawita]

Got rid of the top sheet on the bed....my life is much better....and I am serious. I always hated the top sheet but felt it necessary for some reason. Now its a fitted sheet and comforter and we are happy!!!

MJ

That is so funny. My daughter hates using a top sheet. She hasn't used one for years and it drives me crazy. Every time I wash her sheet, I ask her if she's sure she doesn't want me to put the top sheet on her bed. lol.

Thinking about it now after your post, I guess it's really silly to try to convince her if she just doesn't want it. How silly that we just do things because that's the way it's supposed to be done!

I will leave the poor girl alone from now on. lol

 

[Hikergirl]

Amazon Prime