Ten Ideas to Make Life Easier at Home

These ideas will help you to organize your life a little better.

Just small changes to your daily habits will save you a bit of time and thought – nothing spectacular, but if you save yourself even five minutes a day, this is over two hours a month – two hours when you can sit back and put your feet up (or whatever you do with your leisure time).

See what you think:

1.  Paint the top of electronic device plugs with a marker, so that you can see immediately which side to plug them in

You know how fiddly it can be, working out which way round the connector plugs into the socket.  Once you have marked them in a contrasting colour, you’ll never have that problem again, because there’s only one way to plug them in, and that’s face-up so that the identifying marks show.

Connector Plugged Into my Computer (Red Arrow Shows White Identification Marks Painted on)

 

 

You can buy these Sharpie Marker Pens on Amazon

They are very useful for marking items, posting parcels, doing artwork and colouring in.  The ones shown are in a packet of 24, which gives you a good range of colors, but you can also buy smaller packs

Just follow this Amazon link to take a look

 

2.  If you see a useful advert on a notice board or in a shop window, no need to arduously write down all the details – just take a photograph with your smart phone

Advert Photographed by my Android Phone

 

3.  Never leave the room empty-handed –

This one was one of my mother’s favourite sayings, oft repeated and very labor-saving.

 

4.  Keep like things with like, where possible

For instance keep all your tea-making equipment including teabags, sugar, mugs and pills which you have to take regularly near the kettle.

Keeping All the Tea-Making Equipment in One Place

5.  Put a plastic food container on your kitchen counter when peeling fruit and vegetables so you can collect the waste easily to transfer to your recycling bin

Plastic Food Container as Kitchen Counter Waste Box

6.  Keep several pens around the house –

Certainly one in every room, but consider keeping one in every handbag, one near every phone, one by the front door, one in the hall, one on your kitchen counter, one on your bedside table, one in your shed and one in your car.

 7.  Keep a shopping list near your kitchen store cupboards or fridge

And make sure everyone writes down any item that they see is low in stock, or if they have used the last one.  This ensures you never knowingly run out of any basic food or equipment. Well, that’s the principle, anyway – we all know that people won’t always remember, but if they even do it some of the time, it’s a help.

Magnetic Shopping List on Side of Fridge

 

You can buy a Magnetic Shopping List with Pen Attached on Amazon

They have plenty to choose from, some with and some without pens.

I’ve been using one with a pen (as you can see in my photo above) for a long time – it’s quite convenient not having to scuffle round for a pen when you’re in a hurry.

Here’s the Amazon Link

8.  If you re-use plastic takeaway containers, use an indelible marker to mark each container on the bottom with a letter or number and the same number on the corresponding lid

This means you will never have to hunt through a pile of lids to find one that fits, because each box has its own lid.  A refinement of this is to then store the boxes in alphabetical or numerical order and likewise the lids.

 

9.  Keep a packet of small sticky labels in your kitchen drawer, so that you can label every container before you put it in the fridge or freezer

Write on the label the contents and the date it was cooked.  Then you’ll know which to use up first, and you won’t have to open every lid to see what’s inside.

 

10.  Keep a plastic pot lid on your kitchen counter so you can dump your used teabag, teaspoon or cooking utensil, to avoid making a mess on the counter itself

Yogurt Lid makes a Handy Spoon Rest

 

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