What things have simplified your life?

[Deleted]

But what do you do with.......things your kids made you

Parenting magazine had an article about it, and it suggested that you take a picture of their picture. That way, you have a copy of their "art" without all the clutter. If you're feeling really crafty you can make a collage out of the pictures and display it (I haven't felt that crafty yet.... ).

[Sam_2.0]

When DH is gone on a business trip, I sit down and watch several episodes of Hoarders. Then I go tackle a closet. Its amazing what gets thrown out & what gets kept!

[Deleted]

Most have to do with technology. I'll agree with on-line bill pay- paying the bills used to take a lot more time than it does now. Another is an app called tripit.com, which stores all the details of my travel in a very convenient format.

Nasgul, I agree with you on the increased hassles of travel; one thing that really helps us is that I got Lifetime Gold status on American. It saved our rear ends a few times on our recent trip: waived baggage check fees (needed that for 2 weeks in Alaska), using miles to fly Business Class between home and Seattle (and thus use the short TSA line at SEA), priority boarding, and being able to use the Priority check-in lines. They also sent me a couple of Admiral's Club passes for no good reason, which allowed us to relax during a long connection.

Still, we think we're going to drive somewhere next year. That will be even simpler.

[Angel!]

Jul 16, 2012 10:04:12 GMT -5 @tbird said:

Jul 14, 2012 19:23:43 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

I got a Roomba.

oh - I've seriously thought of that, but worried they wouldn't work well....

give us the scoop!

If you clean them regularly, they work very well. I have one of the original ones from ~10 years ago & still use it. The new ones are much cooler because you can program times for them to clean, it goes back & recharges itself, has a bigger dirt bin, & senses dirt so it covers dirty spots more thoroghly. (Can you tell I want to get a new one).

I use the real vacuum about once a months because the roomba does more of a surface clean. The room looks great even when my 2 dogs are shedding, but it doesn't get deep down stuff. The bin on mine is small, I usually empty it 2-3 times each time I run it. And I think the new ones are better, but I have to remove the roller bar to clean it about every 3rd run or it justs stops cleaning well.

Another vacuum to look into is Neato. And then their is Mint for sweeping/mopping. I haven't tried either, but gave my brother a mint for Xmas & he said he likes it.

[thyme4change]

I got a Roomba

I can't not think of the SNL commerical parady for a "Woomba" whenever someone talks about a Roomba.

www.hulu.com/watch/70317

[Deleted]

But what do you all do with things like old pictures, first baby shoes, school annuals, things your kids made you, wedding presents....

Lone I AM sentimental about the kids' things. They live in boxes in the basement storage room. Photos are in albums in a cabinet in the LR.

We don't have a garage, because we were the garage of the house next door. No attic. We have a small shed and a small lean-to (just big enough for a lawnmower, bikes, gardening tools).

We have a small basement, two rooms. The medium-sized one is DS3's bedroom (it has a window and a lightwell). The smaller one is the basement storage room, which also holds the boiler.

I'm OK with storing anything that fits on the shelves in that room (which is why I hate it when DH's Stuff overflows onto the basement floor).

[jaya3300]

Hosting an annual swap party (people bring stuff they don't want in exchange for something they do) and watching less tv

[constanz22]

I checked the price of the Roomba at Kohls cuz they have a 30% code out now. Dang, $359 regular price. Not doing that anytime soon...although I'd love it since I HATE vacuuming. I hate all housework, actually. I would be more than willing to pay for a house cleaner, but, my problem is, I actually would have to get the house relatively clean to start with, and that never happens!

[savecents]

Old pictures --

I scrapbook or put in albums the ones I like the most, but I try not to repeat shots doing this. For example if there are five angles/shots of one scene, I pick the best one to save.

Others I use a scanner to make high resolution digital copies, back them up and store a copy in my safe deposit box. I also keep a digital copy of all my more recent digital photos there.

Making digital scans also works really well for cards if you don't like to keep all of the ones from your wedding/graduation/shower/ etc.

I have a list of projects that need to get done that aren't urgent -- like "shred papers" or "scan old photos" or "organize filing" -- I try to do one of them a month. That way I get these once in a while clutter chores done without having to do them all at once.

[Formerly SK]

Be careful of digital clutter. I know I have over 30K pictures on my hard drive because I never took the time to delete the bad ones after uploading. Believe me, just because you can't "see" the clutter doesn't mean it isn't still polarizing trying to work with it.

[formerroomate99]

Current life simplification tasks:

Militant anti-nicknack stance.

Functional furniture that makes a good use of space and stores a lot.

3 mile commute

Learning to cook a whole chicken that we can eat off of for days.

Periodic reorgs of basement and garage.

Future simplification tasks:

This is the last pregnancy, so once my weight stabilizes, I'm throwing out the clothes that don't fit and paring down the stuff that does. I currently have clothes in 4 sizes, along with maternity clothes.

Some serious decluttering. There are boxes that haven't seen the light of day since I got married 7 years ago. Most of that stuff just needs to go away.

[Angel!]

Jul 17, 2012 14:28:56 GMT -5 @tbird said:

Jul 17, 2012 10:59:20 GMT -5 Angel! said:

I use the real vacuum about once a months because the roomba does more of a surface clean. The room looks great even when my 2 dogs are shedding, but it doesn't get deep down stuff. The bin on mine is small, I usually empty it 2-3 times each time I run it. And I think the new ones are better, but I have to remove the roller bar to clean it about every 3rd run or it justs stops cleaning well.

That makes it so not worth it to me. When they have a self cleaning/dumping one, I'll buy in. Can you see it opening the little ramp to climb up to the garbage, and it's little load in like a dumptruck? The kids would love it! Then it can quietly go down, and start up the next room....

There used to be one that would empty into a bigger canister (that you would eventually have to empty).

www.probotics.com/facts/robot-base-station.htm

They don't seem to sell it anymore. They do sell robot lawnmowers if you are willing to drop $1K-$4K. Not sure how those work, sounds dangerous.

Supposedly the new roomba's have much bigger compartments & don't need to be emptied so often. To me it isn't a huge deal to empty & saves me from pulling out the real vacuum.

[Deleted]

Jul 17, 2012 13:18:47 GMT -5 constanz22 said:

I would be more than willing to pay for a house cleaner, but, my problem is, I actually would have to get the house relatively clean to start with, and that never happens!

Constanz, a while back, there was a woman who insisted that she was going to have me clean for her just as soon as she had a chance to clean up her house. After a few weeks of waiting for that to happen, somebody else wanted me to clean on the same day. I told the first one that I was going to accept that job because I really didn't want to wait any longer for something to do. Much hand-wringing and complaining about the state of her house, but she agreed that I should start right away.

I'm a cleaning lady for crying out loud. Why clean before the cleaning lady shows up? Huh? Trust me: the cleaning lady doesn't judge because she really doesn't give a rip. If your house was already clean, you wouldn't need her! You have a dirty/messy house. You hire a cleaning lady. The cleaning lady comes and works her magic, and voila! your house gets neat and clean. It's what you pay her to do. The cleaning lady leaves with cash in hand, and you're both happy.

See how that works?

[thyme4change]

I'm a cleaning lady for crying out loud. Why clean before the cleaning lady shows up?

Here is the deal - I have a cleaning lady, and we clean up every week before she comes, and it isn't because we think she will judge us or whatever. She gives me a certain number of hours, and I'm not paying her to come to my house and pick up my husband's dirty socks or put all my kids' toys away. I am paying her to scrub the toilets, wash the floors, dust and get the hard water deposits off the shower door. If she spends an hour doing the dishes from dinner last night and putting all of our shoes in the closet because we left them in TV room, then she might not get to the toilet. And then where am I? My shoes migrate out to the TV room in a matter of 5 minutes, and the toilet is still dirty. I "pick up" before she gets here, so she can "clean up" like I pay her to.

[raeoflyte]

I'll 2nd Miss Rigby! My parents have always had a clean house, but they have a ton of clutter. When they started having housekeepers come, my mom said just clean the surfaces you can get to.

It's been a few years now, and there is a real difference in their house. They still have clutter, but now there is only 1 small stack of magazines/random stuff on the piano and countless other problem areas are suddenly cleared or at least much better. I don't know if my parents have just felt that they can tackle the clutter more now that they don't have to do much in the way of real cleaning or what.

DH and I 'clean' before the housekeeper comes, but it's really just picking up to make sure that she can get to all the things that need real cleaning.

[susanb]

We have a fixed rate for our cleaning service....We pay the same amount each week and their job is to leave the house super clean. I still pick up before they come because 1. I could never find anything otherwise 2. it doesn't seem fair to ask them to figure out where to store my iPad, extra batteries, my mail, etc...

[thyme4change]

I still pick up before they come because 1. I could never find anything otherwise

No joke - my cleaning lady puts everything away - even if it is stuff that doesn't have a 'place.' For example, I like to leave my wood cutting board out. I lean it against the backspalsh, and I use it pretty much every meal. So, I just wash it, and leave it against the backsplash. And every frickin' week, I have to find it because she puts it away. It wouldn't be so bad, except she puts it somewhere different every time. But, if I have clean dishes in the dish drain, she puts them away in the most random places. Like, she puts some of the knives in the knife block, and the rest in the drawer. They are a matched set. Is she really that dim?

[constanz22]

The "cleaning" I would want/expect to be done would be the deep cleaning stuff, but when every surface is covered with crap, a cleaning person wouldn't be able to do what I want/need them to do. That is my point...

[moxie]

Getting my kids through college and out on their own.

[kittensaver]

I agree with Thyme and Iggy! It depends on your definition of "cleaning." To me, cleaning is not picking up, putting away or sorting. I too have a housekeeper that works by the hour, and I want her to spend her time dusting, vaccuuming, scrubbing sinks & toilets and washing floors, not hand-washing our stray dishes or putting our "stuff" away - I can do that myself. What she does definitely simplifies my life and I love her :-)

[moxie]

I haven't EVER had a housekeeper...yet. I am picky and I can do a better job myself. I am not as much of a perfectionist as I used to be when we were first married...kids will do that to you. Now that it is just two of us, the house stays cleaner longer.

[Formerly SK]

Jul 17, 2012 18:51:59 GMT -5 moxie said:

Getting my kids through college and out on their own.

Oh lord, you mean I have 12-16 years before my life gets simpler?

[moxie]

Today at 6:51pm, moxie wrote:
Getting my kids through college and out on their own.


"Oh lord, you mean I have 12-16 years before my life gets simpler?"


Yep...pretty much. ;D

[Deleted]

Machines simplify my life overall.

My new favorite is an old bread machine my parents gave us when we drove out to California and visited them this last two weeks.

DF loves to cook, which I appreciate, but I teasingly call him my Puddle Duck, because he is amazingly messy in the kitchen. I follow after him like a roomba trying to tidy while he makes dinner. If he hand makes bread, afterwards it looks like he exploded a bag of flour; it's on the counter, the floor, his clothes, sometimes his hair. He kneads multiple times, so sometimes I got crusty bread junk in the sink and cemented to the counters to wash up too.

A bread machine means he can make pizza/bread dough just by putting the ingredients in, hitting go, and then freezing or cooking the resulting dough balls. There is only one canister to wash.

Lol, and I never fully appreciated a washer and dryer until I was hand washing clothes in our bath tub for a couple months and trying to coordinate their drying on a rack between the random bursts of rain we've been getting. (We were going cheap to replenish the cash slush fund after buying our house).

Blessed machinery. It puts so many repetitive chores on auto pilot.

[simser]

Just got an idea today officially dubbed "Scando". Don't know why it's called that, but it means you put everything away. Then you take a picture of the drawer or closet or fridge or whatever, and you know what it *should* look like. Helpful if you have more than one person putting things away. Helpful if you're like me and extremely messy. Hilarious if you listen to someone talk about how they completely scando-ed their house while their spouse was away so that she and the kids could learn his expectations ("you will notice all beverages are on the top shelf with their labels facing outward so you can read what you're going to drink" "you will notice that the path has no rocks, bikes, inflatible inner tubes, etc. on it"). Bad idea if you're doing it to your spouse without clearing it with them first.

I'm going to do this in baby steps and see how it works. I'm going to start with my pots and pans.