3 Things That Will Make Life Easier

I am all about making things easy in my life, especially when it comes to boring things like cooking and cleaning and paying bills.  I would prefer to do those things for as little time as possible.  So I will share 3 things that allow me to spend less time doing those boring household chores. 

1. Organize your measuring cups and spoons.  

This may seem a bit excessive, but this has truly saved me time when I'm cooking or baking.  I used to spend lots of time rummaging through my drawers looking for the perfect measuring spoon.  I never seemed to find the exact one I needed, which resulted in me trying to do tricky math with fractions.  I might have messed up more than a few recipes.  

But hanging up all my measuring cups and spoons on the inside of my cabinet door makes them super easy to find.  I used some hooks to hang up the cups and spoons.  I took it a step further and added labels to make things even easier.  If Adam does the dishes, he doesn't always match the correct utensil with the correct label.  But I'm not complaining; Adam can do dishes any time he wants to.  I like to think he's just keeping me on my toes.  

They do kind of rattle around when you open the door.  When I first hung them up, I would forget they were there when I opened the door.  So I would freak out and think something was falling out of the cabinet when they banged around on the door.  Adam put some cabinet bumpers under the cups and spoons so they don't make quite as much noise.  It is fun to watch people open up the door who don't know what to expect, though.  It makes me chuckle to watch them jump at the noise.  

2. Use magnets to remind yourself about clothing that should not go in the dryer.    

This was something I remember my mom doing.  She kept a bunch of magnets on the side of the washing machine.  Whenever she put something in the washer that wasn't supposed to go in the dryer, she would put a magnet on top of the washer.  So if you had two items that needed to be kept out of the dryer, you would put two magnets on top of the washer.  When the cycle was over, she would know how many items she needed to hang up to dry.  

This has saved me time because I don't have to sort through each item as I put them in the dryer.  I can fish out the items that need to be hung to dry and then put all the rest in the dryer quickly.  I haven't shrunk any pants or mangled up any bras in the dryer since putting my mom's magnet system to work. Thanks, Mom! 

3. Keep all your receipts in one place.  

If you try to keep track of your spending like Adam and I do, then you know how out of control receipts can get.  I like to keep all my receipts so I can check them against my credit card statements and enter them into our monthly budget spreadsheet.  But by the end of the month, I have gobs of receipts.  I started keeping all my receipts in a binder clip and then going through them at the end of the month.  It worked well for me, so I introduced the idea to Adam.  I simply wrote each of our names on a binder clip. That way we don't mix up our receipts.  We have a magnetic strip in our office nook in our bedroom. With the help of some magnets, the binder clips stick to the strip.

There you have it.  Three easy fixes that will simplify your life.