We are all busy and on the look out for big ways to make life easier. The truth is, it’s a combination of lots of small and seemingly insignificant tweaks that often add up to the biggest differences in simplifying our lives and making them easier. Read on, watch the video below or click to listen to the podcast episode where I share some super simple changes I have made in my life to make things easier as a Mummy Of Four.
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We are all so busy these days, yet so many of the things that keep us busy are just these little inconveniences. That can be solved often with little, tiny tweaks. Today I’m sharing some of the seemingly small, tiny, even insignificant changes I’ve made in my life over the years as a mum in a work setting, and just generally as I go about my days.
If this is your first time tuning in, hello, I am Rhi MummyOfFour.com, so glad you could join me today.
Now let’s get on with sharing some of these seemingly tiny things that really have made a massive difference in my life. And could potentially in yours. So the first one is something that I did when I moved to the house that we’re in now, which is swap out all of the different little plastic beakers and cups and all the things and just got some really basic ones that all match and stack.
How is this changing your life Rhi, I hear you say, well, You know, bear with me. In the last house we had accumulated, as I think we do as families over the years, just lots of different little bitty things and because none of them slotted together, they were just taking up loads of space in the cupboard.
It was all mish mashy. There was arguing from the children over which cups so and so wanted. Some of them didn’t go in the dishwasher. It was all a whole mess. I did a massive declutter when we moved to this house, and then I simply ordered some of these stacking plastic cups. They all fit together. They take up almost no space.
They’re easy to wash, and they weren’t even expensive. So while my children have obviously glass glasses for drinking at the actual dining table, If they’re at the garden or if they’ve got loads of friends over plastic cups are the way to go. The way this has helped my life is it’s just made more space in the cupboards.
It’s simplified things. It makes my cupboards easy to keep tidy. I did actually take this to the next level through my decluttering and got all matching glasses again, just from ikea. Not expensive ones, so nobody’s gonna cry if they get smashed or broken or dropped or whatever. But by having matching things in the cupboards, the cupboards just look neat.
And when they look neat and everything has a place, people are more likely to return things to the place. You can look at their simplification in a twofold way, ideally when you’re actually shopping, and this is what I’m really trying to do now. By thinking this thing I’m buying and bringing into my home, will it fit with other things that I own?
Will it stack well? Where will it live? And if it’s not going to fit in with your current storage solutions and you are not willing to buy additional storage solutions, that’s the point to be thinking. Um, I’m talking to myself as much as I’m talking to you right now. This does not need to come home with me.
If, however, you’ve already got things in your home that feel a bit mismatched, and because they’re mismatched, they therefore are very difficult to stack and store, it might be worth thinking about having a little declutter. The next thing that kind of follows on from the cups, because what I’m thinking about are those glittery cups that do not go in the dishwashers.
You know the ones, I mean the ones that are really pretty, that children have. And you tip them upside down and they have glitter in them and then the children love them, but equally they do not go in the dishwasher. So I make a really conscious effort now when I am making purchases to think how easy is this thing going to be to care for?
So if I’m buying items for the kitchen, I like for them to be able to go in the dishwasher wherever possible. Hand wash items are definitely less welcome in my house. Another item it’s well worth looking at, how easy it’s going to be to care for is clothing. It might be the most beautiful item in the world, but if it’s dry, clean only, how often you are realistically going to get to wear that?
I tend to steer clear of fabrics that are really difficult to tie in or things that crease really, really quickly after you buy in them because it’s just more work than I’m willing to put in. Quite frankly, we’re all busy enough as it is if we can shave off a little bit of time, not having to re something that is just a little bit of a pig of a fabric.
And that’s gotta be a positive thing, don’t you think? Another thing that I did, which really made a big difference was have a big hanger sort out and buy a box of matching hangers. I bought these hangers. They’re kind of slim and gray. And kind of like a velvety feel to them, so nothing slips off them really, really easily because also slippery hangers with everything just sliding off since you’ve hung ’em up.
Super annoying. But investing in matching hangers not only meant my wardrobe’s look neater, which obviously is a bonus, but the main thing is everything’s slots and you can actually fit more into the wardrobe because everything is on these matching hangers. When you’ve got hangers that are all different shapes and sizes, they create.
Extra gaps where they don’t need to be gaps. And then that kind of mismatched situation you have with the hangers means you’ve got less space in your wardrobe. So I’m not saying you have to go and buy new hangers right now, this minute. If you have hangers, obviously that’s not compulsory. But if you are thinking, how can I make my wardrobe look neater, feel a more pleasant experience for hanging up clothes, putting away clothes, and going through.
And actually have a bit more space. It might be worth looking at purchasing large quantities of the same hanger. It will simplify your life. No end. Something else that I did a long time ago was buy a lot more charger leads. Charger leads are really not expensive items if you’re buying third party chargers from Amazon for your phones and your devices.
You can find them at a really affordable price. Now, years ago I would pack our chargers the morning we’re leaving for a trip cause I just didn’t have enough with people fighting over charges. There wouldn’t be enough charges to go around. I did not need the charger drama in my life. I now have a set of chargers that live in the suitcase, ready to pack, so I don’t have to go looking for charges.
I equally don’t have to take charges that people are using. Day-to-day, away to pack, and it’s just one less last minute thing to fuss about. On the morning we’re leaving for a trip. It’s also helpful to have chargers where you are actually going to need to use them. So if you always sit in a certain place in your living room and you know that you’re gonna need to charge a phone at that point, is it worth having a charger there?
When my husband renovated this property, he actually put U s B holes in the sockets that he installed. So you don’t even need a charger brick to charge your device. You just need the actual lead and you can plug it into any socket. So if you are in the process of having new electrics or doing a renovation, it’s well worth paying a little bit extra for those sockets to avoid having to have actual charger bricks about the place.
Moving on from the charger leads, which I have in various places around the house, and also the dedicated suitcase set of charger leads, I also have dedicated travel toiletries that I top up. So these are mostly the little bottles I picked up from primer, and I decant from the larger bottles that I purchase.
Into these little toiletries because I know you can buy travel size toiletries, but they tend to be more expensive. And then when you run out or you’re low on them, what are you supposed to do? Whereas if you’re just decanting from the shampoo you use at home, you can just top that up easily and make sure you’ve got a full set of shampoos or conditions, whatever it might be for next time you travel.
And again, we have dedicated toothbrushes for travel, so I’m not like, Ooh, gotta pack the toothbrush last minute. I just have toothbrushes that live in the case. I do like to put them through the dishwasher. When we get home from a trip. You’ll have seen me do this. If you’ve watched any of my unpack with me videos, I just feel like.
If the toothbrush has been in your mouth and then it gets put away, maybe it’s slightly damp, it’s got saliva on it, saliva breaks down your food. What is that bacteria in the saliva gonna do to that toothbrush before you next use it? So just running it through the dishwasher kills off any germs, and then I make sure they’re thoroughly dried before I put them away, and then I know they’re ready for the next trip.
Then obviously after a few trips, I would throw away and replace those toothbrushes, but being that they’re not being used daily, They don’t need to be thrown away after every trip. Another thing I did pretty much since we moved here was buy cleaning products and put them where I’m actually going to need them.
I think part of the issue with cleaning is feeling like it’s this big thing that you have to start or you have to get out and do. Whereas most of the cleaning I do now, It isn’t even a power hour. It’s more like few minutes here, few minutes there, because they’ve got the stuff I need, where I need it. So for example, I’ve got cleaning products and cleaning clouds kept in the bathroom.
And the majority of the bathroom cleaning I do is when I’m actually in the bathroom about to have a shower or something. Notice something’s a bit grimy, a bit yucky, and I can give it a quick clean without having to be like, Okay, I’m cleaning now. I’m going to do cleaning today. I’ve just got a few spare minutes and I can have a little wipe around the sink, around the bath and get rid of whatever’s looking a bit, ugh.
In the long run, you end up using the same amount of cleaning products, so it’s no odds to have a set of it upstairs and a set of downstairs, for example. I can’t tell you how much time this saves and also how much extra cleaning I manage to get done just by having the things where I need them. And following on from this would be thinking about where you need things in your kitchen.
I think I’ve talked about this before, but in our last house we had a much bigger, much longer kitchen, and for some reason we have the dishwasher sort of in the middle. And then we’d a dining table, one end, and all the way down the other end, we had the plates. So we’d empty the dishwasher from the middle of the kitchen, take the plates all the way up to one end to put them away, and then carry the plates all the way down from there to the other end to the table to eat.
And then it was just a lot of toing and f throwing. There was no need for it. And really what I should have done is just rearranged what was inside which kitchen cupboard to make it. The plates are next to the dishwasher, for example, for easy unloading. Now, in this house, I did think out because we were doing a renovation exactly where I wanted things a lot more.
But really, you do not need to wait for a renovation to think about the insides of your cupboards. And if the things are where. It makes most sense for them to be. So when you are cooking, how far away in your kitchen do you have to walk to grab the things you need? When you are emptying your dishwasher, how far are you having to move to put things away?
And then falling on from this one is something I did only quite recently, and that is putting the children’s after school snacks. Where they can reach them themselves. This has been a game changer. My children used to greet me after school with Mummy, did you bring snacks? And since moving this basket of snacks that they know where it is in the mornings, it’s one of their jobs, part of the morning routine to choose a snack.
They can choose whichever ones they want. Four after school and pack it into their bags. And it’s funny because it’s something important to them. They want these snacks. It’s something they remember to do. Okay, so I’m now greeted with, mommy, can you hold my bag to so I can open my snack? But you know, it’s progress now.
One thing that we do have in the house as a rule, and it’s started off when we were baby-led weening and the whole reason was because of all the mess. But I’ve carried it on and it’s really has made my life easier. That is the rule that when we’re in the house, we only eat at the table. Back when we were baby led weaning, this was just a sensible thing because baby led weaning, if you’ve ever done it.
Is basically throwing food on the floor and at the ceiling is actually what my husband used to call it. If you’re not familiar with baby la weening, it is encouraging children to eat a lot more with their hands rather than spoon feeding. And the idea is they’re exploring different flavors and textures.
They learn about chewing quicker even before they have teeth. And it’s something I did with my children and it works great. But yes, it is crazy messy. Hey, so initially I was implementing this rule of royal eating at the table just to contain the mess. But you know what? Even as the children have got older, it does help to contain the mess.
So eat at the table. The food is only in one place. I’m not having to go all over the house looking for half open packets of things and crumbs. And honestly, I think if I let my children eat all over the house, we’d probably have mice. We really would. So by keeping it at the table, it means that we’re sitting together to eat meals.
There’s far less clearing up to do. It’s just vacuuming. Underneath the table, which is actually one of the jobs that the children get involved in doing. And just grabbing a little hand head, vacuum cleaner and vacuuming it after dinner. But it also helps me to keep an eye on what the children are eating.
So while, yes, they do have access to the snacks that they can pack into their bags, we only to the table. So I know they’re not mindlessly grazing up in their rooms. I can see what they’re eating and I can know that. The healthy choices are being made and ultimately I think saves a lot of argument. I think if we had a lot of eating in bedrooms and things, there’d be more arguing about mess, about bringing down dishes.
It’s just eliminated all of that by just keeping food at the table. So the next one is something that I put together quite a long time ago and unfortunately had to use recently, and that’s having a sick kid talk it. On the go at any time. It’s like a little insurance policy of things that you’ll be super glad that past you put together if future you ever has to deal with a really poorly child.
So in my Sick Kid Toolkit, I have got a thermometer. I have got a bottle of Calpol, which is parce, small based, and UofM, which is ibuprofen based. So I know when the children have got fevers temperatures, things like that. I’ve got everything I need all in one place. I also keep all of the syringes that come with the near fan on the Calpol.
And this is really important because you go through a lot of syringes when your child is ill. I also have the print because if you think about it, you do not wanna be doubled upping syringes. Just think about this now for me. You put your syringe in your cow ball, you decant the cow and you put it in your child’s mouth.
If you then put that same syringe back in the cow P bottle, even if your child is not full of gyms, which let’s face it, they probably are because you’re having to give them cow ball. The reason you’re giving them cowal is probably cuz they’re full of germs. So you’re either introducing actual germs, viruses, whatever, back into that bottle.
That will contaminate the bottle or even just the saliva from your child’s mouth that’s going back into the bottle. What kind of bacteria is that gonna grow by the time you next get that bottle? A cow poly out? So personally, I like to use one syringe, and I think this is what they do in hospitals. They would not reintroduce extra gyms back in.
So I use the one syringe I de can’t. The syringe full of carpal. If we need to do two syringes of carpal cause that’s the dose that the child’s expected to have at that age, then I would get a fresh syringe and to count that with a fresh syringe. So if you need to give your child two doses of carpal and one of neofen, you’re gonna need three syringes.
So it’s really important to just keep hold of all those syringes, pop ’em through the dishwasher once you’ve used them. And then I like to keep those in a bag with the medications. And then I know. Everything I need is there. If my child is ill, which touch word, hopefully they won’t be. If you’ve seen vlogs on my main channel recently, you’ll know that we have had some health difficulties with Zara.
My youngest, she is six. She did actually have a febrile convulsion, which was really scary. Oh. Say it’s febrile convulsion. She had a seizure of some description. It was temperature related, but according to the doctors, they can’t call it febrile convulsion because she’s over five. So we’re still looking into the causes that whatever.
But long story short, she was very poorly, I was very stressed. At least I had all the stuff there that I needed. But you can grab the principle medication chart where I used to record everything. The temperatures that my children have had when they’ve been ill, the times they had doses and what they were dosed with, I’ve always kept those printouts and a pen with the medication because you can fill out all of that information.
Chances are after you’re up with a sick child, you are not gonna be able to remember what they had and when. And certainly if there’s more than one of you caring for the child. And also if you do have to see a doctor, they’re gonna want to know exactly what’s happened. And having all that written down really helped.
Although recently I have taken to using the notes app in my phone and just sharing that note with my husband so that he can see any amendments I make to it. Whichever message you use, whether you’re doing it digitally or physically writing it down with pen and paper, I would highly recommend doing that.
And if you need to grab the principal medication charts or any of the other like organization goodies that I have to offer, which are free in my Ultimate Mum bundle, you can join my email club. Which is totally free. Using the link down below or just head to Mummy or four.com/join the club. The next thing that I’ve done to try and simplify my life is listen to a bit of a mantra when I’m shopping and it’s from.
A YouTube channel. Do you know what? I can’t even think of the name of the YouTube channel. That’s terrible, isn’t it? It’s a YouTube channel that specializes in tech reviews. So it’s something that I’ve watched, sort of talks about cameras a lot, which obviously with my job, what I need to know about which cameras I need and things.
So I’ve relied on these reviews heavily and his kind of mantra for the channel is buy it nice or buy it twice. And I do try and say this to myself, do I really need this thing? Is economizing on this thing? And I’m not saying that that more expensive is always better. That’s not always the case, but if you are buying something, it’s a cheaper option and ultimately it’s going to break.
It’s going to fail on you. You’re going to buy more of them. You are sometimes better off having fewer items and than being a slightly higher price, a slightly nicer quality item, and sometimes in the long run you end up spending less than buying lots of bitty. Bits. So by buying it nice, rather than buying it twice, you end up saving money and indeed space and clutter in your home in the long run.
So I am really trying to, when making purchases, keep this in mind and to only make purchases that I actually need. Am I better off buying something once, buying the right item rather than making. More thoughtless purchases that ultimately won’t serve the purpose. I mean, this is a bit of a work in progress.
I’m not perfect. I don’t always manage to stick to this, but I’m working on it. The next habit I’ve tried to implement for simplifying my life is to go digital wherever possible. So I have tried to switch from bank statements and credit card statements and any kinda statement that can be posted to something digital.
I actually find it quite stressful to have to open mail and then file it. I know that might sound like a really simple thing, but that is such a affy job, and if you think of all those minutes that you can shave off by not having to do that because you’re just having things emailed to you, you can save so much time.
Ultimately, then you’re not having to store things. I feel like if something gets posted to you, You need to file it. I’m not sure that you absolutely have to, but that’s always kind of been my feeling on it. Or if you don’t have to file it, you have to shred it. Either way, you’ve either gotta file it and store it, and that’s gonna take up space in your home or you’ve gotta shred it.
Both of these things take time, so by switching wherever possible to digital, it really does save a lot of time. Especially if you add up all of the mail that you would have coming through your home every week. There is nothing more frustrating the big pile of mail that you need to go through and sort, sort of following on from this, I talked about in my full life Declutter episode is unsubscribing from things you don’t need or that no longer serve you.
So, Subscribing from newsletters. Maybe you’ll still subscribe to some company that sells baby clothes and your children at all school age. You do not need these emails anymore, but they are still cluttering up your inbox. By spending a few minutes going through your inbox and subscribing from things, you will ultimately save yourself so much time not having to deal with all this email clutter.
Something else that really has saved me so much hassle. In tidiness and in arguments and nagging is creating a draw as a wardrobe. So the chair drove in. The last house was where my husband would dump his clothes that were too dirty for the wardrobe and too clean for the wash, and they’d just mount up in this chair and I would’ve to look at them and the place would look cluttered and it would attract more clutter, and I’d end up nagging him about it and he’d end up wondering why I was nagging him.
When we moved here. I said, this draw here. Is your chair, and by chair I mean the place you dump, all that stuff that’s too clean for the wash and too dirty for the cupboard. And it has been such a game changer. I cannot tell you how much of a game changer this has been. So I’ve got CX Box. I do the same because sometimes I’ve got things when you want it for a bit.
I have got that box I can dump those things into now and it’s just, it’s a game changer. So I am not creating mess and clutter that I’ve done. Ultimately got a tied yet my husband is not creating mess and clutter that I ultimately have to nag him about. The lack of clutter makes me happy. The lack of nagging makes him happy.
Everyone’s a winner. Something else that makes my life so much easier is having an awful lot of the same basket that stacks. So this is going back to the cups and things. I did used to have so many different washing baskets around the house, and I would use them for all sorts of things, for moving things around, for sorting laundry, obviously for packing, gathering things together, but none of them stacked together and it drove me insane because when they were E empty, they’d just beep all over the place and they would be taking up all the space.
I now have matching baskets, but So maybe when they’re empty. Okay. It seems like there’s an inappropriately large number of them. But in reality, there are times where they’re all in use. There are times when I’ve given a basket to each of my family members with stuff for ’em to put away. There is a time where I’m using loads and loads of them to pack, and I’ve packed things for different people in each basket or things for different days of the trip on each basket.
I can’t tell you how useful and how many different uses I have for these baskets. So yes, it’s useful. The all stack, the same way as the cups in my cupboard now do, but also. It’s just so handy to have them for when I do need to sort things. Presents at Christmas, things for wrapping laundry to go away, stuff for packing.
There are a billion uses for these baskets. I also love the baskets inside my cupboards. I am. A somewhat vertically challenged five foot four, I dunno, maybe five foot four is not that short, but I have two sisters that are younger than me, but taller than me and have always called me the short sister. So I’ve got a bit of a thing about being short.
Okay? So I can’t easily reach the shelves on the top of my kitchen without a step, but by having baskets, I can pull down a basket, see what’s in it, tidy it up. And then put it back, which is much easier than not being able to reach whatever is at the back of the shelf. We actually had a bit of a spillage very, very recently with a bottle of some sort of syrup had exploded all over this basket, which was a bit of a pain and I had to be cleaned.
But how much worse would that have been if it just exploded all over the shelf? And gone all over the cupboard itself. So by having these baskets inside, it makes it easier to sort things, put things away, see what we’ve got, and ultimately clean up when I have to. So, I know some of these things may seem very insignificant and small, but honestly, the hassle and the bandwidth that some of these things have saved me.
Have been absolutely massive. Saved space in my home space in my brain, perhaps most importantly, and it’s created space in my days as well, giving me more time because I’m spending less time. Staffing over irritating things. So what is irritating in your life? And is there a very, very simple solution that you could do once and it would make your life easier day to day?
Cause let’s face it, who doesn’t wanna make their life just that little bit easier? Thank you so much for tuning into another episode of Real Talk with re. If you havet enjoyed this, I would love it if you would share it. Tag me on stories, I’d love to see what you’re up to. While you are listening, share it with a friend and probably the ultimate thing you can do.
To really help me out is to just leave me a review. If you are on Apple, you can scroll down and just click the stars, preferably five, please. Um, if you’ve got another few minutes, you can write, write me a little few sentences about, um, how you’re finding the podcast. That would be so, so helpful. I’m sure there are ways to review on other podcast platforms, but I’m not entirely sure what those are because I, I don’t know enough about them.
I really should, being that I have a podcast. But yeah, thank you so much for tuning in and shall see you next week. Or. Hear mute next week. You’ll hear me. I don’t know for another episode of Real Talk With Rhi. Bye.
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