AskNott has a great answer. All my socks are gray & I hardly ever wear them.
The best & simplest thing I’ve ever done to make my life simpler was to hook up with someone who has a lot of money & doesn’t care wtf I do with it.
“I’m your poppet – I love it –
And think of the two of us in sympathy & sometimes ecstacy,
Words mean so little & money less, when you’re lying next to me –
But think of my hopes, think of my dreams,
The currency we’ve spent –
I love your heart, you pay my rent.”
–PSB
AskNott has a great answer. All my socks are gray & I hardly ever wear them.
The best & simplest thing I’ve ever done to make my life simpler was to hook up with someone who has a lot of money & doesn’t care wtf I do with it.
“I’m your poppet, I love it.
And look at the two of us in sympathy and sometimes ecstacy,
Words mean so little and money less, when you’re lying next to me,
But look at my hopes, look at my dreams, the currency we’ve spent,
I love your heart, you pay my rent.”
–PSB
When I get home from a trip I always re-pack my bath and makeup kits (I have duplicates of eye liner, mascarda, etc.) so all I have to do is pack clothes each time and not worry about all the small stuff.
My purse has little hook things inside it. I latch my key chain into it as soon as I use my keys so there’s no looking for them.
One of the little hook things I use to attach my driver’s license in a special wallet that’s attached to a retractable cord. So I can easily grab my license and flash it at security folks.
My work ID and key to my desk are on another clipon retractable cord, so I always have it on my clothing and don’t have to look for my access card or desk key.
I stopped posting on message boards.
I finally accepted the fact that I do not enjoy buying clothes and colour co-ordinating outfits so I gave away all the clothes I hated but thought I should wear and started collecting machine washable black skirts and cartigains. I pretty much have a self-imposed uniform. I don’t even have any coloured clothing. It’s like the sock thing but more extreme. I love it. I hated agonizing over outfits every day and I never felt comfortable in anything. Now the only decision I have to make is skirt length. Shopping, laundry and dressing are a breeze and I never think about what I’m wearing anymore.
Got myself a mobile phone.
Pokey, that’s what I was going to say! Almost all of my clothes are black, therefore it all matches. Also, I wear dresses for work (1 item) as opposed to top, skirt, belt (3).
The kids have the sock thing down, with the Boy’s being the ones with gray heels and toes, and the Girl’s being the all white.
Another less is more: I clean by throwing things away whenever I feel crowded. And I wear no jewelry at all, very little makeup, never any nail polish.
Ooooh, want one! I have resolved never to buy furniture that does not increase the amount of space I have to store things. I was attracted to the trunk-as-coffee-table thing, but figured it’d just piss me off if I had to take everything off the lid to get into it. I will have to look for one like yours!
1: Made 5 copies of house keys and car keys on multiple rings. If main ring is misplaced I can still get going.
2: Put a car key with large end sawed off in my wallet. Small and unobtrusive. Difficult to turn but it works and it has been a real lifesaver in several situations.
3: White LED penlight (not the bulb kind) in my glove compartment has saved the day a few times looking for main electrical breaker in dark buildings. White LED lights are a bit expensive compared to cheaper incandescent bulb flashlights but batts will last 100+ hours.
4: Bolt cutter - Thought it was waste when I bought it for one application (cutting chain off fence gate) but it has proven useful on many occasions
5: Little Swiss Army knife on my keyring. Used various tools many, many many times.
6: Portable electric razor in the car. Good for emergency touchups.
7: Self winding Seiko automatic divers watch - looks good and no battery worries.
8: Used built in feature of my Verizon telephone service to automatically give myself timed wake up calls M-F at 6:30AM with 7:30AM followup. Has saved my bacon more than once.
9: Paypal - much easier to give and get money than before (at a price)
10: Do everything in the shower. ie wash- shave - brush - floss etc-
11: Card reader for digital camera- Much easier than docking the damn thing
12: Self adjusting radio signal controlled “atomic clock”. This clock is the bomb! No setting ever! Use it to set all my other clocks.
13: Avoid asking, interesting and attractive women out. Has proven to be huge time saver, so I can buy more crap to save time with, which is time I’m not going to spending having a good time with them any of them. Hmmm… this theory’s got a few bugs in it somewhere.
What a fabulous thread!
I bought a super-strong magnet that goes on the inside of our (steel) front door. When I have to remember something like a letter to mail, I stick it there with the magnet. Also a good place to leave notes for myself.
I stopped buying pajamas for my kid and instead bought him a bunch of comfortable clothes that he could both sleep and play in. At night, I dress him in the clothes he will wear the next day.
I stopped buying numerous pairs of cheap crappy shoes that were almost the style I wanted but not quite, or almost fit but not quite… that’s why I’d have so many pairs. I’d always be trying to improve on one thing or the other. Instead, I bought a few pairs of good-quality shoes (Eccos), which I wear all the time. Not as much variety, and the initial price is a killer, but I save money and sore feet in the long run.
Married someone who is calm and who calms me. Some people thrive on drama, and I admit I was exhilarated in some of the roller-coaster-ride relationships I’ve had in the past. But the down times aren’t worth the thrills, for me.
Bought a decent but non-flashy car. Not too expensive, nothing to show off in the parking lot, but never any worries about whether it will start or what’s going to fail next.
Bought gift cards to stores I frequent (if available). My favorite bagel store has gift cards. I buy one of those for myself, and no longer fumble for money or, worse yet, go get cash from the ATM just to get a bagel.
Stopped trying to be a friends with people we didn’t really like anymore or whom I didn’t trust. I kept thinking there was some “good-friend code” that meant once a friend, always a friend, and I’d be a bad person if I stopped trying. That’s b.s. Know when to quit.
a gift box.
Whenever I am out funshopping, new or second-hand, I look out for gifts. The everybody-likes-this-and-it-takes-little-or-no-room-kind, (wine, baby-socks) and the oh-this-has-(friends name)-written-all-over-it-kind.
I put these gifts in a box and when its’ their birthday i have an appropriate present. I also have beautiful gift wrapping paper and ribbons.
You can also put gifts you got and do not like in this box. But beware! If you want to give Caty the littel purple frog statuette in the box, because it is SO Caty, it is probably because Caty bought it: for YOU…
I bought a couple boxes of nice quality blank stationery cards and envelopes with a stylish design on them.
Need a card for someone’s birthday, anniversary, Mother’s Day? Just whip out a card, write in it, and send it.
I bought a separate box for Xmas.
Everyone gets the same damn card for birthdays and whatnot, but it’s so much easier. It’s the message I write inside that counts … and it’s not that crap that Hallmark thinks I want to say.
Good tips. Here’s some of my own:
During the summer, I wear flips flops all the time. No more washing of socks. My workplace is cool with it, so long I don’t air out my stinky feet everywhere.
I only use disposable plates, napkins and utensils. Less dishwashing. Less growing of cultures in the sink.
I let the gunk that appears on the sides of the fridge stay there till it hardens. Then I can just knock it off instead of having to clean and scrub it.
I filled all the dug out spots in my driveway with unmixed cement and just let the rain do the rest.
I don’t wash my underwear. I just throw it away and buy 6-month supplies. Saves washing and having to deal with those embarassing skid marks.
Whenever I browse Amazon, I look for what might be suitable Christmas gifts. I put them all in “Save to Buy Later” and in November I go in, narrow down to the finalists and order. Screw the mall.
When we cook meals we alway make a huge batch and freeze some in dinner-sized portions. We use the FoodSaver vacuum bags. We seldom buy pre-made food, which may be easier, but not as healthy and certainly not as cheap.
We don’t buy cards anymore, just take a quick digital snap of ourselves, print it out on a card and write in the message. Family loves it because since we’re the only ones that live far away they don’t get to see us much.
All utility bills are on AutoPay. Paycheck is direct deposit.
I never write checks any more, I use my ATM card. Most places take it now. Or I use the credit card; it gets paid online (although we have several, we only use one and pay it off every month)
Maintenance meds are on AutoFill and mailed directly to us. I’d do it that way even if the drugstore charged postage, but heh, they don’t.
I walk to work. It’ a 25 minute walk, which is a great workout without getting all sweaty. Taking the car would only shave ten minutes off that anyway. Less gas, less maintenance. If I drove home and then had exercise for 25 minutes… yeah like that’s going to happen.
And our biggest timesaver of all: childlessness.
Personal thing: I bought an MP3 player and put all my CD’s onto it. 10 gigs around 150 cd’s and still have 4 gigs to play with. Now, when I want to listen to music, go walking, take long rides, I have exactly what I want to listen to when I want it in a walkman sized container that actually fits in my front pants (even jeans) pocket.
I haven’t done this yet but plan to buy a bunch of plastic storage containers and put my books and other things into them rather than the old dingy cardboard boxes that I have now. I expect it would make moving easier and any possible flood damage irrelevant.
I broke up with my SO of 8 years.
Ok, it didn’t make my life easier, but it did make it better!
I now put stuff where I use it, instead of where it “belongs”. So my make-up and my toothbrush are in the kitchen instead of in the shower. The bottle for watering plants stands near the houseplants instead of the kitchen.
Less is more, but of some things you cannot have enough. In the winter, I have a pair of gloves in the pockets of both my two favourite coats. I have a toothbrush in the kitchen and in the shower. A pair of scissors in EVERY damn room of the house. A pen on every surface within reaching distance. I try to SATURATE my house with pens and scissors.
Great time saver: when a pen does not work, toss it! Do not put it back where you got it, just because it “might” work when only shaken vigorously first, licked properly, and held in a 80 degree
angle with firm pressure. Just TOSS it. And whatever you do: do not put it back in the drawer near the telephone. It will just come back to haunt and frustrate you when you are in bad need of writing gear.:mad:
Keep the yellow pages, the city-guide, the telephone book and all those leaflets with useful information in one of those transparent plastic containers near the telephone.
Good one. I keep a compact umbrella in my trench coat pocket at all times. I only wear it in the wet season anyway. Sometimes, I needlessly carry around an umbrella when it’s cold but not rainy, but it doesn’t weigh very much or take up much space. However, if and when it rains, I’m always ready.
This may not be such a bright idea, but it has worked so far…When I started driving five years ago, I didn’t carry a purse, so I had a habit of driving off without money. I got one of those wallet keychains and put EVERYTHING in it - cash, IDs, credit cards, and every key to everything I ever need to unlock. I’ll really suffer if I ever lose it, but because it’s so important, I have never misplaced it.
Christmas last year: online shopping. I knew just what to get everyone, and by golly, you can find anything on the Internet. I live in a fairly rural area so the time spent driving and shopping would have cost more than the shipping - without the crowds.
I love buying new clothes, so I could never buy all one color sock or anything like that. I did get tired of having it all in the same drawer, though, so I bought three stackable “bins” that you might keep kids toys in and put it in my closet. One is for undies, one for bras, and one for socks (folded in pairs). It’s so easy to just toss the items in straight from the dryer that they don’t stay piled up in the laundry room for days anymore.
I recently bought a board to put across the tub of my tub/shower and I keep extra shower stuff up there. I turned a basket on its side and rolled up clean towels to put in it, got a pretty glass bowl and put extra soap in it, etc. etc. It’s a lot easier than running around dripping looking for something you just ran out of whilst in the shower.
Come to think of it, I probably would cease to exist without baskets. Everything is in baskets…remote controls, the jewelry I wear on a daily basis, current bills, pens with pads, floppy disks, paper clips, afghans, magazines…EVERYTHING. Huh. I never really thought about that.
lovelyluka - Want to come over to Nashville and organize for me?
I don’t carry a purse. I have a small wallet that will hold my debit card, driver’s license and door pass for work. It has a zippered compartment that will hold folded up cash, not that I carry much.
I use my computer calendar at work for all the family birthdays and such. I was forever forgetting dates - now I have it scheduled to prompt me a week before so I can get a gift/card.
I always keep a couple favorite books in the car. If I’m stuck somewhere I always have something to read.
I’m another same sock/underwear person. And I’m at the point in my life where, if the socks get holes in the heel or the underwear’s elastic has lost it’s spring, I toss them.
StG