What Are You Doing (Or Not Doing) To Make Life Easier?

This is my mantra for housework, yard work and almost everything else in my life these days:
The pursuit of perfection is the enemy of good enough.

I've reduced clutter some (but not enough). Way too many possessions, but they almost all seem to come in handy from time to time.

Vacuuming: Roomba automatically runs through the whole house 3 times a week and picks up nearly everything. It runs for about an hour on a charge, then roosts for about an hour to fully recharge. It returns to the nest as necessary to empty and refuel, then continues with its chore. It takes most of the day to clean the house, but I'm not paying it by the hour. :cool: (Sometimes DH gripes that it's still running in the late afternoon. I respond by asking if he'd rather take over the vacuuming. Talk about a conversation ender...)

That little robot picks up almost everything — it helps that our dog is a non-shedding breed. Other than that, DH or I may push around a stick vacuum a couple of times a year. Or not. Even the light stick vacuum will make our backs ache, so we put the chore off unless absolutely necessary.

Every autumn we hire professional carpet cleaners to come in. They run their super-duper vacuum, spray spot remover as needed, then steam clean. Everything looks great when they leave.

Shopping: I'm in and out of grocery stores in about 20 minutes - mostly only buy produce. Use Walmart pickup and Amazon for odds and ends. Costco every few weeks for everything else.

Outdoors: Our gardener takes care of the landscaping. Between the cover and another vacuuming robot, the pool stays clean. DH adds chlorine as needed.

Food prep: As the mood strikes I cook ahead and freeze. The pantry and freezer are always loaded with options for meals and snacks.

My life is relatively uncomplicated, free-form, and low maintenance, which is just how I like it.
 
4 months ago l hired cleaners to clean once a month. I have been eating out more probably twice a week and I’m buying some convenience food to keep in the freezer for when I don’t feel like cooking.

I downsized to 855 ft.² so it’s easy to keep up with everything with a smaller place and a reduction in possessions. It’s a Condo so inside and outside maintenance of the building and grounds are done by the HOA. The only thing I’m responsible for is the inside of my condo.
You're living my dream.
 
also @Sunkist

Brand name is Base Camp. I bought it when I was living in an apartment, and the rental agreement said No Washers, but I just kept it in my closet while I wasn't using it, and they're not supposed to look in closets and drawers during inspections. When I did use it, I set it in the bathtub, which made filling and draining real easy. It had a portable shower head, though...on a hose, you know?

The washer is too tall to put under a bathtub faucet, and bathtub faucets are bigger than kitchen faucets. The little washer's fill hose fits kitchen faucets, but the drain hose isn't long enough to reach from the floor to the kitchen sink, so you have to set it on a small table or on the kitchen counter. That's why I used it in the bathtub.
I have an apt washer too and it really does a great job. I put it in the shower stall, use the shower hose/head to fill it, and that's it. No more draging stuff around. It is a gravity drain one so it has to be a foot higher to completely drain but I have a stool for that. I keep it in the linen closet ---fits under the shelves---. If you buy one be sure to get one that has a motor for draining the water. It's just easier. I dry my tees and knit pants on hangers in front of the bedroom window as I have sun all day, southern exposure.


And as for ironing, I gave that up 20 years ago. The newer fabrics make air drying things so simple.
 
I’m trying to clear out things. It’s not working.

Clearing out is hard. Ive been culling my hoard for a while now. We used to be three boxes short of being hoarders.
My problem is I keep finding interesting stuff I forgot I had.

Ive had some success with sorting like with like. I dont make decisions . I just sort. A lot of times I find multiples.
For example somehow I ended up with ten irons. I kept four. Two for the house. One for the garage. And one cause it was old and cute.
Later I go thru a group and pick out my favorites and get rid of the others. Its easier to make a decisions within a small group.
That way you dont get overloaded.

As for clothes this works for me. Hang all your clothes with the hangers backwards. After you wear something hang it up the right way.
After a period of time you will be able to see what clothes you dont wear by their backwards hangers. And can make a decision then.
 
rotisserie chicken has a lot of artificial flavor and sodium and fat. I boil chicken breast myself, or buy the cooked low sodium chicken breast from trader Joe's or wholefood.
My son sent me a Reel on Facebook that changed my mind about buying the Costco chicken. :confused: The breast meat of the Costco chicken was the only white meat I liked. If and when I buy fresh chicken again, I'll only buy drumsticks . I'm a lazy cook so drumsticks would be easier to prepare. I had read that Costco used hormones and preservatives, then read they didn't. The reel was of a nasty looking chicken with bad teeth that mentions the reasons why the chicken remains $4.99 all these years and why it costs less than even fresh chickens. It made sense and one of it was appetizing! Truthfully, I only eat chicken a couple of times a month, sometimes even less than that. @MACKTEXAS
 
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If you don't mind me asking, what brand is that, @OneEyedDiva? It sounds like a good one.
It was sold under Xtremepower. I bought it in February 2015 on Amazon, but it is no longer available. In fact, even the page for it is gone. The machines with similar design likely have simple operating mechanisms and I don't doubt that they are all comparable to the one I have. I notice that a lot of them have spinner baskets now. I wonder if they spin as efficiently as my spinner. :unsure:

@Aunt Bea My mother had a lift recliner. I've never seen one like the one you posted either.
 
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At some point, we will probably move but, in the meantime, I love the stairs because they are great exercise.

Our windows are easy to clean because they rotate but, we get the window cleaner in to do them because, it's boring and he does a really good job.

There's a local laundry and ironing service which will pick up and return the laundry on the same day, it's good for things like bedding and towels because it all comes back washed, dried and ready to put away. I hate airing stuff off indoors. The balcony gets really sunny so, in the nicer weather, everything dries and airs off really quickly.

Sometimes we use online shopping for heavy stuff but not often as the shops are nearby and I like going out.

Fortunately, we could do all these things ourselves but, it's nice to have a little extra help sometimes. :)
 
This simple wooden lift chair popped up in my Facebook feed the other day.

I’ve never seen anything other than recliners until now.

Priced at around $300.00.
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I don't know anything about your health, Aunt Bea, so please excuse me if I'm overstepping.

That said, I recently heard an MD who specializes in nursing home care. He said the number one physical problem that KEEPS people in nursing homes is the inability to stand and/or sit without assistance. He explained that independent toileting is crucial to independent living, because it's something we need to do numerous times a day.

Even devoted spouses/children wear out when having to wrangle another person's body onto and off of a toilet.

This doctor strongly emphasizes the importance of building/maintaining sufficient leg strength for sitting and rising from a chair without using one's hands for assistance. This is fairly common advice, but I'd never before connected it to being stuck in a long term care facility.

Please consider the above before buying a gizmo that reduces the need to build or maintain leg strength. Muscle strength is a use it or lose it proposition.

I'm writing this with the greatest kindness and respect.
 
My son sent me a Reel on Facebook that changed my mind about buying the Costco chicken. :confused: The breast meat of the Costco chicken was the only white meat I liked. If and when I buy fresh chicken again, I'll only buy drumsticks . I'm a lazy cook so drumsticks would be easier to prepare. I had read that Costco used hormones and preservatives, then read they didn't. The reel was of a nasty looking chicken with bad teeth that mentions the reasons why the chicken remains $4.99 all these years and why it costs less than even fresh chickens. It made sense and one of it was appetizing! Truthfully, I only eat chicken a couple of times a month, sometimes even less than that. @MACKTEXAS
Truth be told, virtually all US (food production) livestock live their entire lives in inhumane, disgusting, crowded conditions, and are pumped full of hormones for faster growth and bigger bodies at minimum cost.

That hasn't been a secret for many years.

p.s. Chickens don't have teeth.
 
I don't know anything about your health, Aunt Bea, so please excuse me if I'm overstepping.

That said, I recently heard an MD who specializes in nursing home care. He said the number one physical problem that KEEPS people in nursing homes is the inability to stand and/or sit without assistance. He explained that independent toileting is crucial to independent living, because it's something we need to do numerous times a day.

Even devoted spouses/children wear out when having to wrangle another person's body onto and off of a toilet.

This doctor strongly emphasizes the importance of building/maintaining sufficient leg strength for sitting and rising from a chair without using one's hands for assistance. This is fairly common advice, but I'd never before connected it to being stuck in a long term care facility.

Please consider the above before buying a gizmo that reduces the need to build or maintain leg strength. Muscle strength is a use it or lose it proposition.

I'm writing this with the greatest kindness and respect.
I appreciate the concern, I’m still chugging along.

I walk about 5,000 steps a day in the winter and bump it up to 10,000 steps a day in the summer.

I try to look as far as possible into the future and what options are available to me if my world begins to get smaller, as eventually it will and the change may be quite sudden.
 
When a friend of mine got Parkinson’s disease eventually, he had trouble getting in and out of his chair. We had him buy a recliner that would help him up, and it allowed him to remain at home longer than he would have.

He had bars in his bathroom, so he was still able to get on and off the toilet. Eventually, of course, he ended up in assisted living. But it gave him some extra time living independently.
 
I have been working on this too. Yes, it's difficult. But first thing I do is to stop buying anything that is not essential.
One thing I do is that if I buy something than something of like quality has to leave my house. So for instance, if I buy a blouse, another shirt has to go. It really makes you think before buying anything because you realize you’re going to have to get rid of something. That way you’re not adding to the Clutter as you buy new things.
 
I try to look as far as possible into the future and what options are available to me if my world begins to get smaller, as eventually it will and the change may be quite sudden.
This is exactly what DH and I were saying this morning. If there’s a sudden change, we don’t want to be overwhelmed.
 
The reel was of a nasty looking chicken with bad teeth that mentions the reasons why the chicken remains $4.99 all these years and why it costs less than even fresh chickens. It made sense and one of it was appetizing! Truthfully, I only eat chicken a couple of times a month, sometimes even less than that. @MACKTEXAS
I don't blame you for declining Costco's chicken with teeth. I would too.
After uneventfully (even enjoyably) consuming countless $4.99 rotisserie chickens from Walmart, I have no worries.
 
One never knows when something debilitating is going to happen. We have a couple of long-time friends in our neighborhood who are in their late 60s. One was out walking today and we stopped to catch up. He shared that his husband of many years has been diagnosed with Alzheimers and had to retire from his job last week due to short-term memory issues.

They have lived in their house for many years, which he said his husband loves. However, he's already looking at memory care facilities close by. His words were, "I hope I live longer than he does so I can take care of him". They have been such an endearing couple to know. I was so saddened by this news. :(
 
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