Part of the Incredibly Easy Series
Ways to Make Chores Easier continues the series on Incredibly Easy Ways to Improve Your Life.
See here for what this series is about, and scroll to the bottom or click here for a list of other entries in the series. Also see the end of the post for details on submitting your own incredibly easy life-improvements.
Note: Some links here are affiliate links, meaning I get a small commission when you purchase them, at no additional charge to you. I only suggest things I honestly believe in.
Ways to Make Chores Easier
Making chores easier is a big win.
Nobody likes doing chores. That’s why they’re called chores.
If you can do them faster, better, or more efficiently, that leaves you with more time to do the things you care about or enjoy.
It’s especially great when you find strategies that don’t require any skill or willpower, and take less effort rather than more.
Ways to make cleaning and straightening easier
1. Get a cheap lightweight stick vacuum for small clean-ups that aren’t worth the effort of getting out the big vacuum
Good vacuums tend to be heavy. Which means they can be a big pain to get out and use. Especially if you live in a multi-story home.
You can get a decent lightweight stick-vac for $20.
It’s not going to do as good a job as a full-power vacuum.
But if you just want to pick up some crumbs before they get ground into the carpet, or do a quick touch-up, it’s way more convenient.
It’s also much easier to use on stairs.
If you live in a multi-story home, these are cheap enough that you might want to consider getting one for each floor.
2. Pull weeds whenever you see them, instead of waiting until they get worse
(Submitted by Rob Cimperman)
Nobody enjoys weeding.
But doing a little bit of weeding is better than doing a lot of weeding.
So pull weeds as soon as you see them, when it will be a quick job. Don’t put it off until it will be harder.
3. Build the habit of every time you get up, putting one item in the trash, dishwasher, or away
(Submitted by Ross Hilder)
If you can gradually make your house tidier a little bit at a time, it will eventually end up straightened without you having to put aside a specific time to do the straightening.
Or at least, when you do take the time for straightening, it will be much quicker.
4. Alternatively, every time you go from one room to another, move an item closer to where it belongs
(Recommended in Gretchen Rubin books)
This is another method of naturally straightening your house without you having to set aside time to do it.
This recommendation comes from Gretchen Rubin, one of my favorite self-help authors, and a big advocate of decluttering.
5. Put clothes either directly in the hamper or back in the closet/dresser to keep your bedroom tidy
(Submitted by Ross Hilder)
It takes an extra second or two to put your clothes in the hamper or closet when you get undressed.
You’d have to spend that time later when straightening up anyway.
But if you do it immediately, you get to enjoy a tidy bedroom all along.
6. Wash a dish whenever you wash your hands
(Submitted by Rose Meiri)
You’re already spending 20 seconds washing your hands. You can use that time do to something productive, and leave yourself with fewer dishes to wash.
7. Use paper plates so you don’t have as many dishes to wash
(Submitted by anonymous reader)
Paper plates are pretty cheap. Eating off of them means you can just throw them away instead of having to wash anything.
If you’re concerned about the environmental impact, you can recycle or compost them. (Though the environmental impact of non-toxic, biodegradable paper is negligible.)
8. If you have a cat, use a Litter Genie
A Litter Genie makes scooping a litter box so much easier and more convenient.
No more worries about holding open bags, tying them up, or putting stinky litter-filled bags in your trash.
It’s $15 well spent.
It’s extra convenient if you live somewhere that doesn’t allow single-use shopping bags that you’d otherwise use for cat litter.
If you have litter boxes in different locations, consider getting multiple Litter Genies. Especially if the boxes are on different floors.
Ways to make shopping easier
9. Keep a stockpile of non-perishable goods
Things like toilet paper, paper towels, and kleenex don’t spoil.
So make sure you always have plenty of them in your house.
Buy more when you’re down to six, instead of waiting until you’re out of them.
That means you can shop when it’s convenient for you, instead of having to make an emergency trip to the store.
You’ll also never find yourself in a situation where you desperately need to poop but there’s no toilet paper in your house. Or you just had a huge spill, and discover there’s only one paper towel left on your last roll.
And this is extra useful in case of emergency or extraordinary situations, as quite a few people learned earlier this year.
Back in March, when the stores were empty of toilet paper and roaming hordes were desperate for any scraps, I had no worries. Long before the pandemic I had already purchased a six-month supply, because that’s what I normally do.
10. Use a shopping list app that syncs through your household and Alexa/smart speakers if you have them
Use a shopping list app that syncs across multiple devices.
If you use smart speakers such as Alexa, use an app that’s compatible with that.
And if you have a multi-person household, share the same account/shopping list.
That way, anyone can easily add stuff to the shared shopping list. Or remove items when buying them.
When putting together a long shopping list, you can type it on your computer. When you think of something, you can quickly add it on your phone. Or you can just yell it at your smart speaker.
OurGroceries is a free app that does this. Though there are plenty of others.
11. Build the habit of adding things immediately to your shopping list when you think of them or run low
If you use up an item that you regularly consume, immediately add it to your shopping list.
In fact, don’t wait until you use it up. Add it to the shopping list when you notice it’s running low.
Do the same if you happen to think of something you need.
Don’t give yourself time to forget.
This is why it’s so useful to have a shopping list app. Especially one that also syncs with smart speakers.
You can quickly add it to your phone, or simply yell at the speaker.
12. Instead of a shopping list, add things directly to Amazon or Instacart lists
(Submitted by anonymous reader)
Alternatively, instead of adding things to your shopping list, you could just add them directly to your Amazon or Instacart carts.
That cuts out a step.
Ways to make commuting, errands, and other travel easier
13. Keep an umbrella in your car.
Throw an umbrella in your trunk or glove box.
Then you never have to worry about if it’s going to rain. If you drive somewhere and it starts raining, just pull out the umbrella you have with you.
14. If your commute involves walking outside, get a collapsible umbrella that can fit in a coat pocket or purse for days when it may or may not rain
There are some mornings where you don’t know whether or not it will rain that day.
If you’ll be walking outside, you’ll want an umbrella in case it does. But carrying around an umbrella all day is a hassle.
So get a miniature collapsable umbrella that can fit in a purse or coat pocket.
You have it if you need it, but don’t have to carry it if you don’t.
I have a funny story about mini collapsable umbrellas. (This is in no way useful, so feel free to skip to the next entry if you don’t care to read an amusing story about my life.)
One day my mini collapsable umbrella fell out of my coat pocket, between the seat and door of our minivan. I reached down, picked it up, and put it back in my pocket.
I didn’t think anything more about this until a few hours later, when it started to rain. When I pulled the umbrella out of my pocket, I was shocked to discover that my green umbrella had somehow turned purple.
I was dumbfounded at how I’d performed an amazing magic trick without knowing it.
Eventually I figured out that my mother-in-law, who we inherited the van from when she passed away a year earlier, had an umbrella that was identical to mine except for being purple. She’d lost it under the seat, and nobody had noticed until I reached for my umbrella and grabbed the wrong one.
So that’s the story of how my mother-in-law played a prank from beyond the grave by changing the color of my umbrella, just so her ghost could laugh at my confusion. (Which is totally the sort of thing she’d do.)
15. Keep a flashlight with a stand in your car
It’s convenient that we all carry flashlights in our pockets. But there are much better flashlights out there than come on your phone, and they only cost $10.
If your car breaks down at night and you need to change a tire, or you need to find something in the dark, or you need a good flashlight for any other reason, you’ll be glad you had one.
16. Listen to audiobooks while driving, shopping, exercising, cleaning, and doing other mundane tasks that don’t take concentration
Audiobooks are a great way to effectively add time to your day and read more books.
If you find it difficult to concentrate on audiobooks, start with books you’ve already read. Or Young Adult books that are very easy reads.
That way you’ll still be able to follow them if you zone out for a bit.
Once you have more experience listening to audiobooks, you’ll get better at it. Then you’ll be able to move to more challenging or informative books.
And as you get better, you can start increasing the audio speed, to get through more books faster.
17. Use painters tape on items that may open while traveling
Last week I talked about using painters tape to label things.
Another great use is on items that tend to open up in your bags while traveling.
Tape shut lotion bottles, pill organizers, hand sanitizer, and anything you’re worried about spilling.
18. Use a shopping list app for packing lists
Shopping list apps have more uses than shopping.
They’re also great for tracking items you need to pack. As you think of things you need to bring for a trip, you can add them to the list. And as you put them in your luggage, you can cross them off.
Just make sure you use a different app than your actual shopping list, or use an app that supports multiple lists. (OurGroceries supports multiple lists.)
Make chores easier, to add time to your life
We have to do chores to maintain our homes and lives. It’s a basic part of adulting.
But in a sense, the time we spend doing so is wasted. We aren’t enjoying or improving ourselves.
So if you can get the same results in less time, you are essentially adding time to your life.
Time that you can spend on whatever you want.
And that is the biggest win of all.
Do you have any thoughts on the items on this list?
Or suggestions of others to add?
I’d love to hear from you.
If you have suggestions of incredibly easy ways to be happier, or any other ways to improve your life, please send them to me so I can include them in a future entry. You can comment here, e-mail stevenraymarks at gmail.com, or tweet/DM to @YourselfHelping.
Other entries in the Incredibly Easy series:
- The Incredibly Simple, One-Sentence Guide to Investing
- 10 Incredibly Easy Ways to Improve Your Health
- 10 Incredibly Easy Ways to Be Happier
- 11 Incredibly Easy Things to Stop Doing to Be Happier
- 15 Incredibly Easy Ways to Improve Your Sleep
- 13 Incredibly Easy Ways to Improve Your Finances
- 17 Incredibly Easy Ways to Save Money While Shopping
- 12 Incredibly Easy Ways to Save Money on Utilities and Vehicles
- 16 Incredibly Easy Ways to Be More Organized at Home
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