Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?

#1

Post by roryisok » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 7:17 AM UTC

I'm a father of two and I do a lot of housework in the evenings, cutting into my project time. Lately I've been obsessed with finding ways to reduce the amount of time spent on household chores any way I can. Gadgets like dishwashers, bread makers and steam cleaners have made my life easier, and I'm looking for the next thing to shave 10 minutes off my housework. So what are your best domestic time saving tips? Do you defragment your cutlery drawer? Do you swear by a roomba? Did you build a robot to pair socks?

Maybe you just identified some big time sink that you could eliminate? For instance, I'm considering taking up the carpet in my hallway as I seem to spend a disproportionate amount of time vacuuming that area vs the rest of the house.

What are your top tips?

Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?

#2

Post by hn17 » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 7:35 AM UTC

1. Since you didn't mentioned any services I would recommend doing grocery shopping via internet. It's not a big time saver on the begining. Chosing products in the "real" world is faster, especially when someone is in hurry etc. But if you use shopping lists usually built into software you can do it faster and also not waste time on commuting to your shop. You even can automate that 100%. 2. I don't have experience with it but a lot of people are recommending Vorwerk Thermomix cooking robot/device.

Good luck and if you find something interesting please let us know :-)

Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?

#3

Post by roryisok » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 8:27 AM UTC

The slow cooker is one I should add here myself, saves a lot of time cooking

Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?

#4

Post by viraptor » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 8:49 AM UTC

Pay for cleaning. This may work better or worse depending on the age of your kids... But vacuuming, cleaning surfaces, changing beds, etc. can be ousourced and saves LOTS of time.

Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?

#5

Post by evolve2k » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 9:17 AM UTC

roryisok wrote: post #3

The slow cooker is one I should add here myself, saves a lot of time cooking

+1 Slow Cooker and also add a Rice Cooker.

My fav recipie is beef stroganoff. I buy cooking steak from the local butcher shop who is happy to cut it into diced chunks for no extra cost. In the morning I chop up mushrooms & onion and throw them with the beef into the cooker with a half cup of ketchup and wostershire sauce and set it on low.

In the evening when I get home I put on a rice cooker (cheapest automatic machine ever) and pour sour cream into the slow cooker and then pretty much serve it up.

It probable took me about as long to write this as to put it on in the morning.

Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?

#6

Post by evolve2k » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 9:26 AM UTC

My family of four found doing Kon Marie quiet revolutionary. After following her process we found a marked sustained decrease in housework attributed to a reduction in time required for tidying, washing and sorting as there was just less stuff to manage.

This book (no affilitate link): https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1607747308

Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?

#7

Post by evolve2k » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 9:35 AM UTC

I've been aspiring to a philosophy I call "event based processing" (I know the term has other meanings in computing) or alternatively "Zero Impact Activities".

Regardless of the name the concept is that in undertaking daily tasks the tidy step is completed as part of untaking the task (eliminating a separate tidy phase).

Eg as a Parent I was constantly tidying or managing the kids to tidy the shoes area near the from door as all of us would take our shoes off fairly loosely around the door. I realised I needed as second shoe rack and then after discussing the new goal of an always near shoe area spent around 3 weeks on everyone's back to retrain us all to take off shoes and put them neatly in the rack. Eventually it became just what we all did, I achieved success and tidying up the shoes is now an eliminated task.

Similar applies having the family put their dishes straight into the dishwasher after the meal and better yet have a post dinner family tidy schedule at the end of the meal event.

Think of task flows as a messaging queue :P

Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?

#8

Post by andymoe » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 9:38 AM UTC

Find a full-service laundry place and pay them to do it. I've got two kids, and the four of us go through a shit-ton of laundry. If you can afford it [1], and you're in a city or neighborhood where one is available, it saves hours every week.

[1] We pay maybe 40-50 bucks a week. We don't use a service and just drag it down the street to the local laundromat once or twice a week.

Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?

#9

Post by evolve2k » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 9:44 AM UTC

evolve2k wrote: post #7

I've been aspiring to a philosophy I call "event based processing" (I know the term has other meanings in computing) or alternatively "Zero Impact Activities". Regardless of the name the concept is that in undertaking daily tasks the tidy step is completed as part of untaking the task (eliminating a separate tidy phase). Eg as a Parent I was constantly tidying or managing the kids to tidy the shoes area near the from…

Related I played with washing up and putting away ingredients as I cooked. Commonly I would stir then grab 30 seconds to wash a cooking pot/throw out packaging/put away in fridge etc.

It's greatly reduced the washing pots phase which commonly includes items that seem less dishwasher friendly.

I found it easy to do for most recipies I know well.

Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?

#10

Post by evolve2k » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 9:56 AM UTC

What I'm calling the "Bachelor Socks Pattern".

Go out and buy multiple 6-in-one packs of the same socks (Most economical with black/blue business style socks).

Go all out and get like 8 packs @ ~$5 each. At $40 cost you replace all your socks with a single type and color and have a massive oversupply (about 3 weeks worth in the above calc, prob more than you need really).

No need to sort, just keep them in a big basket of socks, now you have endless matching socks never to be sorted again.

Put your other socks aside in a bag and recycle when your convinced it's working.

[I purchased so many after doing this for myself initially and then finding out the rest of the family were ALL cheekily wearing my socks as they all quietly found it easier to match one of my black pairs over finding exact matches for their socks from the sock basket]