+1 for Roomba, I'm on my 4th one since 2002, for me it's worth it, I wipe down the tops while he scoots around, unlike many 'gadgets' it really does something I used to spend time doing.
Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?
31–40 of 81 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've heard people sing the praises of rice cookers before and I just don't get it. I cook rice in a pot and it takes barely any effort. The most time consuming steps are measuring out rice and cleaning the pot afterwards, and you need to do both of those things with a rice cooker? In fact there might be more parts to clean?
I always burn or undercook rice when I use a stove. For me, the rice cooker is amazing, because it comes out perfect every time with no trying on my part. I don't know how you do it without, you must be magic.
It's an interesting question. I just use loads of water and keep the rice boiling for 12 minutes. Test and if it's crunchy then leave it in for a couple of extra minutes. Once the rice is soft then throw the whole pot in a colander and rinse the pot straightaway. It just feels simple and faster
Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?
#33Marie Kondo’s book really helped our family. We took a lot of clothes, books and toys which hadn’t been touched in a year or more and donated them.
We also decluttered the kitchen a lot, putting in a few high quality pots and plates rather than the motley assortment of hand me downs we’d accumulated over the years.
Bit by bit we whittled down the above and then some - taking it slow.
I also made some serious decisions like ‘do I really need a high end 5.1 surround system and projector?’ or would a sound bar and nice TV suffice. ‘Do I really need a Mac Pro and three displays?’ or would a MacBook and an Ultrawide monitor allow me to get the same work done.
Being a reasonably paid programmer (as a higher than average amount of folk here are) can encourage buying more and having more hobbies and stuff when less will do.
When you eliminate a lot of surplus ‘just in case’ items you really cut down on your cleaning and maintenance work load.
Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?
#34This one might seem trivial, but I start cleaning by picking up the floor first. This makes it easier to move around, which is a prerequisite for almost every other task.
How bad does the situation have to be that picking up stuff from the ground enables you to move freely?
Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?
#35Definitely trash your TV.
It's amazing how much extra time you'll get. Freeing 1h a day adds up to 7h weekly.
Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?
#36What 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 bask…
I did this many years ago with black socks and just had the unsorted drawer of socks. But unfortunately black doesn't go with everything, in particular it doesn't go with brown and it doesn't work at all with shorts.
Since I wear both black and brown shoes, I find myself needing at least navy, black and white socks. The system then began to fall apart as I would then allow maroon socks to go with red shirts. Maybe I should start again with those four colours. It should still be easy to find them in an unsorted drawer.
Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?
#37What 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 bask…
I've done this with most of my clothes. I was a little worried people would comment about me wearing the same thing every day, but in five months of wearing identical blue shirts and brown slacks, nobody has said anything negative about it. I missed that aspect of the military, but it seems any job can be a uniformed job if you're not a fashion idol.
Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?
#38Never ever wait until the dishwasher is totally full. It’s an efficient device: put it on twice a day, on the quickest setting it has, and don’t feel guilty about it. Result: it’s never “a thing” that needs to be handled. Emptying it is easy. Takes one minute. You always have clean things. Sounds ridiculous, I know. Trust me.
Do you have any evidence to support this? What's the usage in kWh per run and the cost of detergent?
On the highest setting mine will get through plates that have been sitting around for a week (don't judge). That costs me one run and one tablet of detergent. You're suggesting running it on the lowest setting 5-10x as often and using 5-10x the amount of detergent.
The cost in time loading and emptying seems to be equal no matter how often you run it.
Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
+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 mach…
I've heard people sing the praises of rice cookers before and I just don't get it. I cook rice in a pot and it takes barely any effort. The most time consuming steps are measuring out rice and cleaning the pot afterwards, and you need to do both of those things with a rice cooker? In fact there might be more parts to clean?
Some people make rice with exactly the right amount of water, others use lots of extra water.
The first group have to be very careful not to burn their rice. The second group get watery rice with fewer nutrients, such that there are in rice.
Re: Ask HN: What are your best domestic time saving tips?
#40Definitely trash your TV. It's amazing how much extra time you'll get. Freeing 1h a day adds up to 7h weekly.
1 hour a day = 9 x 40 hour work weeks a year