caring for home:
I love a good life hack; even better if it becomes something that changes my life for the better. As is the case here at Forward Our Mail, any time I discover anything remotely life changing, I immediately want to share them with you. So today, I have three easy life changes. I call them easy life hacks for small spaces, but truly, I think they’re great no matter where you live.
Life Hack 1: Storage for Extra Bedding
Let me just admit something to you. As we get ready to sell our house last spring, my sweet husband went out and purchased a ton of those vacuum seal bags. They do come in very handy. But they are really only handy if you don’t need to get into them frequently.
As we live in a much smaller space, storage is at a premium. We have the luxury of a linen closet in our bathroom, but it isn’t large by any means. So that means we have to be intentional about what we store. As the seasons change, we frequently add and remove bedding to our king-sized bed. Blankets, and extra quilts and comforters are bulky. We struggle to find a good place to store them.
Until now. Recently, I was doing a little deep cleaning to our bedroom. I removed and laundered the bedding as is my weekly routine. This time, however, I also removed and laundered our mattress cover. While it was in the washer, it occurred to me that maybe the best place to store my out of season bedding was actually on the bed.
I placed the quilt on the mattress and folded the sides so that everything laid neatly on top. Then I placed the waffle weave blanket on top of that. When the mattress cover came out of the dryer, I simply placed it on top of the extra blankets, and made the bed as usual.
This easy little life hack will save you storage space and may just help you get a good night’s sleep, too.
Life Hack 2: Container Storage
How many times have you done battle with your rubbermaid containers? Storage for these items is something from an Alfred Hitchcock movie. You open the cupboard door and you’re attached by an avalanche of falling containers. And let’s not even talk about the lids.
Again, since we have a smaller kitchen, storing these items can be quite the challenge. My personal preference is to store them neatly stacked inside a drawer. But that isn’t always applicable. So what’s a girl to do?
I decided after months of fighting the good fight, that I would create my own container storage. I purchased a small fabric covered bin – it’s approximately the size of a shoe box. My storage containers fit very well inside it, and I have space to store the lids with the containers, as well.
The secret, is to store them as if you were filing them in a filing cabinet. Larger items in the back, with their lids, medium items in the middle, with their lids, and smaller items in front, with their lids. Most of the containers will store easily inside each other, and their lids will slide in neatly behind them.
This little life hack will help keep your kitchen organized, and your sanity in check, too.
Life Hack 3: Divided Baking
We have recently discovered a food allergy in our family. While we try out several new recipes with alternate products, I often end up making two of the same(ish) dish. One evening while mixing up a broccoli casserole, it occurred that I was short a baking dish. I needed one for the casserole with real cheese, and one for the casserole with dairy-free cheese.
I simply unrolled a length of aluminum foil, lined the baking pan, but included a simple fold to act as a divider. One side of the dish contained the regular casserole, the other contained the dairy free. Both could bake together, and clean up was a snap.
Now, you may not have a food allergy to consider, but you may want to roast two separate items. Maybe roasted carrots in one side, and roasted green beans in the other. Or maybe chicken nuggets on one side and fish sticks in the other. As long as both items need similar cooking times and temperatures, this life hack is completely a life changer.
Watch out one-pot-meals. We’re roasting double!
I hope you find these easy little life hacks helpful. They have made a world of difference in our lives- especially as we transition to smaller spaces.
xo, Billie
You may also enjoy:
