3 Changes I’ve Made: 2 Time-Stress Reducers and 1 Just for Fun

Welcome to the 627th Metamorphosis Monday, a blog party sharing fabulous Before and Afters!

From time to time as I’m working around the house, I will see or think of something that I think would be a great little idea or tip to share with you. Often it’s not anything that’s worthy of a full post, but just an idea I think you may like or find handy.

I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a while but I never seem to get it done, mainly because I envision it being a really long post and who’s got time for that! lol  So, in today’s post, I’m sharing 3 tips/ideas that are little things I’ve discovered that have made my life less stressful–or maybe just a bit more fun.

Tip 1: I love riding my Peloton bike but sometimes I want to take a class without the commentary from the instructor. A company called Top Form Design makes various shelves and attachments you can add to your bike. I purchased the one they call “The Sidewinder” that will hold a laptop or iPad, along with a mousepad/mouse.

So now when I’m in the mood to watch a perfume or a handbag review on YouTube, I get some exercise while I’m doing it! I will purposedly save videos that pop-up from the YouTube channels I follow, just so I can watch them while working out. It’s super easy to do since Peloton publishes everything you need to know (like the cadence & resistance for the ride) right on the screen. I just turn the class volume down and have at it!

Shelf for Peloton Bike

 

Tip 2. In the county where I live, everyone is responsible for arranging their own garbage/trash pickup. There’s no county or city truck that comes around to pick up the trash.

One of the biggest stressors for me each week is remembering to push my trash bin to the curb. I rarely forget, can only think of one time that I’ve done that, but it’s just stressful knowing that if I do forget, I will be stuck holding onto that trash for another full week or pay an additional fee to have the company come back out to get it. Not only that, if I forget where will I put the next week’s trash?! Stress!

 

One of the services I’ve always admired about my son and daughter-in-law’s neighborhood is how their neighborhood includes trash pickup right at your home. They drive their little mini-truck right up to the back of the house so there are never any unsightly trash bins lining the street as you drive down it. Plus, you never have to worry about missing trash day.

Tree-lined street

 

A few months ago I searched online and discovered there’s a company in my area that comes right down to your house to pick up the trash. I called them hoping to use their service but unfortunately, they don’t service my street. I couldn’t talk them into adding me to their service but one of the things the owner suggested was to call my current service to see if they offer house-pickup for an additional fee.

I called and was surprised to find they did offer trash pickup at the house! They call it their “Back-door” service. They don’t advertise it, but for an additional $10 per month they will pick up trash right at your home. I signed up on the spot and it has been awesome!

I no longer have to stress about forgetting to put the trash out each week. I no longer have to dodge the large bin at the end of my driveway as I come and go in my car throughout the day on trash day. I no longer have to drag the bin down the driveway once the trash has been picked up. And I no longer have to run outside in the dark on freezing, cold, rainy nights when I realize I’ve forgotten to push the bin to the edge of the road and tomorrow is trash day.

Now I just take the trash out of my kitchen bin, drop it in the can just outside my garage door and it magically disappears every week. What a luxury! This has been a life changer and I just wanted to mention it in case you live in an area where you have to hire your own trash service and have to push your bin to the road each week. Any time I can eliminate one more thing-to-remember-to-do from my life, it removes a bit more stress from my life, as well. Well worth the extra $10 per month!

One extra bonus: I love not seeing an unsightly trash bin sitting out in front of my home all day on trash day. I envision a day (cue the angelic music) when streets are no longer lined with full (or overturned) trash bins! 😉

 

Tip 3. I’ll leave you with one more little change I’ve made and have been loving. I am always looking for short cuts when it comes to doing dreaded chores around the house. If I can’t find a shortcut, I’ll try to find a way to make the job more enjoyable.

One thing I started doing last year involves a shortcut for doing laundry. One of the things I always dread when doing laundry is having to match up the socks before putting them away, hoping one hasn’t vanished as socks are so famous for doing.

Last year I discovered these amazing merino wool socks that are beyond cozy and warm. I love them so much, they have become the only socks I wear during the fall and winter months. (Socks are available here: Black Merino Wool Socks)

 

One day it dawned on me, since these are the only socks I’ve been wearing for the past couple of winters, why am I taking time to pair them up when folding the laundry. Now, when I pull everything out of the dryer, I no longer fold or pair up my socks, I just drop them all into one of the little bins in this bench here in my closet.

Small Bench for a Small Closet

 

When it’s time to get dressed, I sit down, open the bin and pull out the first two socks my hand touches. This has been an awesome time-saver when folding laundry–just one less thing to do!

 

Hope you found this helpful and if you enjoyed this post, let me know and I’ll write another with some additional time-saving, joy-adding, stress-relieving tips.

Looking forward to all the wonderful Before and Afters linked for this week’s Met Monday!

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Metamorphosis Monday

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Comments

  1. Thank you Susan! I’m going to call my trash service, that would be awesome not to have to take the cans to the street!

  2. I did the sock trick with husband’s dress socks. I replaced them with all with the one kind he likes, one color; and now I no longer have a drawer full of mismatched socks to go thru.

  3. I bought those socks when you posted last year. I love them! And they are warm. I live in Michigan and often don’t have shoes on in the house. They keep my feet toasty. Thanks for the tip.

    • Isn’t it amazing how warm they keep your feet?! I’ve been living in them all fall and winter. Glad they’ve worked so well for you too, Bev!

  4. I didn’t know neighborhoods like yours would have to arrange their own trash pickup. Definitely worth the extra bucks for back door service. What luck to discover that. Did you spread the word amongst your neighbors yet?

  5. Helen Carol Matthews says

    Loved your ideas and have already implimented two of them! Thanks!

  6. Hi Susan, LOVE this post. Your thoughts and ideas are always enlightening. I did the same process with socks a few years ago. It is one of the best ideas ever! Please keep making those notes and sharing with us 🙂

  7. Tina W Reynolds says

    Oh, Susan, my trash situation IS stressful. I live, as they say where my people come from, “right smack” in the downtown, so the city does the pick up. But (and this is a big BUT), our home is in the original old district and sits on the crest of a hill. Our state, in all its wisdom, ran a state highway through on our street in the 1970’s…past all of the beautiful old homes! No action from the residents stopped it. We cannot put our trash toter bins on the street because, well, high speed traffic prohibits the trash trucks from stopping, so we must put them in the alleyway. That hill I mentioned puts me on quite a slope and our fenced back yard is 3 to 5 feet above the alley. My toters must reside there all of the time since they are way too large and heavy, even empty, for me to raise and lower through my back fence gate. I open the gate, drop my bags down about 4 feet, jump down into the alley and then put them in the toter bins. In winter, the snow is another issue and I have to put my trash bags into the trunk of my car and drive them to my toter bins. This is complicated by the one-way streets! Two blocks down, two blocks back up the alley to the toter bins! Now, I have a new complication. Homeless men have begun to use my alleyway as their own personal highway and urinal! Now I must always be on the lookout and never can take the trash out after dusk. My city has made it tough for tax-paying responsible residents of the old original neighborhoods to survive. People may laugh at the idea that trash pick up can be a stressor, but it really is…every week. I also wash, sort, and deliver recyclables to a facility that is about 6 miles away. My car has become a trash truck. I am pretty sure this is not sustainable for me in the coming decades. We want to stay in our 1886 home, but little things make it so tough. My husband has health issues that prevent him from helping me. We all come to love our homes, and mine has truly been my life’s work. LOL-I have now finally built in enough cabinets to store all of my various china collections! Also, I can try the sock idea for my husband’s socks. He too has identified just two types of socks that he loves! I had fixed his sock and undies drawer in the style of Marie Kondo! It actually helped both of us, but the freedom of the little sock bins is a siren song! Thanks!

    • Wow, what a nightmare, Tina! That stinks that they put that big highway through. 🙁 I hate when you are living somewhere and are perfectly happy and something crazy like that happens that is out of your control. Who would think trash disposal could be so stressful! Is it that way for your neighbors on either side, too? I wonder if you could buy some large trash cans to keep in back of your home (hidden by a little fence for aesthetics) and then maybe the day before trash day, someone you (and your neighbors hire) could come by and move the trash to the alley for you. Someone could start a business doing that for all the residents who have been affected by this. I’m sorry you have to worry with this. I wonder if it could be brought up at a board meeting.

  8. Thanks to you, I wear those socks every day, too. And I also love them. I ordered them two separate times though and find that the lengths (not the feet) are different for each order. Not big deal but I need to fold and match them by length. Maybe if I wasn’t such a perfectionist….

    • That is so strange. Susan, I would return them if it’s not too late. I’ve ordered them 3-4 times now and haven’t had that happen. They’ve all been the same size. Do you think you may have accidently ordered the men’s size one of those times? I just discovered they make them in a men’s size a few months back and I ordered those for my son this past Christmas. I linked out to both the women’s and men’s in a previous post I did back around Christmas. Just wondering if maybe you accidently ordered the men’s version.

      • Quite certain they are women’s socks. The difference isn’t that much either. I just put it down to the fact they they we’re probably made at different times. I’ve had that happen with pants I buy regularly, too. In any event, I love them!

  9. Debbie Latimer says

    I bought the socks a couple of weeks ago. They have a kerosene like smell and I was wondering if you had experienced this in the past. If so, how did you remove the smell? I’ve purchased many products you have recommended in the past and they are all great. I’ve washed a couple of pairs, but the smell remains.

  10. Great ideas for time and energy savers ! I always purchased the exact same socks each time for my kids but don’t know why I didn’t do it for myself ! Have to do that ! Also , $10 per month for the trash back door service is fantastic ! Wish we had that here

    • Patricia, call and check. I was shocked to find the back door service was an option here. I wish I had know the sock trick when my son was growing up! lol

  11. Love the idea about the trash bin service. My husband hates taking the bin down late at night in bad weather. We have a long drive and it’s always a chore. thanks for hosting, as always!

    • They need to invent a little hitch we can add to cars and cans for those long driveways. Then you could just hook the can to the car and pull it up to the road. 🙂

  12. 3 wonderful tips Susan – I love that you solved the overwhelm of posting by just doing a few! 😉 My husband does the same thing with his sock drawer. Thanks as always, and Happy February & Monday!

  13. I like all different (rather loud) socks to wear with my jeans because I’m old and no longer care if people think I’m crazy and found these to be useful on laundry day. Would be good for families with a few children, too.
    https://www.amazon.com/s?k=sock+paired+for+washer&ref=nb_sb_noss

    • lol I used to buy the Solmate socks that were crazy and wild. I have a bunch of those still and they are adorable! They are all cotton so not quite as warm as the merino wool socks I wear now. Of course, you don’t have to worry about being cold where you live…lucky girl!

  14. Franki Parde says

    I hear you about the trash pick up service…we still have to haul up & down driveway…but beats going to refuse center 15 miles away. Baby steps… franki

  15. I love the sock idea! we are in the process of revamping our master closet and I am going to incorporate your idea for both of us. Interesting about your trash issue. I just assumed that trash pick-up was a service provided by your city/parish/county no matter where you live. But you found the perfect solution. I would definitely pay $10 per month to not have to remind my husband to bring out the bin! Also, it seems that some of my neighbors don’t feel the need to bring their bins in for a few days, which is aggravating!

  16. I am so used to living in places where the garbage pickup is automatic each week. I would be at a loss if I had to schedule it.

  17. Julia De Guerre says

    socks – I do the same thing for my husband – black dress socks to the knee or white gym socks- as well plus we each have a one or two white mesh ‘delicates’ bags so each person’s socks go in their bag – not balled up, bag with socks is tied tightly then goes into the washer, then into the drier, then into their drawer. Trying to match socks for 5 people with fresh socks once or twice a day for a week was a nightmare, that was 140 socks to match weekly. working mom solution

  18. Jane Smith says

    Susan do the merino wool socks pick up lint? I am looking for socks that stay lint free?

    • I haven’t had that problem with mine. I always wash them with other dark clothing, but I have been known to dry them with towels and such. The only thing I’ve noticed is after a few washings, they will sometimes get little balls (not lint) on the heel area like you see on cashmere sweaters. I’ve only seen that happen after I’ve worn/washed them several times. (By the way, these socks last a long, long, long time!) Anway, after a lot of wearings, if those little balls appear, I use my battery-powered clothes shaver while I have them on my feet and it’s takes 2 seconds to remove them. They don’t seem to come back so I think that’s mostly a one-time thing. This is the shaver that I use and love: https://amzn.to/2MrD5Qv

  19. I also have to schedule trash pick up. Not everyone uses the same company, Our neighborhood has tried to get one company so pick up is the same day, but there are always a few outliers that don’t want to do that. I never heard of a trash company that picked up at your house. I do tip my trash men at Christmas with gift cards. I put cards in a Christmas card, write Merry Christmas on the outside envelope, and tape it to the top of the bin. Since I’ve done that, they always return empty can by to house, unasked. Now my DIL has started the gift card idea, and they return her trash can from the curb also.

  20. I love those socks and they are all I wear now! I love that I don’t have to match them. I teach and on the cold days when I have recess duty, they keep my feet warm but they’re not hot in the classroom. Thanks for all your recommendations!

  21. What great ideas! I always learn something when I read your posts! Thanks for sharing.

  22. Thanks so much for hosting each week!! I know how much work and time it takes to host and then to visit each post. It truly is appreciated!!! Stay safe, healthy and happy!!
    Hugs,
    Debbie

  23. Cynthia Blaylock says

    We are building a new home in Idaho and will be moving there from Southern California later this year. The neighborhood where we are moving has no trash service – one has to take their trash to a nearby “transfer station” and dump it. Its the only thing I’m not looking forward to, especially since my trash always has a weeks worth of little dog poop bags in it!! I’m hoping when we get up there, I’ll find some enterprising entrepreneur who has started a private trash pick-up service!!

  24. Cyndi Raines says

    Love those socks and I basically do the same thing! Great minds think alike, hehe. We recycle all paper, cardboard, tin and plastic so we typically have only one bag, sometimes two to put out, but I do agree it is a bit of a stressor remembering to get it out there in time each week, ha. Keep the good ideas coming Susan! So appreciated.

  25. I know what you mean about the trash can thing. Mine is sitting by the road and I need to push it back to the house.

  26. Such a clever idea about the socks, I am definitely going to try that at my house too. Thanks so much for hosting. I hope your week is a happy one. Hugs, CoCo

  27. Susan, I love this post! I’ve been looking at ordering the wool socks you had mentioned, just haven’t gotten around to it. And now with the idea to order all the same and not fold them….genius! Sometimes it is the simplest things that make all the difference.

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