1. Separate tubes of toothpaste. I’ll admit, this is one is what inspired this entire post. I showed our bathroom on Instagram stories, which sprung questions about where I keep my toothbrush (I like a clear countertop, so we keep our toothbrush in the top drawer of our vanity) which then lead to me explaining how a year a go, we each got our own tube of toothpaste and magically it was always clean and handy and we’ve lived happily ever after. Some of you said you would NEVER share a tube and some quickly went out to buy a second to improve your life. It’s magical. Here are 8 other (mostly little) things around the house that have improved our marriage.
2. Buying a twin-sized blanket if just one person wants to use it. It took me years to realized and accept that Chris is not a top sheet guy or a multi-blanket guy. He likes a lightweight duvet. Period. Me, on the other hand, wear all the layers AND socks and want some weight on me–so besides the duvet that covers both of us, I buy a twin size blanket for me! I use this weighted blanket that I bought in a twin size so there’s no excess blanket pushed over to my side, nearly swallowing me by morning. It’s a win win!
3. Double sinks. Of course you just can’t go out and buy a double sink for your bathroom, and there’s a chance your bathroom doesn’t even have the space. But we went 9 years of marriage with only 1 sink in our bathroom and this past year, since renovating and adding a second–we had NO IDEA WHAT WE WERE MISSING! If you have the chance, do it. The girls bathroom has a 58″vanity with double sinks, so it doesn’t take a ton of room. To wash my face while he brushes his teeth without the fear of the two somehow intertwining (ack!!) is bliss.
4. Having an Alexa in the bedroom so nobody has to get up to turn the light off. If you’re reaching or getting out of bed to turn a light on 1. You’re doing it wrong. 2. You’re probably silently keeping track of whose turn it is. An Alexa-enabled speaker (We have this white Sonos in a few places around the house, including our bedroom) and smart bulbs (This is a great starter pack!) will change your life! “Hey Alexa, turn the lights off” means we’re both going to bed happy every night. We also love that we can dim the lights to any percentage.
5. Plugging 10′ phone chargers in next to the couches. Maybe it’s just me, but I swear at the end of the day, just as the girls go down and I plop on the couch to unwind for a few minutes my phone battery turns red and I have to go find a charger. It’s not a marital thing, but a personal annoyance that we easily remedied by keeping 10 foot phone chargers plugged in next to the sofa–our go-to unwind spot–so that when we’re ready to relax, we can!
6. Cordless Dyson. You know what’s really hot? Clean floors. And seeing your partner vacuuming. Our cordless Dyson is just so convenient and actually fun to use that we tend to get it out multiple times a day. Vacuuming doesn’t feel like a chore for either of us with this thing. It’s improved our daily lives for sure! (Ours is cordless animal is $100 off right now here!)
7. A mail sorter. We had this pain point in our lives/marriage where there was just always a stack of mail on the counter and it seemed like we were always asking one another–what is all this!? Does it still need to be dealt with? One day, I got a double paper tray from Target and put it in place where the mail always fell. Now, the top is for mail that is incoming and needs to still be sorted and the bottom is for things that need to be filed or processed. Such an easy, simple thing that completely eliminated unnecessary annoyance.
8. Open ended toilet-paper holder. If you have ever seen a new roll of toilet paper placed on top of an empty roll still installed on a holder and thought REALLY!?–then this one is for you. I can’t imagine myself ever installing a toilet paper holder other than one that’s open-ended now! It makes it so easy to replace. Like, one handed easy. There’s no excuses. I haven’t seen an empty roll/new roll perpendicular to one another since we installed ours last year.
9. Sorted Laundry Hamper. No one wants to dig through dirty laundry. Full stop. It’s not fun. It’s stinky. It’s the worst. So however you do your laundry (we just do lights and darks over here) do yourself and marriage a favor and get a sorted laundry hamper–ours is from Ikea!–and stick to the system. Lights in one side. Darks in the other. (They have triple and more if you like to go all out). It’s a small but mighty life improver.
I’m sure I’m forgetting hundreds of other ideas. We’d love to hear of any home life hacks that have improved your relationship in the comments! You know what they say, Happy spouse, happy house! (But really, we should all start saying that).
Psst–Our twin Indoorsy sweatshirts are from ProperTee right here. The other bathroom sources from the header image can be found here.
My husband also doesn’t like to use a top sheet, whereas I do. Where do you buy your sheets from so that you can mix and match sizes? I’d love to just use a sheet on my side of the bed, but I can only ever find sets and then feel locked in to using the King sheet because I have already paid for it.
I just want to say how adorable that picture is of the two of you!
A lot of Europeans do separate bed covers and after having lived there we decided it was genius and the only way to go. My husband was always either kicking the quilt down, (dragging it off of me) or flipping a double quilt on to me, etc. and getting 2 twin XL top sheets, and 2 twin XL quilts has meant we can each be our own rainbow, and no one is mad that someone wants an electric blanket (me) or that someone wants to take their quilt off the bed all together. I’ve been asked “doesn’t that look weird when the beds made?” And no, it doesn’t, but also who’s in my bedroom, that matters other than my husband and I? ????
Lol love this.. we do all of these too. Except I just can’t seem to get my husband fully on board with the mail sorting! He’s so eager to come inside he brings in junk mail and sets it on the counter even though I put a trashcan right by the garage door for junk mail. Face. palm!
One day we just sort’ve ended up with two sets of toothpaste.. I never thought one was an issue but maybe my husband knows something I don’t ;)
Separate toothpaste? No. Separate sinks? One more icky sink to clean – no. He’s a level-headed engineer and I’m a creative knucklehead. After 36 years we just respect each other enough to not leave a mess, to not come in the bathroom unless invited and wipe down the shower after we finish. Now separate bathrooms is a marriage changer! We had that in our first house and it was great! He cleaned his and I cleaned mine.