AS/ASD things that make your life easier...

[Chance]

I always look for things that simplify my life... Its not that I feel I have to avoid life, but I know I am different, I live different, I think differently, I experience life differently than most people who claim what is "normal"... Thats all good, but I have to seek out what works for me.

With todays technology there are massive things for people who are AS/ASD and I have started kind of linking this stuff up and its working out really well.

One of my most hated things are long trips into the grocery store. I have Amz Prime and I kept seeing this Amz pantry thing... I tried it, and now I'm hooked. It saves me masses of time, and I am noticing things are often MUCH less expensive than in the store that I have to travel 200 miles too, and wade through these bodies that just make me feel wrong...

Sure I still have to run in and get what fruit and vegetables I don't have, or grow for myself, but thats fine. In the city they have Sprout's, or other very good stores just for this.
I can deal with a quick trip in for stuff like that.

Please know that Im never trying to promote any business...
I'm trying to promote ways we can live better lives.

BUT the whole reason for this post is... What do you do to make your life simpler?

I love to learn and try different things... I don't know everything there is to know, but I want to make this life the best it can be and I do that by learning from others...

So feel free to put your stuff out there. It don't have to be about groceries... It can be driving tips, listening tips, meditation tips, clothing tips, things you do before you go somewhere, things you do to cope in places that ramp you up, anything you want to discuss that helps you make it through your day... and by the way... have a really good day : )

 

[Streetwise]

I always look for things that simplify my life... Its not that I feel I have to avoid life, but I know I am different, I live different, I think differently, I experience life differently than most people who claim what is "normal"... Thats all good, but I have to seek out what works for me.

With todays technology there are massive things for people who are AS/ASD and I have started kind of linking this stuff up and its working out really well.

One of my most hated things are long trips into the grocery store. I have Amz Prime and I kept seeing this Amz pantry thing... I tried it, and now I'm hooked. It saves me masses of time, and I am noticing things are often MUCH less expensive than in the store that I have to travel 200 miles too, and wade through these bodies that just make me feel wrong...

Sure I still have to run in and get what fruit and vegetables I don't have, or grow for myself, but thats fine. In the city they have Sprout's, or other very good stores just for this.
I can deal with a quick trip in for stuff like that.

Please know that Im never trying to promote any business...
I'm trying to promote ways we can live better lives.

BUT the whole reason for this post is... What do you do to make your life simpler?

I love to learn and try different things... I don't know everything there is to know, but I want to make this life the best it can be and I do that by learning from others...

So feel free to put your stuff out there. It don't have to be about groceries... It can be driving tips, listening tips, meditation tips, clothing tips, things you do before you go somewhere, things you do to cope in places that ramp you up, anything you want to discuss that helps you make it through your day... and by the way... have a really good day : )

Memory Foam mattressI would Marry it if I could, try to do everything early morning so I avoid people- supermarkets are wonderfully quiet In The early morning, recommend a simple memory foam pillow
Cold gels work well for immediate pain relief if you have exhausted every other avenue ,polar fleece blankets are good if you overheat easily in the winter -you can turn the heating off for awhile

 

[Mia]

This is about groceries Chance, but I'll write things later that occur that do make my life easier.

Costco membership, about sixty canadian per year, cheaper if renewed at the cashier, that entitles you to one membership and two cards. (Which you can share with someone at thirty $ per year)

I buy large amounts of coffee beans, canned goods, toilet paper, pet food. Things I can't buy through the cooperative. It also means that I don't have to spend as much time shopping at local stores.

Cooperative: Run locally by twelve people now, we store the goods in our homes. We don't have an actual coop store. People store things like dried beans, legumes, rice, flour, potatoes, carrots, apples, nuts, seeds, spices.

One of the members knows how to store potatoes and carrots and apples long term, he has a large basement root cellar. I store dried beans, lentils and rice in large amounts in my tiny basement root cellar. Don't have a setup for storing vegetables and fruit long term, which requires better ventilation and more space.

Members call when they want dried beans for example, (some older ppl leave a note in my mailbox) and I bag an amount and leave it on my verandah. I put the coop price on the food and they leave the money. Food is bought and brought in by members, who buy it, store it and sell it for a low price regularly. People with a low income are sold it at cost. And, sometimes they just store food for others, and barter for other items.

The cooperative idea was mine, when I moved here years ago. I belonged to a much larger one in the city, with an actual storage place, which all the members worked at a few times per month.

Everything else I purchase at local grocery stores, fresh fruit mainly and dairy products.

 

[Judge]

Good question, Chance.

Routine and regimentation I suppose. To keep my life organized and orderly. To keep it all going on a prolonged basis. On general principle I consider simplicity to be elegant. And to always live within my means.

In this context I consider to be on the spectrum an asset.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

Two freezers.
Costco, same as mia, but with the two freezer solution,we have a good idea of what we need, for food to last for months.
Amazon prime.

Stocking up everything buying it on sale.

Looking forward to seeing how the whole foods set up will work with amazon.

In the uk grocery delivery for everything is standard.

 

[Flinty]

It's a matter of what to do without.

In my case, it's most of a social life and friends in meatspace, not to mention the lack of a significant other. Also keeping a routine (this week is going to be horrible).

 

[Sabrina]

Meeee!! I hate going to the big supermarkets (with the small ones I'm ok). Specially Walmart, so many options! It's impossible. I prefer to go to Costco because, inspite of being very large, there's usually only one to three options to choose from every item, so case closed soon with everything.

I've been listening for years to these guys, they have guided meditations for everything. The Middle Earth meditations have a special place in my heart .

 

[Sabrina]

This is about groceries Chance, but I'll write things later that occur that do make my life easier.

Costco membership, about sixty canadian per year, cheaper if renewed at the cashier, that entitles you to one membership and two cards. (Which you can share with someone at thirty $ per year)

I buy large amounts of coffee beans, canned goods, toilet paper, pet food. Things I can't buy through the cooperative. It also means that I don't have to spend as much time shopping at local stores.

Cooperative: Run locally by twelve people now, we store the goods in our homes. We don't have an actual coop store. People store things like dried beans, legumes, rice, flour, potatoes, carrots, apples, nuts, seeds, spices.

One of the members knows how to store potatoes and carrots and apples long term, he has a large basement root cellar. I store dried beans, lentils and rice in large amounts in my tiny basement root cellar. Don't have a setup for storing vegetables and fruit long term, which requires better ventilation and more space.

Members call when they want dried beans for example, and I bag an amount and leave it on my verandah. I put the coop price on the food and they leave the money. Food is bought and brought in by members, who buy it, store it and sell it for a low price regularly. People with a low income are sold it at cost. And, sometimes they just store food for others, and barter for other items.

The cooperative idea was mine, when I moved here years ago. I belonged to a much larger one in the city, with an actual storage place, which all the members worked at a few times per month.

Everything else I purchase at local grocery stores, fresh fruit mainly and dairy products.

I am so impressed, congratulations! Awesome job Mia!

 

[Mia]

I am so impressed, congratulations! Awesome job Mia!

Thank-you Sabrina. Noticed when I moved here, that some locals didn't have cars. Some walked to a tiny store that sold junk food/cigarettes/beer/lottery tickets. That was their diet. Didn't like being overcharged at large grocery stores for things I knew could be bought for much less, sometimes it was triple the cost I was used to. And many of the locals are living on fixed incomes. Anyone can set up a cooperative, it leaves out the middleman.

 

[the_tortoise]

I do online shopping, too, for whatever I can. For food it's cheaper for me to buy stuff at the store.

I use the internet to look at flyers and store catalogues, so that I save time and don't get so overwhelmed when I'm actually at the store -- as many of my decisions as possible are made ahead of time in the relative comfort of my home, instead of in the sensory nightmare of the store where I quickly lose focus and can't think clearly.

I draw my grocery lists as pictures because in the aforementioned sensory nightmare of the store, I often get to a point where I can't translate words very well anymore. I get through the list way faster and with far fewer errors and omissions when I use pictorial lists. (Usually no errors, actually -- compared to where I pretty much always used to forget things with written lists -- with written lists, sometimes I'd get so frustrated I'd give up and go home with only a tiny percentage of the stuff I needed.)

I do the same when I make schedules -- I use pictorial symbols instead of using words, and organize things spatially and with color-coding.

 

[Chance]

I do online shopping, too, for whatever I can. For food it's cheaper for me to buy stuff at the store.

I use the internet to look at flyers and store catalogues, so that I save time and don't get so overwhelmed when I'm actually at the store -- as many of my decisions as possible are made ahead of time in the relative comfort of my home, instead of in the sensory nightmare of the store where I quickly lose focus and can't think clearly.

I draw my grocery lists as pictures because in the aforementioned sensory nightmare of the store, I often get to a point where I can't translate words very well anymore. I get through the list way faster and with far fewer errors and omissions when I use pictorial lists. (Usually no errors, actually -- compared to where I pretty much always used to forget things with written lists -- with written lists, sometimes I'd get so frustrated I'd give up and go home with only a tiny percentage of the stuff I needed.)

I do the same when I make schedules -- I use pictorial symbols instead of using words, and organize things spatially and with color-coding.

Me too! I don't use symbols but I know the store by heart so I list every item I need by when I will pass by it so I can move quickly and get out of there... I get upset when I missed something and have to cross all the way back across the store... Sometimes I just decided to do without and go on and then when I get home I am upset because I really needed it, and I was too stubborn to go back and get it. Its always crowded and I get flustered and I just dislike it a lot, so thats all going to start changing for me and I like it a lot.

 

[Chance]

Thank-you Sabrina. Noticed when I moved here, that some locals didn't have cars. Some walked to a tiny store that sold junk food/cigarettes/beer/lottery tickets. That was their diet. Didn't like being overcharged at large grocery stores for things I knew could be bought for much less, sometimes it was triple the cost I was used to. And many of the locals are living on fixed incomes. Anyone can set up a cooperative, it leaves out the middleman.

I like this co-op idea A LOT... We are in the middle of nowhere and its very long distance drives to do anything... This might be something really cool here. We don't even have a grocery store anymore.
If I want an occasional coke on ice its 30 miles to and 30 miles back, so around here you try and make the trips count.

 

[Warmheart]

Having autism support staff makes my life better, and easier. Since having my team in my life, I am safer, and difficult things are usually easier. I even have a sense of family because of my team. If someone in USA has an official diagnosis, it can make intake with an autism agency smooth. Not all areas of the country have good services for autism, but my area does. Most areas do have autism agencies, and done definitely do support adults. It is worth it to contact them if you've got an official diagnosis.

 

[Mia]

I like this co-op idea A LOT... We are in the middle of nowhere and its very long distance drives to do anything... This might be something really cool here. We don't even have a grocery store anymore.

It took a few years to set up. Finding suppliers was the most difficult part. Initially I didn't really talk to anyone except my immediate neighbour. When I got to know them, discovered they did a lot of grocery shopping for locals, he's a retired farmer so he already had those connections. His kids run his farm now and he lives in the town. He also supplies some people with firewood from his farm. Some farmers sell us bulk apples, eggs, vegetables like carrots, squash, onion. Usually imperfect or too small stuff that they can't sell commercially.
Meat and poultry and beef and some fish is usually bought at Costco, although there is a local guy who sells pork. Flour, dried beans, peas and legumes I buy once a year on a trip to a farmer's co-op, but it's still a two hour drive. Someone else buys bulk spices, another nuts and dried fruit. Most of the members are older people, and several of the women, regularly cook for the older band members. It's likely this way, because it's a native reserve, and food has historically been somewhat shared. Native hunters go out twice a year, and bring back venison and portion it out among the community.

 

[Momo]

Am I the only one who likes walking around busy places and staring at people like a creep? I mean, the people in Walmart alone make the trip worth it. Then again, that might just be because I'm a horrible person...

 

[Gracey]

Using my (recently acquired) phone to write - using the symbols, emoji (pictures) things I need to remember.
Set alarms as reminders that I need to look at a list. (Prompt)
Using the notes section to add on things as I remember them.

@Chance - I think you may have mentioned doing this on your iPhone a little while ago and how useful you found it.
I've pinched this idea to use. thank you

 

[spaceman]

I use my Zone out state to get through crap TV shows that bore me. Just look at TV ... and I'm awayyyyy...

Just pray that I don't get asked something. If I do, I'll mirror they're tone and say- I'm not sure, must have missed something.

 

[Sabrina]

I haven't watched tv in ages. Just Netflix, Youtube or Google Home (via Chromecast, in the tv screen, or on my Iphone or laptop).

Not having to watch commercials is a blessing, and, there's also the benefit of not paying for cable.

 

[watersprite]

Crossed certain activities off the list, because I finally realized they're not worth the misery. On the "removed side:" I no longer go to the biggest (loud, crowded, stinky, overly bright) grocery store in town. I don't have friends so don't have to worry about socializing. I do not visit with neighbors. Keep the interaction with relatives to a bare minimum. Like @Sabrina I no longer watch tv.
On the plus side: a white-board with to-do lists helps me a lot. I use amzn for certain repeat purchases. Growing a few plants is a nice quiet activity. Reading. Messing around with paint, also a quiet, solitary, stim/activity. Oh, also paid off stuff - yay - so as to not worry all the time about bills.

However, I require a new fitness routine at the present. Might take up swimming laps.

 

[mw2530]

I set up automatic bill payments when I can. For monthly payments like rent, phone, internet/cable, etc.. It does not necessarily save a ton of time, but eliminates the risk of forgetting.