Daily Living
Everyday tasks can use a surprising amount of physical, cognitive, sensory and emotional capacity. The goal is not to do everything the standard way — it is to make daily life workable.
Simplify • adapt • use support • do what matters
ADLs and IADLs: two useful ways to look at daily function
Basic personal activities such as washing, dressing, toileting, eating, moving around and other essential self-care.
More complex everyday activities such as meals, shopping, housework, transport, appointments, money, medication routines and managing a household.
What is hard right now?
Choose the area that is taking the most effort. The response will suggest where simplification may help.
Basic Daily Activities
These are the tasks that keep the body cared for and the day moving.
Personal Care
Washing, showering, grooming, dressing and other self-care can be simplified when capacity is low.
Eating & Drinking
Daily nourishment can be made easier by reducing preparation, decisions and clean-up.
Essential Routines
Medication, toileting, movement, sleep and basic routines may need prompts or easier setup.
More Complex Daily Activities
These tasks often require planning, sequencing, memory, transport, decision-making and sustained capacity.
Housework & Laundry
Reduce frequency, standards, steps and physical effort where possible.
Shopping & Errands
Use delivery, shorter lists, familiar shops and fewer trips to lower the overall cost.
Admin, Money & Appointments
Externalise memory and reduce the number of decisions you have to hold in your head.
Transport & Getting Out
Plan around timing, sensory load, mobility, fatigue and recovery — not just travel time.
Using Help
Support can be part of functioning — not evidence that you have failed to function independently.
Simplify the System
Change the way the task is set up so it needs less effort every time.
Minimum Effective Strategy
Ask: What is the smallest version of this task that still does what actually matters? The aim is not poor standards. It is matching effort to purpose.
1. Name the real purpose
What actually needs to happen? Separate the essential outcome from habits, ideals and “shoulds.”
2. Remove unnecessary steps
Skip, combine, automate, buy ready-made, use shortcuts or accept a simpler version.
3. Lower the standard when needed
Done enough can be more functional than repeatedly aiming for perfect and not finishing.
4. Use support early
Delegate, co-do, use delivery, reminders, equipment or help before the task becomes a crisis.
5. Protect what matters most
Save capacity for health, relationships, participation and priorities that matter more than the task itself.
6. Make the easier way the default
If something works, set up the environment so you do not have to reinvent the solution every time.
Before pushing harder, try changing the task
Move down the ladder until the task fits the capacity available today.
Only if the standard version is genuinely manageable.
Less time, fewer items, smaller area, simpler meal or fewer steps.
Sit down, use equipment, use ready-made options or reduce decisions.
Ask someone else to do part or all of it.
If it is non-essential, not doing it today may be the most functional choice.
Common Questions About Daily Living
Open only what you need.
Choose the kind of help that fits the task.
Some pages help with the underlying capacity or planning problem. Others focus on a specific daily-living area.
Tasks, Planning & Executive Function
For starting, sequencing, switching, remembering and finishing.
Explore →Functional Capacity
Look at what a person can do reliably, repeatedly and within available capacity.
Explore →Simplifying Grocery Shopping
Reduce decisions, travel, sensory load and repeated effort around shopping.
Coming soonSimplifying Cleaning
Use minimum-effective cleaning, lower standards and easier systems.
Coming soonMedication & Health Routines
Make important routines easier to remember, access and repeat.
Coming soonAdmin & Paperwork Support
Simplify bills, forms, phone calls, appointments and recurring admin.
Coming soonSimplifying Daily Life
Apply the Minimum Effective Strategy across everyday routines and responsibilities.
Coming soonThe goal is not to prove you can do everything.
The goal is to build a daily life that uses capacity where it matters most and makes ordinary tasks easier to live with.
Daily Living
Everyday tasks can use a surprising amount of physical, cognitive, sensory and emotional capacity. The goal is not to do everything the standard way — it is to make daily life workable.
Simplify • adapt • use support • do what matters
ADLs and IADLs: two useful ways to look at daily function
Basic personal activities such as washing, dressing, toileting, eating, moving around and other essential self-care.
More complex everyday activities such as meals, shopping, housework, transport, appointments, money, medication routines and managing a household.
What is hard right now?
Choose the area that is taking the most effort. The response will suggest where simplification may help.
Basic Daily Activities
These are the tasks that keep the body cared for and the day moving.
Personal Care
Washing, showering, grooming, dressing and other self-care can be simplified when capacity is low.
Eating & Drinking
Daily nourishment can be made easier by reducing preparation, decisions and clean-up.
Essential Routines
Medication, toileting, movement, sleep and basic routines may need prompts or easier setup.
More Complex Daily Activities
These tasks often require planning, sequencing, memory, transport, decision-making and sustained capacity.
Housework & Laundry
Reduce frequency, standards, steps and physical effort where possible.
Shopping & Errands
Use delivery, shorter lists, familiar shops and fewer trips to lower the overall cost.
Admin, Money & Appointments
Externalise memory and reduce the number of decisions you have to hold in your head.
Transport & Getting Out
Plan around timing, sensory load, mobility, fatigue and recovery — not just travel time.
Using Help
Support can be part of functioning — not evidence that you have failed to function independently.
Simplify the System
Change the way the task is set up so it needs less effort every time.
Minimum Effective Strategy
Ask: What is the smallest version of this task that still does what actually matters? The aim is not poor standards. It is matching effort to purpose.
1. Name the real purpose
What actually needs to happen? Separate the essential outcome from habits, ideals and “shoulds.”
2. Remove unnecessary steps
Skip, combine, automate, buy ready-made, use shortcuts or accept a simpler version.
3. Lower the standard when needed
Done enough can be more functional than repeatedly aiming for perfect and not finishing.
4. Use support early
Delegate, co-do, use delivery, reminders, equipment or help before the task becomes a crisis.
5. Protect what matters most
Save capacity for health, relationships, participation and priorities that matter more than the task itself.
6. Make the easier way the default
If something works, set up the environment so you do not have to reinvent the solution every time.
Before pushing harder, try changing the task
Move down the ladder until the task fits the capacity available today.
Only if the standard version is genuinely manageable.
Less time, fewer items, smaller area, simpler meal or fewer steps.
Sit down, use equipment, use ready-made options or reduce decisions.
Ask someone else to do part or all of it.
If it is non-essential, not doing it today may be the most functional choice.
Common Questions About Daily Living
Open only what you need.
Daily living is easier when the surrounding load is addressed too.
These pages may help with planning, capacity, environment and support.
Tasks, Planning & Executive Function
Make starting, sequencing, switching and finishing easier.
Explore →The goal is not to prove you can do everything.
The goal is to build a daily life that uses capacity where it matters most and makes ordinary tasks easier to live with.