The 6 times it’s best to take the easy way out.

Doing things the easy way gets a bad rap.

But the truth is, unless you’re a surgeon or a fighter pilot, it’s more than fine to cut corners and make things a little easier for yourself.

You can’t do everything. But there are simple things you can do to make your life just that little bit less frantic:

1. Download all of the apps you need for an easier life.

Guests turning up unexpectedly? The Whizz App allows you to book a cleaner using your phone. Just plug in the number of rooms, bathrooms and extras you want (maybe you need an oven clean as well?), and they will send a cleaner out. Boom.

Motormouth is an app that will tell you where the cheapest fuel is nearby.

Skip grocery shopping and do it all using the Woolworths app, and deal with all of your beverage needs using the Dan Murphy’s app.

Where ever you are, Around Me allows you to quickly locate the nearest bank, pharmacy, service station, or supermarket.

There’s even an app that helps parents check in on their kids while at child care.

The answer to whatever you need is quite literally in your hand. What a time to be alive.

2. Embrace easy nutrition.

Some people love cooking. And buying groceries. But for other people…well, given the choice between cutting onions and cutting corners, I know what I’d rather do…

My mother would tell you that there’s nothing wrong with throwing a chook into an oven bag with a packet of French Onion soup and cooking it in the microwave (We did that on Christmas Day this year – true story). I still make the quiche recipe that they give you at Tupperware parties where you put all the ingredients in a Tupperware bowl, shake it up and then bake in an oven dish.

But the easiest corner to cut is to get your meals delivered.

Some companies deliver you a box of ingredients and recipes. You just need to cook it. And if you’re not inclined to do the cooking bit yourself, there’s a number of options for meal delivery where you can bung a few in the freezer and have them on hand.

And if you balk at the thought of a kale and quinoa smoothie as a vehicle for your nutritional needs you can cut that barf-worthy corner with a daily multi-vitamin gummi.

3. Get more sleep with a website that tells you EXACTLY when to go sleep.

Guaranteed, every list you read about improving your life blithely tells you that you need to both (a) get more sleep; and (b) wake up earlier.

That’s all great, but no one is intentionally depriving themselves of blissful slumber. Everyone wants to sleep better and wake perkier. The question is HOW.

Sleepy Time calculates exactly when you should go to sleep if you want to wake up at a particular time, in order to take advantage of the maximum number of sleep cycles.

You can’t magic up more hours in your day to snooze, but you may be able to get more out of the time you have.

4. Don’t go to the shops. Ever.

Yes, people enjoy shopping. You might be one of them. But there’s a lot involved in getting to the shops and parking and then shuffling around with everyone else. There is nothing about shopping that is easy.

But that’s what the internet is for.

Groceries? Do it online.

Make up? Pah. Online.

Shoes? Get a pair delivered WITHIN FOUR HOURS. If you get the urge to exercise but lack the gear, you can have it at your house by the afternoon (the service currently only works in Sydney at the moment – but postage is free if you live elsewhere and pay more than $50 for your kicks).

I’ve said it before but: WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE.

5. Make a donation box for your house.

There’s a lot around about how much your life would be improved if you had less stuff, but how can you de-clutter with out it being a mammoth, Kon Mari-level task. Start with a cardboard box. Write the word DONATIONS on it. Every time you pull something out of your wardrobe that you don’t like anymore or doesn’t fit, throw it into the box. Walking past the bookshelf and spot a book you’re never, ever going to read? Throw it in the box. Open the kitchen draw and find five potato peelers? Chuck them in the box.

When you are sick of falling over the box, take it to your local charity. You’ll feel better because you have less junk, as well as a warm glow from your generosity.

6. Birthdays? Sick friend? Been a jerk? Send a small bunch of flowers.

You can even cut corners on being a good person. Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane all have services that allow you to send a small bunch of flowers (up to $30) that are beautiful, classy and perfect for just about any occasion. All done online. You’ll feel like a hero.

So there you go, now you can tick off all the necessary things in life – eating, sleeping and getting stuff done – easily.

How do you make life easier?