What is your #1 cleaning tip?

[MamaJune]

My house has turned into a bit of a state recently, between 2yo twins and both of us working full time I just feel like any time I do have spare I'm exhausted and want to sleep/ am looking after the kids/ cooking..etc.

I need to do a big deep clean and clear out and also just need to be better at keeping on top of it going forward so I'm not in the same situation every few weeks!!

Any tips for either the deep clean/clear out or for just daily/weekly cleaning?

My tips
Tidy one room at a time don't clean the whole house in one day!
Toothpaste or lemon is great for cleaning stainless steel items.
Get kids involved in hoovering and dusting.
Make sure everyoner rinses out bath or shower after use.
Clothes washing is done in the morning, dish washing is done in the evening (if possible)
The tidy box is always a good idea. The room you tidy you take the box in, everything that doesn't belong in that room goes into the box then once the room is clean you take the belongings in the box an put them in the correct rooms. Let's fave it how many times have we found a toy car or crayons in the bathroom? Or a lone sock in the living room? Or even the living room TV remote in the bedroom?! Kids eh!

Keep a spray bottle with a bit of washing up liquid, bit of bleach and topped up with water. Keep hidden behind loo. Use it when you use the loo every so often and just spray all over seat etc and wipe off with loo roll. Same in bathroom, when brushing teeth etc at night just spray all over sink, bath, taps, shower screen and leave a couple mins then rinse off/buff with dry cloth (keep a cloth behind the sink).

Engage with this thread ! At home ‘doing paperwork’ today. Also seemingly engaging with mn! After listing on this I pulled myself together and did a remarkable 90 min blast of tidying and doing personal admin etc. Thanks op !

Embrace minimalism. Weekly cleaner.

One room at a time! Get bin bag and just pick up all the crap.

I say right I'll do 15 mins, that's it, and that's totally fine you'll be suorised at how much you get done with 15 on the ball minutes. But often you'll find yourself an hour in because it's flown, once you get into it of course...

Get rid of the dogs.

Make lists and tick things off.

@GVmama it's amazing! It's this Cif one- the whole range is really good but this is a revelation 😂

Ooh funny, I just posted about this in Housekeeping. But someone on here told me that a clean shower screen (bane of my life) can be sorted super fast with a magic eraser and it actually works

Plus micro fibre cloths are always worth the money

I'm a bit of a clean freak but each afternoon I put a 15 minute timer on Alexa and whichever DC are around spend 15 minutes tidying with me, hoovering, doing whatever chores we can see. 15 minutes times by 3 or 4 people is a huge amount of work done in a short time, the DC learn to take care of the house and I don't shout "what the bloody hell is going on, I'm the only person doing chores" at anyone any more.

See it, do it.

If you can afford it, get a cleaner. They won’t be shocked by a normal house with 2yo twins. Truly.

It’ll give you more time to —drink wine and eat chocolate— keep on top of the day to day stuff.

I try not to go to bed with the kitchen a mess. I feel so much better when it’s lovely to walk into in the morning. Every now and then it ends up left in a bit of a mess and it really starts the next day off badly.

Definitely decluttering and having GOOD, well organised, storage with space for everything REALLY makes a huge difference. It’s impossible to be organised and tidy when you can’t fit everything into the space it’s supposed to be in.

Take turns with DP to take the kids out for the morning and the other one gets on with jobs. Swimming lessons or something are a good regular activity.

But yes, it’s really really just relentless with kids...

HereBirdies thank you for the recommendation, I will be trying that!

My tip is to do little and often (ie daily) and not a big blitz. Do a daily load of laundry without fail, never let it build up. Harpic down loos daily and wipe of taps and sink whilst DD in bath. Wipe kitchen surfaces every night.

You said you needed a new vacuum. I just bought a cordless Hoover for £69 and I love it. I can whip round the whole house every day without lugging a heavy vacuum around.

get off mumsnet and all social media. As I type I should be tidying up the dinner things and running the toddlers a bath!

Sometimes I watch cleaning tips on youtube. It's so boring I end up cracking on with my own housework. There's no real answer to procrastinating, it's entirely up to you to overcome it. Just do it even though it sucks. I quite enjoy it sometimes when I get into it.

I had the most amazing cleaner! Wish I did now. I used to run around the house before she came my other half used to laugh at me!

I use the magic 15 mins with my teens. Where I give use each a room and set a timer. With 5 of us in the house its hopefully an hour's worth of cleaning!

My house is by no means a show home but the things that have healed me are: get a cordless vacuum. I'm much more likely to pick it up when I don't have the hassle of unwinding everything. And I clean the bathroom while the kids are in the bath. It feels less like a waste of time then.

You say you'd be too embarrassed to get a cleaner. I once cleaned for a young couple who said they were ashamed of the state of their home. I LOVED that job! Although I had to tidy up a bit before I could clean...I stacked stuff and put it in piles in a corner. Once they saw the clean and tidy look they loved it, and sorted the piles before I went back. I had such a sense of achievement.

Invite in-laws around. Only thing that works here.

I am a cleaner and trust me there is no need to be embarrassed about how dirty, messy your house is. I'm sure we have seen worse. (I have been in a hoarders house, a lot of clutter, dust, dead moths, cobwebs spiders the lot) :)

My top tip is unless it's a hovel don't stress too much and just do what you can when you can.

I spent years stressing over mess when the dc were little and thinking I would never have a tidy house now they are almost grown up and I've got a tidy house and I want the toddlers and babies back 😂.
Can't win.

Dishwasher on and kitchen surfaces cleaned at end of every day so get up to clean kitchen

Never go upstairs or downstairs empty handed - always take up clothes / jackets / things to put away, always bring down washing / cups / bin bags etc saves stuff building up and needing a big tidy

Load of asking done and hung to dry every day and then put away as soon as dry - saves piles of washing to put away building up

Constant is the key it is relentless but saves losing hours of free time to huge cleans at the weekend

What hoover did you buy cheesy???

When people use things make sure you put it back where it's meant to go afterwards. (Applies to all the family) we have these drawers with labels on to say what gos in each draw. When my daughter is finished she put it back in the right drawer.

Some really good advice. I do the boiling the kettle trick, see how much I can get done while it's boiling. Don't leave a room empty handed, take it out, put it away.

I've been so much better this past week, cleaned the bathroom whilst twins bathed and wiped clean the office whilst on a conference call this morning