If you could share one household tip/life hack, what would it be?

[Dandelion78]

Mine would definitely be that drying clothes in sunlight gets rid of tomato/sauce stains. Am weaning my second child and it's a bloody lifesaver. No more soaking things for hours that still come out with orange marks on them.

What other gems are there that I need to know?

Don’t delay things
Action them immediately

Single parent and I am ruthlessly and militarily organised. Every single day I work through a to do list. It has incredibly menial stuff on it through to sometimes very important big stuff. I work through it every day. Anything I can’t tick off by end of day, hangs over me until it’s off the list.

Also - get up early every single day. The quiet and peace of my home at 6.30am is bliss. Coffee and settle and then...

begin every single day with activity. After my coffee I always do 25 mins - 1 hour hiit or yoga.

Never go yo bed with an untidy kitchen. Nothing worse than getting up and seeing last nights dishes

Best advice. Learn long ago to clean kitchen before I go to bed. I appreciate it in the morning when everyone is trying to pack lunches/make breakfast/make coffee.

@CoronaCurls

Wash socks in a mesh net bag - stops any socks getting lost in the wash and makes them a doddle to pair up. The bags are fine in the tumble dryer too.

Get the sock wearer to put these on the socks before going in laundry. amazon.co.uk/Metaltex-Holder-Socks-pcs-Multi-Colour/dp/B00B0M4AUS/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=sock+pairer&qid=1618302453&sr=8-5]]

You never have to match a pair ever again

Clean the oven doors (quickly) with glass cleaner when the oven is on, always dries streak free!

Don't marry a tradesman....

@HeraInTheHereAndNow

When stuff comes out of the drier/off the line, hang on a clothes rail. Makes ironing easier.

I used to just shove it in my ironing basket. No more!

I iron little these days. DH sends his business shirts/pants to dry cleaners and stuff I need to iron I put it on a hanger straight from the clothes line. No point ironing it until I need it - my wardrove is full and its more practical to iron just before using.

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion that sounds amazing do you have a photo? What kind of stencil did you use?

Use only white bed linen and towels. They can all go in a hot wash together and last much longer as no fading. If you want to add colour/characters to the kids rooms use a throw over the bottom of their beds.

Never go upstairs or downstairs with empty hands. Or even one room to another. There are always things in the wrong place, so just taking a cup to the kitchen, or clean towels upstairs to the airing cupboard, stops the house descending into chaos. Training yourself to do this mean it becomes second nature and you don't notice you're doing tidying. Training other family members is even better.

Similar to a PP, if you have a handheld Dyson, do everything in sight if you have it out. As well as floors etc I use mine to hoover the kitchen worktop for crumbs, get crumbs out of the toaster etc. I also use it (on a low setting) to hoover my teenagers backs when they've had a haricut, get a bit of mud off them after rugby/football and the cat when she's moulting.

Also to clean the microwave, boils a cup of water in there for 5 minutes first and leave it for a bit, the steam will get any baked on food off and you can just wipe cleane the insides.

@Bobishere

Don't marry a tradesman....

There is a good saying in Spanish " En casa del herrero cuchillo de palo" which roughly translates as "in the blacksmith's house, you'll find a wooden spoon".

[quote DrChrisWhitty]@Asvan Riverford! I get a large fruit and veg box delivered weekly for £24 and it really lasts. The only downside is I have more carrots than I know what to do with.[/quote]
Carrot cake...

Keep a euro to use in shopping trollies

@HeronLanyon

If it’s really one hack just one then mine is Sort your shit out before it is too late for you and loved ones. This includes pensions/ powers of attorney, living wills, paperwork, clutter, mending broken relationships where possible, etc. Then get on with enjoying life. Lost both parents recently. One had done this the other hadn’t. Affected them both in their life, and for the family, in death.

I'm aware of a start up company helping with this (not my idea sadly - wish it was).

End of life planning made easy: biscuittin.co.uk

* If you are not good at household paperwork, get a box by the front door. Put everything you need to keep in that box as it comes in. At the end of the year, tie it up in string and put it away. If you need something relating to that year, it will be in there. After six years, shred it all and bring the box back into circulation*

This actually makes me twitch.

I can’t get my head around having a huge box filled with disordered and random papers by the front door. And then boxing it up and shoving it away with five years of previous random papers!

www.amazon.co.uk/MaidMAX-Wardrobe-Organiser-Sweaters-Accessories/dp/B07D8QRB23/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=wardrobe+organiser&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1618303701&sr=8-5

Each of my children have one of these, each slot has their uniform, underwear and socks in. They can then quickly get out their uniform and it is easy to put away. As they get older they can fill it themselves.

Biggest life hack is having high expectations for the other members of your household to pull their weight. Find a list of age appropriate jobs and get children helping as early as appropriate if possible (I realise this isn't achievable for all).

My 8-year-old can empty the dishwasher, sort laundry, make a cup of tea, make his own breakfast, make a simple meal (egg based!) and various other things.
My younger son can put his clothes away, strip his own bed, put his crockery in the dishwasher, fold the cloths etc.

My DH does tonnes around the house, he loves living in a clean and tidy house so takes on a lot to achieve it.

Ikea bags make excellent laundry bags...

Use an airer to dry washing outdoors, if it rains you can just pick it up and bring it in.

Have storage, have homes for everything and make sure you stick to it.

Shit tip one thing a week / month and be ruthless.

@NRCS

Similar to a PP, if you have a handheld Dyson, do everything in sight if you have it out. As well as floors etc I use mine to hoover the kitchen worktop for crumbs, get crumbs out of the toaster etc. I also use it (on a low setting) to hoover my teenagers backs when they've had a haricut, get a bit of mud off them after rugby/football and the cat when she's moulting.

Also to clean the microwave, boils a cup of water in there for 5 minutes first and leave it for a bit, the steam will get any baked on food off and you can just wipe cleane the insides.

@NRCS. Yes to the microwave steam cleaning. Somebody I worked with a few years ago showed me this...it works brilliantly and no chemicals!

@RhubarbFairy

When you have young children who have the four packs of jigsaw, label each jigsaw 1-4 on the back of each piece (it's initially time consuming but so worth it when they get jumbled). Then store each jigsaw in a reusable sandwich bag to minimise jumbling opportunities. Put back in the box.

I used to work in a children's home. When we got a new Jigsaw, we would write on the back of each piece a letter and the number of pieces, eg A100. Then when we put them away, we'd just need to count the pieces, and we'd know if it was complete. Very useful if the children got out more than one puzzle at a time.

@ShirleyPhallus

Especially in summer, keep any scraps of meat or fish waste, chicken bones, etc. in a bag in the freezer until the night before the bin men come. Saves a lot of smelliness and bluebottles buzzing around, not to mention maggots. I so agree! Never had a maggot incident .

Ok this is the kinda thing I’m talking about. I put my waste meat etc in the normal bin and I’ve never had a maggot incident either. Why would you go to the faff of freezing scraps of leftover dinner?!

Agree

Filling up my freezer with scraps of half eaten chicken and fish scraps. No thank you.
Double bag it in a bin bag and put it in your outside bins.
I’ve never seen a maggot let alone had a maggot “incident”!

After showering rinse round the cubicle and shower doors with cold water. It stops the limescale building up. No more white marks on the shower doors.

@Gobbeldegook

Baking soda and white vinegar clean most things brilliantly

But only if you use them separately. Mixing them literally neuatralises the properties that make them good at cleaning

1 touch - if you take your plate to the sink put it in the dishwasher so you only touch it once. If you come home put your shoes and coat away rather than having to touch them again later.

It takes a awhile as sometimes I would just leave something here and there and sort it later but doing it twice takes up more energy

Also to clean the microwave, boils a cup of water in there for 5 minutes first and leave it for a bit, the steam will get any baked on food off and you can just wipe cleane the insides

Do it with a few slices of lemon makes it smell nice too.

Clean the shower after every use with a squeegee. Makes life easier!

Clean the toilet every day.

Keep microfibres cloths in the bathroom and wipe the taps and sink after every use. I also use old school polo shirts cut up as well.

Tidy/vacuum a little bit every day.

One idea I learned this year from MN is to buy in bulk for the year all washing powders/dishwasher/cleaning products etc in January/February when there is no council tax due. Genius.

I have read this a few times
And I just don’t understand it
Not least the storage space you must have to stock a years worth
But what relevance is council tax to it?!

Similar to a PP, if you have a handheld Dyson, do everything in sight if you have it out. As well as floors etc I use mine to hoover the kitchen worktop for crumbs, get crumbs out of the toaster etc. I also use it (on a low setting) to hoover my teenagers backs when they've had a haricut, get a bit of mud off them after rugby/football and the cat when she's moulting.

Vacuuming a dirty cat and mud and then using the same vacuum for the kitchen surfaces and the toaster? Yeuch, no thanks