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?

@Netaporter

Some people pay their CT over 10 months so two months a year have extra money in their budget.

But to buy and stock a “Year’s worth” of laundry powder and cleaning products?!

Could just save the money and spend it over a year rather than have to store all of that!

@Lassy1945

*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?!

Some councils you pay the council tax over 10 months, so in Jan and Feb you have 2 months without paying council tax. I don’t do this, but eg I pay £240 a month in CT so in Jan & Feb that’s an ‘extra’ £240 a month.

[quote GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER]**@ShirleyPhallus
a) because bluebottles can apparently smell dead meat, inc. any in leftover dinner, from a mile away, so it’ll save any buzzing around your bins.
b) having that sort of thing going off in bins in warm weather is vile
c) it’s not a faff at all, especially if you use up leftovers as far as poss and so don’t have much in the first place[/quote]
I would honestly say that having leftover scraps of fish skin and bones in a bag in the freezer is more “vile” than keeping them in an outside wheelie bin where they belong.

My wheelie bin has a lid which I find is handy to avoid flies being able to smell what’s inside. No flies or maggots here.

Keeping leftover fish bones and scraps in the freezer. MN is a strange place sometimes.

Don't allow lazy 22 year olds to move back home, revert back to their 13 year old argumentative self but unlike a 13 year old you can't send them to bed early or take away their phone! Yes can you tell I'm bloody annoyed today!

Or you could just double bag rubbish before it goes in the bin.

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.

I do something similar , if I enter a room I try to do 3 things to improve it before I leave , so bathroom could be change the toilet roll, wipe the splashback, fold a towel, fluff the bathmat. small things that take seconds, but means you pretty much stay on top of clutter

@PurpleSproutingSomething. The kettle descaler on the shower door is indeed magic. Tried it out this morning and it worked.
Why didn't i think of that? Thank you!

@Lassy1945

CT here is spread over 10mths not 12. It is easy to simply let the two months worth of council tax get eaten up by random purchases in the month rather than putting it towards something useful. So in January February when most supermarkets have a discount on cleaning/laundry products I bulk buy dishwasher tablets laundry powders Expensive cleaning products and then store them in the utility room. I appreciate that if you don’t have a space this is probably not a great hack!

@SchadenfreudePersonified

Don't marry anyone would be my advice

Why didn't;t you tell me this 43 years ago?

Nobody told me 44 years ago either! Or to find one that is tidy and loves housework/gardening/decorating etc!

I would honestly say that having leftover scraps of fish skin and bones in a bag in the freezer is more “vile” than keeping them in an outside wheelie bin where they belong.

Depends how long leftover fish scraps stays on the wheelie bin. I live in Australia and our rubbish bin (free standing house) gets collected once a week. If I leave fish scraps the bin it will be full of maggots. Yuck . I freeze them and put on the bin the night before collection.

When I got married the 1st time in 1970, I was given a book of tips for housewives. One was "When your husband is due home from work and is expecting an immaculate home and a meal on the table, but you have been out, or taking tea with your friends, Do the jobs you would normally do, in reverse order. So set the table, get dinner prepared, then spend half an hour doing all the work you would normally do whilst he's at the office. It will look as if you have been working all day as usual, and he won't notice that you haven't done your usual early morning jobs, like scrubbing the front door step. If you are lucky enough to have central heating, then a smear of lavender wax polish behind the radiator will make him think you have polished your floors and furniture. Remember that he deserves a serene and attractive wife, so make sure you take a few minutes to brush your hair and renew your lipstick before he gets home, and of course have his slippers, his newspaper, and a drink ready for him by the fire, and then he probably won't even mind if his dinner is a few minutes late". Oh how I did laugh!

I haven't RTFT so hopefully this hasn't been mentioned but I'd be interested to know if you can turn whites back to white? My now ex put a load of darks in with some brand new white T shirts and sports bras and they are now dirty grey looking :-(

I should add that I've tried a bit of bleach, vanish and the usual things advertised - with no success

@ShirleyPhallus

NO

I’m throwing an early strop about this thread because I’ve fallen victim to mumsnet “life tips” before

Can confirm that putting veet down the plug hole will not dissolve all the hair in there, it just goes slimy and gross

The babyliss big hair isn’t that good

Roblox thing is a useless little bastard

I won’t be sucked in to tying bags of vinegar around taps and rubbing 2p coins to get rid of limescale and whatever stuff is about to be posted

I can’t handle the heartbreak. I really can’t.

😂😂

I've used glowhite or net whitener and then line dried in the sunshine to good effect. Test it first though, might not be great for elastic etc.

Frozen veggies and frozen mashed potatoes are always handy.. baby wipes are my new best friend for cleaning.. batch cooking over the weekend saves so much time during the week..

If you have one of the newer style showers, pull up the plug once a week and stick some dishwasher tablets down there, they will slowly melt and deal with any muck.

The best one I ever got on here was a hundred years ago from YG, when your bed linen is ready to go back in the laundry hamper, take one pillow case, and place the rest of the matching set inside it, easy to grab when needed.

I'd be interested to know if you can turn whites back to white? My now ex put a load of darks in with some brand new white T shirts and sports bras and they are now dirty grey looking

No magic ideas for turning grey to white. However, make sure your whites are always washed with other whites only and put in a scoop of 'soda crystals' with your normal powder. This does help keep the greyness out of them! Soda crystals are, as far as I can work out, some kind of powerded bleach so they can be harsh on clothes so don't use too much. My son's school shirts remain white till the year end with this method.

How can tightly closed bags of bits of any leftover food in a freezer for a few days, possibly be vile?

Some MNers do have some seriously weird ideas.

Please don't use baby wipes for routine cleaning unless they are fully compostable So many wipes contain plastic and of course the packaging is nearly always plastic. A cloth is fine. It's depressing to see so much single use plastic in the cleaning aisle.

Dump cleaning wipes and baby wipes for cleaning, bamboo cloths and diluted washing up liquid will clean most things. You don't need tonnes of cleaning products, most of it is just marketing.

For any stainless steel appliances, including taps, mix vinegar in a bottle with a couple of dishwashing liquid and clean with a microfiber cloth. They will look amazing.