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?

@steppemum to make hot dog 🌭

Garlicky hands? Just rub them wet on your stainless steel sink (or stainless cold saucepan). No need to buy a stainless 'egg' for this. Its free and always convenient to the kitchen. Works a treat to remove garlic smell from hands, not that I even bother!

There are so many bloody useless tips on here which take MORE time not less.

My favourite waste of time mn tip is the pillow case and duvet cover one.

What the hell goes on inside your cupboards?!!
Fold up the bedding set. Open the duvet, tuck sheet and pillows in side. No need to faff around with trying to shove it all into a pillow case. Or even, just a pile of duvet cover, sheet and pillow case. When I come to get it, it is just sitting there, a piel of matching sheets.

Stuffing it all into pillow cases is such a watse of time and effort.

ditto all this cleaning with vinegar and 2p peices and baking soda, etc etc. Just buy the right stuff.
mould cleaner cleans mould
limescale remover removes limescale
bleach removes stains

etc etc.

My other least favourite tip is to freeze sandwiches for the week ahead. BLEUUURGH soggy sandwiches out of the freezer?
NO! Why would you do t his to your poor children? Not to mention the fact that that means you never put cucumber, lettuce or tomato in the sandwiches. Just make them while kids eat cereal. It takes 2 minutes!

Clean and tidy as you go. Little and often saves many hours.

It doesn't really, does it, it just spreads them out a bit. If anything it takes more time as you do some areas several times.

Label sports kit on the outside so it is visible - stops kids using each others kit and easy to spot when something is lost.

Keep a physical to do list and update daily - I just love crossing things off it.

Buy a dozen (or however many you need) pairs of identical socks at time so no need to struggle matching them all up.

Most things can be cleaned with soap and water or vinegar and bicarb. No need to spend a fortune on cleaning products. I do buy Magic Erasers though.

Mine are both key related!

Have a key hook board and be religious about hanging your keys up on it as soon as you come in the house. Changed my life, no more ferreting around for them in my bag/losing them elsewhere in the house/keeps them out of eyeline of small children (looking at you ds3 when you posted them outside through the letterbox).

A regular yale head key fits into the £1 slot on most shopping trolleys (or 2x20ps if one of the horizontal left right slidey ones)

another key one.
if you have a lot of keys (like for bike locks) have them colour coded and have the same colour for the spare in a safe box.

@Kissthepastrychef

Don't Have Horses

The mud follows you everywhere...

and hay!

@TheSandman

This is a great way to encourage damp in your airing cupboard

Not if you have a dehumidifier running in there. I haven't hung anything outside to dry for years.

Your airing cupboard sounds fairly enormous, if there’s room to hang an entire laundry load + plug in a dehumidifier!

I’m not sure it’s a tip most people can utilise, or, if they already have such a gigantic airing cupboard, they’re probably already doing it!

@steppemum

There are so many bloody useless tips on here which take MORE time not less.

My favourite waste of time mn tip is the pillow case and duvet cover one.

What the hell goes on inside your cupboards?!!
Fold up the bedding set. Open the duvet, tuck sheet and pillows in side. No need to faff around with trying to shove it all into a pillow case. Or even, just a pile of duvet cover, sheet and pillow case. When I come to get it, it is just sitting there, a piel of matching sheets.

Stuffing it all into pillow cases is such a watse of time and effort.

ditto all this cleaning with vinegar and 2p peices and baking soda, etc etc. Just buy the right stuff.
mould cleaner cleans mould
limescale remover removes limescale
bleach removes stains

etc etc.

My other least favourite tip is to freeze sandwiches for the week ahead. BLEUUURGH soggy sandwiches out of the freezer?
NO! Why would you do t his to your poor children? Not to mention the fact that that means you never put cucumber, lettuce or tomato in the sandwiches. Just make them while kids eat cereal. It takes 2 minutes!

Thank you.

See this thread has made the daily mail!

And did we ever find out the rationale behind putting the dishwasher on three times when you don’t feel like washing up?

@Planttrees

Label sports kit on the outside so it is visible - stops kids using each others kit and easy to spot when something is lost.

Keep a physical to do list and update daily - I just love crossing things off it.

Buy a dozen (or however many you need) pairs of identical socks at time so no need to struggle matching them all up.

Most things can be cleaned with soap and water or vinegar and bicarb. No need to spend a fortune on cleaning products. I do buy Magic Erasers though.

Our school cottoned on to this - sports kit is labelled on the outside so much harder to lose, and the teacher also knows who is who!

@redcandlelight

another key one. if you have a lot of keys (like for bike locks) have them colour coded and have the same colour for the spare in a safe box.

Old nail varnish is great fir colour coding keys!

I stitch ribbons on the corners of duvets and on the inside corners of covers. Its easier to put the cover on and it doesn't shift around :)

Always empty the bin before it's full.

@expectopelargonium

Next time elderly relatives make you look through ancient photos, make sure that the people's names are written on the back.

Otherwise, like me, you will inherit a great box full of pictures of your ancestors but you can't identify them, and the people who could have told you have also passed away and there's no-one left to ask.

Not just elderly relatives. I have recently looked back at my own childhood photos and am struggling to name old school friends etc. so it is definitely worth doing. I also put the year on the back if I can.

Absolutely great point. Literally yesterday was sorting photos after both parents deaths recently. There were great great grandparents etc and would never have known but for doing exactly this with them each and my mum bless her doing it on photos I don’t remember seeing before. Would never have known that that couple in farm overalls and a Pinny looking every inch a Thomas hardy couple were my great great grandparents (or some of them).

@BlueTiles

Clean and tidy as you go. Little and often saves many hours.

It doesn't really, does it, it just spreads them out a bit. If anything it takes more time as you do some areas several times.

it does save time though, just think about it.

You get in the habit of putting everything where it belongs, instead of wasting time throwing things somewhere then having to move them back.

You know where everything is, and you never waste time frantically looking for a missing passport/bill/key/phone/glasses/document...

You remove half your "mental load" as you don't have to look at mess, think about mess, deal with the mess.

There are so many bloody useless tips on here which take MORE time not less.

I used to think that about that Kim and Aggie programme. "A mixture of pigs urine, chalk dust and banana skins will remove the fly spots from your lightbulbs"

Yes - well so will Fairy liquid, and I don't have to follow a pig around with a bucket . . .

Agree, I’m going to faff around with half a lemon and some salt, and then dealing with the remaining lemon, when I can just squirt [insert appropriate ready made cleaner here].

Some of the ‘tips’ and better called ‘alternatives’, at best. They’re not helpful if they create more work, take more time, and/or are not as efficient.

@Planttrees

Label sports kit on the outside so it is visible - stops kids using each others kit and easy to spot when something is lost.

Keep a physical to do list and update daily - I just love crossing things off it.

Buy a dozen (or however many you need) pairs of identical socks at time so no need to struggle matching them all up.

Most things can be cleaned with soap and water or vinegar and bicarb. No need to spend a fortune on cleaning products. I do buy Magic Erasers though.

When I was at secondary school, it was a requirement that we have our initials stitched onto our PE kit. On the right breast of the red top in navy and on the leg of the navy shorts in red. My great-aunt did mine and whilst they were incredibly neat, they were massive. No danger of anyone taking mine.

The sock thing is what my husband does. It's useful. I like colourful and patterned socks so I deal with the pairing.

@tanguero

When you make a will - tell people where it is. Might be many years before you die, and we have no system of recording if people have made a will (and where it is).

There is a Will register but it appears that not all solicitors use it.

Leave every room as you would like to find it, when you have a screaming baby covered in poo, or an unexpected visitor, or you're so tired you can't even be bothered to take your shoes off, be ready for the next "thing". Bed made in the morning, curtains closed when it's starting to get dark, cushions set up on the settee, water in the kettle....

[quote TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]@Janaih

That's a great idea, I have a similar issue with forgetting where I have put things down. So now I take a picture of the item on my phone (my phone is on a lanyard to minimise the possibility of me mislaying it), you need to be far enough away so that you can see the context of its location.

It's great it's like having a Google Street Map of the inside of your own home, you can Zoom in etc. and everything. Now when I think "where did I put the iron" I only have to flick through 3 or 400 thumbnail pictures to find it. It's a real time saver for me.[/quote]
😂😂