Household tips that aren't shit.

[EIsbethTascioni]

I've been getting hugely into decluttering and keeping tidy since the new year. I've been looking on websites and in magazines for tips advice and most of it is unmitigated tripe that makes life harder rather than easier.

So I'm turning to you vipers for your non-crap tips for keeping on top of shit.

I've got three to start us off.

Clean the shower while you're in it. Gamechanger. Saves masses of time.

Storing duvet sets inside their pillow case. I was sceptical about this one but with four beds in the house it has a)made my linen cupboard tidier and b)means no more rummaging.

Using the big IKEA bags as laundry bags. They are just the right size for a load of washing in a standard machine and you can fold them up and put them away tidily instead of having plastic baskets hanging around.

Aibu to think you lot will have loads more?

I have made a start on my wardrobe, well the wardrobe is done but drawers etc need sorting.
We have spare duvets and pillows just cluttering rhe place up and getting dusty so I ordered two of those case things from amazon - they will go on top of the newly dusted wardrobes.
What do you all do with spare hangers?

SPB - I usually take them to my local charity shop, but will ring them first to check if they need them. Sometimes they don't as they get loads in - in which case they go to the tip as they can't be recycled

I always leave hangers now when buying clothes, otherwise you can end up with hundreds of the buggers!

The all metal dry cleaner hangers go straight back to the cleaners before they get misshapen. Plastic/metal ones go in the recycling bin - where we live plastics and metals go in together.

I second MrDacres for the sock pegging gubbin, wilko do one for a couple of pounds. We literally never have an odd sock issue in this house.

You don't need to chop mushrooms - fiddly and time consuming. Just tear them apart with your hands! This blew my mind.

The oxo cube one I actually learnt here on MN... Just squash the whole cube in its foil before tearing open.

Kilrock non-drip limescale remover. Comes in a little tub with a brush attached to the lid. Just discovered the caked up limescale under our chrome shower taps... You Paint the gel on and can actually see the scale fizzing up... Then It easily wipes off!

It's ok to have empty spaces on bookshelves.

Lakeland oven liner.

Clean removable oven bits in dishwasher on highest temp, then use Oven Pride.

No I mean storing spares . They were scattered over the bottom of my wardrobe. Do I just need to hang spares up or is there some sort of clever bag or some thing. I will take the rest to the charity shop , see if they want them thanks.

Buy cheap pack of value nappy sacks and keep in glove box; perfect size rubbish bags for quick in-car tidy or collecting snacks wrappers on journeys.

Chop both ends off carrots when you buy them and store in lockable Tupperware box in fridge. Last for weeks and never go bendy.

Use an empty spray bottle filled with cheap supermarket disinfectant (the brown stuff-smells gorgeous). Use for bathroom and kitchen jobs (costs about 30p a bottle and can be diluted if you prefer. Spray on surfaces, floors, sinks etc).

Make sandwiches ahead of time and freeze. Also bake a couple of healthy-ish/healthy-er loaf cakes (banana cake, courgette cake) and portion up and freeze in small bags. Lunches become a simply assembly job in the morning; grab tub of carrot sticks from fridge (weeks worth done ahead) or piece of fruit, sandwich and cake from fridge.
If you know you're going to be short of time the following day, make up peanut butter sandwiches, as they don't need refrigerating so lunches can be made and packed up the night before and bags in car/by the door.

Keep a spare pair of gloves in car for each child (same with sun hat in summer). I have three children and there is often someone who has only one glove in a pocket or hasn't grabbed a pair on the way out.

Flameless candles are useful night lights for children who don't like to sleep in complete darkness; handy for taking to holidays/unfamiliar places. The flickering is somewhat comforting and hypnotic too.

Use underbed storage boxes (the shallow ones-Wilko are ideal) for Lego; it means the children can have a rifle through and find the bits they need without having to tip it out. Goes away neatly under the bed when not in use (I just did this yesterday and I'm so chuffed for thinking of it; the boys had large deep tubs so as a consequence the weren't accessing probably 3/4 of their Lego, and it was all in random tubs and baskets all over the place. They now have 4 clear boxes which I don't have to see!)

I saw on Pinterest that the IKEA wooden spice racks can be wall mounted in a bedroom for children's books (paperback ones like Julie Donaldson et al).

For those looking for a decluttering plan, I found this very useful
web.facebook.com/groups/declutter365/?ref=bookmarks

Also not cleaning related but we fostered for many years and getting kids to organise themselves was a priority. I used these and put every days items from uniforms, socks, knickers to notes, library books etc straight into each day's pocket.

I also made up a weeks worth of sandwiches, muffins and cakes packed individually and frozen in one drawer of the freezer. Cheese and vege sticks bagged and all together in the fridge; a container of individually packaged biscuits, chips, treats etc in the pantry. I just checked each lunchbox before they went into school bags to ensure each child had chosen appropriately. I started this from age five.

Ikea spice racks

When you decorate a room decant a small amount of paint into a jam jar and label this with the name of the room (and ideally the make and colour of the paint) . Keep it with cleaning stuff rather than in the back of a garage/shed. Once every month have a quick touch up of any scuffs or marks on the walls. Takes five minutes and makes an enormous difference.

Newtssuitcase that's a brilliant idea

Leave all cleaning products (toilet duck, bleach, limescale remover) on for plenty of time so they can do their job and you don't have to scrub.

Put a dry towel in with the damp clothes to reduce tumble dryer time. Spin everything at maximum speed for the same reason. I have a separate spin dryer (2800 rpm) and recommend it on all these threads.

If you use short dishwasher cycles (eg 30 minutes) don't put the tab inside the spring loaded compartment. Put it in the bottom of the machine so it starts dissolving straight away. Took me about 20 years to figure that one out!

I buy packets of frozen brown rice, chopped peppers and chopped onions. After microwaving the rice for the two minutes, I fry it with the onion and pepper and crack a whisked egg in the other half of the pan. Five minute egg friend rice always on hand in the freezer for quickness.

Easiest way I've seen to change a duvet cover...

A friend of mine hates housework. She discovered that if she had a row with husband the adrenaline meant she could clean the house like a whirlwind so if the house is a mess she picks a fight. Sounds made but she's been married 40 years so the rows don't seem to have done much harm.

I find I do nothing after a row, feel too depressed so it doesn't work for me.

If you have anyone in the family who uses industrial-strength hair gunk (DP I'm looking at you), then the best thing to remove the residue build-up from your bath is washing up liquid. It gets baths and shower screens wonderfully clean.

1. Get into vacuum-packing for things like bedding.

2. Get a cleaner.

Life's a bit short for housework.

Following on from SheDoneAlready's suggestion, if you use Aveeno bath oil (or other oily based bath products), I've found washing up liquid the best way to clean the bath. Wet, lather with a sponge and rinse.

I second the use of Brillo pads on shower screens to get rid of limescale. I spray the door every time and use a car squeegee to get rid of the water, but there's always that little bit of limescale deposit at the bottom of the shower screen. Works a treat and doesn't scratch it.

Another tip is only handle washing once. When I'm sorting out the dirty washing, I sort it into dark, light and hot washes. Each lot has it's own washing bag in different colours so I can tell what's what. (Or you can use old pillowcases in different patterns/colours. The fullest one is for the next wash, it goes on top in the wash basket so all I have to do is pull it out next day, chuck it all in the washing machine, next fullest one comes to the top, rinse and repeat.

"I've never had a mug stained by tea or coffee and my mugs are at least 15 years old. Perhaps it's because I don't have a dishwasher. "

Nothing to do with the dishwasher. I presume you either don't drink much tea or you wash your cup thoroughly between every drink.

I'm loving that it's a badge of honour not to have tea stained mugs! Something very Hyacinth Bouquet about it .

The plastic lids on some coffee tins are the perfect size for standard sized food tin, good to use for a half used tin of beans/fruit/veg etc to store in the fridge.

I'm loving that it's a badge of honour not to have tea stained mugs! Something very Hyacinth Bouquet about it

Hyacinth does not have mugs.

When cleaning floors and bathroom, slap on a face mask at the same time - steam makes facials work better and you've done something nice for yourself. For a sodding change.

I have an under counter fridge, and have found that the large plastic placemats you can get for kids (and the ones marketed to put under pet bowls) fit perfectly in the shelves, and can be easily cut down to fit the drawers. So if anything spills or leaves marks etc all I have to do is remove the placemat, give it a quick rinse and back in the fridge in a couple of minutes (or swap out for a new one), as opposed to if it is directly on to the fridge shelf where it's more effort to clean it up.

Also, I subscribe to the KISS principle - Keep it Simple, Stupid - when it comes to organizing/cleaning. Having complicated, specific systems may work for some people but I find that the more effort I have to put in just to keep on an even keel, the more stuff slides. If it's simple and easy, I'm more likely to do it, and do it now not in the proverbial "later" time. So for me that means:

• Everything having a home, that is clearly labeled/defined, and if there is no room for it to comfortably fit then something has to go (eg if I open a cupboard and an avalance of stuff falls out, or I have to pull loads of stuff out to find the thing I want, then I need to sort that cupboard out as it's clearly not functioning properly)

• Toys live in baskets/boxes with general themes (eg teddies/lego/construction/dolls) so that they are easy to just throw back into the box and shove onto a shelf in seconds at the end of play time

• Open top containers - the amount of times I used to go to put stuff in the laundry basket, find stuff just dumped on top or next to rather than inside because for some reason, actually removing the lid first was just a step too far for other members of the household. Rather than constantly just get annoyed by the laundry pile next to the lidded laundry basket, I just took the lid off and suddenly, the laundry was ending up inside the basket on a regular basis, with just the occasional sock lying in the vicinity.

*Generally being less specific about things. If I had a payslip to file and I had to go to "Work -> Current Job -> Curent Year -> Payslips" (for example) then that payslip would just sit on top of the filing cabinet for ages, along with all the other stuff I needed to file like bank statements ("Banking -> Current Accounts ->Barclays -> Statements") or Medical info (Medical -> Dentist -> Treatment Reciepts). But, if it's easy (Work -> Payslips; Banking -> Statements; Medical ->Dental info) all just filed in cronological order then it's more likely to get done and if I need to find it, it's very unlikely that I will have that much paperwork that I can't find it within a couple of minutes of flicking through and it's so much easier with broader categories as anyone in the house can do it, not just the person who invented the system.