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?

This thread is brilliant, only half way through so don't know if these have been suggested.

Clean your radiators with fabric softener when they come on they smell amazing, same with light bulbs.

Brilliant thread! Thanks for starting OP.

A few freezer bag tips.

-Use them for leftovers (cheese etc) instead of messy clingfilm which gets tatty after one use.
-Good as piping bags or bread rising environment.
-Put paper flour or sugar packets in one to avoid accidents/mites/ ants .
-Put one inside a soup bowl to freeze a single portion. Remove from the bowl once it's frozen., then it's the right size when you need it.

-Use a ziplock one for wet swimming costumes at the beach. Drier towels and less sand.
-When packing suitcases, put your shoes and leakables in cheap freezer bags. Adds no weight like the dedicated bags do.

-Put flatpack screws in one and tape it to the piece of furniture when moving house.

-Loads of uses for baby needs (forgotten them all, but that's how I started).

-When freezing delicate stuff like breaded chicken, put the bag over your hand, grab the food and pull it over rather than shaking it down (dog poo bagging style!).

Food clips rather than wire twists to close.

I also keep the ziplock pouches from dishwasher tabs. Good for taking small amounts of washing powder on self-catering breaks.

Someone has already mentioned hanging your clothes in outfits in your wardrobe. I do this and also hang the matching costume jewellery on the coathanger as well. Saves you scrambling for the 'right' necklace at the last minute and also prevents a knotted mess of tangled jewellery on the dressing table floor

Have a Teflon liner sheet in the bottom of the oven. Take it out and rinse off after a spill.

Don't use the cistern blocks from aldi. Toilet now looks and smells like a public loo. Can't see if it's cleaner below the water line because it's purple.

The clear nail varnish on the buttons for school uniforms is genius. I was going to come on and say dyson cordless but see I was beaten to it.

pear I agree to an extent - but I do things that make life easier for the whole household ...if it makes my life easier too...

So DP generally does his own washing -but I stick the odd thing of his in to make up a load.
I don't really like him doing mine and the DCs washing cos he has a habit of getting the wrong program- boil wash, somehow manages to always get powder in the conditioner drawer(so a final soapy rinse ) ... He does it for his own washing too -so it isn't a way of getting out of doing something.... He also hangs washing out without pegs...then ends up washing them again cos it was a bit windy and they ended up in the mud...
(I should say DD1 and I have ADHD and I strongly suspect he does too...in fact I'm sure)
When I am putting the washing away anything of his I roughly fold and stick on a shelf on his side of the wardrobe for him to put away properly ...he has been known to grumble (more than once) that I've kond'ed everyone and everything else (bedding, towels, even teatowels) and I can't even be bothered to put his away in the right place...
I told him if he wants to do kondo his clothes he can - I'll even give him advice. But seeing as how he stores his clothes doesn't affect me in anyway at all ...

I gather that this might be in AIBU for the wide audience but for everyone finding this thread a revelation - you do know there's a whole section called Housekeeping which is full of this kind of thing?

My latest tip:
I chopped up too much veg to fit in my soup maker. I tipped the excess chopped veg into a freezer bag, sprinkled in the stock cube etc and labelled it up and chucked it in the freezer. Now all I need to do is tip that in the soup maker with water for quick homemade soup without the prep time. Inspired by the slow cooker "dump meals" that you see on FB. (Note: you're not supposed to put frozen things or hot things in the soup maker. Everything you put in is meant to be cold to start with. I find some frozen veg with hot water from the kettle more or less counters each other out so you end up with the right starting temperature anyway.)

If you have a not-quite square king or super king duvet, and it's not obvious which edges are the ends and which the sides, get a Sharpie and write on the bloody thing. This has saved me hours of frustration and having to redo the duvet.

Devise a holiday packing list and store it on your laptop. When you go on holiday, adjust for the holiday in question, and give it to your DC. They can deal with this from about age 10, including instructions like 'If you want to take something and you've been wearing it, it MUST be in the wash by XX time or I cannot guarantee its return'.

If you have a separate bin for compostables, line the bottom with a sheet or two of kitchen towel. It stops all the really gross stuck-to-the-bottom bits like teabags and half onions that you're otherwise poking out with a stick in the rain by the compost bin itself.

If your DC have school ties, keep a spare one somewhere near the front door for the inevitable, 'I can't find it! I had it last night! She's wearing MINE!' scenarios.

Keep a tub of change in the car for parking (we've used the same tub for bloody years, it originally came with Tellytubby themed paint in it well over a decade ago. It outlasts the cars).

Freeze fresh chillies - as well as lasting longer it means you can grate them on the zesting side of a grater (or microplane if you have one) instead of chopping them. No big chunks and no chilli fingers to contend with when you next need the loo.

Lemon juice in the kettle overnight to descale it (safer & tastes nicer than other options if it taints your morning cuppa too!)

Washing the car in the rain makes it quicker & easier, but not tried that one yet, still lazily using the car wash!

I've just started Kondo-ing our chest of drawers. It's made a huge difference to how much we can fit in a drawer and also you can see every item. I also threw out every worn, damaged and ill-fitting items so the clothes we can see are also ones that can be worn. Even if you don't do the whole hog, just using the folding techniques for drawers is really good.

I use Trello for our packing lists and house To Do lists. I can share it with DH and it's made it so much easier when going away with small children. I know that neither DH or I will (easily) miss packing items as you tick it off as you go. We have different ones for camping.

For creased bedding - put the duvet into the cover and iron on a medium heat. Much quicker than ironing and then putting it on. I only do the top (what you can see)

Or tumble dry by itself for 10-15 minutes.

DH is perfectly capable of ironing his own shirts (and often does), and he sorts the recycling, takes out the bins and does far more taxi-ing for our DDs than me.

But I like to spoil him a bit, and he often spoils me. I know he hates packing with a passion, so I always pack for him. But, he knows I hate anything to do with technology, so always sorts out all our phones, laptops, printers, tablets, email etc.

I think we complement each other very well.

Oh and fabric bags for everything. I have a choir bag (music, pound coins, reading glasses, water bottle), church meeting bag (paperwork, pencil), work bag etc. They slot on a bookshelf or hang on the back of a door with my coats.

I have a bag one too. Although the circumstances for using it are heartbreaking I hope maybe it will help someone sometime.

My Labrador isn't well, his back legs have gone, and when dd comes back from camp we have decided to euthanize him (dd needs to say goodbye to him first). As he is a big dog and needs to get up a step to go for a pee... I took a shopping bag (one of the fabric square ones), cut the sides off so its one long piece with the handles ... so I can put it underneath and around him and lift him with one hand using both the handles. I was using a towel before, but it would take two of us to do it as I couldn't grab both sides of the towel as easily.

I saw this a while ago and thought it was brilliant:

If you have a toddler who likes to "be creative" with felt tip pens but you are worried they will get it on the walls and furniture, get a big empty box big enough for your child to sit in and move about (supermarkets and shops will have loads they are throwing away), plonk your child in it, and let them go loose on the inside cardboard.

Murphy so sorry

Cheesy there are so many things wrong with your tip, I don't know where to start!

Seriously, stop doing that!

On a frosty day I run an extension lead and hairdryer out to the car; I leave the hairdryer on LOW for 5 minutes inside the car.

Cheesy this is dangerous. Rather just leave 5 mins earlier and sit in the car with the engine running.

Have a family meeting where you draw up chores between you, including the kids, make it into a mind map which is easy to look at and pin it up in the kitchen so every one can see it and follow it.

Buy frozen veg as staples for meal bases - I buy herbs, onions and shallots, garlic, cubed vegetables, peppers, spinach and mixed roast veg. There is no waste and we find we eat much more veg as a result.

Ikea sells 4 drawer washing organisers. Washing gets folded up and put directly into the drawers, one for each member of the family, one for towels and one for bedding. Clean gets taken up and dirty brought down.

Yes yes to one vacuum upstairs and another downstairs.

Put a lable in the letterbox saying 'no advertising' it saves having to throw it out if you don't get it in the first place.

On a sunday write a meal planner and family schedule somewhere everyone can see it for the forthcoming week.

I clean and organise for the length of a podcast that I really like, it makes me do everything more throughly as I enjoy listening and doing at the same time.

MerdeAlor any chance you have a link for the ikea organisers please?