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?

Pinched from the freezer roulette thread but one I'll be using in future is masking tape to label food in the freezer. Doesn't fall off the container when it's in the freezer but cones off easily once it's out so you can relabel the box.

If glass breaks you can use a slice of Fresh bread to pick the little shards up.
Also the Egg Trick (which I thought everyone knew until I spoke about it at work the other day) ignore Best Before dates, put the egg in a glass of water, if it floats it's bad, if it sinks it's good. This is because old eggs dehydrate and create more air inside the shell. I remember it using 'We save drowning eggs'
Also cat and dog urine contains crystals, if you scrub it you spread the crystals further making the smell worse. Get cat odour remover from the pet shop and the smell will be gone forever. Learnt this from a vet.

Also a game changer for me was buying a Kallax unit. Each night when they come in from school bags, dry coats and shoes go in the boxes and school letters on top.

Summer I watched The Minimalists on Amazon, just paid to hire it to watch.

Well worth it, really makes you think about the crap you buy/keep (thinking you need said thing when you really don't)

Bulk buy birthday cards and party presents. Only every buy silver wrapping paper - suitable for every occasion.

I'm a big fan of baby wipes. I can't believe they are good for wiping babies. They shift all sorts of gunk.
Magic eraser on tiles. Glass cloth on glass (39p in Home Bargains the last time I bought one).
Starlight liquid.
Buying as few different cleaners as possible - some are useless.
Old opaque tights make great dusters. Cat hairs stick to them.

I pair socks as soon as they come off the little feet by turning the ankles together.....then they go in the laundry basket togwther, get washed together, get unpaired and hung next to each other, then repaired when dry and put away. No more time is spent pairing socks. Very few socks get lost. And a pair of baby socks seems much less likely to block the washing machine filter than a singleton.

My house is a car crash, my laundry basket is overflowing.....but I no longer have a massive bag of odd socks!!

Anyone any tips for cleaning the bottom of the iron??

chis - this is a long time ago -pre steam irons and non stick plates but I remember my DM used to rub green household soap on the bottom of the hot iron (Morrisons still sell it - great for getting soil stains out of eg the bottom of white socks -if you can be bothered to scrub - I buy dark coloured socks instead...)
Then she'd scrape it off with a blunt (butter) knife -I think she let it cool down a bit -but I could be wrong...then she'd wipe it with a damp cloth when cold ...
I think that was if she'd accidentally melted something nylon or similar on it? I guess I could ask her...

I actually have some of that household soap in so will give it a go, thanks

I'll try scraping with a wooden spatula or something to avoid scratching the plate

It's normally ok but every now and again it's sticking so time to stop ignoring it or start looking at steam generator irons

Chish, Lakeland sell a tube of cream for cleaning irons - I tried to iron a polyester camisole which immediately welded itself to the bottom of the iron. I was ready to buy a new iron but tried this stuff and it took everyone off with ease, I was more excited about this than was seemly!

Another one - if you are wiping up and find a spill of something like weetabix...or ketchup - that has dried and welded itself to a surface -don't bother scraping/scrubbing/swearing at it - just leave the damp cloth on it and do something else for a few minutes - when you come back it should easily wipe off - if it doesn't leave it a bit longer/wet the cloth a little more...
(obviously in a perfect world, it would have been wiped up straight away -before it set...but I have less than perfect DCs ...)

I was looking for this thread earlier!

If you need to wash your sofa covers, cover the cushions with duvet covers while they're not on. I need to wash mine and have put it off so many times because it's a pain in the arse doing them one at a time and trying to find a towel to cover the cushion with, and that requires constant tucking in.

I aired my bed today and it's no different to when I don't so I think I'll continue making the bed. I can cope with a few Mumsnetters thinking I'm a minger!

Daily my mum bought me a tube of the iron cleaning stuff that you mention. It was like a miracle had happened. Amazing stuff.

For a cheap Iron clean, (my mum was obsessed with this as she was forever burning things) A large aspirin tablet and a pair of plyers.

Heat up the iron, and once it's hot pick up the tablet with the plyers and rub over the burnt marks, the black stuff literally melts away, Once clean wet a few paper towels and rub away the residue left.

Put a note in your diary once a month to get shoes resoled or heeled if necessary, and clean your handbag inside and out.
Also use a baby's bottle brush to clean champagne flutes.

Airing your bed is not something that you notice a difference with just on the odd day though Felicia. It's to help the moisture/vapour from having a warm body in it all night to properly evaporate out of the bed, so it's helping with the condition and longevity of your mattress. Just doing it for one day wouldn't make any difference at all.

cleaning an iron - rub the base whike warm with a paracetamol tablet, works liker a charm

Hairs in plug hole, squeeze a tube of hair removal cream from poundland down the plug holes, push it down with a cotton bud if necessary, leave for 10 minutes then flush through with warm water.

If eggshell gets into your egg after you cracked it open, use a piece of eggshell to fish it out. It's amazing!

mary - if that works, I will thank you FOREVER! I really struggle with that... the bloody eggshell just runs away from my hands!

You need to open the window not just turn the covers back.

The eggshell tip def works! Great for meringues

I have a feeling this thread is going to turn me into the tidy and organised person that my mum wanted me to be
Love you mumsnet

Does anyone know about unfuck your habitat? I like the cleaning checklists on the website and would like to be able to check them off on my phone. I've downloaded the app but the checklists don't seem to be there.

Does anyone have any tips on how to de-fluff a bathroom? Wiping with a cloth/sponge just pushes the dust around!