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?

Use a dry microfibre cloth on the bathroom! Works a treat. I do all my bathroom surfaces every day and it takes seconds. WAY easier than doing a big clean once a week.

Ugh yes, the bathroom dust! I do mine with a static duster before cleaning and then wipe With a dry cloth after the wet cloth but it is still dusty.

Bathroom dust - I use the dust brush attachment on my hoover...then wipe down with a damp microfibre cloth later. Just have to make sure you avoid anything wet...
(I use that brush for dusting everything ...all surfaces - I can keep it 'on board' the hoover but actually usually stick it in my pocket so can keep pop it on for light shades etc if I notice they need doing...much better than pushing dust around)

Some really great tips. I've realised that part of my problem is that I'm already using my dead time for reading so there are tonnes of 2 minute jobs that I'll never get round to.
My contribution:
Pod casts and ted talks to counteract the boredom of cleaning.
netflix makes ironing more bearable
When cleaning a room, spray all surfaces with cleaning spray and leave for a few minutes while you do something else. Then even dried-in stains will wipe away easily. I tend towards impatience so this was a revelation to me.

LakieLady
Don't bother trying to Kondo your underwear drawer if you have big tits

I've had such a crap few days and this made me laugh out loud. Thanks! 😊

Coastalcommand

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

Love mumsnet. How very la de da! 😂

I just remembered one!

Make a TON of crumble topping and bung it - raw - in the freezer in a big tub. Then when you want to make a crumble you just shake some of the crumble topping out onto the fruit and bung it in the oven.

It takes as long to make a little crumble as it does to make a lot (I find most of the time is in cleanup...), so this is such a time saving, and because it lasts in the freezer forever, it's so easy to have a hot pudding when you want one.

To go nicely hand-in-hand with Annie's tip -

When your dc discard an apple after 3 bites, cut out the bite marks, and slice up the nice bit. Put the slices in the freezer. Ditto fruit that is past it's best. Use this as the the base of the crumble.

My DP had a bad habit of rooting through the fridge to find something he fancied for dinner without ever looking at the dates on things. When I unpack the shopping into the fridge, I now stack the meat in date order and he knows on pain of death he's to roughly work his way from top to bottom throughout the week. It stops him thoughtlessly repeatedly passing over something whilst it goes out of date.

Minimising time spent on ironing:

In a pinch if you're in a hurry and don't have time to iron something: run your hair straighteners along the hem of tops or skirts, often if the hem is hanging nice and straight then you can get away with it and any minor creases elsewhere drop out with body heat once on. Also of course hanging things in the bathroom while you shower - the steam helps the creases drop out.

For work shirts: obviously try to buy non-iron or easy iron to begin with; put them in their own washing load on an anti creasing program or use the manual settings to do a slower spin. Slower spin = clothes more damp but less creased. Use a little fabric conditioner which also helps avoid creasing. The moment the wash finishes, take them out and hang them neatly, making sure to properly shape out the sleeves, main panels, collars etc. They rarely need ironed this way.

Pre-sorting laundry by having multiple ikea waste sorting bags in the bottom of a cupboard in the upstairs hall has made a big difference to me. Everything is put in the right bag when it's taken off, then it's extremely easy to see what you need to wash and when.

The other thing that's made a big difference is following a recommended order for doing housework and using the "basket method".... essentially visiting each room once and putting things in/out of the basket as you go rather than darting around putting things back where they belong.

The order of cleaning is:
"Dry" jobs - tidying and dusting in each room, with the basket method as you go
"Wet" jobs - the kitchen and bathrooms
Vacuuming the whole house (don't bother with the floors until this point)
Mopping the hard floors

Has anyone found decent drawer dividers that arnt too spendy?

Ikea do lots of inexpensive drawer dividers. Or do what Marie Kondo suggests and use shoe boxes.

For cube drawer dividers, just take strips of cardboard from cereal packets as deep as your drawer, cut slits half way down every (7) cm and nest them together, vertically with slits pointing down and horizontally pointing up.
Your Blue Peter Badge will be assured!

Remembered another one.

If you are in a hard water area, and love hardboiled eggs (as I do), get a small knackered old pan, like a milk pan that you've relegated to the back of the cupboard for being too battered, and use it exclusively for your boiled eggs in the morning. You never have to spend another second scrubbing watermarks off your good pans because you don't have to scrub the old pan at all, just tip the boiling water out and let the pan dry. And it doesn't matter about the limescale marks because it won't be used for anything else.

If you are thinking of getting an induction hob, you can check if your existing pots and pans are suitable for use on it by using a magnet.

If the magnet sticks to the bottom of the pan it is conductive and suitable, if not, gotta buy some new ones.

This video is useful

I've got a good one - just remembered today.
To get a build up of grease off glass oven doors use a glass/window scraper you find in DIY stores. One of these - www.toolstation.com/shop/Painting+%26+Decorating/d150/Decorators+Tools/sd160/Window+Scraper/p53477 .
They are made for getting dried paint splashes off windows - but are really useful for lots of other things too...
I've used one to get stickers off windows - or sellatape (from Christmas lights), carefully on a spill on the bottom of the oven, on tiles with a soap scum build up on -
They are very sharp (Its a stanley knife blade!) and you have to use them on flat things and keep the tool flat or it could scratch something but I wouldn't be without one....

Dementedma You mean you DON'T clean our Skirting Boards???

Witsender A cordless vac upstairs AND one downstairs? If they're cordless and light why need 2?!

I have a Cordless vac. It's not great and the battery just broke but it kinda works. I couldn't afford to spend £400 on two vacuums though

I remembered one as I walked in from the garden:
If you buy a lovely new garden bench, put wood preservative in an old ice cream tub and soak the bottoms of the legs for a couple of days each (you'll see the capillary action driving the preservative up the legs). Then liberally slosh the remaining preservative over the bench itself.

I was told this by a cabinetmaker, and did it to our garden bench, which must be 8 or 10 years old now and is wearing really well.

baileys my new cordless stick vac was £80 and is great. My old one (not so good, broke after a couple of years too) was £60 and I had a £30-40 GTech sweeper upstairs (needs a new battery after 5 yrs) . You don't have to spend £400!

Yes I have a big corded vac too (Miele) I get out once a week when I do a proper clean - under things etc - but the cordless one gets used daily for a quick run round and for accidental spills...
I miss having one upstairs sometimes ...as I'll notice something (like fluff off new socks) and if I still had one handy I'd clean it up straight away...

Actually thinking about spills and vacuums - a cordless handheld that is empty/cleanish is really good for picking up lego - especially those tiny bits new sets seem to have hundreds of ...

Unlucky what brand is your cordless vac please? I'm going to get one but don't know where to start! They all seem to have different charge times and battery life.

thenew its this one - now £60
www.amazon.co.uk/Ovation-Rechargeable-Cordless-Upright-Cleaner-x/dp/B01K4Z9Z10?tag=mumsnetforum-21

Do read the reviews - there are a few niggles (one is it doesn't stop charging when its fully charged so you have to watch it/put it on a timer) but it does the job. And I have only had it a few months -less than 6 - but so far so good...

Oh, another one, but perhaps more DC-management than household management:
If you have a teenaged daughter who hasn't quite learned to manage overflowing periods (or if you have real flooders yourself), get a couple of pairs of these Once on, you can't tell that they're any different from normal pants, and they will save both her clothes and the bedlinen.