Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Household tips that aren't shit.

644 replies

EIsbethTascioni · 21/01/2017 20:08

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
13
buckeejit · 22/01/2017 01:10

Poach an egg by boiling kettle & 3/4 filling with boiling water, crack egg in, cover with saucer & microwave for 50 seconds. I leave the saucer on for another 10secs-few mins. Drain onto kitchen paper, delicious!

Get a professional window cleaners 'mop', ettore is great.

Have a General present drawer-fill with ad hoc bargains for token gifts.

Make stock in the slow cooker.

MusicToMyEars800 · 22/01/2017 01:26

shinynewusername I do mine when the dds are at school and if dp is at home he knows because I will tell him that cups on window ledge are bleach soaking, but you are of course completely right, make sure that everyone is aware that there is bleach and water inside and be sure to keep out of reach of children, the higher the better!! I cannot understand how anyone would decant bleach into a squash bottle and leave it in reach of a child Confused. I always ensure all of my cleaning product are kept completely out of reach

SuperTrumper · 22/01/2017 02:19

Milton in mugs to get rid of tea stains. Also can be used to clean pots and pans that have seen better days.

Milton on carpet stains

Wipe down stainless steel with a DRY microfibre cloth for a streak-free shine

Buy a Vileda Spray Mop, it has a plastic vessel attached to the stick that squirts the floor with water/cleaning fluid that you can mop up easily with the microfibre pad. No faffing about with a bucket and makes cleaning the floors every night 100 times more appealing and easier. You can peel the microfibre cloth off and put it in a normal washing machine load as often as you like

If areas of your carpet are looking flat, get a carpet rake and use it once a week before you hoover. I bought mine online for about £15 and it's revitalised flattened areas of high traffic

Rather than get on your hands and knees and dust skirting boards with a cloth, use the thin long attachment on your hoover.

Use scented nappy bags when disposing of sanitary towels in your bathroom bin

Scrubbing dishwasher tablets onto greasy cupboards was the only thing that worked for me; but will definitely try the newspaper thing!

Use plastic clothes pegs to seal opened crisp packets, bags of doritos, cereals etc.

Put flat rectangular storage boxes from Wilkos at the bottom of each wardrobe to keep things like shoes, handbags, belts etc organised.

Bag of coins and change hidden in your car's glove compartment for trolleys, car parks etc

If you and your partner both have iphones, go into Notes, create a new note, invite your partner to the note as a participant and add items you need to buy into there so that both of you can contribute to it as and when things run out, and each person knows what needs getting should either you go to a shop separately . Delete items off it as you purchase them

Bright towels help brighten up dreary bathrooms or kitchens. Our kitchen needs massively updating but has lovely brightly coloured tea towels, oven mitts and hand towels, and we always get comments on how cosy it looks.

Ouch44 · 22/01/2017 07:28

Save those little pouches of silica you get in everything and put in old socks to dry out wet shoes.

Clean bath with cheap shower gel/bubble bath when you are in the shower or put plug back in when emptying bath at end.

Treetophouses · 22/01/2017 07:53

Did Someone mention this and I missed it?

Rub little scratches in natural wood with a walnut (using the soft light coloured inside, freshly opened ones ideally). Often makes scratches disappear or at least less noticeable.

AGrinWithoutACat · 22/01/2017 07:58

If you have spare bedding (duvet/pillows) store in vacuum bags with the covers/pillow cases on - quick and easy to make the bed for occasional guests/kid sleepovers - or emergency middle of the night changes if someone unwell.

Still working on the 'everything has a place to live' but the rooms I have done stay much tidier

I have 'crap'-baskets on the stairs, one for each of us, if it's lying loose and I find it it goes in the crap-basket ready for the owner to put away on their next trip - also cuts down on the where-is-it-mums 😄

Madeyemoodysmum · 22/01/2017 08:26

I make two days worth of pack lunch sarnies
ChoppedVeggie fruits etc. Its so great on Day 2 when all you have to do is grab the bits all done from the fridge. Means I only make lunches 3 times a week.
Bliss

IDismyname · 22/01/2017 08:28

Stick an old plastic medicine spoon in your jar of instant coffee. It will always be used for putting the coffee in the mug, but never for stirring it!
So... No spoons with half dissolved coffee on them.

phoeb3 · 22/01/2017 08:42

I've realised the key is just a lot less stuff. Everything is so much easier. Even mugs. Why do you need 20 for a family if eight? Just wash them mire often.

Does anyone know what the lidl viakal is called? Couldn't find it the other day

Dishwasher tablet soaked in boiling water, use this to wipe inside of oven door, wipe over with eraser cube. So quick, easy and it works.

Gonna Do this - do you mean dissolve the tablet & use the water from it to clean the door?

dementedma · 22/01/2017 08:43

It's interesting that so many of these tips centre around cleaning the things which are supposed to save us time. The dishwasher and the shower.
People clean skirting boards?

SootSprite · 22/01/2017 09:07

bedding in the pillowcase, have two vacuums (one upstairs and one down), rinse the shower every time you use it, washing is only done on Saturday and Sunday, clean clothes away Sunday night, only iron what you really need to (again ironing all done on a Sunday so it's all ready for the week ahead), meal plan for the week and use online shopping.

There was a thread a few months back about a lady who needed to get a cleaner but couldn't afford one and kept procrastinating instead of doing her own cleaning so she 'became' her own cleaner. I thought I'd give it a try. Basically you sit down and work out which jobs needed doing and how often, so how many hours your cleaner would need.

I'd need a cleaner once a week for an hour (I have low standards) so on a Monday afternoon when I have the house to myself I come in and become Mavis (that's my cleaners name I decided 😂). I get more done in that one hour than I ever used to all week (I'm a great procrastinator). Well worth a try 👍🏻

PeridotPassion · 22/01/2017 09:08

I made a New Years resolution to get decluttered and stay tidy. I can't be doing with a lot of big jobs or with Fly Lady type stuff - it's too regimented. So I've resolved to sort out/tidy just one area every day. Anything, big or small, depending on our time as long as either dh or me does ONE thing every single day. And sorting out the area means giving it all a good wipe/clean too.

The last few days we've done (on different days) our cutlery drawer, every kitchen cupboard, the bathroom cabinet, my make up bags, two cupboards of paperwork/general crap in the living room, the shoe holder just inside the front door, the bookcase in the dc's room, dh's tool cupboard, the coat rack etc.

Some of the sort outs (like under the sink) took me an hour - bloody awful job, I found cleaning stuff that I didn't know we even had and I can't remember the last time it was cleaned Shock. Others, like the cutlery drawer have literally taken me 5 minutes including cleaning out the inside of the area too.

After 22 days and 22 sort outs it's amazing the difference it's made already and it makes general life (and cleaning) so much easier. I know where things are straight away, it's a joy to empty the dishwasher into the perfectly ordered crockery cupboard, I knew exactly where to put my hand on our car insurance stuff I needed recently, no more hunting in a big pile of under the sink crap for the polish or a sponge or whatever.

I had to encourage dh on board as he thought it was a bit of a shit resolution to be cleaning out inside cupboards and shelves whilst we still have laundry to do or upstairs could do with a hoover. He's noticed the benefit now though and is fully on board, deciding what area he'll do the night before :)

wobblywonderwoman · 22/01/2017 09:25

I would also like to know the lidl fake viakal

My tips are to clean oven trays in the bath with a brillo pad and hot soapy water (I use washing powder)

Brillo the door of the oven

Poundland sell fridge organisers so I use these and Ikeas plastic baskets.

Dump everything out of the house you really dont need and keep a carrier bag and try to fill one every week for the charity shop

Don't keep paperwork or photograph what you need

Batch cook- I even Cook mashed potato and freeze so some nights I have no cooking and use that hour to clean

Forgetmenotblue · 22/01/2017 09:28

Carrier bag in the car. I keep one in the passenger seat footwell and it helps me not even bring crap into the house. When I'm waiting for DC to come out of football/beavers/brownies I have 2 minutes to sort through my bag, their bookbags, lunchboxes etc. Then I chuck the bag in the wheelie bin when we get home before I go in the house.

I hate cooking so always do 2 meals at once so tomorrow's tea is ready ahead of time. E.g. If doing a Sunday roast is easy to chop a few more veg and an onions and make a pasta bake for Monday. On Tuesday when I'm making a chilli or similar I brown off 2 loads of mince and onions and for a cottage pie. I hate cooking from scratch when I get in from work, even one or two bits of a meal already done is psychologically much easier than the uphill task of starting from scratch.

HappyFlappy · 22/01/2017 09:34

Storing duvet sets inside their pillow case.

Somebody recommended this to me a few years ago.

It is the BEST TIP EVER!

bibbitybobbityyhat · 22/01/2017 09:35

Sorry but I would classify doing all washing on a Saturday and Sunday and all ironing on a Sunday as officially a bit shit tbh. What if you like to get out and about at the weekend. Or lie about reading books? What if you have no tumble drier.

Am also wondering how much time it saves to have a vacuum cleaner upstairs? In my case it would be anout 30 seconds per week.

HappyFlappy · 22/01/2017 09:36

White vinegar for dishwasher rinse aid and cleaning mirrors/windows and mirrored surfaces like ovens and microwaves

Genius, Bear. I have gallons of white vinegar because I use it for drains and stuff, but this is inspired.

HappyFlappy · 22/01/2017 09:37

Sorry Bunny. You're clearly a lovely rabbit and not a snake

Which means that you won't last five minutes among us vipers! Grin

SootSprite · 22/01/2017 09:38

Bibbity, if you don't like my tips you don't have to use them. They work for me, which is why I shared them, no need to be snarky.
Jeez, I wish I hadn't bothered now Sad

datingbarb · 22/01/2017 09:40

My tips to make life easier

downstairs is tidied every evening, all kids help and it takes 10 minutes, I loads dishwasher, wipe down surfaces etc, they tidy away any toys, put away shoes,bags etc.... just means we're not coming down the next morning to a bomb site and it makes the cleaning a lot easier as the tidying is always done

zoflora in kitchen sink over night

when cleaning my hard floors I always run the hose attachment around skirting boards then when moping after run mop over them, means I never have to get down and clean my woodwork

Bleach down loos every now night

Clean loo/sink when toddler is in the bath

HappyFlappy · 22/01/2017 09:40

that bike with no wheels, the seized up hedge cutter and blunt saw will apparently become useful one day

Our shed is similar.

Apparently we "need them for parts" Hmm

specialsubject · 22/01/2017 09:46

Vacuum cleaner upstairs means that upstairs gets cleaned more often than annually...Smile

bibbitybobbityyhat · 22/01/2017 09:48

Sorry I've made you so upset Soot. I was only musing really. Op asked for tips that aren't "shit" to use a direct quote. I can ask for it to be wthdrawn if you like?

HappyFlappy · 22/01/2017 09:51

When I first bought my boxes and sorted my larder out I found 12 tins of tuna

Blimey Sniffle! Shock Have you got your own trawler?

HappyFlappy · 22/01/2017 09:55

Greggs

Mostly it doesn't fall over because it is packed in so tightly balanced. You need to fold into thirds or quarters, rather than the halves you probably do when folding to lie stuff flat. This gives it a broader base and it stands up. Kondo calls this the "sweet point" or similar, I'm told.

Swipe left for the next trending thread