Best domestic cheats, please share.

[farmersdaugther]

Basically I need some tips on how to make me look like I'm an utter domestic goddess but without all the faffing about!

Don't get me wrong I'm fully capable of making my home lovely (clean and tidy etc) cooking and baking but I struggle with having a young family.

So what are your best domestic cheats?

I've started with a bread maker and a slow cooker.

Great thread - halfway thought I'm googling 'flushable bathroom wipes' but thankfully I kept reading and NOW I KNOW BETTER. I'll stick to the microfiber cloths from pound shop.

Congrats Boffin will look out for you.

For those of you who don't like tea tree oil there is a whole world of essential oils out there that smell lovely. Lavender is even more versatile than tea tree IMO. Grapefruit is a gorgeous "fresh happy house" oil.

I just have a quick question re microfibre cloths. Just bought some from the supermarket and they say not to wash with fabric conditioner. Does it really matter??? Otherwise I'm going to have to do a separate wash just for them which is utterly ridiculous...?

Thanks

fabric condition affects absorbency so yes I would think it does matter.

Would you really wash cleaning cloths with clothing/linen though? I don't even put tea towels in with clothes/towels/sheets - I do wash at 30 degrees so maybe it would be fine on a hot wash, but I do keep cleaning stuff separate from things that come in contact with our bodies.

Bummer, thanks . I'd put tea towels and dishcloths in with bathroom towels (prob on a 60 wash), and occasionally teatowels in at 40 with clothes. Wouldn't put them in with any of DDs minging undies etc. though!

Oh no am I gross??!

Boffy do let us know when it is going to be on

don't you find fabric conditioner on your tea towels/dishcloths affects their absorbency too?

amazingmumof6 - I do have one child but I don't have a partner, so I'm sure my workload is a lot less than most.

I get dd to tidy up after herself. We have toy boxes etc that things can just get thrown into. I've always been a tidy and well-organised person. On my day off I spend about 1 or 2 hours doing the shopping, 1 hour doing laundry, 1 hour ironing and 2 hours cleaning. I don't allow it to take more time than this. Obviously on other days I cook meals and wash up, but that's it. I prefer to do everything on one day than in bits and bobs, I have better things to do than housework.

Buy frozen chopped onion.
Makes me much more likely to cook from scratch seriously!

Oooh, Boffin! Put it on YouTube so I can see!

happybubble yes, that sounds realistic! and congrats!

sorry if I sounded rude, it just felt like you are rubbing it in - here we have 6 kids inc a hurricane toddler and crawling baby, constant mess, 2 loads of washing/day, 2 shopping trips/week ( despite 2 fridges!) and the list goes on and on, just hundreds of things to do and never enough time (typing while bf)..
not complaining, I love having a big family, but there's no way I could squash all things domestic in 1 day.....maybe when youngest is full time at school our life will be more civilized. one can dream!

shame I don't have time to read all the great advice ....grrrrrrrrrr

I wish I could save this thread somehow before it disappears when full!

It's series 4 of SuperScrimpers and I will be in about 8 of the 10 programmes. I think the new series starts around March. I hope I haven't made an idiot of myself - it's harder than you think, being excited about dusting and cleaning out washing machines all day long, and not sounding twee.

If anyone else wants to be on, they are looking for people who buy too many shoes at the moment (apparently).

Audrina, the twigs and pebbly shit is a coded reference to MN! Well spotted! (OliviaMN got it too!)

Oh, and buy frozen chopped garlic too!

boffin are they looking for people who buy too many things on Ebay?

and please reveal what the coded reference is (twigs and pebbly shit)

Boffin I must reread your book as the twigs and pebbly shit must have gone right over my head. [bgrin]

Agree with forzen onion. I hate chopping onion and it makes it so much quicker to cook.

How exciting, Boffinmum. You will blog about it, won't you?

(Bloggers Ed here, in case that seems rather, um, keen...)

Marking my place again

I did the 'throw away 27 items' thing in three rooms tonight. THREE. It was awesome.

Amazing mum, dunno, that might not be glam enough for telly TBH. Bear in mind I was cleaning boots in my best frock with a frilly pinny on and polishing antiques with extra virgin olive oil.

So chuffed I have a groupie!

I might blog when the programme's actually on, if people would like that.

Lemon, it's in there purely so MNetters will recognise each other, like the Freemasons IYSWIM.

Obv I didn't use the shit word though.

A MN housekeeping book would have be called 'The Farking Futility Room' or some such

Do you know the funny thing? Loads of really intellectual Boffin types at my work have confessed to me they adore SuperScrimpers and never miss an episode!!!!!

Marking place to come back and read later!

oh I still don't know what that twigs and pebbly shit means..... I'll never be a part of the club, so sad

Someone started a thread once on derivative interior design, and the thread title was

"Do you have twigs and pebbly shit in your house?"

and their first post was

"If so I hate you"

And it was MN at its finest. My contribution was hating artificial air fresheners that are plastic but made to look like stone, for crimes against interior design.