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.

Cook more you need for the current meal and freeze the balance, it'll save cooking now and then

These are great. Am familiar with lots of them but I'm learning lots more, too.

I'd second the tip about cooking more and freezing the extra - especially good for basics like spag bol, meatballs etc. It's so much quicker to take a batch out of the freezer than start from scratch.

I highly recommend this blog which I always love reading. I bow to the awesome organising powers of its author while knowing that I'll never be so together, but she has fantastic tips for food housekeeping and making your freezer work for you.

these have probably all been said but:
don't iron what you dont have to
packed lunches done the day before
yes, yes to a weekly meal plan
slow cooker saves time and effort - its a godsend!
give up on teen bedrooms. seriously! Hurl clean, unironed clothes onto their beds and leave them to it.
have as many storage boxes as you can - ones with lids

dont have kids yet but i:
meal plan - i have a bad habit of buying/cooking stuff and freezing it but then buying more and doing the same so i now plan what im eating for lunch and dinner, leave it out in the morning before going to work then when im low on something add it to the shopping list

keep on top of the most used rooms ie living room, kitchen and bathroom - so doing a quick sweep of the kitchen or wiping down the units while waiting for the kettle to boil etc
makes it easier for doing a better clean at the weekend, i have wooden flooring all downstairs (and a hairy dog) so do sweep or quick hoover then wash the floors if needed at the weekend

i try to open the windows most days normally for when im out the house and when the heating is off in the winter - makes the place a lot fresher smelling

tumble dry and dont bother ironing most clothes in the winter - in the summer when hung out trying to hang them so they dont need ironing or a minimal ironing - i also tend to buy things i dont need to iron

bedroom - gets hoovered when i change the bedding - normally once a fortnight - only me in the house and my room generally doesnt get used apart for sleeping so it takes 5-10 mins to do a quick tidy up

make the most of the storage you have - my spare room tended to be a dumping ground for everything but now if i dont use something or cant find a home for it then it gets chucked or put in the attic

i also use zoflora clean linen - concentrate it in a spray bottle and it tends to be a great airfreshener for floors or curtains - also a great floor cleaner as well

im very concious about the dog and smelling so his bed gets washed every few weeks as well

During week when DS2 takes a nap and DS1 is at school I take 5 minutes to quickly tidy up living room and sweep if needed. Then again when the boys are in bed. Just five minutes twice a day makes a huge difference to the amount of crap that builds up.

DS1 (5yrs) is paid £2.50 a week to do chores such as set the table each night for tea and pick up his and DS2's clothes and put them in the washer before they get in the bath. We have a list of little jobs he is responsible for, nothing much but it helps and it's importan for kids to know how much effort goes in to keeping a household livalbe!

I really need to work on cooking though, I am very lazy when it comes to this! I love the idea of batch cooking but I never seem to get round to it. I only have 2 DCs but without a doubt the most stressful time of my day is cooking tea. DS1 is in from school and wants to talk, play with me etc, DS2 is grouchy and ready for bed and I am faffing about cooking and it's just mayhem trying to cook anything remotely healthy. DH comes in just in time for dinner to be served up and I swear he thinks I exagerate the chaos that he misses! I think it's all about timing, maybe I need to cook while DS1 is still at school but the main problem is doing that with a clingy 1 yr old around anyway.... hmmm, any tips for quick healthy meals??

I second never going upstairs empty handed and the always put away not down!

But the one thing that's made a huge difference is returning to work! Been back 2 weeks and can't believe how bloody tidy the house is all the time!

The world's easiest soda bread loaf - homemade bread always makes me feel a bit more domestic even when chair reigns chez-cocoa!

500g plain flour (I use 50:50 white and wholemeal)
200ml milk
300ml plain yoghurt
Tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt to taste

Mix it all together (I chuck it in the magimix), and straight into oven (loaf tin or free form on a tray). 200 degrees, 45 mins.

Chair reigns!? Chaos!

If you live in a hard water area, and always have marks on your shower glass, buy a cheap plastic car window wiper, just use that when you finish the shower and it is streak free!

Interesting an Op mentioned that Method do wipes that degrade (I didn't know that ANYONE made them) where can you get them?

I second using lavender ess. oil on a microfibre cloth esp. for cleaning wood and leather furniture it cleans and leaves a lovely natural scent in the air of the room!

a Bissell floor sweeper from argos means you can get away with not hoovering
www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8553267.htm

I am trying to help DMIL keep on top of things and I would love to know what cleaning wipes for kitchen and bathroom you'd recommend. DH and I try to go round once a month to help with a deep clean but she really wants to keep things doing by herself (she is recently widowed and has ill health - keeping things clean helps with her mood).

I have heard about the car wax on showers trick: I would love to know if anyone has tried this and what car wax they used. We are in a hard water area and the shower cubicle doors and tiles look great until the next shower.

I make huge vats of ratatouille, some of it I freeze then I blend the rest for pasta sauce and freeze that. Around here people often give away marrows/courgettes when they are in season. I also freeze massive quantities of Greek lentil soup with lots of oregano in it and I freeze packs of cooked apple with cinammon.

menu plan

I'm hating this whole thread - it reminds me of all those Christmas ads showing women doing all the work and basically treated like slaves. I know it's a reality but we should spend as much time teaching other people in the house to take responsibility as cleaning/ tidying ourselves - getting children / partners to pick up after themselves.

I know what you mean coorong, though DH uses all these cheats also! I have long refused to iron or wash up after a dreadful experience with a live-in boyfriend when I was in my early 20s.

Freeze sandwiches.

I have a production line with the kids every Saturday. We make all the week's sandwiches: ham, cheese, pate etc. One butters, one fills, one cuts in half and bags up. All are put straight in the top drawer of freezer next to frozen yoghurt sticks etc.

Each morning three lunch boxes are made up in seconds. The bread is lovely and fresh and defrosts in lunch box so sandwiches are cold, not warm and curling round the edges.

We've had this routine for 7 years and it means I get an extra 15 mins in bed every morning... bliss!

am getting there with some of this stuff, but one thing we have always done with the boys is for them to put their bags shoes and water bottles at the door before they go to bed, so that no matter what happens in the morning there is no running around looking for things that we thing that we need.

ppeatfruit I bought the bathroom wipes from homebase oddly enough. Waitrose do them and a link came up from amazon too.
Wipes-
www.biggreensmile.com/products/method-specialist-cleaners-bathroom-flushable-wipes-24s/mflushwipes.aspx?productid=mflushwipes

Use greaseproof paper to line baking trays so they hardly ever need washing. Nothing seems to stick to it either.

Have a big plastic tub in the boot of the car. Put all school bags into it at the school gate and then just carry the box into the house. Stops falling over discarded PE kits! and keeps everything together.

Haven't read all posts so may be repeating someone but...

delegate jobs- thankfully DC is very tidy and likes helping.

colour catcher in washing macine so most clothes can be washed together-the 1 product that does what it says and ive never had a prob.

socks folded and washed together so they dont get lost in machine

laminate/wood floors if you can, much easier for cleaning and more hygenic than carpets. Rugs if you like a bit of carpet.

once or twice a day I go up/down stairs with a cleaning wipe in each hand and clean the banister as I'm going up/down.

I have developed an exceptionally lazy way of cleaning the bath AND all the annoying plastic toys kids leave in bath. When they are at school, fill bath to brim with hot water and a good splash of Milton liquid. Leave for a couple of hours, take plug out, rinse well with shower head. It also makes house smell as if you have been spring-cleaning all day!

You're supposed to clean banisters???

And it took me years to break DH of the habit of pairing his socks before washing: they used to come out still smelly and muddy and needed unpairing to stand a chance of drying.

As for the feminist argument: we share household chores. The less there is in total, the less I have to do.

Thanks a lot for that livinginapinkbauble

If you batch cook casseroles, put the portion you're freezing aside before you dish up. Otherwise a greedy dh person will decide to have seconds, and there won't be enough left to freeze.

Lots of talk about wipes: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT flush ANYTHING other than toilet paper down the loo.

(I went on a civil engineering course). Not a plaster, not an ear bud, nothing!

Out of sight really does not mean problem gone the only thing that should go down a lavatory is poo and loo paper. The biggest pollutants of water are women, and we must change this (the sight of a beach after a failed pump station is really tragic, sanitary towels and tampons everywhere).

Please can we make a serious MN oath that flushing ANY sanitary stuff or wipes, become as unthinkable as drink driving. Three tampons can block a drain. Wipes are now the biggest drain blockers. Wrap it up put it in the kitchen bin. PLEASE!

Pass this message on.

I've learned so much from this thread!!