Time saving tips for housekeeping..anymore?

[2015mom]

Hi.

Housework is never ending so I made a list of quick cleaning tips.... Do you have any more which are great at saving time and does not make it seem like you are constantly cleaning and tidying up and cooking? Thanks in advance

Time saving tips that could help are as follows:

Stay on top of things

Clean as you go

Have a place for everything

BATHROOM & WC:
• Clean sink whilst brushing your teeth in bathroom
• Clean sink when washing hands in WC
• Give toilet a quick clean after using toilet
• Give shower quick clean whilst in shower (once a week)
• Give bath a quick clean after use
• Clean bathroom whilst children are having a bath so you can supervise them but obviously only if safe to do so.

KITCHEN:
• Clean kitchen as you make breakfast/lunch/dinner
• Try and clean kitchen before you bath children so you come down to clean kitchen

LAUNDRY:
• Wash & dry a load every day
• Fold and put away each load asap or before putting another load in dryer

GENERAL:
• Never walk upstairs or downstairs empty handed
• Put things back where they go rather than putting them down

POST:
• Open post when it arrives and sort out either filing away or to action pile & recycle envelope

BABY BAG:
• Unpack it when you come home and re-pack for next day so it is ready to walk out the door except for milk and food

CLOTHES:
• Get clothes ready for the next day the night before

Also have everything organised as it saves so much time when finding things and getting things dobe

Decluttering everything.
Make everybody else in the house is house trained and pull their weight (I still can't get the cat to help out).
Keep a list by month of admin things that need doing eg MOT, house insurance etc.

The key for us is everything having a home or we'd be forever catching up. We have an organisation station in the kitchen. Calendar, notice board, school timetables and any important things that need actioning or attention, event flyers we'll be attending. Rubbish is recycled as collected by the door. Makes a huge difference.

What also works for us is routine. Clear toys away before leaving the house, make sure sides are wiped down and dishes away, cleaning up together after dinner, then a quick hoover round, every day. When everything has a place cleaning doesn't take long, tidying is barely any time at all.

My kids clean the bath whilst they are in it, give them a sponge and some shower gel and rinse off whilst done. I clean the shower whilst I'm in it once a week. I agree with all your other points, most things take about 5mins to do once you're on top of them, I used to be a terrible procrastinator and it takes ages to get straight.

lol I used to be the same as you - procrastinator ..... Then I would have to do lists to get stuff done but realistically if I didn't do the list I would probably have got 10 things done off list hAhaha
I still do lists though on my notes on phone.. Try and have one thing everyday like errands stuff so it doesn't get too much.... I don't put housework on there... But it helps me remember as I put it on my list and forget about it and look at the date and do it

Thank you everybody you have all been a great help

Clean kitchen sink while waiting for kettle to boil.

If you use a tumble dryer, use the audible alarm if it has one, and take stuff out immediately. Quick shake and a lot of stuff won't need to be ironed.

I always keep a pint of semi skimmed milk in freezer in case we run out

Make sure you always meal plan for the week. I have started to batch cook. So once a week I will have four times the amount of one meal eg shepherd pie and freeze three meals worth. It does take a little longer but it takes less time than making 4 meals.

Keep a notepad in the kitchen and write down things on a shopping list as you run out of them.
Empty dishwasher before you go to bed and leave breakfast things out ready for the morning.
Keep antibac spray out on the side for instant wipe ups.

Thanks guys these are great tips!!!

Meal plan and batch cook.
Don't do laundry every day. Stuff can be reworn!
Only iron if absolutely necessary, in our case Ds school shirts and that's about it.

Watching with interest as I need to become much more organised and efficient

Standards of cleanliness have been rising as time goes by. I advocate a return a lower standards . e.g. clothes do not need to be washed after every wearing. Spot cleaning is a useful approach for everything. Have designated days to do a more thorough clean for kitchen and bathrooms, bed linen and towel changes, garden work, large shopping and food prepping ,vacuuming etc. Otherwise turn a blind eye and anyone who complains has just accepted that job. Delegate , as each person in the household shd look after own room and laundry plus a share of communal tasks as soon as they are able.

We do wear our clothes a couple of times before washing but with a little baby things get dirty hence why we always end up having washing every other day ... My moms house they do a washing load every day purely because if they don't do one load a day the next day there are two loads so best to keep on top of it for some households

I have three DC, I have to do atleast one load a day or it builds up, then at weekends I do bedding and extras

Yep it defo is better doing a load a day or other day to avoid it building up otherwise you hAve loads of loads to sort out which takes ages

Have 2 laundry baskets - one for lights one for darks. Then there's no sorting! DD is 2, she has her own laundry basket and puts her clothes in every evening. She likes to help load/unload the washing machine and switch it on and she matches up all the socks for me. I'm training her to do her own!!

Lol that's good 2 year old doing laundry!! My LO Is only 7 months but I will train him too when he is old enough heheh

Also another time saving trick is when you bring in shopping and some stuff are in boxes ie toothpaste, cereal boxes, multipacks with cardboard I just discard the boxes and put them in recycling. The cereal I will put in the cereal containers and each one has nutrition stuff on the plastic tub.

I also take toilet toll out of packet and stack in the WC and bathroom cupboard.

Nappies I will take out of box and packet and put in the designated areas such as changing table draw, box in lounge, bedside draw to change in the morning, baby bags. I will also put the nappie wipes in the designated areas.

Tip for oven:

Put foil on top of trays and after each use give it a quick clean with washing up liquid and water saves you replacing so often which saves time

Those non-stick oven liners are really good, just bung them in the dishwasher every so often.

You are right they are brilliant! Ovens were such a chore to clean before I have got the ones from lakeland.

They do the gas hob ones too