Best kept secrets for clean, beautifully smelling and ordered house?

[manalice]

Just that really...I'm trying to keep on top of the household chores with a toddler and a baby so need quick effective tips.

Mine would be the plug in Yankee candle diffusers you can get from eBay, waitrose buster plug hole sanitiser in eucalyptus and blue flash gel.

Over to you...

Battery powered vacuum is great.

Don't have kids

Sigh

I remember a customer recommending a spider plant when our office was redecorated by head office, the smell of paint was overwhelming and making us all feel ill, the spider plant trick worked amazingly well.

Thanks to this thread I now have a spider plant in each bathroom and some other random indoor plants spread around the house...thanks!

Make your kids tidy up their toys before they are allowed their dinner. Speeds things up massively!

I do like plants. Aloe Vera is brill and I have a lovely string of pearl plant which is so far surviving well.

Make a written of jobs to do in the evening BEFORE you put the kids to bed. Somehow the act of writing it down makes it more likely to happen.

Have a laundry basket in the bathroom (or just outside in my case as bathroom is too small). Sort a load when kids in the bath and leave at top of stairs. That way you can scoop it up as you go down after bedtime and stick it on.

spider plant
boston fern
bamboo palm

all brilliant and 'safe' around pets

As the owner of a toddler and preschooler here's my top tips;

No pets
Everything has a place (konmarie was life changing!)
Do dishes as they go in the sink
Plants, We have Rosemary and mint in different parts of the kitchen/diner, smell gorgeous! Coffee plant in lounge and spider plants high up in each bedroom.
Always keep windows open on the latch, if nice wider.
Clean bedrooms before bath
Hoover during bath time (one bathes them and cleans bathroom, one does downstairs) steam floors after bed (ours are every other night)
Clean bedding weekly
Iron as little as you can get away with three nights a week with a glass of wine, no ironing no wine so it always gets done
Have a box ready for the kids to take outside so you can have ten minutes to plough through clutter, chalk, balloons, water guns, whatever they'll fight over play with for a bit.
I make sure the house is clean each night, however tired I am the thought of getting up to dishes or smelly leftovers in the morning spurs me on.