Housekeeping life hacks that changed your life

[Newmumburnout]

A bit dramatic of a title 😂. Wanted to start a new thread for great ideas we can share where something easy and small has made your life so much easier ! having a 1 year old and 3 pets and it's a chore to keep on top of everything. Even if it's not housekeeping please share !
Mine are:
Getting as much as possible delivered on a schedule. One being hand wash. I use the brand raindrop they supply a lovely bottle and send tablets to refill so you don't have to keep buying plastic hand wash bottles and they are always full.
Making chicken and rice bowls in one pot. When I cook dinner I will make a few lunch pots, you add rice, chicken, stick , veg etc with whatever spices and cook for 30 mins in one glass tupperware pot. That's it, eat from the.same container after warming up !

Anyone else ??

So this is a ridiculous one but you know when you buy mushrooms in the plastic boxes with the cling film covers? I turn the box upside down, remove it, and wrap the mushrooms in just the film to put in the fridge. Saves so much space.

Mine is one that shouldn't make any difference at all but somehow makes us feel like we have been given 3 hours back!

I changed Sunday dinner from the evening to lunchtime. Somehow, it changes the laws of physics in my house and means we have the whole afternoon to do gardening, play games or go out, the kitchen gets cleaned earlier so isnt a depressing mess late in the day, and tea is a sandwich and cake.

It's unbelievably brilliant but i dont know why really.😂

Not exactly life changing but I discovered that if the weather is truly freezing in the middle of winter then I bag up all the frozen food, put it out in the garden and then defrost the freezer.
I wash it all down, wash the drawers and then put the freezer on super frost.
I then put all the frozen food back into a clean, frost free freezer.

Also when I cook a Sunday roast I make twice the quantity. I save half for bubble and squeak as a weekday meal. It’s one less meal I have to think about and it’s quick to make - delicious 😋

I like that one.

I wipe down the basin, vanity unit and towel rail with the damp towel on its way to the laundry. Sometimes I soak the towel and use it to clean the floor. I ensure this will horrify some of the clean freaks.

We (DC and I) do stuff as we go along (house is small so this does help us). So:

-wash laundry as soon as there is enough for a load. Dry/fold/put away laundry as soon as it's done. Luckily I have a tumble drier, or this would be a bit more difficult (when weather is bad!).
-wash up after each meal (or put in dishwasher).
-tidy up/clean up as you go along.
-in lieu of a cleaner, I've got robovacs for upstairs and downstairs (the one upstairs mops floors as well as vacuums them). I set them to run daily, and they get right under furniture, which is fab.
-when I do the cooking, I make double quantity to freeze a portion ahead, or I batch cook a load.

DC are older now so do muck in with house chores, which helps. I'm also trying to be more ruthless with decluttering!!

Why didn't I think of this!
Never thought I'd hope for frost 😆

When drying clothes outside or on a rack - put them straight onto hangers when wet and then hang.

No creases and easy to put away

You don't need to buy the roller to remove pet hair from your clothes. Just put on some rubber gloves, wipe the clothing... it works a charm.

Can you use kitchen roll with some cleaner sprayed on it?

Get your kids doing their own laundry from when they are young (mine were 7 and 8). Dedicated laundry hamper in their room, and an assigned day of the week to get it done. The same goes for each member of the household, and then there is a separate day for combined towels and bedding.

I use toilet roll with spray to wipe down toilet. Then flush it away.
I also sometimes use a used towel to clean bathroom floor and used hand towel to wipe/ dry walls.

No pets, no kids, no live in partner.

That's the best way to have a clean and tidy house all the time. I love it. 😊

I do have some tips though, be back when I remember what they are!

Very small one but saves me a lot of time… when I take clothes off I make sure they aren’t inside out. Then after they’ve been washed, I don’t waste time turning a whole load of clothes the right way round before re-hanging them.

Picked this up off a similar thread a while back but it's amazing what a difference it makes:

'Never leave a room without doing two things to improve it'

Can be really small things like straightening the cushions, or taking newspapers to the recycling bin. Over time it really adds up.

-Small balloon in bottom of kitchen bin - makes getting full bin bags out a breeze.
-clean toilets with detergent and loo roll flushing away
-white vinegar and bicarbonate soda soak to clean hard to clean surfaces (oil- caked such as ovens)

• no thick towels allowed in winter - hand towels or beach towels only (as they dry quicker)
• set number of cutlery cups plates for anyone to access the rest is hidden away so to not ever end up with a tonne of washing up (eg there are six of us so six of everything is out only)
• alwaus same style cups plates etc for easy stacking and storing

laundry is the biggest problem in my house. No space for a tumble dryer. I’ve caved today and bought an expensive meaco dehumidifier which I am hoping will change my life.
having said that a couple of weeks ago I got a service dry at laundrette and the relief if gave me was something I just can’t describe. I only issue is it is a bit out of the way for me to get to and with the shed load of rain and a million and one roadworks in my area, bought the dehumidifier. The laundrette tumble drier also meant reduced ironing time by a third! It bought such joy! Damn the traffic ! (I haven’t opened the dehumidifier yet as I really prefer the laundrette for drying.)
-double spin clothes before taking out of washing machine
-brown a large batch of onions and freeze. Use this for bases and curries rescues my overalls cooking time massively

Fold duvet cover, matching pillowcases and the relevant sheet inside one pillowcase for that set. Keeps them all together in the cupboard.

Put all socks that come out of the dryer/off line into a separate box in the airing cupboard. Then match them up as the lost pairs appear..

I hated my Henry in the end, that cumbersome hose and long flex drove me mad. It was a pain. Got a Shark upright. Wonderful.

Oh I love the launderette! If we’ve been away or have had guests over with extra sets of bedding to wash, I load up the pram with a load or two of washing, take snacks and toys for DD and we go and get everything done in a morning. She’s still at the “loves washing machines” phase, so she’s happy, and it feels so good to blitz through it.

I got rid of the ironing basket. I peg out and then hang straight away.

For things that are still a little damp, I got three of the little airers with five bars each and hung them over the banister. I don't have a utility room so it is somewhere I can hang things that doesn't mean having it stuck in the corner of a room.

My husband does a manual job and now wears t shirts made from football shirt type material rather than the thick cotton ones and a wool jumper in winter. They dry in about 10 minutes. I don't know why I spent so many years drying heavy fabrics.

I have a hoover with a dust attachment. I hate dusting and moving things round. Sucking it up the hoover is much easier and feels part of the same job rather than a separate one.

I love my spray mop. Quick whip round and chuck the cloth in the wash.

Do a load of washing as soon as theirs enough to fill machine so normally every day in my house.
It gets tumble dried or hung (in same room as tumble dryer and I use a de creasing spray on the hung clothes)they then go upstairs with the load from the dryer and put away in the evening

I have anti bac wipes bleach and loo cleaner in the bathroom so every morning it gets wiped down bleached ready for the day.

Robot hoover as well as a shark cordless downstairs and a cordless hoover upstairs means no dragging a hoover around from down to up

We all eat at different times and different things in my house so on a Monday I batch cook four days worth of something and put in individual pots for meals in the fridge.
I bought a giant slow cooker that also sautés and steams so I can brown the meat in it and heat up the sauces used before turning to slow cook. Saves another pan

I put each bedding set inside the pillow case with a sheet so there's always a full set easy to grab out of the airing cupboard

Phone and iPad chargers in every room via usb sockets

A pair of reading glasses in every room as I'm always losing them.

I buy ready chopped frozen onions and mushrooms to add to meals

This sounds very handy.

Robot vacuum on each floor of our house

Regular decluttering

Washer-dryer (everyone will tell you they're rubbish and that you need a separate tumble dryer but the technology has really improved)

Robot lawn mower

Electric spin scrubber for bathrooms

Minimalism. The less stuff you have, the less messy your home will get.

More than one washing basket so I can fill one and take it up to one room to put away.