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 ??

Cook once, eat twice is my motto - today I made a pot of chilli which was eaten with rice/tortilla chips/dips tonight, and tomorrow will be with jacket potatoes/cheese/salad tomorrow.

Wash/store duvet covers inside out, so much easier to put back on. When stripping beds use the pillow cases for a quick dust round before they go in the wash.

Bit niche. We have a very hairy cat, and he gets brushed every single night after dinner in the kitchen, then the floor gets swept. He loves it, and as soon as the dishes go in the dishwasher he starts shouting for brush. It doesn’t stop him shedding but it definitely helps with hair being everywhere.

If enough boys are co-opted then we're striking a blow for equality.

Never try to keep up with the Jones’. Drag them down to your level

I've never eaten a main meal before 6pm, including Christmas dinner.

I don't bother with a traditional roast dinner for Sunday anyway.

Oooh and batch cook rice and freeze flat (easy to snap a bit off) in a ziplock bag.

People always say the pillowcase one, but it puzzles me because it takes longer.

Just fold duvet cover, tuck folded pillowcases inside the last fold - less faff, quicker to do and quicker to use. Plus pillowcases stay neatly folded.

I've never even heard of it! Have I reinvented the wheel?

Having a top flat sheet under the duvet. It is much easier to change the sheet every week than to wrangle with the duvet cover, which then only needs to be changed every so often.

This is genius. I'm usually fishing out the rest of the load from my duvet cover.

Mushrooms go off quicker stored in plastic, I take the plastic off mine and just store in the container. Some shops are changing to different. plastic with airholes which is fine to keep them in as the mushrooms can "breathe" and they don't sweat and go off.

Try a shower squeege (or rubber edged window scraper) works brilliantly especially on stairs.

Try this-game changer! Or a rubber brush..

I do this on Saturdays and Sundays - it;s almost like having a day off

My tip is leave a wooden spoon across the top of a pan and it will never boil over

Oooh - thank you!!

Ii find putting water in the grill pan works better. Can put any fat away.

Coverless duvets and multiple waterproof sheets layered on my kids beds so if they have a accident the next sheet is all ready on underneath and I store some light fleece blankets folded under mattress to get to easily especially in the night.

This is genius. I'm usually fishing out the rest of the load from my duvet cover.

Meal plan according to your ingredients (roast chicken-chicken sandwiches-chicken stock for veg soup or risotto).
Open jars by tapping the lid’s rim with a wooden spoon until the seal breaks.

5 sets of neutral colored sheets for 3 single beds. Change clean bedding off the airer and bypass the linen cupboard. Same for 3 sets of towels over 2 bathrooms.

No shoes in the house, no food outside the kitchen. Keep the bathroom and kitchen clean, the rest can wait.

Ceiling mounted clothes rack, use coat hangers for everything you can.

The youngest person at the table does all the running around (ketchup, fruit washing etc), the second youngest clears away, the person who cooks empties the DW first.

The dog is everybody’s responsibility. Food, water, playing, grooming and walks. No wonder he’s spoilt, we anticipate his every need…

Nancy Birtwhistle all the way!

Robot vacuum cleaner.

I have one of those washing up sponges you can fill with cleaning fluid in the bathroom which I fill with 2/3 washing up liquid and 1/3 vinegar; a dry microfibre cloth, some disposable wipes and a silicon loo brush. I use the washing up bridge every morning on the sink and on the shower screen and floor of the shower immediately after I use them, wipe the steamy mirror with the dry cloth, the loo seat and rim with a disposable cloth and give the bowl a quick pass over with the silicon brush. Crack the window open and leave it open until evening. Takes max of 2 mins for the whole routine and means the bathroom is always visitor friendly!

I highly recommend it. It's second wave feminist fiction which brutally sets out a woman's role(s) in the 1960s/70s.
I read it as a teen and have reread as my life has progressed through adult, wife, mother. There's always something to take from it.

Another tip so as not to derail the thread - move on from tupperwear - foil containers are your friend for batch cooking. Can be lobbed in oven to cook. Much easier than microwaving multiple pots!

Completely derailing, but if you are a Tupperware fan, stock up now as they have just gone into liquidation.

I also do a lot of batch cooking and use masking tape as frezzer labels.
Instead of putting food in boxes put it in zip lock bags so it takes up less space, tescos own are good value and the extra small ones are big enough for a lunch if you put curry / chilli / bol / stew in one and rice / pasta / spuds in another.
When freezing them they need to have something between each layer to stop them sticking together.
A sheet of kitchen roll will fo fine but if you have it , thin card is better , cereal box's are ideal .
You can also then write on the flattened box what's underneath. It saves a lot of hunting around

I bought OH a vacuum packing machine for all his fish and game. He happily uses it. Takes up less room in the freezer.

I wait until I definitely know I’m having visitors and then do a clean, saves so much time.