pleeease tell me what products/your tips to reduce time spent cleaning?!!

[mad4mybaby]

hi guys, i have a 2.6 ds and an 11 week ds and a very slobbish dh. We live in a 3 bed house but not particulary big. i seem to spend so much time cleaning/tidying and ive had enough. i cant afford a cleaner otherwise i'd get one in. i do a big clean once a week, clean bathrooms, dust, hoover etc over the house and each day i hoover the kitchen/dining room/front room which are sort of one big room and put toys away and tidy. upstairs i just pick up toys/clothes and put things away that need it so i dont actually seem to do that much yet i spend alot of time doing it! ds1 i get to help me tidy his toys away at end of day. dh works long hours so housework is completely down to me or he will empty dishwasher at w/e (!). the bathrooms need more than once a week clean as they are too dirty when i do once a week. i barely get 2 mins to have a pee at the moment and its getting me down.

ds2 is poorley and on meds and doesnt sleep very long so cant do a great deal when hes asleep and i barely have time to play with ds1. dont understand where i go wrong really. im trying to sort out storage at the mo and my dad is coming to put the tele up on the wall and build some shelves in a little waste of space type cubby hole in the front room. what doesnt help is we have a cream carpet that looks awful if not hoovered and cant afford to replace it. i do tidy during the day i.e put cups etc in dishwasher as i go.

are there any products that cut down on cleaning time? particularly bathrooms? We have downstairs loo, bathroom and ensuite. Anything not worth it/worth it?

Thanks lucysmam! I shall dig out the old fish and chip stench bottle then and have another go! Maybe not tonight, though......!!

lol, it really doesn't smell for long!

I dilute a couple of capfuls in a bowl of warm water when I use it & normally by the time I've finished & am rinsing the cloth out the smell's gone

There's probably more uses as well, they're just what I could remember after reading about it on Money Saving Expert

Ooh, yes, go on then! Show us your list please MrsFogi!

And thanks Lucysmam! I know Anthea Turner swears by it and that woman has brainwashed me!

yes definately need to see the list!!

I would like to see the list. I think unless the husband does the same hours as you do looking after house and kids (which I doubt) he should be doing something. I am appalled that in this day and age men still get away with not pulling their weight.

I am also shocked re: bathroom cleaning - what bathroom needs cleaning more than once a week? Before I got a cleaner it got done once a month (whether it needed to or not ). Houses that are too clean produce allergies and asthma.

Get some eco lightbulbs so you can't see the dust and dirt. Get a rug for the carpet. Lower your standards. Go out as much as possible. Have one room that is fairly decent so you can close the doors on the rest. Buy a one-pot cookbook so you don't produce as much washing-up. You've said you can't afford a cleaner but if there is anything else you can economise on, they are really worth it. Or you could treat yourself and get a cleaning company to do a one-off top to toe clean and that usually is a good incentive to keep it up. And don't even think about home-made cleaning products - that is just more work.

Will dig out the list and post it later (it is on my now-dead old computer so need to rummage a bit). I also put a photo up in the kitchen of what the kitchen looks like when it is clean as often dh thought he had cleaned up behind himself but it didn't look like that to me .

Ok, here goes with my list (at the risk of soundingcrazed/somewhat OCD but MrFogi would do absolutely nothing if he got away with it). I've deleted the points very specific to us.
(for info there's a "left out box") on each floor and anything in it gets binned/given to charity on a Monday.

House points for MrFogi for a happy household!

Clearing up after yourself and keeping the house clean and tidy without effort:

1. If you get it out, put it away again when you?ve finished using it or at the end of the day (whichever is earlier) ? anything not put away will be put in the ?left out box?.
2. If you make a mess anywhere in the house, clean it up.
3. Close cupboard doors and drawers behind yourself.
4. If you use the downstairs loo you?re expected to do the following when you?ve finished (so it?s probably easier to use our en-suite loo) (a) wipe out the sink with an all-purpose wipe; (b) leave the towel straight; (c) take any magazines/books/papers/anything else you have brought in with you out again.
5. If you finish a loo roll put another one in that loo (i.e. there are always two loo rolls in each loo)
6. When you take something off a hanger, put the empty hanger at the far left of the wardrobe.
7. Look down the loo after you flush - if there are marks, use the loo brush!

Laundry:

1. If you want your clothes washed you need to empty the pockets + put them inside out and buttoned/zipped up (every other button) in the relevant pile (reds/pinks/yellows/beiges OR blacks/blues/dark colours/colours that might run OR whites/creams). If you don?t they won?t get washed. If you leave clothes lying around they?ll go in the left out box. So either put them for washing or put them away.

Things that need to get done every morning before we go to work

1. If you?re the last one to get out of bed, you make the bed.

10. Last one to go downstairs in the morning opens the curtains in our bedroom and study. 11. Swish the bath/shower out after using it, if you had a shower wipe the shower screen and hang the floor mat back up on the side of the bath.

Whoever gets in from work first:
12. Closes the curtains in our bedroom and study

A general point about evenings
14. No one sits down in the evening/at the weekend to relax until all the housework is done and kitchen and dinner are totally cleared away. Two people getting it done will be much quicker than one.

Managing the house and paperwork
16. If you are the first to open it (any packet of anything), you add it to the shopping list. If it?s not on the list, it won?t be bought and we?ll run out.
17. Your in-tray ? any papers you need to deal with are in here, keep on top of it and ensure that each week you have finished going through it as it will be emptied each Monday (i.e. try to deal with what?s in it each evening but if you don?t manage you need to do so on the weekend).
18. When you go out of a room (if there?s no one left in there) you turn the lights off after you (even if you plan to come back in a couple of minutes). The same goes for turning the TV off.
19. If there are things left at the top of the stairs, take them down. If there are things left at the bottom of the stairs, take them up.

Just trying to find a link to microcloths for you - found this one
www.ciao.co.uk/Tesco_Microfibre_Cleaning_Cloth__Review_5508032
You can get them at Lakeland, Tesco, Wilkos etc.
Oh and they are brilliant if you want a nice shiny sink..........

Respect MrsFogi!

i find not wearing my glasses in the house seems to help the most

fantastic mrsfogi!!! with a ds1 age13 a dd2 age11 add3 age 13wks and my dh I think I will follow your lead!!