Any housework saving tips

[happydays]

We have had money saving tips, just wondering if any one had any housework saving tips, I work PT, but hate doing housework anyway. Any Idea's.

Don't know about boiling vinegar, but boiling a cup of already boiling water helps loosen up a lot of the dirt. (make sure you don't boil the cup dry )

I always find taking out my contact lenses really helps!

Thanks alot you guys. Some I will take seriously, and some of the others I laughed about. the vinegar thing, I remember using white vinegar in the baby sterilizer.

I'm pg and very very tired and need help!

How often do you do certain jobs - eg bed changing. I've strated to do it on Fridays. I have 2 singles & 1 king size to change & it takes the best part of an hour - how???? and then about 4 loads of washing - all in all too much.
how often do you clean floors - we have mostly tiles. thanks god they're brown - hides the dirt, but I'mm stressing I'mm too scummy.

And how do you wash a car. I've only done it once - thought it'd be fun with the boys, and it was - except the car looks awful - all streaky & blotchy. Dh just said - take it to the car wash, but ds is terrified, I always forget & it's not fun. Someone must be able to tell me.

Oh, and how do I clean wood. We have a wooden table & bench & they're filthy - covered in sticky fingers & yoghurt. Polish doesn't clean this. is it ok to just rub it down with a hot soapy cloth - it's dark stained but I think it's quite a sopft wood if that is necessary info.

Thanks in advance - hope you can help!

Monkey, first have a look at this thread am I dirty? (make sure you read from the beginning - it strays a bit at the end) and reassure yourself that you're doing absolutely fine. It was a real comfort to me to read everyone else's "dirty" secrets!
Secondly, I wonder about wooden tables, too. I've resorted to using my normal cleaning stuff, but it always seems sticky. Tried the soapy wood cleaner that you can get, but doesn't seem to make much difference. So I hope someone can give us some tips.

Will laugh about this thread ALL DAY LONG! Whilst studiously avoiding housework of any sorts. As I said to my DH - I gave up work to be a mum - not a housewife. So we do what we did before DD was born. When we can't stand it any longer, we blitz the house. Usualy once every two or three weeks, and he does most of it! I keep the lounge and kitchen reasonable as I go along.

DD doesn't let me get on with any job for long, and I have decided not to care as much.

Hmmm. Let me see? Sit DD in the garden playing with toys and exploring the grass whilst I sit in the sunshine and read Hello!? Or scrub toilets? Ooooooo tough one that...

Buy a steam cleaner. Cleans practically everything in the house and brilliant for those sticky, won't budge stains. And normally ok on wood surfaces too - the steam is high pressure so you dont actually use a lot and risk water damage.

Also saves money long term as you cut down on a lot of cleaning products, so will pay for itself over time.

Snugs, I've often thought about getting a steam cleaner, but people seem to either love them or hate them - what make/model do you have? Do you have to buy the really expensive ones for them to be any good.

The art of avoiding housework is the ability to create the illusion that housework has been done.

The best tactics have been mentioned already:

eg: Low lighting, cleaning the taps, spraying Mr Sheen into theair, leaving the hoover out.

These are all BRILLIANT!!!!

I'm also a non-ironer. Life's too short!

Snickers, exactly the same as me!!! I am a stay at home MUM, not a stay at n=home HOUSEWIFE. If dh doesn't like it he can clean it up himself!!

Pretend you are ill and tell your partner that your parents are coming for a visit.Your partner will clean up in no time. Then hey presto when it is all done you will be well again.Works everytime.

The trick to doing housework with small children and/or pregnant is to get a cleaner

If that fails however, cleaning in short bursts of a few minutes at a time and lower expectations helps a lot!

I am always surprised just how much I can do in 15 minutes snatched while I'm waiting for something to cook, or 10 minutes before we're due to pop out.

For times when you absolutely have to clean "properly", then having 15 mins cleaning time then 15 minutes with feet up helps the chores go by quicker and doesn't tire you out.

Or you can play cleaning tag team with your partner at weekends - you clean for 15 minutes then he cleans for 15 minutes while you rest/play with kids/whatever, etc, until it's all done.

There was an item on This Morning today (how sad am I!) where the woman swore by basic things such as white vinegar to cut through grease on tiles and limescale on taps really quickly. Washing up liquid or toothpaste for crayon on walls, depending on surface.

I'm a great one for wipes for each job - windows, toilet and bathroom, floors etc which are a great way to freshen the odd bit up as you go - fresh smell for visitors too!! (Not very eco friendly though)

work from home so you don't have to do housework in your spare time Works for me

I don't iron either, only what NEEDS doing on the day.
MIL irons on sundays, her stuff, hubbys and 28 year old son's stuff too.............. MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a waste of time!!

Tumble dryers are great for avoiding ironing - as long as you take out and fold/hang the clothes as soon as the dryer has stopped. I hardly ever do any ironing anymore.

Our house only stays tide because we have a playroom. Toys don't tend to spread too far from there and if they do, at the end of the day I just collect them up, throw them in through the door, and shut it !!!
Every once in a while, I go in there and hoover through the toys, pushing them out of the way as I go.
It has been brill, couldn't recomend it more !!
Supose, if you did not have a spare room or garage, you could just have a huge trunk somewhere, for toys.

Actually I second the playroom thing. We decided to make our girls share a bedroom to free up a room for a playroom. It works so well, we can send them upstairs to play, and have one place that all their toys are stored. When toys come downstairs, I can just bundle them back and now worry about lego all over the place. Also there is no TV in the playroom, so they can't watch things if I am not around (although they are only 2 and 4!).

I am also majorly useless at housework, sheets are changed when I remember, washing is done most evenings, then tumbled dried - waste of electric, but no ironing. Towels are washed when I need to make up a load of whites. The only room I worry about is the kitchen, but I have a dishwasher and no excuse! So I do try to do this before I go to bed. I hoover the whole house in about 1/2 hour (only the visable bits) and often resort to downstairs only one week, and upstairs whenever I can.

Monkey I would sit down, refuse to do cleaning if you are tired and find a way to hire a cleaner if you can. The best present my mum ever gave me while I was pregnant was a cleaner for the last 3 months, and the first 6 months of motherhood. It was £12 a week and I kept her for 2 yrs in the end. It saved my stress, and saved countless arguments. If there is anyway you can do this I would, it is not worth getting unhappy about it particularly when you are tired and pg.

Thanks all of you.

I'm very lucky in that we have got a playroom, although still toys everywhere!

I think I'm on top of the laundry, sort of, an actually don't mind ironing - if I have to do 1 job, that's what I'd choose to do over the others.

Dh has said loads of times I can get a cleaner, but I just don't fancy it. I can get a babysitter for £4ph, but a cleaner is £12ph, so that annoys me to start off, plus I can't bear the thought of someone in the house - especially if I'm there. We had one before (before kids, when we both worked ft) & she was useless, plus I found it really difficult even asking her to do stuff, let alone complaining about anything. I just can't break through my negative feelings about one.

Back to the house - apart from my floors, which are disgusting - we have tiles mostly & in theory easy to clean, but permanently filthy.

but the biggest problem is general untidyness - there's just crap everywhere - unopened letter on the (very small) kitchen workbench, folders not put away, magazines, books, more letter on the table, every surface just seems to be a magnet for crap crap crap, and the worse it gets, the more I can't face tackling it. And this is the sort of stuff a cleaner can't fix. Or is it?

btw Crunchie - what a fab mum to get you such a great present - I didn't get sod all off mine!

My trouble is the stupid things like - cleaning the oven, dusting the skirting boards, wiping down the kitchen cupboard doors and fridge, cleaning spills etc in the fridge. We now have a nice array of cobwebs from most light shades. I really don't have the ummph to do those little tedious jobs after spending all day on Mumsnet!

Monkey you sound like you need FlyLady (Hmm... just noticed I'd already given the link on this thread ... hey ho). I can certainly testify to it being much easier and quicker to clean once you've decluttered the place.

balls did the link wrong ... try this instead

One tip I read somewhere is never to go up/downstairs empty handed. I've always tried following this rule ever since and it does save me a bit of time.

1 chore I seem to spend a lot of time on (apart from hoovering) is cleaning glass. Toddler handprints are v conspicuous in our house! We have 4 glass doors (toughened of course!) plus double patio doors.

Anyone tried out the theory behind that new advert? Tip a load of beer all over the place and apparently he'll lick it clean for you! I can actually imagine this happening, sad though it is!

Furball, I only ever clean skirting boards when I am on the phone (cordless) and wandering around the house whilst talking. I'm ashmamed to say I use my toes, in socks, and run them along the top of any easily accessible skirting boards.

I also use phone time to clean light switch fittings - take a damp cloth round with me - and sometimes manage to wipe down the kitchen surfaces.

We're almost ready for a new phone and I want one with a headset socket and belt clip which will make life much easier. I'll be able to clean quietly to my content without the other person being any the wiser

I'm not very fond of housework, to say the least.

Another thing I would love is an exercise bike with internet access where the access is cut off if you stop pedalling