What are your top time saving tips ?

[Rookietherednosedreindeer]

I'm going back to work soon eek and felt it would be good to get the wisdom of experienced mners with your tips on how to save time with housework and so forth.

I have already got a few gems from other threads. I think it was Xenia who gets her cleaner to unpack their online shopping which is a great idea for those of us lucky enough to have a cleaner. Someone else said that they sent out their laundry which I never would have thought of. I'm a bit stumped on the cooking front as I don't want to do ready meals every evening.

I don't want this to turn into a discussion about why our DH/DPs aren't pulling their weight, unless anyone has any specific tips about how household equality can be achieved, let's assume they are and this could be helpful to them as well.

slow cooker is a must.
and plan a weekly or fortnightly menu.

Make sure that everyone's clothes for the following day are sorted out the night before - ie ironed, checked for marks, missing buttons.

Children - if they are at school, make sure their bags are packed the night before. If going to nursery or childminders, make sure enough nappies, clothes etc are packed and any food/milk is ready in the fridge to pop in in the morning.

Well,I run the house,work and study for an MSc alone as dh is away,so being organised is a must.

Get everything ready the night before,even putting bags and briefcases in the car if need be.

Write a list last thing at night of what needs to be done the next day.

Don't go to bed without having a good tidy and putting b'fast stuff out.

If cooking,always freeze half.

Don't be obsessed with a hot meal every night.
My children have a cooked lunch at school and nursery,so I often give them s'wiches at night which are a far better choice than some nasty processed food.

On the cooking front I think the best plan is to make your own ready meals. So when you have chance to cook (are you going part time or full time) make double/triple quantities and freeze for work days. I have been working 3 days/week for 5 years and have always done this. So 3 days a week I cook double for the days I am working and this leaves one day when we go visit family, have a takeaway, have something that is difficult to double up or whatever.

1. put every thing out the night before.
2. get a slow cooker...worth their weight in gold.
3. make double of everything you cook...freeze half of it. 4)Tidy before you go to bed, wash up immediately after meal.
4. Put washing machine on at night before you go to bed....bung in dryer in the morning when you get up.
5. get every one doing jobs, even little ones can put dirty clothes in laundry basket.

Dont stress if you dont get every thing done...its ok.
Good luck!

On the housework front, I reckon little and often is the way to go.

A quick hoover around downstairs at the end of the day. Wipe round the sink and loo in the mornings and a splash of toilet duck just as you leave the house makes it smell like you've had the professionals in!

Getting everyone just to put their own things away stops you doing all the clearing up.

Little bits and pieces like that stop you having to put aside a day for cleaning.

I've read that back and sound like a 1950s housewife. Scary.

I think for me, if I didn't spend so long on MN every day, I would have time to do everything I need to do....

Good tip - turn off the puter!

I work at the fairly extreme edge of "full-time" and my life is like one of those triage stations in A&E. I think you really have to prioritise what needs doing - ruthlessly. For me it is important that the DCs go to school and participate in their school lives and no one says "oh well, their mother works full time, no wonder they don't have name-tapes/contributions for the largest carrot ever competition etc!. I am always completely on top of what needs doing for the childrens' schools - costumes for school plays, our contributions to cake sales etc. Packed lunches also top priority. Uniforms and clothes are always clean and up to date. Freezer full of good home cooked food - that doesn't need to be daunting: we have some portions of shepherd' pie, some pasta sauces, fish pie, quiches, home made pasties, chicken and bean stews etc. On-line shopping is an absolute life-saver.

Anything lower than priority level 1 gets fitted in around the edges as and when! DS is 5 and I'm pretty sure there are some things that haven't been done since just before he was born!

i BET THE OTHER PARENTS SPEAK OF YOU IN AWED HUSHED TONES aNCHOVY AND PART RESPECTFULLY AS YOU STRIDE UP TO THE SCHOOL GATES.

[GRIN

I take my shower at night.

No, the flipside of being ruthlessly organised is that people think you are a bossy cow!

use time don't waste it - so empty dishwasher while kettle boils, do one trip up/down stairs rather than many (basket at top/bottom helps), clear round before bed and put out clothes, find a dry cleaner who collects/delivers, keep cleaning stuff handy in bathroom/kitchen so you can wipe as you see dirt (takes seconds at the time but if you leave it to build up...). Food wise I do loads of curry/tom sauce/mince for freezer and defrost while making pasta/cous cous etc for dinners. Have colour/white laundry bins separate to save time sorting and hang rather than tumble dry clothes to cut down on ironing.

Sort briefcase and handbag before going to bed and set alarm ten mins earlier to give yourself extra time in the am. After a week you won't notice it.

Another ruthlessly organised person here.
Would add to all those who say that a slow cooker is very, very helpful.
Never leave a room emptyhanded.
Always have everything ready the night before (including your own handbag - I'm always stunned how long it takes some women to assemble the contents of their bag).
Set aside specific days for specific tasks & then they don't all mount up into an offputting monster session.
Prioritise!

Anchovy I totally agree with that. My priorities are the children's school and nursery life (nursery fairly easy as it is day nursery), followed by the freezer full of food. Although I do school dinners. I think packed lunches every day would probably finish me off.

This morning I had DD (2) at nursery and DS (5) at childminder with water bottle, fruit, toy for playtime, reading book with record filled in, letter and cheque for school play, milk money cheque for next term, and football kit for 8 am.

It's not so much time saving, but organisational. I have little note pads by the PC and in the kitchen and if a job that needs doing occurs to me (this morning it was getting my coat dry cleaned) I write it down. Similarly, if we run out of something food-wise I write that on the list. It just makes me feel more organised in my head as I don't have to remember hundreds of things.

Get anything you can delivered - we get:
Food from Ocado
Milk from milkman
Veg/fruit from veg box scheme
Wine/beer from Majestic

And also find that a breadmaker saves time as we never have to run out to the shops for bread.

Agree re lists. We have one that everyone has to write on when something has run out - DH, our nanny and our cleaning lady all jot things down on it and I just then add it to the weekly Ocado shop. I've also got a weekly list set up on Ocado of all the things that we usually need.

Don't watch TV - video the things you are really interested in.

I used to do my housework on a saturday morning, now my 2 dds go dancing on a saturday morning so wouldn't be able to start housework until about 11am which means it take the rest of the day. So now I do a room each evening once the kids are in bed and then it's just a generally keeping the place tidy at the weekends, saturdays are now spent playing with the kids which is much more important than housework.

Also friday is takeaway night.

You lot are very organised! (big pat on the back) although I see most of your big helps rely on having loads of cash! Cleaners, food delivered etc. I have three small children 4,3 and 5 months. I find the best thing apart from the make sure everything is ready for the next day, including your own stuff, is do what each needs at what time, for example, I start the older two off with breakfast, dress the baby and feed her, sit her in her pushchair with a dummy, she then goes to sleep (isn't she good?) then dress the older two, teeth cleaned, coats on (that alone took 20mins this morning! coats, shoes, hats, gloves, scarves!) all this and grabbing a coffee on the run! No wonder I'm so frazzled! I know what you mean about dh, when he's off - he's in bed! Men!? tut!

Just thought of some more. Make sure you have a family planner type calender so that you can clearly see who has what commitments when. I put everything on it, as otherwise I'd lose the plot completely.
Also get a big pinboard for school/nursery letters, frequently used telephone numbers, class lists etc etc.
As others have said, home deliveries are also worth every penny. Saves me at least 2 hours a week to get my supermarket shop delivered.

Yes, a central diary that everyone agrees to is critical. All key dates from schools go in there as soon as we get them. DH and I also co ordinate our own diaries frequently, also liaising on what our upcoming workloads are like at work so we know who is going to be picking up a bit of slack on the home front.

Ooh, I'm scaring myself a bit at how regimented I sound!

Deffo agree re the board - we have a big one in the kitchen that all school letters, invitations, class lists etc live on. Have loads of magnets or whatever so you do just stick something on as soon as it comes in. There is something very helpful about actually being able to see things on it, rather than them being in a pile.

I don't spend loads of money on time saving. I internet shop at Asda, but most weeks manage to find a money off voucher so it costs me either no more, or just the same. But I do not send out laundry, have a cleaner or nanny or anything like that. Admittedly though I do only work 3 days.