Comments on: Time-saving tips

By: Phyllis Farr

Phyllis Farr — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:51:34 +0000

SOOOO happy to have a three-day weekend. Am going to SERIOUSLY work on number 2 for 2-1/2 of those days

By: Phyllis Farr

Phyllis Farr — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:39:12 +0000

Re the silverware in the dishwasher. You can have the utensils separated by kind and have them not cradle. Just put them in handle end down. They also get cleaner this way

By: Meredith

Meredith — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:32:58 +0000

Using spare moments works in the car too! I keep a Pledge Grab-It in my glove compartment and wipe down the dashboard if I’m a few minutes early, waiting for someone, etc.

By: Christine

Christine — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:23:51 +0000

I have 2 baskets; one sits in our “family” room where we spend most of our time, and one sits on the floor by our bedroom door. If something needs to go upstairs/downstairs, it goes in the baskets, which get switched and emptied every day.

I try to look for little things to do while I’m waiting for something. Like, while I’m waiting for the shower water to warm up, I’ll quickly scrub out the sink or clean the bathroom mirror. Or, if I’m waiting for something on the stove, I’ll wash a few dishes or take the garbage under the sink out. Maximizing my use of all these little moments really ads up!

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:32:22 +0000

This is an older post, but I’m going to leave my latest tips anyway…
Have the children put away their own laundry. I wash it and leave it on their beds. It’s easy for them to do and saves me a lot of time. And it discourages them from putting hardly-word clothing in the laundry!
Scrubbing Bubbles toilet bowl cleaning with the disposable sponges. Wasteful and expensive, perhaps, but completely and totally worth it.
Send the kids on a quick cleaning spree in the evenings: “Find 15 things that belong in your room and put them away” and like magic I can see the floor to sweep it.

By: robyn

robyn — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 03:32:14 +0000

Put your shredder in your garage or mudroom, shred that junk mail before it even comes into the house.

Wash your tub or shower while you’re in it. I use cheap kids soap to do this.

By: J.

J. — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:17:23 +0000

RE: dusting–I’m a big fan of those microfiber cloths that you can dry-dust with, and then launder and re-use. My husband does our bedroom and bookshelves while talking to his mom during their weekly “catch-up” call. Dry-dusting bathroom fixtures before you swipe them with cleaner also makes the whole job neater and faster, in my experience. I also like using all the little brush attachments that came with our vacuum–they are actually gentler on some items like an antique canvas-covered steamer trunk that have rough surfaces that might catch and pull on a dust rag. We also use a mini-vacuum on area rugs and other spots that seem to accumulate dirt between full-size vacuum sessions.

The most extreme cleaning technique I’ve ever used (but that saved a lot of time in the end) is vacuuming our double-coated sheepdogs–they actually enjoyed it (and would pull the vacuum hose out of the closet when they wanted attention), and it preemptively removed all their fur from the rugs, furniture, etc. I can’t seem to convince our cat to cooperate with this technique, though!

By: Pete

Pete — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:27:45 +0000

Where does that dust come from? Great post.

http://www.yinvsyang.com

By: Caron

Caron — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:34:10 +0000

Ditto on putting the like silverware together. Don’t do it!! No matter how “conveniant” it may seem.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:18:40 +0000

Regarding the cleaning service: The cleaning service can only do so much – and I don’t trust them to put things away, organize, etc. I do all of that sort of “cleaning” because I don’t know if I’ll be able to find things if they do it! Also, I think my cleaning service charges me less because they can take less time cleaning our place. Only $70 a vist for a 1500 square foot condo with two cats and a dog.

By: Amandine

Amandine — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:57:33 +0000

Wow, great advice. My biggest time-saver has been training my kids to do household chores. In the summer they each get several small jobs a day. It adds up & helps a lot.

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:11:00 +0000

I love auto-pilot. I find ways to do something useful while waiting or doing something that doesn’t require thinking. I appreciate the results I get from it! For example: – Waiting for the microwave is when I straighten the island. – Warming the children’s milk in the morning is when I empty the dishwasher. – Applying my moisturizer & sunscreen in the morning is when I wipe the counter in the kids’ bathroom and at night when I use my skincare products, I do my bathroom.

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:30:00 +0000

TUB
Have a sponge and/or scouring pad in your tub area. Every now and then, wipe the tub during your shower. If you are feeling lazy, use your feet to drag the sponge or pad around the tub. While this won’t substitute for a real cleaning, it will make that real cleaning much easier.

MAIL
My wife and I have a small 8.5″ x 11″ cloth bag that we put our incoming mail into. Each of us is always able to find the mail, which does not get scattered around the house or lost.

By: adora

adora — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:34:42 +0000

I’d use a cleaning service if I were not worry about how they would think about me being messy. I’d probably end up cleaning before they arrived. lol

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:10:22 +0000

I second STL Mom on emptying the dishwasher while waiting for the kettle to boil. We run the dishwasher only when it is full, so on the days when there’s no dishwasher load to empty, I use the time to do some other small, quick chore.

Those who don’t drink tea can substitute bagel toasting or microwaving time.

By: becoming minimalist

becoming minimalist — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:48:26 +0000

i have learned that the less you have, the easier it is to clean – that’s a great benefit to minimalism.

one time-saving tip is to clean the kitchen as you cook rather than leaving a pile of dirty cookware.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:19:32 +0000

Great tips!

My place is in need of a good cleaning. Once that gets done, I’m going to try and follow these so the next time it won’t be so bad!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:14:54 +0000

Everyday when I get our mail I immediately go through and determine what is trash, needs shredding or goes to our inbox on our desk.

I believe in “clean as you go”.

Each day I scan our major living areas to see what can be put back, re-stocked, etc.

By: Adeleine

Adeleine — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:01:23 +0000

Dust is everywhere, all the time. When you get water on something and don’t dry it up, inevitably it will gather more dust than other areas, and do so more quickly. Color matters, too, and sheen. Bathtubs and toilets both make dust far more noticeable than other darker, matte surfaces. Plus, bathroom lighting is generally brighter than other rooms, and people sit in bathrooms with not much more to do than look around at everything (unless there is a bookshelf in the loo, which is not sanitary).

When you dust, dry, dry, dry. Dusting with a wet cloth gets more dust off; wiping the surface bone dry means you will not have to do it as often (because it won’t just immediately gather dust up). I use my vacuum (with its soft brush attachment) to dust surfaces that get more noticeably dusty; I do that whenever I vacuum the floors. I also use it to deep dust lots of things I could never hope to dust without bringing on severe arthritic pain (objects with crevices). When I deep clean, I use a slightly damp towel and a dry towel to dust all the flat surfaces that need it because the vacuum doesn’t get everything.

By: Miles

Miles — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:54:09 +0000

Let me clarify something about the commode point and be delicate: I live in the south and I drink a lot of water and I flush a lot, sorry but I do each time(the downside of drinking water)–I do NOT flush to flush

Next, I am NOT talking about a lot of paper

I only get this type of mail rarely, so normally I cut up and throw in the trashcan–I live in an apartment complex, so I do NOT want any chance of credit card and bank information to get out

My point is a cheap way to shred a small amount of paper a single person gets in the mail