Fantastic Household Tips & Hints - please add yours :)

[BellyBelly]

Share your top tips here which help you feel like a domestic goddess

[Yael]

Umm.... a cleaning lady???

Actually, planning what to have for dinner in the morning, so i can start earlier.. i always feel so fantastic when DH walks in the door and there is actually dinner on the table, rather then asking him to start cooking at 7pm

We are trying to make a whole month of meal plans, so that way we can be even more organised about what to eat and what to buy for the next week!

I'll be watching this carefully, i'm sure i'll get some great tips from you all, and then i can fake like i really can run a house and be a mum!

[Inanna]

Mmmmm. Well I am a bit anal So it all has to be just right or I get my ever so frilly knickers in a twist!
What makes me feel like I have made it at the end of the day...
* When I have a yummy meal bubbling away in the slowcooker filling the house with gorgeous aromas.
* When the pillows on the sofa are plumped.
* When the kids are happy and laughing and I have had at least one of those "I am not doing tooo bad as a Mama moments".
* I make a rule at the end of the day there is adult music playing on the stero for dinner and we light candles on the table most nights - it makes me feel grown up and sets a relaxing scene (as relaxing as a meal with four children can be )
* An ironing lady is a gift from the Universe that no woman should feel guilty about!
* Some muffins in the freezer to whip out when needed in an emergency!

[Tobily]

* I make a rule at the end of the day there is adult music playing on the stero for dinner and we light candles on the table most nights - it makes me feel grown up and sets a relaxing scene (as relaxing as a meal with four children can be )

I'm stealing this one as of TODAY. Thanks flowerchild

[Bathsheba]

Oooh I just noticed this new forum! brilliant! Now let me think! (can't wait to read lots of responses too)!

[MantaRay]

LOL, I love this topic!! I'll take all the ideas I can get. Ok, here are my tips:

- definitely get a cleaning lady LOL
- pick the things that make you feel best when they are done - for me, having the dishes done and bed made is a huge morale booster, so I do these first
- put a load of washing on first thing when you get up, or before going to bed
- lower your expectations - you are NOT going to have a clean floor for more than 5 minutes with two under 3, no matter how often you get down on your hands and knees to sweep up crumbs
- speaking of which, buy knee pads for contstantly being on all fours under and around the table sweeping up crumbs
- get the kids involved in "helping" so you are not neglecting them while cleaning - Jack loves to "help" by holding the vacuum cleaner while I Vaccum.
- cook twice as much as you need and freeze the rest so you get 2 meals for the price of 1

[Roryrory]

1. A pilable child/children. As a sub-12-month-old Flynn was a dream baby - one of those kids who slept for the first 3 months of his life and was really easy-going and happy to sit and gurgle while I whizzed around the kitchen. This is essential if you are going to be a Domestic Goddess (notice how you never see a whinny 15 month old clinging to Nigella Lawson's legs while she swans around her kitchen, saucily licking her fingers?)

2. An easy to clean house. Enough storage space, easy-to-clean surfaces, a dog that doesn't shed hairs and no clutter is required. It is simply not possible to attain Goddess-dom if you have an unrenovated house without skirting boards and decent cupboards, carpet of the sort which attracts dirt and a long-haired do. Your furniture must match, too. Ideally it will have featured in House and Garden or some similar glossy.

3. A goldfish's memory. This is essential if you are to be able to handle the fact that you just cleaned your house from top to bottom last week, and actually attained that state of Nirvana when there is "nothing else to clean", only to find that dust comes back, dishes get dirty, children dirty their clothes and meals lovingly prepared in advance get eaten eventually. Anything more than a goldfish's short memory will leave you in a constant state of dismay that things don't stay clean.

4. An appreciative husband. June Cleaver's husband thought she was just wonderful the way she brought him his slippers and looked after Wally and The Beaver. Darren (Samantha's hubby in "Bewitched") appreciated his wife's cleaning skill so much he insisted that she do everything manually and not employ her magical skills to get it done. Mr Brady thought Carol was "just swell" despite the fact that Alice probably did the lion's share of the work. Contrast this with poor Peg Bundy, the most un-Goddess-like creature you could imagine. Look at her husband Al. Enough said.

Enough sarcasm LOL! I am actually very much into this sort of stuff, so seriously, lists and enough energy to stick to them is my top tip FlyLady is a good place to start.

[Lucy]

I could chat about this topic for HOURS, LOL!

I have nodded at almost every Domestic Goddess thought written so far, so thank you likeminded ladies for cheering me up!

Some additional ones from me (just the tip of my iceberg, LOL) are:

~ Clean sheets flapping in the breeze on my washing line
~ Clean toilets
~ Essential oils burning (lemon or lavendar for me)
~ Happy domestic smells like freshly mown grass; homemade biscuits
~ A full fridge with cut fruit at the ready for the kids
~ A place for everything and everything in its place!

[Bathsheba]

ROFL Rory!!! OMG so true. Especially living in an unrenovated house! (that's us) well it was renovated 20 years abo but since then it's had a steady stream on tennants with children... it is a much loved house but no matter how hard i scrub the surfaces around here they ain't gonna give me that "good as new" satisfaction

[rosehannah]

I could do with a domestic goddess around here, the house is a mess because I've been trying to find my way around BellyBelly.

[Bathsheba]

Ah yes, good point Rose... getting the balance right is very tricky for us BB junkies! Very easy to justify hours spent on here as "research"

[Inanna]

Lucy's post reminded me:
A full fruit bowl,
A kettle that whistles,
incense burning,
laughing children running through the grass,
cat curled up on the sofa,
chookies bokking through the garden,

[rosehannah]

Thanks for the "research' excuse, I'll see if it works to night when DH comes home.
Another way I make myself feel better is if the dishwasher, washing machine and oven are all working to the max. while I do my research. LOL THANK GOD FOR TECHNOLOGY!!!
The best way I have found to keep the house from getting trashed in the first place is to shut the doors to rooms that my one year old gets creative in.

[Lucy]

Yep, shut doors work here too......once my 3 are awake and dressed for the day, their windows get opened to give the tooms a good airing but the doors stay firmly closed till nap time or bed time.

And both the bathroom doors get closed so Charlie (aged 20m can't trash them.

And IF you do ever achieve some semblance of a tidy clean house......get the kids in the car quick so that all their energies can be directed in the park, rather than to messing your house up again, LOL!

[AngelPunks]

I've got my place (well living areas) to the state that I can have it looking good within about 15 mins, family usually ring before they leave so it gives me enough time to give the place a quick clean (we have polished wood floors - those mops that trap dust are great!), throw one or two of the oil burners on (if they're not already on), put the coffee on to brew & I've always got some of those Betty Crocker just add milk cookie mixes in the cupboard (they take about 10 mins) - so depending on which family member they sometimes even get cookies. I have learnt that if my brother is coming over that I have to clean on top of the fridge or else he will! He's even been known to make our bed for us! We do close the bedroom doors but since we've got a cottage the french doors to the sun-room are open if it is a warm day.

For friends - they get pretty much the same as above but sometimes without the sweeping.

I clean the toilet every night, the shower gets a wipe down when I get out in the mornings.

I have cleaning stuff in the kitchen AND the bathroom.

My mother used to sweep before bed, I'm almost back into the habit.

I'm usually pretty good with the dishes, I do them most nights before bed - this is supposed to be DH's job but if I want it done I do it myself!

[Rouge]

Send the kids and the hubby and the cat on holidays. Clean your house... take photos and remember this is probably the last time you'll see it this way for a while LOL!

For me my house is slightly domestically challenged atm. It has been so since I became pregnant with Seth. I know I'll get my house back to the way I want it... I have a few decluttering challenges ahead as well as some spring cleaning sessions. But it has been there once so it can be there again...

For me like others some of the things that make me feel like a domestic goddess are:

~ Baking
~ Clean Bathrooms & Toilets with fresh flowers or rose scented pot pourri
~ The smell of Wood Polish/Buff it/Mr Sheen, Bleach, Windex.
~ A shiny sink.
~ Incense & Aromatherapy.
~ Fresh, crisp, clean linen.
~ To do lists.

[briggsy's girl]

marry a "domestic god"!

[AngelPunks]

marry a "domestic god"!

my brother comes home from work every night and sweeps his house (he's now 62 & has been doing it since he was in his 30s), he was the one who made sure that the ducted vacuum system was installed when they were building 13 years ago