10 tips & hacks for quick cleaning

With only a couple of weeks till the Christmas trees due up, family and friends are starting to pop round for coffee and chats and I will have to return invites round from the season last year. I need therefore to pay  a little attention to the house and get it sparkling (at the very least tidy)for those knocks on the door.

From knowing  how to eliminate limescale that seems to forever build up to fluffing up the cushions and making the ironing shrink my life for the next fortnight becomes house perfecting obsessed. But I hate it! So here a couple of my top tips and house hold cleaning hacks:

1, If you want to a deep tidy organise by object not by room! Start off say by gathering every coat, jacket in the house you find into one room. Then sort through them, if you don’t love or need it send it to the charity shop. Work your way through your house this way.

2, Sort it by person. I find this easier and saves times. The boys clothes don’t need ironing and straight from washer to dryer to room! Saves hunting through a million work shirts to find a school top!

3, Have a metal fridge, oven, toaster or kettle? I have trying to polish out finger marks but the best thing to leave it gleaming at the whip of a cloth? Furniture polish! Spray a little on your cloth and Voila, minutes & hard effort saved!

4, Shove it in the dishwasher! And that’s pretty much goes for anything! Lego, plastic dinosaurs, silicone trays and I hate to say it’s a great place to hide stuff in an emergency. Just remember to remove what you’ve hidden before you pop it on!

5, Bathrooms – have whipped around with Dettol pop some nice essential oil in the toilet roll tube,  pop bags with vinegar in over the shower head and tap ends (removes soap scum & limescale) and leave for half an hour. And why not hang up a couple of leaves of Lavender or eucalyptus and let the heat of shower scent the room!

6, If you have pets pop a cinnamon stick or a ball of cotton wall with your favourite essential oil in the hoover bag. It helps neutralise the smell of dogs & cats especially when they come in soaked after a run round the garden.

7, Over tumble-dried clothes. The bane of my life and real hassle to iron! Pop the outfit (don’t feel it tho) back in the dryer with a damp (clean) flannel and run it for about quarter of hour. The creases should be dropped out. And if it’s not an office top you can slip on then and there or just pop on a hanger.

8, Start off by popping all the garbage in a bin bag (take one around with you) then pop what’s left in to laundry baskets. If you have someone popping by you can easily pop them in the kids room till they’ve gone. Or sort a basket at a time and have a break or reward in between each.

9, Have guest only towels and whisk the sets over when friends are due!

10, Have some pretty storage baskets around. It’s amazing what you can fling in them and hide with a cute blanket folded over the top!