Is there a market for it? (good housekeeping guide for hopeless people)

[ClareC]

Soup was fab and my daughter ate two bowls!! Feeling very domestic goddess like now ;-)

Karter, my cleaner has no availabilty, however, she was away for 5 weeks over Christmas and organised for me to have a stand in cleaner - a friend of her's.

Marie, the stand in cleaner was excellent, lovely lady too. I know she is looking for additional work. I can put you in touch with her if your interested.

I have had a cleaner for around 10 years now.....felt very decadant at first, now shamefully it's up there with food and shelter ;-)

I did decide that I would do the cleaning myself when I finished work to go on maternity leave...... that didn't last long, was hard work heavily pregnant and even harder with a newborn!! hmmmm domestic goddess points removed!!

[Mellors]

Gussy - Flash with Bleach spray is the best I have found for getting rid of that horrid orangeness. Spray, leave, and rinse round.

My sink is clean AND I have marmalade simmering on the hob *shines halo*

[littleEDfamily]

Nice! Can we get a large American-style FlyLady 'woop!' for we ladies of high domestic prowess. Yeeeee haaaaah

PS my FlyLady groupie status has gone up a notch. I actually watched her video (FlyLady TV). She was just as I imagined she would be in the flesh.

[Smiler]

V impressive ladies. I too am making progress, home cooked meals every night for last 2 weeks, yum! Who is this flylady?

[pebbles]

littleEDfamily - tell me MORE - you watched her on tv - how, when, where....

i'm so happy that some of you have found the amazing power of baby oil :)

now i'm actually a little stressed tonight. normally i could leave a mess in the kitchen/playroom cos i was too tired and couldn't be bothered but having had a house full all day with numerous amounts of children and tonight i've been inundated with work (trying to dabble in something from home which is proving harder than i thought to manage!!) my house is currently looking like a tip and i'm finding my mind isn't on my work - how appalling is that.

i had a fab fab fab friend over yesterday who i'm sure is FlyLady in her spare time!! anyway, she came over and helped me map out some family meals over a 2 week period and also (and i know this sounds so odd as to why i couldn't do it on my own) but made me up a weekly shopping list of stuff that we always need for me to do an online shop. she said she does hers on a wed/thurs for delivery on a fri so she always has stuff for weekend and week whereas if she has delivery on a monday she's normally run out by the friday!!) so anyway, as soon as i get this work done i'm going to do my online shop.

I cannot tell you how much my husband has laughed at my comments over the last few weeks. He doesn't "do" the EDF so i've copied and pasted the thread and he thinks i've had some kind of personality change - this is not me!!! he also isn't happy that i buy baby oil for the sink and never for anything else!!!!

[littleEDfamily]

Yes, there's something slightly wrong about even owning baby oil - I couldn't quite look the delivery driver in the eye as I unpacked it from the grocery crate!

So, here she is, the FlyLady in le flesh.....

[Pickle]

While ordering my shopping online yesterday I actually found myself browsing the cleaning products section, and got very excited about a specialist stainless steel product that is going to make my sink the shiniest in ED.

[Gussy]

oo pickle I LOVE the cleaning products section!

My mum gave me a money saving tip though on all those jazzy bottles of this and that - get an empty spray bottle, fill with a mix of bleach and water (say 1:10 dilution). Keep this in the bathroom with some kitchen roll for a swish and swipe (thanks flylady for terminology).

That woman is strangely compelling and motivating. I may have to look at some of her other videos! Madness :)

[Ruth_Baldock]

I get really excitied about cilit BANG. When I buy it, I say to Seb 'cilit BANG, SEB! BANG!' and he thinks it is HILARIOUS.

I am also obsessed with antibacterial wipes. Love them.

[sillywoman]

Initially I hated this thread with a passion - mainly due to shame it has to be said. I just loathe, loathe, loathe cleaning. It's a waste of good reading time. But, I keep finding myself coming back to it again & again. I just can't 'do' flylady. She's too much for me; I can't get up & get dressed, that's just not the right way for me to start my day, & I have other stuff (as some of you know!) that is more important than cleaning a room each day. However I can tell you ladies that you've shamed me into cleaning out my cleaning cupboard (if that makes sense) and so now I have all my crucial cleaning equipment in one handy carry box that is easy to move from room to room and handily stored under the kitchen sink.

This week I have also embaced the clean sink ethos, and baby oil (it's wonderful), and done the thing of giving the bathroom sink a clean round before going to bed (was that your suggestion Molly?). So Thankyou ED ladies for helping put a bit of sparkle back into my cleaning.

Does anyone know how to clean old silver - I found some at the back of the cupboard under the sink when I was cleaning it out!

Also tried the meatballs & tagiatelle from someone's meal planner (littleEDfamily possibly?) - Yum.

[Moos]

Silver polish paste in a pot from Dulwich DIY - sponge and hot water and lots of clean cloths to wipe off. Makes foul mess and is v. fiddly and takes forever (poss because I get round to it about annually, by which time there's a lot to do and it's all black) but even this domestic cloddess can take satisfaction in seeing the gleaming silver emerge from under its coat of grime.

The rest of this thread is well scary, though. ;-)

[The Nappy Lady]

LOL, yes 'twas me Sillywoman.

I'm lurking on here quite a bit, drawing some inspiration (read mad 10 minute cleaning sessions whilst dinner cooks etc) & loving the fact my totally fabulous ex lodger now cleaner came in today!!

[nunheadmum]

Haven't quite gone as far as fly-lady but this thread has been spurring me on (shaming me, even?) to do a bit more around the house. And it is strangely addictive....I'm worried!!

Bit in need of a tip - is there a simple way to descale a kettle? I've got a see-through one which scales up in no time at all. Would spend the kids inheritance if I keep buying the descaling stuff from Sainsbury's so it tends to be an occasional clean and put up with the scale but I'd love to keep it shiny. I'm sure I've read something household-ey that you can use - was it vinegar?

[ClareC]

Kim and Aggy use vinegar on their show ....... haven't tried myself but I saw an episode of how clean is your house and it worked well! Around the lid of the kettle they placed kitchen roll soaked in Vinegar - all came off :-)

[sanity girl]

Yes white vinegar is excellent for descaling. You can also get a bottle of astonish descaler from the 99p shop in camberwell/brixton that does the job well. Also another good use for vinegar - pour a bit of bicarbonate of soda down kitchen sink plughole followed by a few glugs of vinegar and let it fizz to unblock and keep clean. Once the fizzing stops flush with lots of hot water. Much better than using that horrible corrosive stuff

[Crokes]

If it's for your kettle then just use a cheap fizzy drink like lemonade (anything with citric acid in it will work) and unlike vinegar, won't leave a funny smell. Put enough in the kettle to cover the limescale area and boil the kettle (if the kettle is quite full then make sure it doesn't overboil). Leave the kettle and fizzy drink to work it's magic! (can help to reboil a few times and if you have lots of limescale then you might need to replace the fizzy drink). Empty when you're happy with the result and rinse out a few times with water before using.

Did ours last week and left it most of the day (reboiled 4 or 5 times), kettle looks like new inside now.

[Moos]

Et tu, sanity girl?

[sanity girl]

Come on, I was just sharing a handy tip. And an eco-friendly one at that. I still refuse to ever ever shine my sink with baby oil...

[littleEDfamily]

Loving the lemonade tip. Made me think, perhaps an effervescent vitamin C tablet will also work....

Don't fear the better homemaking crusade. Ain't no shame in a bit of pride in house. And my stress levels have gone right down lately - in fact, we have a party tomorrow and feel strangely prepared. Very bizarre sensation....

[ClareC]

Oddly this thread has given me the incentive to start getting done all those jobs done that I have been meaning to do, also no Hipp Organic baby food has passed my daughters lips for a good couple of weeks!!

I have a clean washing machine and descaled kettle! The eaves has been sorted, things cleared out and the pile of moving junk is significantly smaller..... I even cooked a Jamie Oliver 30 minute meal last night!

There are still job's I want to get done but I am feeling far more organised now.... wonder how long it will last ;-)

[sillywoman]

. . . and did it take you 30 minutes - start to finish? Come on now ClareC, be honest, you're amongst friends ;-)

[ClareC]

Absolutely not!!! I think it was more like an hour, maybe slightly longer, and I didn't make the desert!!

Definitely not an everyday cook book ;-)