What are your secret cleaning shortcuts?

Hide the dishes in the oven.

When I was younger I use to throw away the really dirty pots and pans.

I put the pots and pans in the dishwasher. I know that then they don’t last as long, but I’m really ok with replacing all of them every 20 years, and most of them were under 10 bucks at WalMart anyway, so it’s not like I was going for high quality in the first place.

@papayalily I never knew you weren’t supposed to! <gasp>

I put our dirty dishes in the dishwasher until it is full enough to run it. Right now it’s just me and my son, so that can take a few days. I leave the clean clothes in the dryer until I need it again. I tend to move things from one area to another (like the mail will go from my coffee table to my desk to my nightstand and eventually the trash). I don’t make our beds unless company is coming or I’m putting on fresh sheets. If someone stops by, I just shut the bedroom doors. I sweep the dirt from my front landing, bathrooms, and kitchen onto the carpet and then vacuum it (I hate fighting to get it all up with the dustpan).

@Seaofclouds I do that too! I forgot about that one.. I do sweep the dusties and fur and whatnot onto the carpet. It’s so much easier to vacuum that way.

I made more kids. A bag of Snickers later and the house is clean.

@johnpowell that did not work for my mom.

She had seven of us and none of us would clean. She even offered us money and candy

I’m not a fan of making our bed either. Some days I’ll half heartedly throw the covers to the top, but not usually. I read somewhere that you cut down on creepy crawlies if you didn’t have your covers pulled up all the time and that sounded good to me lol.

I used to be a very tidy person but the kids just wore me down. They can make a mess faster than I can tidy up. I’ve partially given up. We do a super clean once a week and I ignore the house for the rest of the time.

@TheOnlyNeffie Yeah, I’m not sure what the reasoning behind not doing it on metal is, but on teflon, it makes it so that the teflon only lasts 10 years instead of 20. So you have to ask yourself: Do you want that pan to last 20 years so badly that you want to go through the hell of hand washing it every night of those 20 years? I personally have said “no way in hell”.

You really want to hear my confession? Are you qualified to offer me absolution? I live by myself in a three bedroom house, a Cape Cod. The only rooms anyone sees are my bedroom, the living room/dining room area, the kitchen, the foyer and hall and the hall bathroom. The family room upstairs, the two other bedrooms, the garage, no, no one sees, no one knows. There, I’ve confessed, are you happy now? And I don’t make my bed until right before I go to sleep. What’s the point?

I wait…until it’s so gross that even the cats won’t go near some of the stuff on the floor.

you guys are too funny! i don’t like coming home to a messy room, or unmade bed, or dishes in the sink. but this whole not having a dishwasher things has made me think it’s okay sometimes to sometimes let the dishes pile up a little sometimessss

Mom drilled us on making our bed every morning. Years later, it is still a habit, just like not risking donning underwear that is in good condition, should there be an accident and ending up in the emergency room.

One time, I got a call at work from the apt. rental office. They had to let the police into my apt. because they received an emergency call from it. As it turns out, my cat had jumped onto the desk and knocked the phone receiver off the hook, then proceeded to walk across the phone and press the auto-dial emergency number programmed to one button. After getting over the guilt and embarrassment, all I could think about was that thank goodness the place was clean and the bed was made.

Plus, I really like ending the evening by crawling into a tidy bed and not the rumpled mess it looks like in the morning. But that is just a personal preference.

One day my sister was alone at home when the door bell rang. She answered it and it was an undercover police officer who needed access to our house to run surveillance on a house just down the street. After she checked out his ID he made his way upstairs to her room (and she has always been notoriously untidy). He walked in and literally kicked bras and panties here and there as he made his way to the window. He stayed in there for 2 hours and gave us a hilarious story to tell and retell.

@Vunessuh Thats good n’ well, until someone pre-heats the oven & no one has done dishes yet.

Happened to me once. I preheated oven, not knowing there were a couple baking stones & cookie sheets inside. Oven got up to 350 before I looked inside. I took it all out with oven mitts & set them all on the counter. It was like I cooked & laid out an invisible Thanksgiving dinner.

get someone else to do it by sleeping in till their done

@Pied_Pfeffer I actually prefer crawling into a rumpled bed – then I don’t have to spend 10 minutes getting it all comfy.

I’m always just worried about my landlord finding out about the parts of the lease I’m not adhering to (mainly the part about no space heaters, which doesn’t fly with me since there’s no thermostat).

@papayalily LOL, and a hug to you!

I tried to find the link – but couldn’t. It’s a product that’s available here – made by an Israeli company together with Kimberley-Clark: essentially a big, strong wipey for the floor.

I don’t like to wash floors in general, but have to every week. If people are coming over, and I don’t feel like or have time – I sweep, then use these huge specially-made disposable floor wipes.

I actually really enjoy cleaning. I have no short cuts, it’s fucking Mr. Clean over here.
That said, when I feel lazy, I don’t lie to myself; I just don’t do it.

what i find helpful is if there’s not much clutter on countertops and tops of dressers (where to put it is the big question). so if you can pile up the clutter or put it in a shoe box or something, that goes a long way toward making the place look better. in the bathroom, if the floor and toilet is shiny that’s great – a friend taught me to put a little comet or ajax (not to scrub and scratch but just to shine) on the faucet and rinse with water, that makes the bathroom sink look nice, then clean the toilet with windex and that shines, too.

i have a baby so there’s clutter from bottles and her little cluttery toys, like dinosaurs, farm animals, and crap like that. until she’s bigger i’m going to have to keep fighting this fight with the clutter. for myself, my problem is my mail. i tend to have piles of mail all over the place.

I’ve always kept things in the dishwasher until it was full. But not to get out of anything; my MIL , a meticulous housekeeper, told me it’s to save energy. The DW lasts longer.
I’ve never been a bedmaker. My daughter is horrified! The people I know always make them. If someone is coming over , I make them . Oh; I also use that daily shower spray . It keeps the shower clean. Luckily, the previous owner always used it.