Top 5 Quick Tips Blog Posts

If you've been following the Quick Tips blog for some time, you'll know that I write about quite a range.  If you didn't already know, this blog is my experiment blog (no rules) and as a writer, I love that.  I can simply write a tip on anything that comes to mind and that's exactly what I do.

I love seeing which of the posts are the most popular and I'm often surprised. 
So I thought today, I'd share the top 5 Quick Tips blog posts so far.

1. Do the most important stuff first Productivity tip

2. Zone each room: Tidy, clean and de-clutter Housekeeping tip

3. Increase productivity Hypnosis spotlight post

4. One spot de-clutter Housekeeping tip

5. Law of attraction basics LOA tip

Which is your favourite?

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Give your kids set chores

I strongly believe that we need to give our kids chores around the house, either for pocket money or not.

At the beginning of every school year I sit down with my son and we decide upon his household chores for the year.

As my son has got older his chores have changed and I also let him have a say as to what he's responsible for.

One of his jobs used to be taking the bins from inside the house out to the big bin and putting in out to the front of the house for collection on a Thursday.

He was fine taking the big bin to the front of the house but really hated doing the inside bins.  He'd done the jobs for a year, so I felt this was a tradable job.  He wasn't allowed to just stop doing it, but we decided on a different job instead.

One of his current jobs is to clear about and dust the car inside each week.

He always has to keep his own bedroom tidy and clean and help with the general clearing away after meals and tidying his own things up at the end of the day.

Each year I give him 2-3 weekly chores.

Then I'll give him extra chores that he can earn extra money from (it's his choice to do the extra jobs)

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Teach your children key household skills

Okay there are two reasons I am encouraging you to teach your children key household skills.

1st - It's great for you.  I strongly believe that kids need to help around the house.

2nd - It's great for your kids too, even if they don't yet realize it.

Teaching kids how to do things around the house helps them to develop independence and it helps them to feel connected to the family.

When a child has been taught these things they are able to go out into the real world when the time comes and know how to look after themselves.

So here are a few key skills I encourage you to teach your child (obviously adjust to fit your child's age).

How to keep the house tidy (pick up as you go along)
How to clean the house
Washing and ironing
How to cook a few basic meals - My favourite is Spaghetti bolognese.  This was the first dish I taught each of my kids.
How to budget
How to make a grocery list
...

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Housekeeping quick tip. Tidy up after yourself

I have to admit, by nature I'm quite untidy, so all the more important for me to follow this tip and get everyone in the family doing it too.

If you can get into this habit, keeping your home tidy will be much easier on a day to day basis rather than having to have a big tidy at the weekend.

So if you've finished with something, put it back where it belongs and I try to do a quick room scan whenever I leave a room and just see if there's anything I can take with me to tidy away.

Keeping your mugs and cups clean

I'm a tea drinker and my mugs soon suffer for it.  A quick and easy way to get them clean is to add some laundry powder to the mug and then pour in hot water to the top.

I usually leave mine overnight to soak and they come up super clean.

Make sure you give them a good rinse - Don't want a soapy cuppa.

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How to easily put on a duvet cover on your own

Putting on a double or king-sized duvet cover can be a bit of a nightmare.  I've seen people get themselves into a real tangle doing this alone.

Here's a quick and easy way to do it.

Lay the duvet on the bed as you would if it was made.

Turn your duvet cover inside out,
Put your hand into the cover so that your arm is touching the outer side of the cover, hold onto the corner of the cover and then with the same hand from inside the cover, take hold of the duvet cover.

Pull the cover down over the duvet (about a quarter of the way down.

Repeat on the opposite side.

The once the cover is over both side you can simply pull the rest of the cover down over the duvet.

Finally, hold onto the bottom of the quilt and cover, shake out and fasten.

Easy.

10 minute evening tidy

Okay, depending on how tidy you keep your house during the day, you may not need 10 minutes, you may need a little longer.

Set a timer and tidy, don't get into cleaning, just tidy.

Stay focused and you'll be amazed at how much you can get done in such a short time.

Parenting Extra

Get the kids into this daily habit too.  Start off with 5 minutes for them and see how that goes.  Again set the timer so they know when to stop.  Kids usually respond well to this as it's a fixed, short time.

Check out my other housekeeping tips

Wendy

Keep it tidy habit

Here's a quick housekeeping tip that's really made a difference in our home.

Whenever you leave a room, do a quick scan of the room and pick up anything that needs taking to the area of the house you're going to.

Examples

If you're leaving the sitting room and going into the kitchen, are there any cups/glasses that you can take with you.

If you're going upstairs is there anything you can grab such as laundry, shoes...

We have a habit of putting small items to go upstairs on the stairs, so whoever is next going up grabs then and pops them into the correct room.

Wendy

Housekeeping Quick Tip: Zone each room, tidy, clean and de-clutter

Today's quick tip is a housekeeping tip.

This is ideal for when you only have a few minutes at a time to tidy and de-clutter.

Stand in the middle of the room and zone it.  Start at the door and work around the room.

Note: This is a great tip to get kids to tidy their room.  Give them a zone to tidy each day.  It works much better than saying, clean your bedroom.

So looking around my kitchen these are my Zones.

Zone 1: Door - Wipe over and clean glass
Zone 2: Left work surfaces, hob and sink
Zone 3: Windows
Zone 4: Right work surfaces
Zone 5: High Cupboards
Zone 6: Low left Cupboards (can be broken down to even smaller zones)
Zone 7 Low right Cupboards
Zone 8: Boiler/airing cupboard
Zone 9; Fridge freezer
Zone 10: Washing machine
Zone 11: Oven
Zone 12: Floor and bin
Zone 13: Left drawers
Zone 14: Right drawers

You can break your goals down into smaller areas or join areas together to make a slightly bigger zone.

Tidy, clean and de-clutter the zone you're working on fully before you move onto the next zone.

Wendy