I would HAPPILY spend my entire day keeping house, cooking meals, and raising children; however, that is not my current reality. So to keep me sane and save me precious time and energy I employ a few little tricks to make me seem like a domestic goddess even if it is not a full-time occupation. Maybe they can help others of you that are in my same boat!
Probably my very favorite multitasker is the laundry basket. So much in fact that they were on my Christmas list last year and my brother bought me three. Laundry baskets are great for their intended purpose of gathering, sorting and carrying clothes; but they also have become household helpers in numerous other ways.
I keep a laundry basket in my car at all times. This may sounds crazy but you have no idea how fabulous an idea this is. Instead of making multiple trips from car to house with armfuls of groceries, I instead load the bags into the basket and make one, safe and stable trip from car to kitchen to fridge. No more dropping things along the way or getting injured from overloading your arms in the attempt to get them all inside at once. You have all done it, don't lie.
I also use my laundry basket as a weekend travel bag. I know I'm not alone on this one because a weekend visitor I had, not too long ago, showed up not with a duffel bag, but a basket. This is smart if you are traveling to a friends house, in your own car, where you will not be judged. A basket allows for more space to pack without any shoving or squishing and also makes it a whole lot easier to find stuff once you have reached your destination.
I love my laundry baskets. They are amazingly useful things. Enough on that.
I also go through a ridiculous amount of Swiffers. Seriously, I buy them in bulk at Sam's. I love them and I use them for everything and not always on the actual broom thingy. The pick up everything, including the carpet of dog hair that tends to cover everything in my home. I dust counter tops, electronics, car dashboards, obviously floors, you name it and I swiffer it. Attached to handle they are also amazing at getting cobwebs out of corners and dusting the tops of fan blades. If you want to pick up dust and dirt from a surface use a swiffer in conjunction with pledge.
Another little multi-tasker are dryer sheets. Fabulous for laundry to keep static from taking over your wardrobe but also fabulous for inconspicuously masking odors or freshen spaces.
I tuck dryer sheets on the under side of my vents so that all the air flowing through takes on the wonderful fresh laundry scent. I also throw a few in all of my drawers so my lesser worn clothes never get musky. If you are like me and have a few pairs of shoes you have worn to death and that don;t smell their freshest...pop a dryer sheet in each one while you aren't wearing them to help deodorize.
Confession: The strangest thing I have used dryer sheets for is freshening my pet. Yep, you heard me, sweet little Gus got rubbed with a dryer sheet when I didn't have time to give him a bath before company came over...AND IT WORKED. Not as well as a bath, but in a pinch it took away the puppy smell for a little while.
Judge if you will, we all do what we have to do in the time we have. Using some of these things save me time and hassle, however crazy they may sound. Try them and you'll be converted.
Happy Wednesday and here's to the housewives!
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