Even if you embrace outsourcing, there’s always plenty of housework to do. In this week’s episode of Best of Both Worlds, Sarah and I discuss our favorite household hacks. What’s the best way to handle laundry, dishes, picking up, errands, cooking, lunch packing, and so forth?
In case anyone is wondering, I timed myself emptying the dishwasher two times in the last week or so, and it took 4 minutes one time and 5 minutes the other. We also now have a spray dish soap that makes it even easier to clean one dish at a time. Dishes sitting in the sink waiting to be washed in bulk seem to attract other dishes to the sink, even if some can go in the dishwasher, and the dishwasher is right there…
We engage in a clothes-folding debate and discuss why table-setting just doesn’t happen in my house. What’s your favorite household hack? Please give the episode a listen and let us know!
We have a plumbing issue in our kitchen (happened while we had company last weekend and 15 minutes before they arrived there was water…everywhere). So…I have been without a dishwasher or working sink since Saturday and the plumber can’t come until this Friday.
I knew I loved/depended on my dishwasher, but not having a sink that can drain is a whole new level of frustration (we are washing things in a basin and dumping the water outside/in the laundry sink etc).
I am SO excited to have the issue fixed because, under ordinary circumstances, I actually don’t mind washing dishes. Laundry, on the other hand, is a completely different beast and I don’t like any phase in that whole process.
I am Team No Fold when it comes to laundry. I sort my 8 and 10 year old’s clothes and they are responsible for putting them away (or not) and whether they are folded or not. We also use a lot of dish towels in our house and I have a deep drawer that they get thrown into not folded. Same with our cloth napkins, just thrown in a drawer because we use them so often it’s not worth the effort to fold.
I also like the idea of not setting the table, just setting out plates, platting the fruit or veggie and then everyone is responsible for getting what they need for that meal. Seems a lot easier and less wasteful. Looking forward to trying that tonight.
@Jessica – I hope the no-setting-the-table strategy worked for you guys!
This was a fun episode with a lot of helpful hacks. We are scheduling the junk haulers before our summer vacation as motivation to get some of our household projects done! We do laundry separately for each person (two adults, one five year old and one baby) – I agree about not needing to sort but I do fold (so Team Sarah here). Thank you!
Team no fold, I am not a fan of foIding my teenage son sorts laundry while watching sports so I just put in washer and dryer.
Team No Fold for kid stuff. Ours two boys are close in age/size and share a closet too, so apart from underwear — for which they insist on having separate style and bins — it’s also Team No Sort By Kid. Just a shirt bin, a shorts bin, a sock bin (all black ankle socks – no matching!), etc.
Three cheers for whatever makes life easier!
Least favorite household task: watering the plants. We have tons of them, so it’s my own fault that this is a time-consuming task, but man is it a hassle.
@Kathleen – watering the plants is definitely a time killer. One reason the plants in my office are fake 🙂
Definitely team fold. But then I grew up in a house where my mum ironed EVERYTHING, including pants and tea towels, so to not even fold them would feel very strange to me. Listening to this made me realise I might be slightly more fussed about cleaning than others – we have a weekly cleaning service who do the whole house and I still hoover, mop, clean the kitchen and bathrooms twice a week on top of that. I wash all our towels and sheets weekly plus at least 3 clothing washes. I wouldn’t have said before that this was more than normal but now I’m wondering.
@Louise – ironing tea towels, oh my goodness. I would agree that mopping if you have a weekly cleaning service might be a bit more than most folks would do, as is cleaning the bathrooms in between weekly cleans. How dirty can they get in 2-3 days?
Mopping? What’s that?
I’m also team fold, but I don’t mind folding clothes. I find it kind of soothing and I usually listen to a podcast or watch a show while do it, and my husband usually entertains the kids in a different area of the house while I fold clothes. I do not fold my husband’s clothes, though!
I miss having a cleaning service but my husband has decided to take on all of the cleaning in the house. I keep hoping he will get sick of it!
Another possible solution to the Subscribe & Save vs. warehouse store dilemma — INSTACART! Our local Instacart service covers Sam’s Club. That is what I usually use when I need paper towels, toilet paper, and other household materials. Delivery is always same day, sometimes within an hour or two.
I used to use Subscribe & Save but I often forgot to check and then I’d end up with way too much of something.
With Subscribe and Save, you can easily update quantities and frequencies. It doesn’t have to be a monthly delivery! For instance, our dogs eat about 1.5 huge bags of dog food per month, so I have 3 bags sent every 2 months. Hope that helps some, although I’m guessing I’m being Captain Obvious here!
Re: your muffin comment about a dozen going so fast—I always make a double batch because of this. And I only have 2 kids, but most muffins also freeze well if you end up with too many. It isn’t that much more work to double or even triple. I cook like we have a family of 10 though, so maybe I’m the weird one. ha
I am late to the party here but just wanted to say I loved this episode. And actually the laundry hacks were really helpful, about keeping one load specific to one person. I am sick of sorting out everyone’s socks…
Enjoyed this ep – also team no fold. I’d really like an episode of work hacks, your podcast often has sprinkles of work hacks (as well as before breakfast), but it would be great to hear you discuss these in a single episode.
I liked this episode a lot! I’d love to hear more episodes like this with reader hacks!
I bought a very expensive robovac (circa $3k) that mops and hoovers. It’s been an absolute game changer.