betweenthechaos.co.uk

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  • Cleaning Products I Actually Repurchase

    There’s no shortage of cleaning products promising to change your life, and I’ve tried more of them than I’d like to admit. Most get used once and shoved to the back of the cupboard. But a small handful have earned a permanent spot on my shopping list – the ones I actually buy again without thinking twice.

    Here’s what’s made the cut in our house.

    **A good all-purpose spray.** Not fancy, not complicated – just something that works on kitchen surfaces, bathroom surfaces, and everything in between without needing five different bottles for five different rooms.

    **Microfibre cloths, in bulk.** Cheap, reusable, and honestly do more work than half the products I own. I keep a stash so there’s always a clean one within reach. Plus WASHABLE, I mean come on how easy is that. My machine is never off so throwing one or two of these in and I’m good to go again. Bliss.

    **Toilet Duck Wand.** I love to scrub my loo, really get in there. But it is a loo. So toilet duck to my rescue every time without even thinking about it. Pop one in the wand, dip in loo water, scrub and flush.

    **Vinegar.** I know I know “it smells”. For a second I promise. Got a kiddies highchair table to clean, vinegar. Softest towels you have ever had? Vinegar. Streak free windows? Vinegar! Don’t believe me google it. It kills bacteria, it replaces fabric softener for towels to reduce build up of product and makes them SOO super soft. That beauty is a power horse for cleaning.

    **A reliable fabric freshening spray.** Sofas, mattresses, the car – it’s become one of those products I reach for constantly without really thinking about it.

    **Dishwasher tablets that actually clean the dishwasher, not just the dishes.** Once I found a brand that didn’t leave residue or smell, I stopped switching between whatever was on offer.

    BONUS!! Yankee Candle *Wooden Wick* they burn amazingly, with a cozy crackling sound to them. The SMELL is divine and travels the whole house. And let me tell you, finishing a clean and lighting one of these bad boys, heaven!

    None of these are glamorous. But they’re the ones that quietly do their job every single time, which is really all I’m asking for at this stage of life.

    What’s the one cleaning product you’d never let run out? I’m always looking for the next thing worth trying.
     

  • About Me

    Hi, I’m so glad you’re here.

    Between the Chaos is exactly what it sounds like – real life, lived in the messy in-between. The big dogs who won’t stop shedding on the sofa I just cleaned. The house project that’s been “almost finished” for three months. The school run, the washing pile, the trying-to-remember-what-day-it-is of it all.

    I write about raising kids in an economy that doesn’t make it easy, what it’s actually like living with two big, goofy, loveable, chaotic dogs, the home projects that never quite go to plan, marriage and family life with all its unglamorous edges while navigating ADHD in the middle of it all, and the cleaning routines I actually stick to (most weeks, anyway).

    You don’t need to have kids, or a dog or two, or a husband, or a house full of half-finished DIY to feel at home here. If you’ve ever felt like you’re holding it together with one hand while everything else happens around you – that’s the club. That’s who this is for.

    I’m not here to pretend I’ve got it all figured out, because I don’t. I’m here to be honest about what this stage of life actually looks like, share what’s genuinely worked for me, and hopefully make you feel a little less alone in your own version of the chaos.

    Thanks for stopping by – pull up a chair, the kettle’s on.