Time management - cooking, cleaning, and exercise

Yesterday -

- Morning went to church
- After that distribution of cakes and sweets to neighbours
- Invited DD's friends for lunch and serve biriyani to all the kids
- Afternoon slept for 2 hrs as I felt very tired
- Evening cleaned the house as I gave off to the servant for Christmas
- Evening neighbours came to our house with their sweets and cakes. Prepared tea and cook drinks and enjoyed spending time with them
- Went to sleep by 10pm

 

Hi All,

Apart from scheduled power cut, frequent power cuts today, unable to do any work continuously. So I am not doing any decluttering today, as the weather also not sunny, rooms are not bright today.

Just made some phone calls to enquire about carpenters for my parlour interiors. Have to go to the site tomorrow or day after to get a proper drawing for the parlour.

My daughter had special classes today for 2 hrs, so gave a list for vegetables, while she return, she bought all the veggies I listed, also with some snacks she needed. Already she gave me a list of menus she would like to have during her holidays. I have prepared almost everything, only few are left.

 

hello friends,

As per my plan, i had finished all the cleaning and arranging my kitchen shelves, wardrobes, book shelves etc. Today we are leaving to chennai for a short 3 week vacation. It was a two in one work, packing was also done along with winding up and cleaning.

Dear kamala mam, manju mam, latha mam, magee, doors, OTB, prana, viji mam, jeni, and all other friends - wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year, Let all your dreams come true.

See you all after my vacation

take care

shara

 

@shara
happy happy holidays...have a safe n enjoyable trip..! i will also be in chennai from 29th to 2nd...

Had been to coorg for the last extended weekend ..a long awaited trip...nature at its best..

on the cleaning front...since my lil boy will be coming next week..i cleaned up all the bathrooms/taps/sink etc and also the utility area which is the least bothered area in my house ...and my DS wardrobe and room...
Need to clean all the combs..maybe by tomorrow will do that.
THinkin of buying him some new toy..
cant wait to go to chennai and bring him back ..

Just wanted to ask:
WHat do you guys use for air freshness in bathrooms ...odonil?? anything else?? any other good brand??
I really never felt the smell with odonil..just that it gets over every 2 weeks and i spend buying it..so wanted to check with you guys..

@shanvy mam,
I also have plastic buckets with plastic handle(blue color) but they all become white color with all the salt deposits..is there any way to clean them and bring them back to original colors? i tried scrubbing but dint help..so wanted to check with you..

 

Hello friends,

Nice to see all updates.

Hi OTTB,

WOW... You proved that even a shelfless kitchen can be made into a userfriendly one.

Because of my husband's frequent transfers all over India i too faced similar situations. Once in Rajasthan remote village, i got a plain skeleton room as a kitchen, just four walls and a floor, no shelves and even no counter top to keep my stove. At the beginning it was very difficult but i couldnt express my difficulty because i only was adament to shift over there with dh and i got adjusted to that hard life of sitting on the floor and cooking which i cant even imagine now. Young kids had to go to Hindi medium school and at home both were taught Central Board syllabus by me. I learnt a lot from those efficient, enthusiastic ladies like Rajasthani cusine, mehandi etc., Managing home and kids were really challenging for me those days. But i enjoyed my days there. After two years again dh transferred to another remote village but i decided to stay in a nearby big city where we got a triangular shaped kitchen with a very small counter top atleast and shelf was outside the kitchen in a passage and i was always running between the stove and the shelf which was my only exercise then. Kids in Central Board and they had a golden opportunity to learn Hindustani Vocal and Tabla from a very talented master.

After seeing OOTB's arrangement in a shelfless kitchen, just i can't stop myself and shared.

Hi Pavitra,

Making use of even 5, 10 minutes....great.

Hi manju,

Hope you had a very great time in concerts and also with your relatives.

Hi Latha,

Congrats that your house warming date fixed. You have enough time. All these years of my marriage i have seen many shiftings-both local and national. I too start packing well in advance and do it stage by stage so that the routine of the other family members will not get disturbed. I never allow packers to touch. I always start with the huge collection of kids' books. I label each and every carton with a code like K1, K2...for kitchen items, B1, B2...for bed room things... and when unloading i instruct the men to keep all the boxes labelled Ks in the kitchen, all Bs in the bedrooms and so on. And in my diary or notepad i note down which items are packed in which box. If i need to take out any important item for the kids or for dh they themselves can trace the box seeing the diary, because i cant set right the home overnight. Each and every shifting is a memorable experience (both good and bad) for us.

Happy packing.

Hi Jeni,

Take care of your health.

Lakshmi.

 

Hey, even I haven't felt the smell of odonil, except on the first day of opening it. These days I am using 'Glade - Touch and fresh'. i am very happy with it. Comes for about 20-25 days with 5-6 sprays per day. Refills are available for Rs.60. The starter pack comes with a refill and the kit cost about Rs.90 I think.

My mother has used this particular one and swears by it. She puts a few drops of floor cleaning acid. Adds in a little water and scrubs with a regular scrubber. The buckets come out like new ones. Do try it out

 

Dear Lakshmi,

Those ideas are from bhg I've tried following few and work great for me since with a hyperactive toddler at home, I can barely spend 5-10 minutes. Hardly finding time to clean.

All I do in these 5-10 minutes is, pick up his toys when he falls asleep in the night. Put all the vessels that have been brought out from the kitchen by him back to the kitchen. I have forgotten what full fledged cleaning is. Probably once I put him in playgroup, I shall find some solid time to clean around at home.

 

Lakshmi,

Thanks for your wishes.

Only 4 walls and a floor??....you have a lot of experience in shifting. Till we get our own house, I too had several shifting experiences. I did things the same way you did. I instruct people to keep in the rooms as per my carton label, this way it helped me a lot to do unpacking and organizing. Now I have decided to fix packers coz, I have more hectic schedules after shifting. I have to do the parlour inauguration parallely. I have no idea to keep a maid too. All my prayer is now, to give me a healthiest New Year, to manage everything by self.

 

Pavitra,

Enjoy your young mommy moments now. Decluttering and rearranging your home can wait.
There is simply nothing more wonderful than watching your kid grow.

Latha,

While planning, give importance to your health also. Dont strain too much. In between take a break to re energise yourself. Apart from packing and parlour work you have to plan for grahapravesa function too i suppose. Take care. May God bless you with wonderful time ahead.

==============

Today i finished all my routine in time. Prepared dinner in the afternoon itself. Visited dh's athai who is 94 and had a hip dislocation. Poor lady. After coming home reheated and finished dinner, cleaned the kitchen and kept everything ready for tomorrow morning.

Lakshmi.

 

Dear Friends
Today did work on pantry and one big shelf in the kitchen. I do this on a routine basis. But today while doing it I thought of all the ladies here!