Time management - cooking, cleaning, and exercise

girvani · Dec 7, 2013

Dear all,

glad to hear all is well at your ends. My week has gone pretty smoothly. I have managed to do some physical exercise all of five days during the week. Thank you for having the office at 13th floor and your advices. Weekend was not for me. Completely dedicated to my boys. But having said that I have managed to walk briskly fir 15 mins around the compound. Looking forward to my new week!!
lovely Sunday to you all,
Vani

veeramachaneni · Dec 8, 2013

Hi Vani - Nice to hear that you are able to stick to your exercise Routine all 5 days during the week. Good Job and enjoy your weekend.

My Updates :

Today is very productive for me. I woke up little late DH and DD went to paneera and got me BF before I got up. They both are awake super early I guess

After BF I took shower did pooja and started my Laundry session. Almost till 3 I was loading and folding and putting them away. Thanks to DD. She managed spill daal on 3 comforters that I just washed and folded. I had to re do those again.

I cooked Lunch. Fed DD made her go to bed and I started organizing and cleaning the Kitchen.

I tried many ways to organize my idli plates and I was not very happy with my previous attempts. This time I tried putting them in the dish drying rack and it was awesome. I really liked the way they fitted and occupied very less space.

I kept my mini idli plates on the back and regular idli plates on the front.

Just wanted to share with you all.

After that I went to DD's room and Separated all the clothes she has out grown. Did the same to her shoes as well.

Tomorrow I am going to count all her clothing and Buy if she needed more clothes.

I Organized my closet as well. Although I took out most of the clothes that I am not wearing it still looks a lot to me. It can be arranged better. But I made some Progress today.

Ironed some DH's Shirts. Cleaned Kitchen counters and Laundry room.

Loaded Dish washer and hand washed some of the dishes.

I added some of the items to my Recipe Book (Not my own recipes but recipes from every one but I am adding the ones that I tried and Liked by me and DH, DD)

watched a movie with DH (Parental Guidance on Netflix ) and we both liked it

Hi Kamala, Mahesaran, Manju, Sound Vijay, Abhigail, Pushpa - Hello to Everyone.

Good Night.

pushpaprashanth · Dec 9, 2013

Dear Ladies, So many thanks for all your tips. I will surely follow all these and keep you posted on how it went Thanks again!

veeramachaneni · Dec 9, 2013

Hello everyone - Hope you all are doing Good.

My Updates : Today I woke up had coffee Took shower and cleaned the bath stall after I am done.

did Pooja and had my Break Fast (Made Dosa)

After that I buffed kitchen counters with Granite cleaner

Vacuumed upstairs and downstairs. Cleaned the wood floor with cleaner.

Had lunch with yesterday's left overs.

Took a small nap after that we went to our Neighbors home they invited us for snacks.

We spent an hr there and came back. I sent DH and DD out side with a list of groceries.

I started cooking Food.

I made Methi Daal , Beet Root Fry , Macoroni and Cheese.

I cut Bhendi for tomorrow.

I loaded one last batch of clothes for today.

Boiled milk to make yogurt,

Loaded dishes in the dishwasher.

Cleaned inside / out side of fridge , Dish washer, Microwave , Oven.

I am going to re Organize some shelf's in the kitchen (May be tomorrow). I feel so Good about this weekend.

Things are going the way I have Planned.

On 12th DH's grand Mom is coming. She is a very nice women with lots of cooking skills. (My Mother in law also cooks very well) Some times I feel very inferior cooking for them although they don't say anything bad.

So Paranoid me Made a Menu 3 weeks ahead and cooked all the food in that menu already that I am going to make from 12th and it came out well. Hope everything goes well.

I really want to make her stay as much pleasant as I can. She is staying only for a week.

mahesaran · Dec 9, 2013

Hi all, my weekend went well with cooking, shopping and hand washed whites.
spend some good time with ds other than studies.

hi PriyA, nice arrangements of plates... Really you are doing a lot of work in weekend. Nice that you will have your grand mom at your place. Enjoy these days and if possible learn some traditional cooking.
hi pushpa , nice you liked our ideas..
Hi Vani, nice that you spending time with your kids..

smilysmile · Dec 9, 2013

Hello all,

Just now finished reading about many posts on a overwhelmed mom as I realized Iam one.

Found few practical advice ,for instance,regarding limiting extracurriculars for kids.I felt it is enriching for kids,but I had no time to do basic stuff at home.

A disorganized house is very stressful

So planning to minimize so they can play and have more unstructured time and less juggling for me.

I shall start picking up things now.

I shall read all the posts I missed but first I shall go ahead and do the clean up

Bye all .

kkrish · Dec 9, 2013

Hi Shara
How is your move? Trust you are ready and packed. With two young children I can understand the confusion.
Hi Mahesh
The idea of this thread is not to get overwhelmed by housework.
That is why I used the Fly Lady’s approach.
Take one area/room every week and do a little every day. Although the flylady suggests 15 minutes I usually go with one area. For example I organize one shelf or iron 5 pieces clothes. That kind of target works better for me and gives me more sense of satisfaction.
Hello Abigail
How are you? Nice to read your son enjoys school. That is important. Best wishes on the decluttering. Let’s be declutter buddies.
Hi Anupama
So where have you planned your vacation? Italy, Spain?
Hello Girvani
How are you? Nice to read about your exercise regimen. Good going girl! Keep it up.
Hi Manju
As always it is wonderful to read your updates. It feels like we come to your home and stay with you and share your days.
Best wishes to your son. He will certainly come out in flying colors and make you proud!
You leg pain is worrying me. Hope you find relief soon. One thing is for sure – we both are such good friends we have leg pain.
Hi Sound
How are you? I am sure you are relaxed now and enjoying time at home.
Hi Priya
My son was saying something is different about the room. He never registered the décor before. Only when I told him about the pink curtains he realized that earlier it was blue!

Your preparation for your guest is so good I have nothing much to add. Manju’s tip is also good.

My only suggestion is keep some snacks - sweet and savory, and some fresh fruits – apples oranges, bananas - handy. They will help in between meals if someone wants to munch on something.

I like your organizing of the idli plates. I keep the idli plates in the idli maker itself.

Enjoy your time with grand mom. My m-i-l was an excellent cook too. She cooked with love and that was the first thing I learnt from her.

Hi Pushpa
Welcome. As suggested by others do go through this thread, especially the first hundred posts at least. Using the sticky thread with links will be easier to get to specific subjects.
I can understand your tiredness if you have to work after a long day at office too.

First try to identify where you time goes. To do this write down how you spend time every hour from the time you get up to the time you go to bed, every day, even weekends. Write down your commute time too.

You will be able to see where your spend time and if you can reduce unwanted activities.

Also check with your doctor if your tiredness continues to get some iron or vitamin supplements.

Of course, if you still need some suggestions do share it here and any one here will be able to share from their experience.
Hello Smilysmile
I love your username. That’s the spirit girl.
Believe me, even now I have a niggling doubt if I was/am a good mom; if I did the right things the way I brought up my children. Fortunately, common sense does strike me some times and I realize and accept the fact that I am only human and so are my children. We cannot be perfect. So don’t worry or be overwhelmed.

Thanks for acknowledging my earlier post on being relaxed with the extracurricular activities for children. Surely encourage their talents but know the limits – yours and theirs.
As for structuring your time, the first step is the same as I mentioned for Pushpa.
Do not write the "To Do" list the first time itself.

First identify where and how you spend your time. Write down each hour or by each task and how long each one takes.

Writing helps us see clearly and de-clutters our brain.

Then write down how important that time/task is for you. For example, I always have my cup of coffee with my husband every evening after work and watch the recorded serials. I spend up to 1 hour. But this is the best time of the day for me and helps me unwind. We chat about many things – from outer space to philosophy.

Write down how you can utilize every hour.

Then write all the tasks for the day and when you can do it. I worked backwards and that is where fly lady came in.

The first step I took is to clean my sink every night and then my kitchen – every night.

Then I started room by room – one every week. With no young children this worked for me – you may need to make little adjustments.

Now my target is to keep one full day work free. That way I won’t feel I am slogging 365/24/7.

Also I threw in two main ingredients – I began to love what I did, and used physical power to make plain work a calorie burning workout.

So, go on girl! Just do it!
Best wishes.
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My updates
We had so much food pre- and post- Thanksgiving that after the children left we had just light meals – mostly leftovers.
Saturday went for my weekly shopping and bought vegetables, and milk.
Sunday -
Cooking –

Baked an orange-date cake with recipe from the Costco cookbook. Came out well. Planning to bake some cookies in the coming weeks.

Made idlis for b-fast, soup and toast for lunch and Dhal w/Aalu-gobi roast for dinner.

Trimmed the banana flowerettes, amaranth greens, mint leaves.

Slowed cooked Tuvar dhal, separated into small portions and froze the packets.

Cooked some Kabuli channa – refrigerated it.

Cleaning –

Washed two batches of clothes – one mine and one my husband’s. Folded the clothes and put them away. Ironed a few clothes and put out my clothes for my work week.

Exercise – Haha!
*********************************
Below are some pictures to demonstrate corralling:Advantages – takes up little space, lessens chances of falling over, can be accessed easily and quickly. All time savers.

The first picture is corralling of appliances. Here it is the mixing bowl. I don’t have to search every time I use this.

The second set is corralling of ingredients used in baking – which I do very rarely.

Before:

After

kkrish · Dec 9, 2013

The third set is corralling Indian spices.

smilysmile · Dec 9, 2013

Dear Kamala Ma'am,

Thank you so much for your supportive and encouraging words.I had been a member in this thread for some time long back.

I love to start from baby steps again. Iam also a great fan of FlyLady.But this thread is a great motivator for me even more than FlyLady.

I like the way you give very detailed posts with lots of wisdom which we can gain only from a good friend or Mom.

I like your Corralling.I did the same to my baking supplies in a plastic box.Coffee,tea ,Boost etc go to another box,Puja stuff Dhoop stick,Camphor ,Chandan etc belong to a different box.I have family memebers with food sensitivies ,so I store their supplies in another box.

I didn't know the term Corralling.I simply copied the concept from an Organized book from Fedex .By the way I like the collection at Fedex,few books with practical advice.

Iam more motivated to do it as I feel this concept is tested by you,the Senior member of this thread.

Have a nice day .

mahesaran · Dec 10, 2013

Hi all, sorry for this long post. Just i listed out the things i did yesterday. From evening to today's morning i am recalling what i did yesterday. Don't worry kind of post is only for today. From tomorrow onwards i will post neatly. Just to recall myself and i am happy i finished all the planned work yesterday
Monday:

5:30 -7:00

prepared idli with coconut chutney
Packed poliyugare, veg and fruit salad, jeera water
Pressed the uniform
cut the veggies for my bf

7:00-7:45
watched cookery show for 5 min
Washed the wash basin
Took head bath
packed rice and fruits with water bottle for ds

7:45 left the home to drop ds
Came back by 8

8-8:30
Did pooja
Prepared rice upma for myself
Roasted the things for chutney powder and jeera

8:30 - 10:00
Gave dress for pressing,Visited temples
Extended my walk to buy milk(up and down 2 km)
Bought flowers coming back

10:00 - 11:15
Had bf while watching tv
Surfed the net and updated IL while soaking my foot in salt water
Talked to mother

11:15 -12:15
Cleaned the induction stove, mixer, kitchen counter, vessels, kitchen tiles , gas stove, zinc
cut bhendi and mushroom
prepared chutney powder and jeera powder.

12:15 -1:00
Prepared mushroom -bhendi gravy, channa dal sundal for lunch as well as dinner
Corrected the bed and folded the blanket(was little late , normally i will do before bathing)

1:00 - 1:30
took rest and watched a cookery show

1:30 had my lunch

1:45 - 2:45
Arranged the home, swept and hand mopped the whole house

2:45 - 3:00 Again rest
3:00 Prepared green tea and applied Vaseline for the foot and hand because of dryness.
3:10-3:45: brisk walk around the bus stopping
3:45- 3:55 chatted with a friend in the stopping

After coming home gave food to ds and talked with ds about the class

4:10 - 4:45 Total body workout
4:45 -5:00 took rest
5:00-6:00 boiled milk , boiled water for drinking, Had fruits and prepared tea for me amd pediasure for ds. Searched one book. because of that , arranged 1/2 self of ds
6:00 prepared the chapatti dough,gave snacks to hubby
6:30 to 7:30 went for shopping, bought medicines and also pressed dress from the laundry.
7-8:45 prepared pulka, had dinner after dinner cleaned the kitchen counter, vessels, gas stove, lunch boxes, water bottles, soaked the veggies in salt water and after arranging the dried vessels in the shelves cut the veggies for today's cooking.
Gave milk to hubby, fermented the milk, polished the white shoes
8:45 Pressed the uniforms for this week
upto 9:30 read one book, applied moisturizer and wore shocks
(tried for the first time as a winter tips)

This was my busy day.

Hi KK mam. nice to see all your kitchen corralling. Thanks for your reply.Orange and date cake ...hmmm. sound yummy.Today i planned to clean the second room. But i have discomfort in my left feet. So postponed it to tomorrow.