Sometimes life gets too busy that the only peaceful time you get is in the toilet. This blog idea comes straight from there.
Make your kitchen and your home smart by using some smart techniques and replacing the hard work by the smart work. Don’t just manage things!
Become a leader in your house by using these simple tips.
Tips for all the busy homemakers to increase efficiency in kitchen and at home.
Tools:
The purpose of any tool is to make life easy and simple. By tools I mean all the tools used in the kitchen. Let me say it the other way, the most commonly used tool in your kitchen is your knife. Make sure it is always sharpened. A well sharpened knife promises smooth cooking process.
Abraham Lincon said: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
Imagine a woodcutter who doesn’t sharpen the axe often. That diverts me to a motivational woodcutter story often quoted by leaders and gurus. Read it here (http://academictips.org/blogs/the-story-of-a-woodcutter/). Invest in a portable knife sharpener. A well sharpened knife promises hassle free cooking.
Scissors are also very important tool. Always keep a scissor handy in your kitchen.
Kitchen cleaning cloth, a clean towel, kitchen tissues, etc, be equipped with your tools at all times.
Automate: Try to bring some amount of automation to all the monotonous daily chores. It sounds like a big word, but things as simple as getting into habit of making notes can reduce lot on your time. Let’s start with the kitchen pantry. As soon as you open the packet, note it down. Buy it in your next grocery shopping. This way you will never run out of anything at any time. Remember the feeling when you find out that you have run out of salt just before cooking? Aghhhhhh!!!
Take the help of technology and little bit of process inclusion for automation
Technology: Use online cloud based notes to make your notes and it will be available to you on all your devices. I use Evernote a lot. It comes free for two devices. You can also save your favorite recipe on it. Technology helps to save our time. Chores like grocery shopping can be done online. Make all your bill payments online. Use the calendar and reminder option in your phone to its best for scheduling the processes as mentioned below.
Processes: Create processes for recurring tasks. Write a list and classify your chores into daily, Weekly and monthly tasks. For example, change of bedsheets once in a week, fan cleaning once in a month, store room cleaning once in every two months. Daily activities like emptying the trash can at 9am, watering the plants at 8am. Once the list is ready put them and schedule them in your calendar. Later analyze what all work can be pushed out of your plate and passed on to other members of the family. This way every family member has a part to play and remain connected to the household activity.
Planning:
Planning works in every field of life, not just at work. With a little bit of daily planning your life can be stress free. Planning the menu, a day ahead of your cooking or preparing a weekly menu list can save daily time in thinking what to cook. Teach your children to plan a day ahead and keep their school uniforms, bags, etc. ready. Plan to put the kids to bed 15 mins early every day so they wake up all fresh the next day morning. Plan to sleep early yourself and wake up early. Those 15 mins of your quiet early morning time is totally incomparable.
Time: We crib about how the life is moving fast and there is no time for ourselves. Reduce your time wastage during the day. TV time is the most useless time of the day. Cut it short. Don’t become a couch potato or else we start looking like one. Instead listen to the music, dance on a song (works as exercise also) or read a book. Phone a friend and gossip! very important part of our life but make sure to keep it time bound so that it does not hijack other important activities during the day.
Delegate: Don’t hesitate to use the help available. Involve your children and spouse in helping you at home. Minor chores like putting and removing the dishes from the table, doing laundry, or helping you in managing inventory can be easily delegated.
Outsource: Yes, very simple, hire a maid and outsource what all you can to your house help. Paying little money here can give you a tremendous peace of mind. If you have already created a list of daily, weekly and monthly chores and scheduled it on your calendar, guiding your maid becomes easy.
Make Notes:
Be Honest! you cannot just remember everything specially when there is already lots on your mind. Get into the habit of making notes. Make sure you maintain small notes for your daily to do list and kitchen activities. Use your smart phones. Sometimes things as simple and innovative as sticky notes help a lot. The best place to put them is on the fridge. It saves space and push everything out of your head to the black and white right in front of your eyes every day.
Declutter:
Make sure you don’t pile things in your house. Move towards minimalistic life. Keep clutter out of your home and out of your life. Items that you haven’t used in the past 2 years, chances are you will never use them. Things in your store room that haven’t come out in past few years means they are junk. Get rid of them.
To know how to declutter and increase your efficiency and decrease stress, read more.
Smart Look:
Buy the kitchen containers which are stackable and maximizes space. Label all your containers with the content inside it. Make sure all your food and grocery items has a container allocated to it. Similarly, give a smart look to your wardrobes by investing some time in organizing it better.
If we plan and manage better, a lot of difficult and complicated things becomes easy going. We reduce our stress to tremendous level. Less stress ensures better relationship with your family and most importantly with yourself.
Love yourself and stay happy!
TroublesomeTwo 