Maintaining a home is hard work!

This is not news to anyone, but maintaining a home is hard work! I find it is especially difficult to keep up with housework when working full time and dealing with long commutes. If only I didn't need to sleep!

When we first moved into our new place, my first priority was settling in, getting furniture and finding a place for everything. I'm still not completely happy with the way the kitchen is organized and the basement is still a mess because we're using it as a storage/staging area. There is still too much clutter on the small table in the dining room and the office needs reorganizing as well. A house's work is never done.

Eventually, big projects aside, I settled into a more regular cleaning routine. At first, I was too ambitious and if I did everything on my checklist every day, I would have no time to sit down or relax. So I started spacing tasks out more. After all, do I really need to dust the whole house every other day? I also took the advice of Scrooge McDuck to "work smarter, not harder!"

Here are some things I've started doing that I find beneficial:

1. When I am about to use the tub or sink, I first spray a vinegar spray on the surfaces and let it sit for a few minutes. Then when I brush my teeth or shower, I wipe down the sprayed surfaces with a cloth. This allows me to keep the bathroom presentable all the times.

2. Washing and prepping veggies on Sunday saves me lots of time on weeknights. Prepped veggies means I can come home, heat up the wok and toss the food in right way and start cooking. It definitely saves a lot of time!

3. Hubby and I used to waste a lot of food, though we certainly don't mean to. Planning out meals is a great way to avoid wasting food. When I know what I'll be making, I can have a more efficient shopping trip, buying only what I need that week. Not only am I saving money, but time as well.

4. Shopping at the supermarket is a horrible experience, unless I go late. During peak hours, the place is so crowded that I can bare move 2 feet before having to stop and wait for someone else to get out of my way. Either that or I'm the one in someone's way. Going late avoids the crowds and allows for a much more pleasant experience. I can actually take time to focus on what I'm buying, rather than fuming at the old lady pushing her cart into me.

5. Getting stuff delivered can be a good thing! I have stuff delivered to the house all the time. At times I feel guilty about all the shipping, gas and cardboard boxes that I'm using up, but the bottom line is, I simply don't have the time to devote to going to all the different places that have the things I need. Some places have what I need, but are not of good quality. I am lucky enough that I can get most of my daily needs delivered right to my door - from groceries, to pet supplies to air mattresses. I like buying certain things in bulk, and not having to lug a year's worth of sugar across several blocks is a good thing!

6. Freezer meals are great! Some days when I come home, I really don't want to touch the stove. I just want to pop something into the microwave or oven and voila! Food is on the table! Every so often, I'll make a big batch of tomato sauce, veggie soup, lasagna, pumpkin pie or chickpea patties. We'll eat some and freeze the rest. The night before I plan to eat it, I take it out of the freezer and put it into the fridge. If it's not fully defrosted by the time I come home, I stick it in the microwave. I like freezing my food in single serving portions inside of freezer and oven safe containers that come with covers. For instance, I bake the lasagna in an oven and freezer safe container. When it cools, it goes into the freezer. Later, it gets defrosted in the fridge and when I come home to eat it, I warm it up in the oven. I love functional containers!

7. Doing a few chores every day means feeling less overwhelmed on the weekends. In the beginning, I tried to do all my chores on weekends, which meant for very busy weekends! Often, I either didn't finish or just got frustrated with all the work I was making myself do. These days, I find that if I quickly clean areas during the week, I don't have to do them during the weekend, which saves me a great deal of frustration and keeps the house clean. Some people recommend setting a timer for 15 minutes and just do as much as you can until the timer is up. What works for me is a list of tasks for each day and checking them off when I get home. Daily tasks include wiping down the dining table after eating, wiping down the kitchen countertops and stoves, and loading and unloading the dishwasher. Every other day, I dust, check and water the plants, and add to the mini compost tumbler. Ideally, I should also sweep and mop the kitchen and dining room floors, but I just can't get my energy up enough to manage that. Cleaning the floors remain a weekend task

So that's all I got for now! Later!