Tag: routines

The Secret To Staying On Top Of Homemaking
Today’s fast and furious life has made staying on top of homemaking harder.

Relax, there’s a better way!

Juggling between work, home, and family is a challenging job. Full of ups and downs. Some days you’re more productive, you — rest well, spend good alone time, eat a healthy breakfast, and make sure everything goes as per plan. Other days are about rushing the soccer day, running errands, or doing church activities.

One day you’re out for a cause and your house is intolerable. What if you have side hustles or have to be out a few times a week – can you live in your house?

Will you have something in place to feed your kids when they get home from school/activities? Can you cook today’s meal on top of the mess from the previous night? Will you have a clean pair of work clothes in your closet? Could you find things easily before leaving for the office?

This is how things spiral out of control.

If you’re planning to attend an event, without prioritizing and getting your daily-havetos done, thinking you’ll get to it later, you’re setting up yourself for bigger and worsened chaos when you get home.

How do we get everyone on board?

What’s the secret, the magical potion to stay on top of homemaking regardless of whether or not you’re a working mom.

THE SECRET TO STAYING ON TOP OF HOMEMAKING

And the secret is:

— GETTING YOUR NON-NEGOTIABLE TASKS DONE AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR DAY.

What are the non-negotiable tasks?

There are a few household tasks that can directly affect our day-to-day living.

Like, you cannot cook in a messy kitchen. This makes dishwashing & tidying a non-negotiable task.

The dirty washing is all over the place because your washer and laundry basket are flooded with the older washing or there are still clothes in the dryer — making laundry a daily-haveto task.

Everyone will have their own set of non-negotiable tasks. These tasks won’t make your home super clean but homey. And put you at ease knowing that your most significant tasks of the day are done.

Keeping up with your daily havetos will ensure — you have a clean kitchen and living space, a fresh pair of clothes, and everything in place, readily available.

Related:

One Simple Trick That’ll Transform Your Homekeeping

5 Ways To Make Your Home A Haven

As for me, the daily-havetos are having dinner made, breakfast wiped, house picked, and floors swept. I can still manage to give laundry a miss for a day or two.

So, in case I get an unexpected call from my friends, parents, or in-laws asking me to accompany them somewhere, important or casual:

I’ll take 30-35 minutes before I leave to quickly throw some rice, and veggies into the pressure cooker (10-15 minutes).

My lifesaving one-pot meal recipe. Super healthy and tastes delicious!

Speedily clean the dishes and counters (10 minutes).

Do a quick pickup (5 minutes).

And sweep the floors real quick (5 minutes).

I cannot tell you how rewarding it is to return to an orderly home with a meal ready to satiate your hunger.

You guys, try it and let me know. You’re going to love it, I promise.

Steps to do this:
- Jot down 4 of your non-negotiable tasks in the order of their prominence. Duties that have the biggest, most prompt impact on your house. These tasks would have your home functioning smoothly as well as allow you to slow down and relax.
- Every day, try to get these 4 tasks done in the first one or two hours of your day. Remember, these are your daily-havetos, so learn to do them quickly and well.
- Identify how much time it takes to get your non-negotiable tasks done. And allot that much time to those tasks only. In between, avoid any deep cleaning and ignore all the messes no matter how noticeable they are. For the moment, focus on your non-negotiable tasks only.
- Include a 5-minute pickup for the widely-used parts of your home to achieve remarkable results.
With a planned outing or an unexpected one, while having someone over; on your office day off, on a sick day, or working outside or at home, in all instances — make sure to get your non-negotiable tasks done. And you’ll be well on your way to staying on top of homemaking.

Final words:

With this one secret, you can succeed in staying on top of your homemaking like never before. Yes, even on a busy day, regardless of how crazy life is. Accomplishing your daily-havetos will maintain your home between the deep cleaning sessions and keep it presentable and guest-ready.

Thank you so much for reading. Happy Homekeeping!

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December 3, 2020
Super Easy DIY Manicure & Pedicure Tips For Beautiful Hands & Feet
The happiest girls always have the prettiest nails – Tammy Taylor

Every woman dreams of pretty hands and feet. And, why shouldn’t we, for our hands and feet be spotted quite often? There are two groups of women though.

Group one always looks like they just stepped out of a nail salon, and group two, who are unable to remove even a worn-off nail paint. Nothing can be unimpressive like chipped nails, dry hands, or cracked feet.

On the other side, clean hands and feet, even with simple coats of nail paint, can raise internal positiveness beyond the outer look. It is an indication of self-love.

The skin on our hands and feet is exposed to sun rays, dirt, pollution as much as our facial skin, and so, it demands attention equivalently.

As we saw in our Super Simple Skincare Routine article, how we can maintain a bright and healthy complexion with little effort here and there, similar results can be achieved, at home, for hands and feet if you don’t want to spend a fortune at the salons.

(P.S.- I am not a skincare expert. I’ve been following these tips for the last year and the outcomes are wonderful. You can talk to your skincare consultant before following these steps.)

Super Easy Manicure-Pedicure Tips for Beautiful Hands & Feet

To follow these steps you’ll have to get your pedicure essential tool kit ready. You can buy one or individualize using helpful items such as:
- Face Cloths
- Scrub/exfoliator
- Brightening pack
- Pumice stone
- Nail Brush
- Orange stick
- Nail trimmer
- Nail filer
- Cuticle pusher
- Cuticle oil/cream
- Basecoat
- Nail Paints
- Topcoat
- Body butter/lotion
Super Easy Manicure-Pedicure Tips for Beautiful Hands & Feet

Prep up

Remove previously applied nail polish, if any. Trim the nails as per the length and file them into the shape of your choice. There are some general nail-shapes like round, oval, square, almond, squoval and then there are also trendy ones like a stiletto, coffin, pointe shoe nails, etc., Here’s a detailed article from cosmopolitan.com about Your Definitive Guide to Every Type of Nail Shape

Image by Iva Balk from Pixabay

Soak

Lay a medium size towel on the floor. Place a bowl filled with warm water on it (the bowl should be large enough to place your hands/feet). Put some shower gel into the water and soak your hands or feet (in case of a pedicure) in it for a good 5-10 minutes.

As a natural variant – add 1/4 cup of milk and some rose petals to the water to prepare a foot soak. This will be a great cuticle softener and will moisturize dry skin.

Related Topics:

7 Easy Ways To Look Put Together On A Budget

My Capsule Makeup Collection

Why I Love Wearing Minimal Makeup

Scrub

For the manicure, apply the body scrub to both the arms and massage them using light pressure.

Use a body scrub to exfoliate legs and feet and a pumice stone for the foot sole. A pumice stone works best if lathered up with a moisturizing gel/soap for rubbing the hardened areas of skin in a circular motion. Be gentle and do not rub vigorously or you’ll make the skin sore.

Lightly scrub finger/toenails with a nailbrush. Dip the hands/feet in water to wash the scrub off. This is the right time to clean underneath the nails with an orange stick. Push the cuticles back and pat dry your arms/feet.

Image by Rune Enstad on Unsplash

Apply a pack

Apply an anti-tanning pack, a regular mud pack, a brightening pack, or a moisturizing one according to the skin type and season, all over the arms and feet for 10-12 minutes. And wash it off with clean water.

Massage

This is a very important step in the process. Massage a generous amount of nourishing cream into the skin. Massaging stimulates blood circulation which gives the skin a healthy glow.

Now, if you have extra time here, I’ll strongly suggest wrapping your arms/feet in a food wrapper film (cling film) for 5-10 minutes. This will help the nourishing cream to seal moisture in the outer layer of the skin making it soft and supple.

Image by Anastasiia Ostapovych on Unsplash

Nail Enamel

The final and best part is the nail polish application. Wipe off the nails of any oil from the massage cream. Apply a base coat and let it dry first. Next, apply two-three thin coats of nail polish in short breaks (2-3 minutes), allowing each layer to dry out well to avoid smudging.

Once dry, apply the topcoat for the nail polish to last longer. Dip the nails in ice water for a couple of minutes to speed up the drying process. You can learn nail art designs online if you love trendy nails.

Image by www.picjumbo.com from Pixabay

Final Words

These manicure-pedicure steps should be followed once a month. In between, wax or shave for a neat appearance.

A face cloth with a little shower gel can be used for daily exfoliation. Change the nail paint weekly for a fresh and well-maintained look. On the flip side, make sure to give your nails a break from polish to give them some time to breathe. Nightly, using a rich moisturizer, almond, or coconut oil will be beneficial for deeper nourishment. Wear socks overnight for soft feet the following morning.

The hard work you go through during this process will be worthwhile when you see a rise in your confidence and when it looks beautiful.

Let me know in the comments section if I missed something. Are there any tips we can add to these manicure-pedicure steps? Thank you so much for reading

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June 4, 2019