As a working mother who has to pack lunch and kid off to school before heading off to work at 8 am, mornings are meant to run like clock-work.
I don't have live-in domestic help; I depend on someone who comes in at 6am and is out for the day before I leave. Therefore it is big-time crisis hour if the 6 am domestic help doesn't show up (or shows up late). I've tried various permutations -- outsource *all* domestic work, *minimal* domestic work, *no* domestic work (that lasted for two days ;-)), and finally non-critical-path domestic work. After experimenting with these various outsourcing models and domestics -- 5 in the last 8 months at the last count ;-), I present my "learning" ;-).
Do ensure:
*> All boxes needed to pack lunch/snacks are ready to be used -- I now have TWO of every kind of box I need. Including water bottles. So even if the help doesn't turn up to wash the previous days' vessels, I still have a fresh set to use.
*> All vessels needed to cook lunch are ready to be used -- I make sure I wash and keep the rolling pin, tawa, chakla, and any other vessel I need the previous night itself.
*> Whatever is needed to cook lunch is readily available -- dough for the chappatis, vegetables chopped and ready to be cooked. I do the dough the previous night and also chop and keep the hard-to-cut veggies beforehand.
Do not clutter the morning with tasks that can be done later. For example, I run my washing machine in the evening. The corollary is that I end up hanging out/folding clothes myself -- but atleast I am not "stranded" with a damp wash load to deal with at 7.30 am.
And of course, if the help is AWOL, do not attempt to do ANY of the work that is done by her in the morning. Yes, I know, evening (or in my case, afternoon) will be hell, but it's worth having a peaceful stress-free morning :-)
Update: A friend suggested I title this post "Domestic Crisis Management" because "in the morning even a small issue is dramatic" ;-).
I don't have live-in domestic help; I depend on someone who comes in at 6am and is out for the day before I leave. Therefore it is big-time crisis hour if the 6 am domestic help doesn't show up (or shows up late). I've tried various permutations -- outsource *all* domestic work, *minimal* domestic work, *no* domestic work (that lasted for two days ;-)), and finally non-critical-path domestic work. After experimenting with these various outsourcing models and domestics -- 5 in the last 8 months at the last count ;-), I present my "learning" ;-).
Do ensure:
*> All boxes needed to pack lunch/snacks are ready to be used -- I now have TWO of every kind of box I need. Including water bottles. So even if the help doesn't turn up to wash the previous days' vessels, I still have a fresh set to use.
*> All vessels needed to cook lunch are ready to be used -- I make sure I wash and keep the rolling pin, tawa, chakla, and any other vessel I need the previous night itself.
*> Whatever is needed to cook lunch is readily available -- dough for the chappatis, vegetables chopped and ready to be cooked. I do the dough the previous night and also chop and keep the hard-to-cut veggies beforehand.
Do not clutter the morning with tasks that can be done later. For example, I run my washing machine in the evening. The corollary is that I end up hanging out/folding clothes myself -- but atleast I am not "stranded" with a damp wash load to deal with at 7.30 am.
And of course, if the help is AWOL, do not attempt to do ANY of the work that is done by her in the morning. Yes, I know, evening (or in my case, afternoon) will be hell, but it's worth having a peaceful stress-free morning :-)
Update: A friend suggested I title this post "Domestic Crisis Management" because "in the morning even a small issue is dramatic" ;-).
Kudos to you for getting all of that done..
ReplyDeleteWhen I was living away from home and working, eating breakfast before running to work was a luxury.. amazed at how much people can achieve when they have to!
Yep!!! I feel we are more efficient when there is a time constraint. I usually do more on my busy days than on days when Iam relatively free. I think, when we know we have time we tend to put off the work, but not when we are any way on the move
ReplyDelete