With the live in maid being absent from my house, I began to reorganize my house. First of my many tasks was to arrange for part time maids to come twice weekly which I have done and they have started working two weeks ago. Then I began to check the entire house and reorganize.
First was to get rid of all the accumulated junks. You wouldn’t believe what had been in stored in the kitchen area. I collected plastic disposable containers, dirty black wiping clothes, plastics, etc to dispose. This was about 4 to 5 garbage bags. Next, I checked all the kitchen cabinets and take out all those handy tools for my ease of usage and rearranged them.
I chucked out all the broken ladles, spoon, and containers, and bought new ones to replace. I reorganized my children milk making facilities and bottles and nipples storage, decommissioned the bottle steamer/sterilizer which had actually not worked properly anymore.
Next I checked all the wardrobes, mine and my chlldren’s, and isolated all unused, old and torn garments and put in 1 big garbage bag to throw. I found that some of my children’s clothing which were still good but had not been used because they were buried deep behind in the drawers. So I begin to sort them out. I have still more work to do in this area to organize the clothing.
I also bought more brooms, replaced mops and other house cleaning detergents and facilities. Some of the existing ones are really in bad conditions and dirty and I couldn’t imagined these were used to clean my home before.
Next I am going to replace the iron. We have two irons at home, I found one was mechanically dented and the other one had a surface so black I am afraid it will transfer to the clothing. I have to replace the ironing board too.
I have more work to do and more garbage to dispose. I have to do it once and then it is a matter of maintenance.
The cooking and meals preparing also becomes easier as I don’t have to consider the maid’s appetite and food stuff anymore. My husband and I and children just eat simple meals like pasta and sandwiches and sometimes heavier food like rice.
I began to teach my childten to eat at the dinner table instead of upstairs in front of the TV and Fatini has tidied up my vanity desk a few times because she knew the maid is no lonher around. The children are encouraged to clean up their toys by singing the Barney song (“clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere!. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share…. “) to clean up the mess thay have made which they found it fun to do.
And guess what? All of a sudden I feel like I am in control. Ya lah, all these while I really couldn’t be bothered to check our belongings, or children’s and husband’s clothing. I didn’t really identify with my husband’s shirts and pants except those I hand washed. Now that I started to iron them and therefore start to recognize the shirts and learn their conditions.
This month had been busy (not to mention it being HariRaya month) and I am readjusting to life without live in maid. It’s not that bad. It’s going to be difficult in the beginning not because the maid is not there but because i need to know where things are and so on. I have started to feel the easy part coming as I started to adjust to the new routine and found a deep profound happiness of knowing my own home.
