This is a pic of the ice from my freezer after I finally got around to defrosting it.

Life is too short to do nothing but clean.

However we have to live in a safe, pleasant, hygienic environment and so clean we must.

Here are my tips on how to clean quicker and more efficiently:

Declutter your stuff
Once you’ve decluttered you automatically have 32% less to clean as there’s no dusting of trinkets, lifting things to dust underneath them, etc. Organise your home will help you get your entire home decluttered in no time.

Gather the troops
Every member of the household can and should participate. If there are 10 tasks to do daily and 2 people participate, the cleaning gets done quicker AND you’re teaching the kids valuable life lessons.

Remember it’s better to have the help than to have everything perfect. E.g. Don’t fuss about small things like the way the towels are folded. Better to have the help folding the laundry than to have perfectly folded towels

I will say that I do fold the towels in the guest bathroom so they’re pretty but if they’re out of sight, I don’t mind how they’re folded.

Make lists
It helps to clarify expectations when other people are participating.

Since we’re talking about laundry, let’s say once the laundry is dry, there are 4 steps left:

• take laundry off washing line
• putting clothes pegs in bag and into cupboard
• fold laundry
• clothes that don’t need ironing go straight to the respective bedrooms

When everyone understands this, there’s no more arguing because clothes are left all over the house.

Have routines
Routines set your household running like a well-oiled machine. If you do a load of laundry every day, you get better at it and it’s a quick job to load the machine and get it going every day.

Now, am I the only one who buys a new teflon non-stick pan every couple of months?

I swear I go through these like crazy.

Can you see the scratches?

Please share your favourite tips that make cleaning a breeze.

Do you like the new purple look? I felt like a change so I was playing around on Friday night! How do you guys with fancy blogs not feel like changing stuff? It’s like a handbag for me – I get the itch to try something new every now and again

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Well, we had to fire the new cleaning lady so we are back to square 1. The 3rd time she was here we went over everything AGAIN and again she assured us that she understands English and can read.

When we got home however, it felt like we hadn’t even had that talk – everything was done in a real slipshod way which is not acceptable to me. Cloths thrown into the sink, clothes just tossed into my neat and tidy wardrobe, etc.

So we told her that she need not come back this week.

Now the other lady is bringing us another person on Wednesday. I checked that this person can speak and read English, and that she cleans well. Dion says, “what do you expect her to say? Of course she’ll say she cleans well”. True but I had to ask, right?!

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We left this morning and it was gorgeous out – a beautiful Johannesburg day with a high of 27 degrees. Well, at about 2pm, it got dark very suddenly (those gorgeous grey skies that I love) and then started raining and has been absolutely POURING ever since.

Do you know what that means for Joburg traffic? My poor husband spent over 2 hours getting home (and he works just 20 km from home) and was drained!

Looking on the bright side – at least we have electricity! Yay – I can have tea

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Anywayyyy, here we go with this week’s menu:

Monday
Mince curry, rice and carrots (a nice curry is always perfect for cold and rainy weather)

Tuesday
Dion’s night – apparently he is getting ** Nandos (spicy chicken and rice – yum)

Wednesday
Stirfried chicken, veg and noodles (I think I’ll go with a sweet and sour theme, since I have carrots and pineapple – went on a HUGE Fruit & Veg City shop this weekend)

Thursday
Spicy lentil sauce on top of baked potatoes

Friday
Burgers, sweetcorn and salad

And that’s it – easy, quick and healthy (**Nandos is apparently the best of the fast food choices in SA….)

By the way, this is my last week of official Weigh-Less – I am too cheap to pay to just be weighed because this new lady doesn’t do a talk or anything to motivate us.

BTW2, have you gone to get your free book yet?

How are you all doing?

Cleaning lady
Eureka! For the moment we have a cleaning lady. She came on Wed and again today, and will be coming on Mondays as her regular day.

She is not Bea (!) but I’m hoping it’s just training issues because that I can deal with. Although I do have to tell her obvious things like “please fold the dishcloth on the dishrack when you’re done with the dishes”.

I’m not complaining because that mountain of ironing is basically a molehill now Yesssss!

Load-shedding
Did you read my post on the power outages we’re going to be having for the next 5 – 7 years in South Africa?

It is now day 12 and since I wrote that post, I am amazed at how I’m changing:
1. I mentioned that I’m getting super-focussed…
2. I am becoming really grateful for small things. Yesterday we had power the whole day and it was SUCH a blessing.
3. I am becoming flexible and using “no power” time to whiz around the house and do anything I don’t need power for, so that when the electricity is on, I only have those tasks left.

This week’s menu
Our area has load-shedding from 4 – 6:30pm on Mon, Wed and Fri so those days are now easy or freezer meals!

Monday
Stir-fried beef, veggies and rice from the freezer

Tuesday
Dion’s night… and The Apprentice – yesss!

Wednesday
Sausage, spinach and potato one-pot

Thursday
Pasta with kidney bean sauce, topped with cheese

Friday
Hot dogs, chips and salad

Please visit Laura for more menu plans.

I received a phone call on Saturday from a friend telling me that our cleaning lady, Bea, will not be returning to Jhb!

Many people work in Jhb while their families are in the more rural areas of South Africa. Bea has some issues with her house which she has to sort out.

Bea’s been with us for 5 years and I trust her implicitly so imagine all the things going through my mind – where will I find someone reliable? who is going to iron the mountains of clothes? Etc?

So yesterday, Dion and I cleaned the house until it was sparkling! I cleaned toilets, basins, mopped, etc, etc. while Dion swept and vacuumed. Of course, that mountain of clothes is still there because I don’t do ironing – I just don’t.

Today, we’ll have to sort it and decide if we want to pay the exorbitant rates to get it done, or if we’ll do it ourselves. Most of my stuff doesn’t have to be ironed – I’ve always been like this so I choose “wash ‘n go” fabrics if I can.

Anyway, hope your weekend was more fun than that…actually we had a LOVELY Saturday with friends and another friend phoned us from London (we chatted for an hour

Good thing I wrote out my menu plan on Friday night because if I’d left it for yesterday, I don’t think I’d have had the energy!

Monday
Stirfried beef, veggies and rice…and I’m throwing in a handful of red kidney beans for some extra protein

Tuesday
Creamy pasta with broccoli cheese sauce

Wednesday
Out with friends

Thursday
Baked potatoes with spicy lentil sauce

Friday
Prego rolls and salad

Please visit Laura for more menu plans.

Please also click on the main blog page if you want to win a $25 Stacks and Stacks gift card and learn how to organise your home in 2008.

Have a great week!