Monday, July 30, 2012

Homemaking Diva Routines Two

More work in the kitchen! How are your dishes doing? I hope you're doing well and aren't too overwhelmed. Next step: Having food ready to cook.

Now, I work for Saving Dinner, so I do have a bias with them, but they ARE really good in and of themselves, and I am NOT getting paid to promote them here :) So if you don't know WHAT to make for dinner, we sell all kinds of plans for you that give you the recipes and the categorized shopping lists to make life just that much easier :) But that's only part of what I'm talking about today.

Today what I really want to talk to you about is setting up routines to get your food planned, into the house, and out of the freezer.

Planning meals: This doesn't have to be complicated. Look at what's on sale (to keep it simple, try sticking to just one store), think about what you and yours like to eat, and see what matches. And don't forget to check what's already in your cupboards, fridge and freezer. Think breakfast, lunch, and dinner. List a few things, see what you need to buy, and make your list. If you're just starting out, you can do just a couple days, I like to do a week at a time.

Grocery shopping: You've made your list, you've checked it twice, it's time to head to the store. The. Store. Singular. That's right. Actually, you can do whatever you want, I don't have any Homemaking Diva Police (yet) to come and fine you if you go to multiple stores, but hear me out. Every store has a sale every week, most stores will have everything on sale at different times. I do all of my grocery shopping at one store, yes chicken is on sale at another store this week and I eat chicken, but chicken was on sale at my store a couple weeks ago and it will be on sale at my store again. To me, multiple stores are not worth the hassle. Plus, since I only go to the one store, I made my grocery list to fit my store, so I know which aisle everything is in, plus I'm familiar with my store, so I can get in and out quickly.

Today and Tomorrow, Everyday: Remember my chicken sale example? Well, chicken was on sale a couple weeks ago at my store, and I bought it then... actually I stocked up. And that means that if I want to eat chicken THIS week, I have to thaw it out because it's in the freezer. So, everyday need to think about what's for dinner today and what's for dinner tomorrow. When I think about today I consider if there's any extra prep work that needs to be done early (marinating, crock cooker), and I need to pull meat out of the freezer for tomorrow.

You routines to build:
Everyday, think about what's for dinner today, and do any preparations you need to. And have meat in the fridge for tomorrow's dinner so it's not frozen when you need it.
Weekly, plan your meals, make your list, and go shopping!

Thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Love,
Valerie :D

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Homemaking Diva Routines

Last time, I told you that routines help you know everything will get it's turn and allow you to relax. Let's talk about how to set up some great Homemaking Diva Routines.

Start SMALL; Rome wasn't built in a day. If you go too hard, too fast, you'll just crash and burn. Babysteps are KEY here. Choose one or two small things that you can work on and then work on them consistently. That is your goal. Two small things, consistently. After a few weeks (not 15 minutes, not 1 day, a few weeks) of doing your two small things consistently, you can add a third small thing, and your babysteps can grow. But only slowly. If you go too fast, you will get overwhelmed and you will stop.

I like to start in the kitchen (but I do work for Saving Dinner, so I may be slightly biased). In any case, everyone needs to eat, and eating tends to require a little cooking, and both eating and cooking tend to create some dirty dishes. (Now, you can start anywhere you want, this is just a good example, feel free to start with the laundry or clearing your desk, or whatever works best for you.) If you decide to start in the kitchen like I usually do (yes, I am not perfect and I have started more than once), there are two simple things in the kitchen: washing dishes, and having food ready to cook.

Washing dishes: PLEASE don't wash all the dishes for 2 hours straight if you are far behind. We're starting small, remember? If you have a dishwasher, empty any clean dishes, put those away, fill the dishwasher up again and turn it on (even if it's not quite full), then do ONE load of dishes at the sink. You're letting the dishwasher do most of the work, and you're making progress. That is IT for day one dishes. Day two, empty the dishwasher, put away the dishes you washed by hand, and wash one more load at the sink. From now on, the dishwasher gets emptied within 24 hours of when it was turned on. Preferably closer to 12 hours. Part of emptying the dishwasher is putting any waiting dirty dishes into it. Also, whenever you're starting to run low on something that is in the dishwasher, run the dishwasher (we tend to run out of spoons first). Incorporate one load of handwash dishes a day plus checking on the dishwasher into your new daily routine.

I find now, that I'm mostly caught up, I'm just doing one small handwash load of dishes on weekdays. Plus it's a LOT easier to wash more 'recently dirty' dishes than 2 week old spaghetti pots :)

We'll talk more about having food ready to cook next time!


Thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Love,
Valerie :D

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Monday, July 23, 2012

Homemaking Diva Habits

How do you become a 'Homemaking Diva', and more importantly, how do you succeed at being a Homemaking Diva? It's easier than you think!

Step one: CARE. Being a Homemaking Diva means literally that: Making a Home. A Home is not where you live. That's your house or apartment (or wherever you are) a home is more personal. It's the happy feeling associated with being in your house, not because of what is there, but because of WHO is there. I love my husband. And one of my major goals is to make our house a calm home for us to live in together.

Step two: ROUTINES. I don't know about you, but I find it very difficult to relax when there's a lot of things that need doing. I'll be sitting beside my husband watching a DVD and my mind will be racing through various tasks that I 'should' have done that day or that need to be done soon. When I'm on a routine and I know I did a decent amount of 'Diva-ing' today and I will get around to everything in it's turn, I feel better about it and I can relax. We'll talk more about routines next time :)

Step three: RECHARGE. It's the old airplane analogy. The flight attendant will always tell you to put your own oxygen mask on first before trying to help anyone else. If you are burnt out, you're of no use to anyone. Take care of yourself so you can take care of others. If you care about making a home for your family and if you have good routines in place, you can take a break and recharge without guilt, and know that your routines will keep things from falling through the cracks.


Thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Love,
Valerie :D

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com