Doing Some Autumn Cleaning

I've never been a good cleaner. I guess part of it was because I grew up with our grandmother who love doing most of the things for us. Whenever we go back home in the Philippines, she still insists on cooking or cleaning up which of course I already say no to as compared to when we were growing up. It was just easy to be responsible for little chores but now that I have my own family and our own house to maintain, I feel so much at a lost. When to start, how to start and how to do it?  I turned to the next thing I knew that can help me out. I went online to look for moms in similar situations who did their 365 degrees homemaker turn and have achieved success with it. And yes, I found a lot of them!

I grew inspired by the Modern Parents Messy Kids on their POYEL: Project Organize Your Entire Life and I too thought perhaps this is something I need to do. A little step at a time. I am still doing this at my own slow(er) pace but I think our house is getting there.

My thoughts on cooking meals for the family also changed drastically when I read about Once-a-month cooking. It got me really thinking of how much time I can spend more with my family if I am not sweating it off in the kitchen preparing meals. I also have that dreaded 4 pm "oh what should I cook this time?" virus. But I know I cannot pull of such a feat. Well at least not for now but I did start on menu planning and buying things for the meals in the market and cooking at least 3 dishes simultaneously for that day. Wednesday is my market day and it is also the day that the kids are halfday from school. So after doing the market, they get to be involved as I chop away the kilos of meat that I purchased.  I even left them put the things in the refrigerator so they know where things should go. Yes, I also read on how the refrigerator should be set up and I adored the kitchen cheat sheets from everest. For next month I promised myself to invest in a good laminating machine so I can laminate these sheets and put it in the kitchen. But for now I am gloating that I don't have to think about what dinner to prepare for the entire week (and perhaps till next week too!).

We are also trying to switch to more eco-friendly cleaners. The children like to help in the cleaning (mostly spraying) of the windows and glass doors. But I feel adamant about the chemicals they inhale and get when they use even the not so heavy stuff. Good thing I read about making vinegar and orange/lemon rind concoction for cleaning. A lot of home cleaning recipes are available and we're definitely doing a lot of cleaning now with vinegar. Birghtnest offers a nie printout for eco-friendly DIY household cleaner recipes.

So armed with a load full of information, I went on this month to try and change our home and our lifestyle a little step at a time. It's still getting there (especially the decluttering part) but I am glad to see that our efforts are helping our family now and the bonus part of it? With the children being more organized and more household savvy, they will be better at keeping their things and themselves organized.


Oh here's a peek of our pantry...