Femme Power

Archive for the ‘Home’ Category

There are four apartment units in the property we’re renting but we all share one common mailbox.  We differ in house numbers but we only have one mailbox.  Pathetic, right?  Sometimes the poor thing overflows when it’s time for the bills to arrive.  And really, where’s privacy in sharing one mailbox with the neighbors? For properties like the one we’re renting, we need multi-unit mailboxes to ensure that the mail reaches the recipient and the recipient alone, as much as possible.

I don’t know if the mailbox sharing is the reason why there are times that our broadband billing statement doesn’t reach us.   I never bothered asking the service provider about it because I can pay without the bill anyway, as long as I have the user account number.  But it’s a mystery to me whether the lost mails have been sent, lost in transit, or fell on the wrong recipient.  Anyway, I sure hope Mr. Postman didn’t put them in the wrong mailbox.

Mailboxes easily grab attention when they look as cool as these, right?  No postman could possibly miss something as pretty as these mail boxes that I found online.  Sadly, what we actually have at the gate is almost rusty, but better than nothing.

Still, I wish we could at least have wall mount mailboxes for each apartment unit so our mails will be distributed properly.   I really think it’s high time.

Green.  Organic.  They surely sound better than toxic chemicals in your food or garden.  Studies show that organic produce provide higher levels of nutrients than those grown with harmful pesticides and artificial fertilizers.  That’s the reason why I choose to buy from the organic section at the supermarket even if the fruits and veggies there are priced a little higher than the regular produce.

If we only have a lawn, I would definitely consider organic gardening.  I admire those individuals who move up to organic farming or gardening because they help care for the environment.  But since I don’t have the luxury of space to grow my own organic vegetables and fruits, the most I can do for the moment is grow a few flower plants on the rooftop.   I can proudly say that I don’t use any chemicals on them.  I only use water and natural compost to make them healthy but I don’t know how to deal with some bugs.  I also need to pull out the weeds regularly.

The plants look just fine though I know I can do better, whew.  I wonder how it’ll be like to use some organic flower gardening care products by Safer® Brand as featured on Designing Spaces on this video. By the looks of it, organic gardening is a lot easier using these safe, organic products.  Bugs are eliminated without the harmful chemicals that are present in ordinary pesticides.  Both plants and soil are protected and nurtured. Know more about organic gardening by clicking on the link above.

Let’s start doing our own little way of saving the planet and our health too by going organic. Check this out:

This Post is Sponsored by: Safer® Brand.

Our homes show much of our taste, culture and individual preferences through the kind of furniture we have - minimalist, indulgent, elegant, classic, what-have-yous.

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Something to brighten up your living room by Lexington furniture.

This post is brought to you by Lexington Furniture.

I love creating drama to my home.   The kind that plays with the ambience according to my mood.   And the lightings play a big role in achieving it.   That’s why I’m crazy over lamps.  I have floor lamps in the living room that not only act as lighting fixtures but accents as well.   They compliment the zen theme of our living room so they make good value even when unlit. They’re simply good to look at and they don’t eat up much space.

A simple yet elegant droplet I found at farreys.com

The lamp in the picture above is one of the many classy table lamps I found over at farreys.com that I think would look good in our bedroom.    I checked out some desk lamps too that would surely look neat in any home or office.

I’m generally a big fan of decorative lighting fixtures especially those droplets that hang from the ceiling but don’t look too grand as chandeliers.   That’s about it for now.  I’m off to scour more lamps, lol!

Over the past days since I started working again, my responsibilities doubled while my time condensed.   Since I don’t have a maid (and I have no intention of getting one for the nth time) I have to do household chores on my own before I run off to work at night and when I get home in the morning.

I realized my household tasks could be less tedious if I had the right home appliances and tools.

Yesterday I was slicing fruits when the knife caught my finger.  It was viciously painful.   It wasn’t the first time that I cut myself while peeling, slicing or chopping fruits and vegetables and I really should get a food processor before I do myself more harm.

In cleaning the house, I have a dependable mop that’s making my life easier. Yet there are areas that I just can’t reach without moving some heavy fixtures and there’s no way I can clean the rugs with a mop either.  A vacuum cleaner would be a lot of help especially that me and my daughter are both allergic to dust.

Lastly, I’m thinking of buying some fine dinnerware to spruce up my cupboard.   I found all these at ShopWiki.com where there are more and better options because they feature all the products they find for sale on the Web.  Meaning they’re not limited to stores that pay for some ad space like in most online shopping sites.

With these “personal assistants” sans the maid, household chores shouldn’t be that overwhelming.

Going nuts about the daily chores that don’t seem to end in your household?   We share the same sentiment. Sometimes I say to myself it’s easier to run an office than a household.   There have to be ways in making things a little bit easier for stay-at-home moms to stay sane and comfortable even without a maid.

I asked other moms in the neighborhood how they cope with the daily toils of being a homemaker and here’s what they told me:

1. Clean as you go.  If this rule serves well in public places, why not in our household?  This engages the other members of the family to help clean up clutters ASAP instead of YOU doing all the work when they’re all off to their own lives.   It might not be that easy to impose on some of your household members but eventually, they will, with proper pushing.   What a breather it would be if they’ll automatically clean up the table after eating, wash the dishes or put their clothes directly into the hamper instead of flinging them over the sofa and everywhere.  You’ll be surprised how much time you’ll save when you’re not alone in putting things back to their proper places in bulk.

2. Plan your groceries.   List down what you need before rushing to the grocers.   This will save not only time but money as well.   According to market researcher Paco Underhill in the book Why We Buy:The Science of Shopping, supermarkets are “places of high impulse buying…Fully 60% to 70% of purchases there were unplanned.”

3. Invest on good-quality home essentials.   Examples: A PVA mop with a wringer (and is highly absorbent) is more practical than a standard mop that you need to manually wash and wring with your own hands.   An automatic washing machine will cost you about thrice the price of an ordinary washing machine but the convenience caused by the former will more than offset the price difference.  Your time and energy are too precious to be focused on the laundry and the cleaning.

4. Know your neighbors/Keep emergency numbers handy. It doesn’t mean you need to snoop around everybody in the neighborhood but at least try to familiarize and socialize with some of them.   Our family is barely a few months old in our neighborhood and I know how it feels to having no one to ask for help nearby in case of emergency.   Good thing our neighbors are easy to get along with.   Now I know who to call when the pipes have leaks, when an appliance breaks down, when a furniture needs fixing, etc.   Be good to your neighbors and they’ll reciprocate.  A neighbor even looks after my daughter whenever I’m late in fetching her up from school.  You don’t know when you’re gonna need a bunch of helping hands.

List down the contact numbers of the nearest police station, hospital, and fire station and put them beside the phone, store them in your cellphone, or stick them on your fridge with magnets.   Thing is, keep them visible for everyone just in case the need arises…though hopefully not.

5. Make time for yourself.   Not because you’ve devoted your life to serving your family means that you’ve turned your back on yourself.   Get a life.   Make time (not just try to find time) for yourself where you can relax, be alone, and do what you love to do (in my case, malling, reading and blogging/writing) every once in a while.  If you can do it everyday, then good for you! Being productive never fails to make us feel good about ourselves.   So why shouldn’t we?

So you don’t have a house help.   Your days evolve around the house cleaning and organizing, experimenting in the kitchen, managing the family income and all that stuff.   With so much tasks to accomplish in a single day, you wouldn’t want to fix clutters over and over again, would you?

Hence, don’t sweat the small stuff.  Leave it to the cute culprits to clean up their own mess.

Different strokes for different ages.

Six-year-olds and below would most likely love it when you make it fun. When my daughter was younger, we used to play “ball” in fixing her stuffed toys cluttered all over the bed and on the floor.  We’d shoot her toys on the basket (that used to be a hamper) until everything is clear.

I observed that it was never motivating to scold her repeatedly for her mess so I tried this approach.  And it worked!

Seven-year-olds are normally smart enough to understand consequences so try a cause-and-consequence deal. I tell my daughter what I’ll do for letting her toys, books and accessories litter around the house.   And I always keep my word.  When I say I’ll hide the things she left lying on the floor so she can’t be able to use them anymore, I really mean it.   Now she’s a clean-as-you-go freak.

No storage?  Improvise.

An extra hamper/laundry basket. Perfect for stuffed toys or even plastics.

Medium-sized boxes (usually from cookware items or school supplies). Wrap the boxes up with art paper and put on some labels.   Categorizing stuff would make them easy to find and neatly organized.   I actually decorated the boxes with some flower and butterfly cut-outs so my daughter loves to use them for storage.

Chocolate boxes .  Nice for accessories.   My daughter transformed hers into a jewelry box.

Old suitcases.  They can hold more toys or better yet old school projects that you don’t want to discard just yet.   Since most suitcases are heavy for the little ones, keep the least-used stuff in them.

Starting them early would boost their chances of growing up organized and responsible.   Bonus is that it’ll take one daily chore off us, moms.

Wouldn’t we all like that?