Taking over from the helper - Part II

I started this post back in 2022 when we were still staying at BP.. Finally I'm finishing it!

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Following Part I on clean-repair-replace, here's Part II on changing the way things are done.

Cooking - Helper would start preparing at 4.00 or 4.30 pm to get dinner to the table by 5.30 pm. But I want to spend as much time with the kids as possible, so:

• Prepare ingredients in the morning, marinade them etc and pop them into the fridge - this usually takes much longer than the actual cooking!
• Bring out the ingredients and set the rice cooker at 4.30 pm
• Start cooking by 5 pm - I usually takes 15-30 min to cook and serve.
• Use thermal pot recipes where possible - no need to cook in the evening! Very helpful when we had swimming lessons - I could get the laundry going and dish out hot porridge by the time they were done with showering!

And of course, use less oil and salt! It's hard to gauge how much salt helper used as we used salt water to soak fruits but we used to buy 2L/5L bottles of oil every couple of months! As we happened to start new bottles of oil when moving to HV, I realised that I used only 7L in one year, including deep frying just once or twice.

Laundry - see separate post. While the kids can't help with cooking, this is easy to involve the kids - get them to fold their clothes! Very ugly and full of creases but I don't care coz it's their home clothes :p Anyway I still hang up school uniforms and street clothes. Should teach them how to iron clothes by end of sec school..

Cleaning - I had a task list for the helper, comprising daily, weekly and monthly tasks. Now I know exactly what to do so no need to stick the list on my fridge already. But I have a Google calendar for chores to remind me of less frequent stuff like cleaning the washer or under the fridge.

High-frequency areas which I have changed:

• Reduce bathroom cleaning from three times a week to twice once a week coz Auntie is busy - and the kids' toilet is where I don't want to go in often! Back in our old place, I even closed up the third bathroom totally - one fewer to clean ✌️ 
• Change kitchen and hand towels every day instead of I-don't-know-previous-frequency! Nowadays, coz the boys make their vanity so wet, I have to change their hand towels twice a day..
• Use Robot-kun for the floors, including the balcony in the old house, instead of mop cloths. But I still used Magiclean and even steam cleaning for the yard in the old house coz it got very dirty from the elements.

Also added new tasks: 

• Steam the floors every month - I bought this to sanitise the floors and coz I heard it helps clean up oily areas. But in the end, I'm very pleased that it cleans dirty grout lines and also the dirt spots left behind by Robot-kun. But I'm lazier after moving to HV, a lot more things to shift to steam floor!!!

• Steam kitchen accessories with the same steamer but with different steam heads - When I first did this in the old house, a lot of black stuff came out of the tap handle! 🤮 Used it to clean sink drain and hood filter covers too. Again, lazier in HV but my sink is very clean now and I have no hood.

• Vacuum the aircon units - Helper used to wash the filters monthly. When I took over, I got more regular servicing instead. Then I forgot about the servicing one time and it was too close to school holidays; I prefer to do this when kids are not home. So I washed the filters myself. This is easy enough so I'm still doing it, plus brushing the coils. So far only need annual servicing :)

• Clean the microwave every week - when microwaving kitchen wiping cloths and sponge, the steam makes the inside of the microwave all wet, which makes it perfect for cleaning! I don't think it was ever cleaned before coz not in the task list, unless there were obvious stains...

• New for HV: Cleaning the corridor windows twice a year - these sliding windows get really dirty from dust! Sito will clean the corridor side while I handle the inside. Need a bottle spray, a squeegee and lots of rags! The casement windows in the bedrooms always get a wipe every time I change bedsheets.

Hmm, it looks like it's more than changing how things are done but also adding on things to do...

Anyway, hope this info is helpful for families who are looking to take over from a helper! :)