All About Life Without Maids

[MintyMin]

Hi Shoe,


Can share if you used vacuum pack machine to store your food?

Thanks.

[jkids]

my job requires me to handle customers at the counter and we all take turns to do counter duty, so if i request to change my working hrs, other colleagues will be unhappy. on the other hand, i noe my boss will not approve my request. i love this job but of coz in the worse scenario when no one can really help me , i will need to quit and look for a job, perhaps nearer to my kids school. but i hv another worry, even if i ever can find one job i like, can they pay me/will they hire me as i am not so young? . another option i thought of is to do home biz or tuition or…but all these must come with interest? haiz. no wonder pp dun want to have more kids, so many logistics related to kids to consider.

[LOLMum]

everyone wants to have a job they like doing but sometimes reality is you cant.


so before you quit this job you like, you have to find another one first.

at this point, i believe the kids welfare should be the 1st priority. whether you like the new job or not is secondary.

[Claudine Heng]

Hi mummies,

my maid is going off next week, so here i am - taking up the challenge to take care of my 2 year old boy (not going to sch yet), juggling housework and working part time. So need some advice from mummies who cook (i havent cook for the past 5 years!!!) :
1. If i were to wash and cut the veg early in the morning say 6am, and put it in a tupperware, into the frige, can this help to contain the freshness of the veg?
2. If i were to cut meat in the morning and store it in the fridge, will this be ok?
3. Freezing of soup - i heard we can freeze soup - but do i only freeze it when its cool down and put it in the freezer ? How long can i freeze - one week?

If any mummies have any advice or simple receipes to share, it will be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[Shoe]

Hi MintyMin,

No… Was tempted to get one when I saw but quite ex so I just used lots of lock and lock freezer containers. Anyway, I don’t store food beyond a week usually, unless it’s commercial frozen foods…

[mamemo]

Yes, agree with LOLMum, kids welfare and safety are priority over others.


Not sure if it helps, you may want to look for another SCC and/or CCC for your child ? there are SCC and CCC that ends at 7.30pm. Or look for one that is nearer to your home. Do you have a car ? sometimes driving really helps to cut down on waiting time for buses. Another option is to explore with your parents to come over and stay with you on weekdays to help out.

I’m sure you can work something out !

[mamemo]

On the topic of cooking, I think having a meal plan helps. I just started on a meal plan for 2 weeks and it really helps !


Previously, I’m always too tired to think of what to cook at the end of the day, ended up we have either fried rice or spaghetti, which is not very healthy. Now, I am able to plan what to cook, hence will decide what to buy on Sunday marketing day.

So for days when we have soup / porridge, I’ll have to wake up earlier to cook with the thermal pot. Other days, will use the happycall pan to fry fish/meat etc.

Claudine, I would transfer the meat/fish from the freezer to the fridge to de-frost in the morning, so that I can fry them when I come home. Similarly, for meat used in soup, I would transfer the meat/fish the night before.

hope it helps !

[Shoe]

Ya, I second mamemo wrt to meal plan. Then grocery shopping easier to plan. Thermal pot truly very useful. Am considering a happy call pan… I use the oven a lot… No grease to contend with…


I only freeze stock and bolognese sauce. I don’t like to freeze the ingredients in soup 'cos freezing changes texture of veges. I cook either late on Friday night or early sat morning ( 5am). Will throw in veges only when I prepare the meal. If you cook soup late at night, you can turn off the flame and go to bed. Soup will cool overnight… Just don’t lift the lid after you turn the flame off. Soup won’t spoil 'cos the boiling will kill all the food spoilage germs. Same goes for bolognese sauce. I find meat sauce quite versatile in that I can make shepherd’s pie, lasagne as well as spaghetti… I just add veges later.

For stock, I get a whole chicken. Throw in whole peeled onions, whole peeled carrots, 4-5 stalks of celery and whole black peppercorns, salt. I use the thermal pot and after 2.5 hours, take the inner pot out to allow soup to cool.

I will then take the cooled stock and freeze. Take meat off the chicken and freeze that too. Shredded chicken can be put into chicken porridge, chicken macaroni, or chicken noodle soup. Will discard veges 'cos all the sweetness cooked out of them already.

That said, my dh and kids are not fussy… Some of my friends said they are expected to make 3 dishes and a soup! The only time my family gets 3 dishes and soup is on a weekend or if I am on leave!

[FTWM of 2]

HI, I have a problem which i hope to get some advice on. I am a full time working mother and my job takes me overseas for a week or so, every 1-2 months. My daughter is 11 months now and my son will be born this July. They will be 15 months apart. I need my maid to follow my girl to my mother’s house in the day, and every night she would come home with my baby. At my mom’s house, she is expected to do housework as my mom will take care of the baby completely. At my place, she is expected to wash and sterilize the bottles at night, and in the morning (6.30am onwards), she has to handwash the baby’s clothes (usually whatever the girl wears the day before. I think not more than 5 pcs per day), pack the baby bag and mop my living and kitchen area before we leave for my mom’s place.


I’ve had 3 indonesian maids since 13 months ago, the first lasted 10 months. I decided to send her home because she constantly lies to me when she does something wrong, such as dropping our mobile phone into the washing machine and hiding it, or hanging out the laundry to dry and losing it (i assume out of the window!) and pretending not knowing anything when questioned. But when confronted she will cry and beg for forgiveness, etc. These are not intolerable but as she was my first maid, I decided not to tolerate her constant lying after 10 months and sent her back. If she was my 3rd maid, I might have continued to tolerate.

My 2nd maid came with 2 years experience in Saudi and worked 3 weeks for me. During the 3 weeks, she showed inflexibility in her work - she does not eat pork and seafood and refused to handle it when my mom is cooking. The agent claims she speaks english but her english is so poor she could not even understand "the mop is too wet" or "please dry the clothes", etc. After 2 weeks I found out she spent 5 years in Saudi instead of 2, and that she worked in a family with multiple maids which explains her lack of initiative and experience in certain household chores. She told me she doesn’t want to work for me after i scolded her for her slowness, and i said i will bring her back to the agent but she must wait for a month until my new maid comes. She agreed, but the following week while we were at work, and my parents were at the market, she called the police saying that we overworked her and forced her to work 2 households. I had to be interviewed by the police. When she returned to the maid agency, she claims that i hit her and that she wants to return to Indonesia even though we wanted to transfer her. I had to pay $200 for her food and lodging as well as $150 airticket and $60 for airport transfer even though she worked for 3 weeks only. This is on top of paying her salary + loan for 3 weeks.

Out of desperation as the 2nd maid was waiting to be transferred, I took a 3rd maid from the same agency. They had adviced me to get a new maid to avoid being complained of working at 2 households but recommended a 2 yr ex-indonesia maid. After waiting for 2 months, she arrived. On the 3rd day, i found out her so called 2 years exp in Indo was working for her mother at home! To cut the long story short, she was BRAND NEW with no experience at all! She could not even understand simple english like "handwash" and did not know how to handwash baby’s clothes. For the 7 days she was with me, i had to bring her to the agent for counselling as she kept crying and said she missed home. Anyway, she lasted for a week only.

It has been 5 weeks since the 3rd maid left me, she took 4 weeks to be transferred (i thought she would have to leave SG at one point). My mother has been complaining almost every day and a week ago, i just found a parttime maid for her and for my house. My part time maid is Chinese and my mom has been complaining that she is not trustworthy, but i have no choice since we need the help. My husband and i still have to help out in their house (washing dishes after dinner everyday, clearing the dirty clothes my girl wears in the day, packing up the house from my girl’s toys, etc). In addition we have to cope with our own housework when we get back.

My husband is adamant that we should get another maid since i am still pregnant and he is trying to do as much as possible but he is getting so tired. I am so scared of going through the same maid issues and want to try to make it work without a maid. My mom is giving me pressure and expecting the new maid to arrive soon (i haven’t told her we are dragging our feet at this). I considered sending my girl to infantcare and my son to infantcare when he turns 3 months but hubby has rejected the idea for fear the kids will keep falling sick. My mom has given ultimatum that she will stop taking care of the kids without a full time maid. My hubby prefers my mom continue to take care of my 2 kids at least until each of them turn 18 months for childcare (my girl is 11 months, my son will be born in July 2012).

I am stuck and feeling vexed. I do not know if i have the strength to fight them on this. I am confident that i will be able to handle the housework by myself AFTER my pregnancy but don’t know how i’m suppose to hang in there til then. I don’t know how to convince my hubby about the infantcare. I am not sure if i can handle all of this emotional stress.

Any advice? Thanks in advance.

[LOLMum]

put it this way, if you continue to let your maid works in 2 houses, you are going to be in trouble since this wont be the 1st time a complaint has been made against you.


also i believe there might be a ban if you keep changing maids within short period (regardless of who is at fault).

can your mum go to your house during the day instead of maid and the whole village going over?

also for the new maid, maybe you should get your mum to help with the selection since both of them have to work together.

infantcare is a good idea. but heard that waiting list is long. bring your hubby to check out the place.

otherwise, better get a nanny near your place.