All About Life Without Maids

[vinegar]

concern_mum:

hi


I went without maid for 3 months and ended up having a lifeless life. Very fatique almost every end of the day. I find it very stressful and difficult to go on as i am not a full time housewife. Have no help from hb. Kids will only help me with mopping on weekend. I could not tolerate messy house as such i need to tidy the house everyday. Need to tips on managing the household chores.

Try to get a part time maid to help u. R u staying at west? My current PT maid only works at west n south. PM me if u r keen.

[b2b3m4]

coffeedrinker:

I plan to go maidless,but i have a few concerns. Who will take care kids when they sick ( leave not enough)? Who cook for kids dinner ( cannot be da bao mon to fri) ? This day will come be it i decide maidless now, or my current maid decide to discontinue after contract ends.no grandparent helps. How do some parents go maidless ?.. i not much bother about housework...more on how to fetch them on time, how they eat well( no hawker everyday) , when sick who look after . One in primary school, one in childcare

You can find lots of tips here on how to prepare a fast dinner or dinner in advance. For me, with some advance prep, dinner can be done in half an hour e.g one pot dinner like fried rice w miso soup, noodle soup, porridge, pasta etc or niang doufu soup w rice. For dishes that require longer hours to cook, you can use a thermal pot and cook in the morning like pork ribs soup w (corn, winter melon, potato & carrot & tomato, lotus root, water cress (to be added in the evening) or chicken/beef/ribs stew with the usual potato, celery and carrots.
Some times u can also ta pao steam chicken or any dish from a hawker stall, cook rice and add a simple vege or egg drop soup or buy roast chicken / roast ribs etc from the super market, put frozen french fries on a tray and heat up in the oven or toaster (or airfryer). Make a simple salad and add on can bake beans or fry a sunny side up.
Other than french fries, u can always use frozen prata, a simple butter rice with peas or just heat up a can of Campbell soup and throw in some alphabet pasta.

As for sick children, no choice one needs to take turns with spouse to be on leave. And most importantly, is to make sure kids are healthy by eating healthly and expose them to lots of sun and exercise. Confining them in enclose air con space to me is very bad for the health.

[MintyMin]

coffeedrinker:

I plan to go maidless,but i have a few concerns. Who will take care kids when they sick ( leave not enough)? Who cook for kids dinner ( cannot be da bao mon to fri) ? This day will come be it i decide maidless now, or my current maid decide to discontinue after contract ends.no grandparent helps. How do some parents go maidless ?.. i not much bother about housework...more on how to fetch them on time, how they eat well( no hawker everyday) , when sick who look after . One in primary school, one in childcare

With the childcare leaves n your AL, still not enuff? Don't think your kids will fall sick tat often right? n to prevent tat, give them healthy diet with supplements or vitamins.. which could help fight off nasty bugs.. once in a while cough or flu, really cannot b help since due to sg weather, the hot n cold temp does create the cold bug..

I have 3 kids (1 in pri n 2 in cc) n am a FTWM, like today.. i woke up early to prep soup for tonight, n put it in thermal pot, while also preparing my ds for sch.. once ds off to sch.. i prep dds for cc..

I shifted recently n also transferred ds to a sch tat is 5-10mins within walking dist.. wif no roads to cross n shelter all the way to sch.. tis helps me a lot, as both ds n i do not need to wake up early.. n he can go to sch on his on without much worry.. esp when heavy rain.. no prob at all.. tis helps.. doesn't matter if tat is a prestigious sch or not.. to me.. when we have no help watsoever.. esp if we r FTWM.. logistics play a v impt part for me.. everything needs to b ez n smooth for me..

The only day we eat out on a weekday is usually thurs.. when they have enrichment..

To pick them on time.. again.. logistics.. for me.. i aws find a wrk plc near hm.. or their sch n CCs.. so no matter hw late i can b.. a cab is all it takes.. to pick them by 7pm... of coz there will b exceptions.. when it will b over 7pm.. like for last friday.. i was super duper late.. so last resort was my mum.. as my dds' sch is v near to her hse.. n for ds.. was to msg the student care tr n let her noe i will b late..

When u mentioned 'no grandparents help', do you mean they can't help at all? how bout relatives, uncles, aunties, etc.. or even good neighbours..

I was maidless since Jul last yr.. and am happy to be without one..

So all the best to you..

[scang]

b2b3m4:

You can find lots of tips here on how to prepare a fast dinner or dinner in advance. For me, with some advance prep, dinner can be done in half an hour e.g one pot dinner like fried rice w miso soup, noodle soup, porridge, pasta etc or niang doufu soup w rice. For dishes that require longer hours to cook, you can use a thermal pot and cook in the morning like pork ribs soup w (corn, winter melon, potato & carrot & tomato, lotus root, water cress (to be added in the evening) or chicken/beef/ribs stew with the usual potato, celery and carrots.
Some times u can also ta pao steam chicken or any dish from a hawker stall, cook rice and add a simple vege or egg drop soup or buy roast chicken / roast ribs etc from the super market, put frozen french fries on a tray and heat up in the oven or toaster (or airfryer). Make a simple salad and add on can bake beans or fry a sunny side up.
Other than french fries, u can always use frozen prata, a simple butter rice with peas or just heat up a can of Campbell soup and throw in some alphabet pasta.

As for sick children, no choice one needs to take turns with spouse to be on leave. And most importantly, is to make sure kids are healthy by eating healthly and expose them to lots of sun and exercise. Confining them in enclose air con space to me is very bad for the health.

Yes, kids fall sick easily due to their lower immunity which takes time to build up.

While I can't prevent them from falling sick, what I did was to build up their immunity faster or stronger by giving them the right supplement so that they will not fall sick that easily.

For example :
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSa5yFuOkUY][/youtube]

[Cheepoozz]

We sent our maid home for 2 weeks already. The very next day after she was sent packing home. we dropped our 20 mth younger boy at the childcare. It was heartpain at first as he has been well protected at home .. as opposed to seeing him cry and trying to adapt to the new environment..


Looking back now.. he has cope well , thou reluctant at times.. we felt the choice to do without helper is a correct move.. more quality time is spend with our boys.. as most of you have said.. the trade off is LESS ME time ..

thank goodness , i have my mother in law and a weekly help to clean up and cook..

Cheers
Life without a maid isnt that tough after all. :salute:

[beariecrystal3]

for FTWM without a helper, how do you manage your daily chores?


i found that i dont have enough time to spend with my kids, as i am always busy with household chores.

[Imami]

Depends on how u want to do it - one single day (usually a weekend) do everything or everyday do a bit.


I used to do it all one shot but decided it’s not a good move. These days I do bit by bit everyday. When I hv more time, I do a bit more.

Get the kids to help u! My little one helps to set the dining table, serve the rice, hang his own socks/ipunderwear/pants/shirt, he also does his homework on his own (save me heap of time nagging him).

[Coolkidsrock2]

Would like advice/tips on keeping the kitchen clean. This is one of the key consideration I am keeping the maid. Currently my maid will clean up the kitchen daily after cooking - cleaning kitchen cabinets, door and floor. She will take everything out to wash and clean out the interiors of the cabinets as well as scrub floor and walls. I find that part-time maids cannot clean as well in this respect though I have a session dedicated for the kitchen.

[einney]

I’m a FTWM and trying to prepare myself if my maid decided not to work for me because I don’t let her do moonlighting. I’m most concern about good healthy meal for my 2.5 years old daughter. By the time I come back and pick her up, it’s already 7pm. Any advise on how to prepare her healthy dinner? for me & my husband, we don’t mind catering and all… but I prefer hcf for my daugher.

[longmao.029846irene]

einney:

I'm a FTWM and trying to prepare myself if my maid decided not to work for me because I don't let her do moonlighting. I'm most concern about good healthy meal for my 2.5 years old daughter. By the time I come back and pick her up, it's already 7pm. Any advise on how to prepare her healthy dinner? for me & my husband, we don't mind catering and all.. but I prefer hcf for my daugher.

Hihi,
Most kids luv soupy stuff, n they do eat faster wif it!!
So mayb in d morning or d nite before just prep everytig for d soup n pop everytig in d slow cooker!! In d evening will hv a tasty soup minus d MSG.
Fried a veg or egg n talah...
Other days can b one dish meal, cm hm eg: for chix claypot rice
Put ready prep ingrediant (chn sauage, chix,mushroom) n pop everytig in rice cooker n tats it.. Other simple meals r like yang tao foo, spagetti, honey baked chix... D list is endless, just google n plan everytig a week before to get all stuffs n thaw + prep d nite before..
Trust me is possible!! All boils down to time management!
Cheers