All About Life Without Maids

[2ppaamm]

ks2me:

For ironing, I will recommend LauraStar iron.

It costs > S$500 but it is excellent in ironing, only need to iron one side so reduces ironing by half the time. I have never looked back with any regrets with this purchase. You can see the demo at Tangs basement.
Can buy only the iron or the whole system, including the board. Btw, I have no share of this business, just recommending as a user of this for about 10 years. Most likely I will look for an upgrade to the newer technology that they have now. Incidentally, with this iron, I actually love ironing. *husbands should know what to do* :lol:

http://www.laurastar.com/en/discover/

I will definitely go check out this iron next week, during lunch.

[2ppaamm]

EN:

Oh wow 2ppaamm. I seriously thought you have a maid. 5 kids with no maid. :faint:


There I'm complaining to my husband to give another 6 more months before I call it quit & to hire a maid back. I'm maidless for more than a year. Only 2 children. Ya, juggling with work, driving them around & manage household. Already feel like

EN, your youngest is already P3? The problems the maids bring is definitely not worth it for me. Through the years, besides the men-craziness, I had to endure their unreasonable complaints to embassies, MOM and neighbours.

You can imagine it is so easy to complain about me: 5 kids and a big house. They can easily paint a picture of abuse - for some reason. And, the authorities always believe them first. The onus is on me to prove my innocence. Though I have proven myself 3 times, I'm quite tired. It just takes too much time to go up and down MOM. Too many are not here to work. I think there's a message passing around that \"the Singapore employers are suckers. They can't do a thing without us, and they are plain stupid and clueless about what we do behind them...\"

My oldest lost a tooth in a fall when the maid was busy talking to her friends.

If we can cope, let's try. Think about it, there's so much we can teach our children even when we try and manage without maids. The maids do influence our children badly to some extent. Having maids for more 1.5 decades, I know that for a fact. In fact, I grew up having maids around me. If I can live without a maid with so many tasks, so can you!

[mocharita]

ks2me:

For ironing, I will recommend LauraStar iron.

It costs > S$500 but it is excellent in ironing, only need to iron one side so reduces ironing by half the time. I have never looked back with any regrets with this purchase. You can see the demo at Tangs basement.
Can buy only the iron or the whole system, including the board. Btw, I have no share of this business, just recommending as a user of this for about 10 years. Most likely I will look for an upgrade to the newer technology that they have now. Incidentally, with this iron, I actually love ironing. *husbands should know what to do* :lol:

http://www.laurastar.com/en/discover/

Thank you.

Will check it out

[2ppaamm]

ks2me:

hey hey :celebrate: to you, I so agree...

I can put the cleaning robots on and have a wine glass drinking away without someone wanting to drink what I drink.... :celebrate:

:lol: :lol: :lol: I know exactly what you mean. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[girlmum]

Hi 2ppaamm,


I am a PTWM (no maid). Wish I could manage as well as u did (or maybe half) I come home everyday abt 3pm, prepare dinner, cook, clean, mop, do the laundry (washing machine), fold n hang clothes, in between check on DDs h/w. I finished all abt 8.30pm and am dead tired. Just want to relax and enjoy my papers/TV. I :salute: you. :udawoman:

[corneyAmber]

2ppaamm:

1. Cleaning robot. $1000 (with timer) $800 (without timer)
2. Dishwasher: $500-800
3. Washing machine: $200-800
4. Clothes dryer: $400 - $800

The cleaning robot will ensure your floor is hairless and sparkling clean day after day. However, I'm sure how long one will last, my guess is a year or two? The rest last pretty long.

2ppaamm, these cleaning robots sweep only right? So mopping is separate?

[2ppaamm]

ks2me:

2ppaamm, these cleaning robots sweep only right? So mopping is separate?

There are those that sweep, Roomba and those that mop Scooba. But my scooba died on me. I didn't follow the instructions carefully lah. The scooba is too expensive ($1300+), and compared to the mop and pail, is so much more expensive. So I did not recommend it. The roomba will do a good job, and it does leave my floor cleaner than when my maids hand mop it everyday. I only mop it twice a week to upkeep it. There won't be any hair on the floor anyday with the vacuum alone.

Here's the scooba. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npl67pnbiU4

[2ppaamm]

girlmum:

Hi 2ppaamm,


I am a PTWM (no maid). Wish I could manage as well as u did (or maybe half) I come home everyday abt 3pm, prepare dinner, cook, clean, mop, do the laundry (washing machine), fold n hang clothes, in between check on DDs h/w. I finished all abt 8.30pm and am dead tired. Just want to relax and enjoy my papers/TV. I :salute: you. :udawoman:

Wah, you are very capable! I 人在江湖身不由己。Some of the tasks I have no choice but to do. Also have to do the work and businesses as it keeps me alive.

[tamarind]

I agree with Andaiz.


There is another thread :
Help! Need advice on life without maid
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5331&start=0

I think the last 2 pages of posts are more suitable in that thread.

[Joy]

Thanks, 2ppaamm


You are really energetic...for me, I am almost like a deflating balloon....Maybe I am still not season yet...Hope some day, I will be able to cope as well as you...

Thanks for sharing...

cheers
Joy

2ppaamm:

Here's how this works. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewdbilSWjaM I set the timer for everyday cleaning and my floor is vacuumed everyday. Sometimes, I vacuum it more than 2ce a day.

I only mop certain parts of the house. The dirtier parts, e.g. kitchen dining areas, I mop everyday. The rest, I clean only 2ce a week. The floor doesn't get that dirty.

For others who want to know what can be done, perhaps knowing what I do helps?

For food, I cook really easy stuff. I either use my cooking robot, the thermomix (not available in Singapore, I imported it), or I use the thermopot. I boil the soup for 10 - 15 minutes and leave it to cook, with the rice on top. So I take about 1 hour to cook everything.

The dishes? I guess you know the answer, the dish washer which I have not deployed for a long time until the dismissal of the maids.

The laundry, not that difficult. Wash the whites on one day, and the darks on another. They are fully automatic. I only use bleach on the white socks. When the washing machine is done, I hang them out to dry. I make sure they are always under shade so that I don't have to run when it rains. For those that need pressing, I press them fresh out of the washing machine. I press everyday, so that's 5 uniforms, 1 shirt, 1 blouse and about 4/5 pairs of pants everyday. Because they are wet, it's really easy to iron, and I take about 30 minutes to do all of that.

If it rains and my laundry won't dry by 7, they are in the dryer. I then fold all of that and they all go to the 7 cupboards in the house. I don't have a backlog.

For the windows, I clean them only once in a while (I have 60+ windows). I am thinking of getting a part-time to do this, since CNY is coming...

Now the garden. I imported some irrigation system (cost me about US$300) and basically irrigate the whole house. I put it on a timer so that the whole garden is irrigated once a day. For fertilizers, I do this manually, only fortnightly, but my garden is blossoming with nice flowers. My DH does a lot of the gardening.

At the end of the day, I tie up the black bag and walk the rubbish out.

In between, I will sit with my 2 youngest for their piano practise, check on my kid's homework.

At about 11 p.m., I will work on my computer, marking papers (I teach), and prepare the next day.

I also run 2 businesses, so I give instructions to my partners what to do next.

Realise I don't watch TV? Haven't done that in 20 years.

Hope this helps! BTW, my house is CLEANER than with maids (who will lie to you that they've cleaned the floor when they did not).

If 2ppaamm can do it, so can you! :lol: