Saturday 4 February 2012

The beauty of automation

Let's face it, hardly anyone who does a bazillion things each day of the week will ever still bother doing laundry by hand.

Admittedly, I feel guilty about this because clothes last longer and just feel ever so much more comfortable when they're done by hand. But I've chosen, rather than spend my time washing clothes that way, mechanical help would be welcome and if I need two dozen laundry bags to keep all the delicates safe from getting caught on other materials, by golly I will get two dozen laundry bags!

I am slowly building up ideas for my perfect laundry space on my Pinterest "My Perfect Laundry Room" board.

This image, in particular gets to me because it looks very workable for the amount of space allotted for my laundry area. I'm not sure I want a heat dryer as it appears to be in this picture but definitely a tumble dryer like the one we have now would be perfectly wonderful.

I've actually spoken to my husband about the possibility of partially automating certain things in our home. The laundry, for one, which I enjoy doing. Being a multi-tasker though I'll likely still need the help to do the ironing for me. Which I'll supervise just in case. The laundry at least I can do while working on my computer.

The other thing I want to automate is the dish washing.

If you're thinking "What? You don't have a dishwasher?" in all seriousness, I will tell you that we do have a dishwasher. We pay her fortnightly and she cooks and cleans too.

It may seem strange to foreigners reading this blog but in the Philippines, it's normal to have at least one house helper.

But what they say about good help being hard to find is very, very true. In fact, it's so hard to find that we've had to make do with helpers who only barely do what they are being paid to do if you don't watch them carefully and nag them.

I'm not entirely sure how to deal with them to be honest. Treat them too professionally and they see you as a cold, calculating witch. (No, I didn't mean to say "witch.") Treat them too familiarly and they end up slacking and thinking they can get away with everything.

I need to interview my friends/friends' parents to see how they deal with their help.

Anyway, dish washing. Yes.

I want a dishwasher. I will find a way to fit it into our kitchen. I want to feel the warm plates, spoons and forks in my hands and sniff each one...and smell nothing...just feel the squeaky clean surfaces.

Of course this also means checking if what I purchase is dishwasher safe but for that little bit of effort, I think the benefits are worth it. I prefer the help paying more attention/having more time for caring for my family (pets included) and taking a few tasks off their hands will help, I think.

I want to see the cabinets under the sink this clean and organised. I swear, every time I try and get things fixed and organised, someone comes in and messes it all up.

I'm not saying I'm a neat freak. You should see my stuff--it's a jumbled mess. But I'm doing my darnedest to keep everything neat and tidy and I'm learning, albeit slowly, to always put everything back where they belong. It's quite a bit of a process as this is a lifetime of not having to pick up after myself that I'm trying to fight.

I suppose that's the caveat to having household help. Growing up, I never had to pick up my toys, put away my clothes, do chores...

I'm catching up now. I want to be able to get into the habit of doing things for myself so that when my kids are old enough, we can make it into a family bonding thing. Besides, I like the idea of taking pride in having just...I don't know, cleaned the bathroom (which I really hate, by the way) or something.

I finished another load of laundry yesterday and I felt quite good about it. I had to continue washing just this evening as my laundry soap supply ran out and I only managed to get more this morning.

My Day 3 photo for the February Photo a Day Challenge by FatMumSlim showcases my ruined nailpolish.

I don't wear gloves when I do the laundry in case anyone was wondering. I can't stand it. I think the combination of the heat from the rubber gloves and soap just doesn't sit well with my skin, I don't know. It just triggers a weird rash when I wear gloves.

I just compensate by slathering on moisturiser. ^_~

But yes, once again our house is filled with the smell of freshly-washed clothes. It's the main thing I appreciate about the layout of our house. It's so open that you can literally smell everything from everywhere.

Of course, that has its drawbacks too but let's not get into that anymore. ^.^

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