As you all know, I heart matching things! That is why I have a few piles of tea towels that I rotate throughout the month, which are sorted according to their colour...
I have these red and white tea towels:
Showing posts with label My Evening Routine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Evening Routine. Show all posts
Sunday, 2 October 2011
A Tea Towel A Day
For many years, I have been in the habit of laying out a clean tea towel each night, so that I am greeted in the morning by a crisp, fresh tea towel for my kitchen duties. I believe that this is a great habit, as by doing this, I know that when I wipe my hands or kitchen utensils with a tea towel, that they are going to be dried clean, and not having germs or bacteria passed onto them. When I have a baking day, I obviously use more than one tea towel, but the general rule in my house is 'A Tea Towel A Day'.
As you all know, I heart matching things! That is why I have a few piles of tea towels that I rotate throughout the month, which are sorted according to their colour...
I have these red and white tea towels:
As you all know, I heart matching things! That is why I have a few piles of tea towels that I rotate throughout the month, which are sorted according to their colour...
I have these red and white tea towels:
Monday, 11 July 2011
Nightly Turn Down Service
I will always remember on our honeymoon, coming back to our villa from a dinner one night, to find the bed turned down with chocolates on the pillows and the soft glow of the bedside lamps illuminating the room in a romantic haze....
Why shouldn't we have this great experience every single day? Well, I think that we should!
That is why every night I do a 'Turn Down Service' of my own. Each night, I draw the curtains, turn on the lamps, remove the cushions and turn down the covers of our bed. It takes all of 30 seconds to do, and makes our room so inviting for the rest of the evening.
Why shouldn't we have this great experience every single day? Well, I think that we should!
That is why every night I do a 'Turn Down Service' of my own. Each night, I draw the curtains, turn on the lamps, remove the cushions and turn down the covers of our bed. It takes all of 30 seconds to do, and makes our room so inviting for the rest of the evening.
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Washing Up Tips
The most wonderful habit that I have ever gotten into is washing up as I go. I just love finishing dinner at night and not having to tackle a messy kitchen - it is fabulous!
The golden rule that I follow is this: whenever I am starting to cook or bake something, I fill the sink with water and detergent. This enables me to add items to the water as I finish using them, allowing them to soak as I keep preparing. Then, when I have a few minutes when I start to actually cook something (eg - the fish is frying in the pan, or the potatoes are boiling in the pot) I am able to quickly wash up the preparation utensils. Because they have been soaking, there is limited amount of effort required, as no food has been allowed to go hard and crusty ;) I also try to wipe down the benches at this time.
Then, when I serve dinner, I am relieved to see that because I did some washing up, most of the items still being used for cooking will fit in the dishwasher, and generally all I am only left with the frypan to wash up after the meal. I find dinner time so much more relaxing, and knowing that I don't have to get up after the meal and clean up a big mess is a great feeling.
It is also great to do this when baking. I find when I make a cake mix (gasp! yes, I use packet mixes all the time!) and have to leave it to mix for 4 minutes, I can get the entire kitchen cleaned up in this time.
Note that it is best not to drop knives or cutting blades into the sink of washing up water for safety reasons.
One other great habit that I have gotten into is looking around for 'one extra item' to wash up. Sometimes, the water isn't all that dirty if the load wasn't big, and it seems a waste to empty out the water. Well, this is the perfect opportunity to do yourself a favour, by picking one thing that you don't wash everyday and giving it a quick clean. Things I wash up when I have spare water and time - the microwave plate, the toaster crumb trays, a fridge shelf or a fridge drawer, coffee machine parts, oven/griller racks, I even washed up the detergent drawer in my washing machine one time (it was great to get rid of all of the old detergent that builds up at the back of the drawer!). This then eliminates the need to spend a session cleaning the entire fridge out, when you could be enjoying your weekend!
If you can't find anything to wash up, try wiping down 2 cupboard doors with the damp washing up cloth or wiping out the inside of the microwave. By doing something really small each day, it saves that marathon cleaning session a few times a year, when you could be spending time doing something fun with your loved ones.
I hope that you find these tips useful - washing up is an inevitable job that we all have to deal with. Hopefully, you can get some good systems happening by following these ideas :)
The golden rule that I follow is this: whenever I am starting to cook or bake something, I fill the sink with water and detergent. This enables me to add items to the water as I finish using them, allowing them to soak as I keep preparing. Then, when I have a few minutes when I start to actually cook something (eg - the fish is frying in the pan, or the potatoes are boiling in the pot) I am able to quickly wash up the preparation utensils. Because they have been soaking, there is limited amount of effort required, as no food has been allowed to go hard and crusty ;) I also try to wipe down the benches at this time.
Then, when I serve dinner, I am relieved to see that because I did some washing up, most of the items still being used for cooking will fit in the dishwasher, and generally all I am only left with the frypan to wash up after the meal. I find dinner time so much more relaxing, and knowing that I don't have to get up after the meal and clean up a big mess is a great feeling.
It is also great to do this when baking. I find when I make a cake mix (gasp! yes, I use packet mixes all the time!) and have to leave it to mix for 4 minutes, I can get the entire kitchen cleaned up in this time.
Note that it is best not to drop knives or cutting blades into the sink of washing up water for safety reasons.
One other great habit that I have gotten into is looking around for 'one extra item' to wash up. Sometimes, the water isn't all that dirty if the load wasn't big, and it seems a waste to empty out the water. Well, this is the perfect opportunity to do yourself a favour, by picking one thing that you don't wash everyday and giving it a quick clean. Things I wash up when I have spare water and time - the microwave plate, the toaster crumb trays, a fridge shelf or a fridge drawer, coffee machine parts, oven/griller racks, I even washed up the detergent drawer in my washing machine one time (it was great to get rid of all of the old detergent that builds up at the back of the drawer!). This then eliminates the need to spend a session cleaning the entire fridge out, when you could be enjoying your weekend!
If you can't find anything to wash up, try wiping down 2 cupboard doors with the damp washing up cloth or wiping out the inside of the microwave. By doing something really small each day, it saves that marathon cleaning session a few times a year, when you could be spending time doing something fun with your loved ones.
I hope that you find these tips useful - washing up is an inevitable job that we all have to deal with. Hopefully, you can get some good systems happening by following these ideas :)
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Fill Your Kettle Before You Go To Bed
You have one job tonight before you go to bed - fill your kettle and/or coffee machine. I promise you will be so thankful tomorrow morning when you wake up and flick the switch :)
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I have lined up our coffee pods, so that we can make our coffees by simply popping in the pod tomorrow morning. Sometimes I get out out the coffee cups and teaspoons too. It is lovely to be greeted by this in the morning - you can thank yourself!
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Monday, 20 June 2011
Laying Clothes Out For Tomorrow
Laying out my clothes at night is another trick I do to make my mornings run smoothly. By choosing clothes the night before and hanging them on my special 'outfit' hangers, I don't have to make any decisions in the morning, which can be a huge time-waster if you are hopeless at decision-making like me!
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