This is to all women who are just happy to be at home thinking we are making our family happy. Unless you seriously have excuses to be a home maker, it’s not a good option. It’s better to realize earlier than later.
Most women are always happy to cook good food for their family, clean the kitchen and decorate and tidy their home. I am one of them. I am always super obsessed to organize, clean, cook and checkout my shining floor every day and keep it the same way in and out. I am that home maker who is satisfied and happy to see her family’s happy faces end of the day.
It is absolutely nice to make your family happy but what if we could make money from our good qualities. They will be more than happy. If we are very good at a particular thing we should try to monetize our expertise in which ever field it may be. While it doesn’t count how much money it is! It surely counts that you monetize from what you are really good at.
The crux of decluttering are the steps of how to do it which are very important, whether its our home, garage or office. We become so confused of what to keep and throw and moreover just by the heaps of clothes, utensils, stationery, papers and whatnot we become frustrated and end up keeping back most things. Here are just few points of how I make it easy to declutter.
Always take one item to be decluttered eg: if it is clothes, just take clothes of one family member to organise and declutter at a time.
2) The reason for above is it gives you time to think whether you need a particular thing or not and secondly by chance you get some urgent work while cleaning up the cupboard, you will be able to wrap up faster.
3) Do not declutter because everybody is doing it! We always have old beautiful but broken bottles or artefacts or stained rugs or things. The choice is easy to throw them but if we are into making a DIY out of it, which many are into nowadays, why not keep it? Please do keep it. But do keep it in a separate box labelled accordingly.
4) Do not declutter the way others declutter. Everyone’s needs are different. Just because I keep 12 tea cups you need not keep 12. We are tea addicts and so we end up having tea very frequently in a day. You may not need so. I have seen so many videos showing a 12 dinner plates in the cabinet when there are only 2 people at home! Why do you want so many? Point is declutter the way your needs are or you are comfortable with. Example I like to keep 2 extra blankets in hand in my day to day drawer as there are guests coming in frequently, you may not feel so to have that extra one handy.
5) Another important benefit of keeping less is we will have less things to maintain, clean and organise.
6) Do not keep emotional value things in a dead place for a long long time just because they are given by someone dear to us and are pricy and rare. Give it away to people who will use it or who are in real need of it.
7) Always keep three boxes while decluttering. However easy we feel it is to declutter, when we actually start doing it, we get entangled into emotional value of few things. Inspite of knowing we have not used certain things for long time we don’t feel like throwing it away. Eg artefacts, purses, bags, clothes and there may be so many other things gifted to us. The best way to decide on all above points is by the following way. For this I have 3 boxes named keepthings box, Emotional Value clutter box and Throwbox.
keep
Throw
EV Box
The keep things box has ofcourse the things we need.
The throw box has those items which I am sure 100% of giving it away to the people who really need it.
The Emotional value box (The EV box) has very few things which I don’t use but has immense emotional value attached to it. These are things which are very dear to me given by special people in my life but I don’t use them for some reason. like it may be of no use to me or under size clothes, or stained favourite dress. I keep these things till next declutter because I just don’t want to give it to charity or throw it away too. Having said this I make it a point to try and use the things kept in the box but if I don’t use them till next declutter, I just empty the EV box in the throw box before I start my next decluttering.
The 8th point is agreed by astrologers and I too believe in it to an extent. We should not keep stagnant or unused things at home for long time because they bring negative energy and stagnancy in our lives too! But ofcourse this point is to each one of you on what your belief system is.
9) And the last point is once you have decluttered , dispose off completely before you change your mind to keep it back at home!
Keeping in mind the above, I am sure it is easier now to declutter most of the things in an organized smart way.
This is not a sponsored post. It is a review of fridge side rack. This post contains an affiliate link.
Any one who cooks in the kitchen has this thought of how to declutter and organise the kitchen! I am sharing with you the most liked useful and classy product in my house today. This is not a sponsored post. I always try to share convenient tips and tricks of kitchen with everyone whenever I buy a product really worth the money.
We always need few essential things handy on the counter top, which we use throughout the day or daily basis.
Myself being cooking enthusiast and ever organising person I came across this and it satisfied my both issues.
Just imagine trying to keep things handy and making the counter top look messy because of it. That is not me. My kitchen counter top is a small space and I was always trying my best to keep it empty as much as I can because however hard I tried to organise it the place looked messy, until I got this invaluable product a year ago. This has de cluttered the counter top completely and the essentials kept in it look classy and organized.
The first shelf has a tall oil bottle and a beautiful chumbak cup and starbucks coffee mug of my daughter.
The second shelf has raw peanuts and dry fruits in my beautiful DIY glass bottles.
The third lowest shelf has tea sugar and coffee containers and a filter coffee tetra pack sometimes.
The 4th and lowest shelf has a small basket in which I keep tongs, a scissor ( to cut milk pouch every morning), a gas lighter (as our gas is not automatic) and a tea strainer ( tea is made almost every hour at my home). This shelf also has a tin full of homemade ghee and box of Amul butter.
The fridge rack is one of the best buy ever from Amazon. This rack fits exactly in between where my countertop ends and the fridge. It is extremely sleek at the same time fits many things into its 4 shelves. It is made up of wooden material and gives a real good look to the kitchen. You can use it for various purposes. I have used it according to my convenience.
Again you can keep another sleek slider below this one and optimize the space. Isn’t it awesome!
Everything from this shelf is needed every day. And this is visible to all at home whenever they need it. And still at the same time no clutter on the counter top.
Luckily from the entrance of my kitchen it is not even visible. Even you can think of such a place. I feel every home should have it as you can keep so many things as per your need like spices, masalas sauce bottles pickles, Jams or any other pulses or pastas, flours or even baby food, biscuits, snacks just anything which you may need handy.
Most important I liked about this product is it is multipurpose. You can also use it as a book stand or for keeping decorative items or flower pots in the balcony or in your living room or library room just as a standing decorative piece. Let your creativity work on it.
As for me I am the happiest person having this rack as I am always looking for compact organising options and am sure those who are like me will surely go for it. By chance you are planning to buy please click here https://amzn.to/37a39Xz this will not charge you more but it will give me a small percentage of commission. This is a link for above fridge rack called Livzing 4 Tier Adjustable Bamboo Storage Rack – Multipurpose Wooden Layer Kitchen Bathroom Organizer Shelves – Fridge Side Hanging Shelf.
As a parent we all love our daughters and find them as beautiful angels. While yes they are angels why do we just have to wish them with.. my beautiful ..my lovely ..my angel….etc. When they are grown up they need much more than just this. I feel motivating them with what they are good at through our wishes will do much greater help and inspire them to do best in their lives. I am sure these wishes will also remain in their hearts through out their life. Wishing birthday wishes to your daughter with a very short lyrical poem and with complete sum up of her capabilities and talent is more real and feels by the heart than just saying my beautiful or sweet daughter. Always make them feel proud of what they are and what you love the most of them other than their looks. This will surely motivate them to do their best ahead. And also they will realize you are aware of their good qualities which they themselves might have not known.
The real trick to make each and every perfect puffed Roti / Phulka / Indian bread.
When it comes to having lunch or dinner, everybody relishes on the hot puffed roti / Phulka or as called the Indian bread.
You can have it with any curry or stir fried vegetables or use it as a roll to eat with any spread like jam, nutella etc. Just a dollop of ghee or butter is also such a treat when the phulka is served hot.
Actually I didnot know without paid plan I cannot post videos. Wish I could post it! I had actually recorded all phulkas so that one could get first hand demo. Hope the photos help atleast a little. Posting a lot of photos to give a glimpse that with this trick each roti is sure to puff up.
So let’s get started.
1 cup any whole wheat flour
Salt as per needed. less than one fourth teaspoon if you want.
Half teaspoon oil
Water as per needed to make a medium soft dough preferably on a harder side.
Except oil mix all ingredients and make dough. It should be medium soft, apply oil and knead again for few seconds. keep aside for at least 15 minutes. This resting time helps to make good phulkas but it is not compulsory as with practice you don’t actually need to rest it.
Make small balls of the dough and keep so that when you are cooking one phulka simultaneously u can roll out another without wasting time.
Take a ball of dough roll it flat about 8 cm . apply dry flour if it gets difficult to roll out.
First pic above- Heat a pan on medium, put the rolled out phulka. Now here the trick is of heating it right for just 5 seconds.
Second pic above-Within 5 seconds turn phulka upside down. it should be cooked just as shown in above second pic and not more.
Third pic -Now the other side should be cooked nicely .
Fourth image- Check the phulka with a tong, if it is cooked properly the way you want from other side as shown in above last pic.
Now remove from the pan and flip the phulka directly on the gas. It immediately starts puffing . Cook a little on this side.
Remove from gas and apply ghee or butter immediately. We all love the hot phulkas straight from the pan loaded with ghee or butter. I myself enjoy and relish it this way.
Each and every phulka puffs with this little trick of heating right. I hope the photos help you to make each phulka, the perfect puffed one.
These two snack recipe / starters are all time favourite because they are not fried or oily appetizers. Even if it is last minute party plan it is super easy to make. Even a beginner can make it and surprise his family with these yummy bites. You need not be a cook to try these. The ingredients are also very minimal. So let’s get started.
Cheese corn canapés
Canapés
Mozarella cheese
Boiled corn, finely cut carrot and capsicum (ratio as per your choice)
Pizza /pasta sauce
Mix all vegetables, add sauce and grated mozzarella cheese. Do not put salt as the sauce contains salt.
Fill in the canapés, put grated cheese again on top, bake it till cheese melts and has a lovely brown colour on top and serve hot. It tastes heavenly guys…. just make it!
Cold Sprout Salad
This doubles up with being easy quick super healthy tasty filling and looks so tempting and best part is you can make it and keep in the refrigerator. It is ready to serve dish. So let’s get started.
Cold Sprout Salad
Half cup sprouted green beans
Half cup any boiled pasta
Half cup shredded Purple /red cabbage known as (Brassica Oleracea as per Google)
One fourth cup spring onions
1 and half tablespoon crushed or finely cut garlic
2 tablespoons Red Chili flakes
1 tablespoon Oregano flakes
Pepper powder as per taste I took 1 teaspoon
1 tablespoon Lemon juice
2 tablespoon Olive oil
Salt as per taste
Mix (sprouted beans, pasta, cabbage, spring onion) in a bowl. In another bowl mix the remaining ingredients.
Keep both the bowls in the fridge and mix both only when it is ready to serve. You can mix and keep too but it might get little soggy and leave water if kept for long time. We like it little spicy, you may reduce it according to your choice. This salad is always on the menu for any party for its health benefits.
I served both starters on a (click to see it) beautifully decorated table which added to the ambience in a great way.
Friends this is an awesome easy DIY idea you will not only fall in love with but instantly make it for this Christmas or for any normal party and get together. This is multi used as personalized gift and a sophisticated decoration.
This is almost no cost DIY but the outcome of this is classy, elegant and your guests will never forget you for making it.so let’s get started! you will only need.
A glass
A shimmery shiny (a must) cloth material or a diamond chain
Glue and scissor
That’s it!
Isn’t it awesome!
I had the material at home and the diamond chain was bought from a local store.
Just cut the shape of the cloth/chain the way you want to decorate the glass.
Preferably take a plain glass with no designs and work. This enhances the look of the glass.
Stick the cloth/chain to the glass with the help of strong glue. Same goes with the chain. Now the pattern you want on the glass is up to you as the sky is the limit for it. Your glass is ready for the party.
You will need to clean the glass with a soft cloth for any glue residues here and there.
Cleaning of glass is simple with soap water. From outside give a gentle wash. At least all my glasses are still intact with the cloth. For few which are loosened you can stick on again if needed.
To make the glass personalized I made name stickers at home which was lot of tedious work and stuck it on the glass. This way the guests can take away their glasses as a gift from you. This will be the most memorable, best ever and unique gift they ever received. And most important during the party there will be no mix up of glasses guessing who was drinking from which glass? The simple glass gets a million dollar look and the drink becomes as expensive as it looks.
Friends really make this DIY. Each and everybody loved it when I had done it.
If you want to know how I made the name stickers please let me know. I did not find a transparent sticker machine anywhere so had to go through the making process.
Christmas Table decoration: I did not have any stand for the candles so while setting the table for get together. I inverted a classy looking glass on table and kept a bright candle on it. This instantly gave an elegant sophisticated look to the decoration of the table.
Click here to know how I made those yummy canape and salad with the drink.
It takes lot many days for me to post one blog as I am not tech savvy at all and very bad at understanding simple technical issues. But I have lots of ideas to share.
Thank you each one of you for liking my other posts too.
I just love cooking food for my family and for guests who come to our home.
I just love the way each ingredient of the recipe brings its own unique taste to the food we make and am sure those who love cooking agree with me. You all know that there are particular types of spices which are used in our food daily but still when we change the quantity of each more or less in any recipe, it magically gives a completely unique taste to each item. That is why I call it “The MAGIC BOX”.
The spices may vary with the cuisines one prepares but the need for spice box is always there in any corner of the world. In which ever country you are residing, you can follow this same method as per your particular needs. This is what we need in most recipes and have kept them in that order.
I am a CKP Marathi from Maharashtra India. My Magic Box is according to what we need the most daily. I have 3 boxes out of which one is the most daily used, the second is used almost twice a week and third is used a little lesser but needed handy at any given times. This idea of making the magic box has made my kitchen extremely compact that nobody would imagine. A cooking enthusiast would need all this but end up having too many storage jars which occupies lot and lot of space and here I came up with this idea.
This compact way not only adjusts many spices in a very smaller place, but also saves on lot of money on buying jars and space. The only thing you need to do is spend some time once in your life to understand which exactly spices you need Daily, Frequently and Occasionally. This is The DFO method.Daily, Frequently and Occasionally. Here I am giving my magic box ingredients which I am sure will give you an idea for your kitchen to be the most compact and organized and very easy to access in need.
First Magic Box (Used daily)
Jeere/cumin seeds
Mohari/mustard seeds
Halad/turmeric powder
Dhana powder/coriander powder
Jeere powder/cumin powder
Tikhat/red chilli powder in 2 cups (We eat too spicy so in 2 cups)
Second Magic Box (Used frequently-Twice or Thrice in 2 weeks). These are whole hot spices/garam masala)
Dalchini/cinnamon
Miri/Black pepper
Shah Jeere/black cumin
Lavang/peppercorn
Elaichi/cardamom
Badi Velchi/black cardamom
Chakri phul/star anise
Tamal patra/bay leaves (this is a small packet kept on the cups inside the box)
Third Magic Box (Used Occasional- 3 to 4 times in a month)
Khas khas/poppy seeds
Safed Til/white sesame seeds
Badishep/fennel seeds
Dhane/coriander seeds
Badishep powder/fennel powder
Shengdana/peanuts
Owa/carom seeds
By the DFO method so many storage jars are cut down at one go. I have bifurcated according to our level of use. Also by keeping the right combination of ingredients, I don’t need to take down all the three boxes. This way one can also have a glance if any ingredient is getting infested. Hope this helps you all a great way.
Do you know that most times we overreact to situations and become hyper tensed and worried more than the actual situation is? And do you know that it is just a habit we learnt from our childhood?
How do we develop a habit?
Habit is an automatic behavioral response to a situation. Our habits are result of doing the same things over and over again. Mostly we learn from parents by observing them from childhood then from school, peers, stories heard from people, social media influences, TV, mobile, teachers ,mentors and other life experiences.
Only those habits have to be unlearnt which affect you in a negative way or hampers your personal growth.
How can we unlearn habits?
The secret to unlearn your habit is to unlearn your thoughts. For every change you need to first know what you want to change and then ACT on it.
FIRST: Make a list of habits that you want to change.
SECOND: Try to change one habit at a time.
THIRD: Be Deliberate. Initially the way you will progress, your mind will not accept, it will get irritable or in some situations tensed because you have been learning it in a different way throughout your life.
Fourth: Be happy with the change you want to do. This is equally very important. Example. If you are shy or you have seen others getting nervous while giving a speech you will automatically get afraid or scared while talking first few times or you may feel awkward and weird. Being happy will give your mind a feeling that Yes! You want to make this change and that is why you are here. This thought will in turn show on your body actions that you are confident enough to stand out there and speak up.
FIFTH: Be persistent. Be continuous in which ever specific habit you want to change. This is necessary because if you change for few days, it will not be your habit. Your mind and body will not react to situations as you want it. For many a times each habit which you want to unlearn will have to be deliberately and knowingly acted in a way you want and same reactions have to be implemented every time, till they are permanent and a way of habit.
Sixth: Have faith. This is faith in anything you connect to. It can be God, Universe or it can be YOU too! Your will power believing in yourself or any power which YOU feel you can connect. This is extremely necessary because you have always been learning from somebody all your life how they had reacted. You were sure they were right, they can’t be wrong, they did the right thing and now you are here feeling this has to be changed! Because now you feel this is right..!! . By having faith in that one being whoever you connect to, you will be sure what ever change you are trying is RIGHT and it will happen to you for sure.
The change will be easy once you have decided to do it and act on it.
Unlearning doesn’t mean to change everything what you have learnt consciously and unconsciously, it means to let go off only those habits which harms you in taking the right actions.
Teenage is the most beautiful time in one’s life, so make it the most valuable time of life too.
What happens in teens?
During teens and adolescent years we are interested in our looks and acceptance from peers. But one should understand the very important benefits of learning life skills.
Life skills are nothing but how efficiently you manage your daily life. In Indian families when one starts a job or business, from the first month suddenly one realises how hard it is to manage so many aspects of being an adult like taking care of light bills, phone bills, groceries, taxes, maintenance of car, house, interpersonal relations, social commitments, job pressure, business tensions, peer pressure, job competitiveness and the list is endless. This is why we should be well equipped with at least those skills which we can learn early in life so that by the time we are on our career path we need to only concentrate on one or fewer responsibilities and other things can be managed swiftly and smoothly by us.
Which life skills are necessary?
Both girls and boys can learn basic skills such as bringing vegetables, basic knowhow to cook, payments of electricity, phone, water, gas bills, how your family business works, how the house budgeting is done, how to keep social contacts, to learn basic repair of taps, assembling furniture, putting up shelves, painting, fixing bulbs or repairing small household items, know how to invest, learn driving, swimming and meditating too. The parents should let the child give his opinion and have active participation in decision making too. Children should take the lead in house events such as making guest lists or making some special dish for them or if not interested in food, write a poem or sing a song or some activity and showcase your talent. The list is endless
What are the benefits of life skills?
It may seem frivolous to learn all life skills but you surely must learn as much as you can because all this will make you a very strong person, a good decision maker, ability to cope with problems more critically and confidently, more creative in thinking, an effective communicator, better ability to cope with stress, smart at handling daily routines of house, better at coping with emotional situations, have good organisational skills and equally important you will have SELF CONFIDENCE that you are capable of doing it all. Once you are pro at this it will be easier to just focus on your career path when you start your job or business.
Crucial benefits of Life skills
The greatest benefit through all the learning is you may find your “PURPOSE” in life eg.. you may find cooking interesting and make it your career path or hospitality or organizing home or event managing or accountancy while doing the budgeting at home or you can be a great businessman realizing your skills at home or you may realize that you are a great social influencer, a great communicator or you have some other talent like writing, designing, singing, painting, dancing etc to take up as your career option ahead. The list is again endless.
Why do you want to wait till you grow to be an adult struggling between many things when you have the chance of being proficient in almost all the necessary skills from home.
Learn the skills when you are in your teens and spread your wings to fly above others.
Hi Guys, Please share if you like it and also let me know your thoughts about it.
We involuntarily have stream of thoughts continuously in our mind. We have no control on the number of thoughts but we can control the quality of thoughts.
If in anyways we are going to have thoughts all the time, why feed our mind with negative thoughts?
Why do we have negative thoughts?
Most things are learnt due to the upbringing at home, school, peers, social experiences, stories about other people, learning through TV and other social media platforms etc. This creates a thought pattern in our mind and we unconsciously start thinking in a particular way all the time. It may be in a negative way or positive way.
There are ways where we can try to handle these thoughts so that we can change our approach towards any given situation and thereby increase our self confidence of tackling problems in life.
How thinking changes your emotions?
Example 1- It is useless getting extremely worried about exam results on the result day! You have done what you could do before writing the paper. It is fine to be anxious or excited about it but if this converts into negative thoughts like what if I fail? It is of no use now. Here we can deliberately try to think, I may just pass with border line this time. Just check the feeling you get thinking this way. There is an instant spurt of good feel inside us. This is what good thinking does.
Example 2- If a child goes for picnic first time, the mom gets sudden negative thoughts. Will my child be safe? What if something happens to him? These are futile negative thoughts now. This type of thoughts should be instantly handled by thinking -let me try and make something good to eat when my child comes home. You will start preparing for the dish, right? .This way train your mind to get a good feel in it.
Example 3- when you are listening to sad songs, it automatically makes you sad about everything in your life unnecessary, same way if you listen to peppy songs you feel good.
I have given simple examples to change your thought process gradually so that it will be a permanent routine thinking pattern for your mind.
You will find a great difference in your personality very soon. Use your thoughts creatively and effectively to build up your personality. This will highly boost your self confidence too. Mostly we have futile thoughts which are of no use and are unnecessary.
Helpful tips to redirect our thoughts to mindful positive thinking.
Switch on to good happy music. It surely elevates your mood and gives good feel within you.
Listen or read motivational or inspirational books, talk shows. It boosts your energy level to think positively and gives a sense of self confidence.
Cook something, Organize your home, clean your cupboard, play cards, play video games, go for a movie, chat different topics with friends. All these activities will keep you busy and distract from negative thoughts.
Exercise in gym with friends so that being alone will not take you to your own world of negative thoughts.
Learn new things music, painting, instruments, calligraphy, art, craft, drawing anything which interests you. This will largely keep you busy with your new hobby.
Take part in contests so you will get going with the preparations thereby distracting you to a better way.
Join a club Rotary or Lions club or Art club or any other whichever interests you or is nearby your place even that will keep you away from negative thoughts by doing their activities. It’s even a great place to make new friends, socialize and it may help in your business too.
Get a pet. It will keep you busy through out the day lessening your negative feeling.
There are numerous other ways, Sometimes you have to unlearn few things of past which are harmful mentally to you. You have to redirect thoughts if they are creating issues in present life. Come on, Tap your problematic areas now and start afresh.
Start with simple things step by step and you will see a sea of change in yourself eventually.
