Housegirlfriending

lmwilber

Happy Monday!!!

So, I am done with school, done with the Bar and until I get my results at the end of April, I am a housegirlfriend. I have the utmost respect for those with the talent it takes to run a household. I lack that gene. I come from a long line of women who lacked that gene. My Grandmother was expelled her Sr. year of HS for nearly burning down her Home Ec classroom do to a pie she accidentally left in the oven. I'm not kidding. 

I'm very very grateful that BF is supporting me though all this. He wants me to apply for my dream job, which I can't do till I know I passed. He is so wonderful, I am so blessed to have such a great guy. I really want to impress him with my housekeeping skills, but they are nil. I can cook, and garden, but that's about it.

Any tips or tricks on the housekeeping front would be appreciated! I want to be an awesome housegirlfriend so he can see how much his support means to me. 

heyimbren

I like to use www.delish.com for my recipes. I've been really pleased with them- easy to search for on the site, easy to make and tasty too.

Also, how good does it feel to have the Bar done now? How are you feeling about it? When do you find out?

Ember01

Join Flylady.net!

She emails you things to do in the house everyday! She makes it fun! And it is free! The worst part is all the testimonies they also email you, but I just delete them. Flylady taught me how to keep house!! And her products, are amazing.

I sound like an advertisement. LOL

Blue & White

I stink at the cleaning part of housegirlfriending (I just work fewere hours than BF) but I love the cooking aspect.  Crockpots are easy and don't result in too many fires usually

Good luck!

calindi

I've already been warned that when we move to Virginia to start his training, the vast majority of housework will be my responsibility.  If I find a job while I'm in school, I can pay someone to clean the house and he'll cover everything else for cost of living.  If I don't have a job, I'll have to keep house.  I'm scared!  I am a total slob and have no concept of how to organize things except to buy very expensive organizing systems that don't work for me.

Cooking is easy, though.  If you're a beginner cook, check out Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals - I taught myself to cook from those, and then branched out to other stuff.  Get some good tupperware and you can pack him up lunches from leftovers really easily.

NurseyK

ooooh I have lots of easy recipes! Let me know what the main dish consists of and I'll send some ideas and recipes if you're game!

As far as house cleaning....  my days off typically start by loading and running the dishwasher in the morning. Then I start a load of laundry and make the bed. By that time I need to coffee, take a nap, or internet catch up time/ start homework (gasp). Whether or not I get the motivation to unload the dishwasher and finish laundry sooner than later always changes. 

Ember01

Seriously, you girls need to check out Flylady! When I lived with 2 guys, it was the only way I could keep our house clean AND get them to clean. She goes on a "you can do anything for 15 minutes" idea. She sends out emails telling you what to go clean.

As for cooking, my mom insists on making a menu every Saturday for the week and she says it is her life line. FI and I write down recipes that we liked on an index card, so we don't have to keep looking, and if we change things up, we can easily write it in. But, the crockpot is my best friend.

heyimbren

Oh also, for cleaning: I like to keep myself organized before I start cleaning. For example, instead of sorting recycling later, I have sort them as I finish with it. So I have two recycling boxes and I can sort that way. I like to do the same thing with laundry since it saves me time later on. I'll sometimes wash a dish I just used if I don't have a pile of dishes to do, because it's easier to just have one little job to do then a huge pile of dishes.

lmwilber

Thanks for all tha great tips so far! Delish.com is great, and flylady.com seem to be just what I was looking for! 

I am a total slob, so this is going to be hard for me. I'm also the kind of person that wants instant (or pretty fast) results, so the fact that my house is overwhelmingly dirty, (coupled with that fact that I don't get my bar results till April 29th), is killing me. But, our place did not get dirty in one day, or even in one week, so its ok if it takes a few days or weeks to set it straight. 

As for being done with school and the bar, on one hand, it feels great to be done, but on the other, these two months are like hell. If I was stressed about passing before, I could just push myself to study more, and then I felt better. I knew what I had control over, (study time), and what I didn't. Now, I just have to wait and pray that it was enough. I have to let it go, but its such a big thing, that its difficult. It really is a good life lesson, though. I need to learn to let go of things that I can't change, be still and enjoy this exact moment in my life, because it wont come again. 

Any one with recipes, feel free to PM me or, I can PM you with my email address. Maybe I should start a new thread for our favorite dishes...

calindi

Might not be the cheapest option, but may I suggest splurging for a cleaning service to kickstart your housegirlfriending?  Set the appointment for Friday, so you feel the need to neaten before they get there to maximize their cleaning.  It'll give you time to wash the laundry and put it away, do the dishes and put it away, and then they can give you a really nice baseline clean for the whole house.  It'll be easier to maintain after that!

ETA:  You can usually find some pretty inexpensive options for housecleaning on Craigslist.  As long as you're home and supervising while they clean (and put away your valuables in easy view), then it doesn't matter so much who they are.  I'd still ask for references, though!

lmwilber

Calindi- I treid to sell the BF on that idea, and got the no go So, my mom is going to come over later this week and assist. Because she rocks like that! I did get the BF to agree that we can get a service once I go back to work. However, if he stops working and goes back to school, then I guess he can pick up the house keeping chores

Ember- I just scrubed my sink and I do feel much better, funny how a little thing like that can change your day. Already sold on FlyLady!

Daisy125

The best cleaning advice my grandmother gave me is to clean as you go. Like once you have enough laundry for a load go ahead and wash it before you end up with 3 loads. If you use a dish, wash it as soon as you're done  (if you don't have a dishwasher). That way things don't pile up and get overwhelming. I'm horrible at following this advice, but when I do follow it my life is definitely a little easier. GL!

bsidebella

I'm a housegirlfriend too - not by choice. But I'm naturally a neat-freak and I have grown to like cooking. I like to keep things looking neat and I get twitchy if FI doesn't put things away or leaves a mess. I made brownies for a shiva call last night, and realized I didn't have enough eggs. So, when I went out to get eggs, he decided he was going to help me start the brownies. I was gone for all of 10 minutes and came back to a disaster kitchen - sugar on the floor, cocoa all over the counter, the canister of flour left open, etc. I nearly had an aneurism.

Sometimes the Nest has great tips for keeping organized and has recipes too. Your TK account will work there, so you don't have to register all over again. I also get recipes from Allrecipes, and I love to scour flea markets and garage sales for cookbooks.

Also, get a magazine subscription to Good Housekeeping or something like it. Or not. If you're in a waiting room somewhere, like a doctor or mechanic, they always have tons of magazines, right? If you find an article you really like and want to remember, they will usually let you take home the magazine if you ask, especially if it's an older issue.

Beads921

Ember, I've totally heard of the flylady before! I have decent housekeeping skills myself, so I haven't signed up, but it seems like a neat idea.

OP, I don't really have any tips on how to keep house better. I generally try to keep messes under control, so it means a 10 minute tidy up every morning. Then heavy duty cleaning happens on Thursday. Dishes get done every night. Beyond that, I don't know what to tell you.

katieisawesome

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_housegirlfriending?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:1a874b1a-692b-4040-aec6-cb9f829d4b62Post:5a38e6cf-ca8b-4ec0-8daa-35d7fe038cea">Housegirlfriending</a>:
[QUOTE]Happy Monday!!! So, I am done with school, done with the Bar and until I get my results at the end of April, I am a housegirlfriend. I have the utmost respect for those with the talent it takes to run a household. I lack that gene. I come from a long line of women who lacked that gene. My Grandmother was expelled her Sr. year of HS for nearly burning down her Home Ec classroom do to a pie she accidentally left in the oven. I'm not kidding.  I'm very very grateful that BF is supporting me though all this. He wants me to apply for my dream job, which I can't do till I know I passed. He is so wonderful, I am so blessed to have such a great guy. I really want to impress him with my housekeeping skills, but they are nil. I can cook, and garden, but that's about it. Any tips or tricks on the housekeeping front would be appreciated! I want to be an awesome housegirlfriend so he can see how much his support means to me. 
Posted by lmwilber[/QUOTE]

<div>A lot of attorney positions will let you interview without your bar results - just an option if you want to start sending out resumes.  Some places will even hire contingent upon you passing the bar.</div><div>
</div><div>BUT, while you are playing housewife, might as well enjoy it :)  Clean as you go so that it doesn't explode on you after several days - that's my #1 tip.</div><div>
</div><div>Watch the Food Network :)</div><div>
</div>

Ember01

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_housegirlfriending?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:1a874b1a-692b-4040-aec6-cb9f829d4b62Post:423eb509-aa09-4372-9ea0-685dd4c8cb0e">Re: Housegirlfriending</a>:
[QUOTE]Calindi- I treid to sell the BF on that idea, and got the no go :( So, my mom is going to come over later this week and assist. Because she rocks like that! I did get the BF to agree that we can get a service once I go back to work. However, if he stops working and goes back to school, then I guess he can pick up the house keeping chores :) Ember- I just scrubed my sink and I do feel much better, funny how a little thing like that can change your day. Already sold on FlyLady!
Posted by lmwilber[/QUOTE]

Good! I tell all my friends about Flylady. They pretty much think I'm crazy, but it seriously helps. I did cheat and I did the 30 day getting started program in like 2 weeks :) But, once you get started, you'll get on her schedule.

[Deleted User]

Whenever I find myself with a lot of housetime, I start by making the bed every morning.  It makes a huge difference at how clean a room looks with having a freshly made bed and it always gets me motivated to do more cleaning.