Today's video is a collaboration with Mina Irfan from The Universe Guru. Mina contacted me with this great idea to do a collaboration on 5 Tips for an Efficient Home. Today, I'm sharing 5 tips on my channel, and she is sharing 5 tips on her channel. You can watch her video here.
This was a really fun topic for me. I had way more than 5 tips, but I streamlined them to the most pertinent.
Prepare the night before Think about what makes your morning hectic. Is it breakfast? Getting dressed? Preparing school lunches? Helping the children get ready? Whatever it is that causes you stress, see if you can take care of it the night before. Set the table for breakfast. Set out the lunchbox and place non-perishables in it. Choose your clothes for the next day. Have your children lay their clothes out. Place all backpacks by the front door. Everyone's nightly to-do list will be different, but you will come to appreciate this added effort the night before to make your morning run smoothly.
Use your slow cooker The slow cooker (or crock pot) is my favorite kitchen appliance. Late afternoon/ early evening are very busy times at our house. The children are back from school and we are doing homework, practicing instruments, catching up and having downtime together. I'm also normally quite tired during these hours. That's why I love to prepare a meal in the slow cooker in the morning, when I tend to have more energy and while the kids are at school. I love the feeling of having dinner prepared come 5pm! It also makes the house smell so good. I love that our home smells of home-cooking when the children get back from school. The benefits of the slow cooker are endless.**
Embrace routines We live in a world of order and our homes should reflect that. Try to eliminate chaos wherever you can by implementing routines for everything from dealing with the incoming mail to going to bed at night.
Run your home like a small hotel What do you like about staying at a hotel? Is it the serene, clutter-free bedroom? The immaculate lobby and reception area? The sense of calm and order? Get excited about running your home, just as if you were the manager of a small, boutique hotel. With this motivation, you will plan your meals with gusto and use your implemented routines to create an orderly and efficient home.
Adopt a ten-item wardrobe The benefits of the ten-item wardrobe are vast, one of them being that it makes your home life run more efficiently. Why? Because you are not wasting countless hours choosing what to wear. You are not wasting money on clothes you don't need and aren't your true style. You end up choosing to look presentable every day which boosts your energy and productivity, plus so much more.
I hope you check out my video today where I expound on all of these topics, and why I believe they can help you to run your home more efficiently.
**Many people have asked which slow cooker I use. Our All Clad slow cooker is over ten years old and our particular model is no longer available. However, I did some research and this Crock Pot slow cooker is Amazon's pick, is very affordable and has excellent reviews online. If you are looking for a new slow cooker and you try this one, let me know how you like it!
Comment of the Week
Oh my goodness, there were so many amazing comments from last week's Teatime with Jennifer video and blog, it was really hard to choose my favorite! Here are two great comments:
Jenna G writes: I have been following your channel and reading your books for a few years now, I've never commented but I just love what you have to say. You have inspired me to live in a new way with a renewed love for the simple things in life. Whether it's food, beverages, clothes, or the simple pleasures of making your home look beautiful, it's just fun! I used to have two closets jam-packed full of clothes, and now I'm down to one small closet thanks to the 10 item wardrobe. I love cleaning out my closet multiple times each year and updating my wardrobe. I find joy in keeping my home looking nice with my husband. And I totally agree about looking presentable always, even when no one else will see you that day! I hope your books and channel are around for years to come. I love looking forward to your new videos each week. :)
Tara M writes:
Before reading the Madame Chic series I used to be an offender of wearing yoga pants everyday (I think I am wearing yoga pants in my icon pic :). I too, had the opinion that it didn't matter since I wore a long shirt over and I thought you couldn't tell. I also work from home. But after reading the books, I decided to give it a try. I have to say I have converted. I no longer wear yoga pants daily. I wear real pants. And I will say, "don't knock it til you try it". I feel so much better. I realized that when I was in my yoga pants, I wanted to lounge around, read, or go on the internet. When I am dressed, I am more efficient, more organized and I feel better when I go to the store. I am in a better mood. I love not wearing yoga pants. At the end of the night, early, I take a relaxing bath and put on my pj's and then I relax, pray and listen to some classical or meditation music. So, now I have a place for my relaxation time. I love it!~ Thank you Jennifer for shedding light on this. My cheat is, I found dressy, nice pants, that are just as comfy as yoga pants. I usually wear nice, dressy leggings with a long dress top and ballet flats.
Thank you ladies, for sharing your great testimonials with all of us. I love to hear how the Daily Connoisseur and Madame Chic philosophies are improving your lives.
This week I would love to know... What do you think of my tips for running an efficient home? Do you have any to add yourself? Do you struggle with efficiency in your home life? Let me know in the comment section, and yours could be chosen as comment of the week on the blog!
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6 comments:
Love your tips. I have already adopted some of them because I have read and loved your books and really look forward to watching your video each week. I also got insight and some ideas from The Universe Guru too, so I also, enjoyed your collaboration. The idea of the 10-item wardrobe along with the Marie Kondo method of keeping only what gives you joy has really changed the way I view not only clothes but so much more of my life. You ladies have changed the way I view myself as a lady. I also just LOVE what you talk about in your first Madame Chic book about using your best. It struck me very deeply on many levels and I strive to do that every day if possible. I do admit, I need to utilize my slow cooker more and as I meal plan today I will take that into consideration in the menu planning. Thank you.
I would also love to hear the many other tips you have for running an efficient home, keep them coming! I'll take all the advice I can get. Thank you!
Summer Smith, I was also going to mention Marie Kondo's method! I think her philosophy and Jennifer's go hand in hand. Something I've really learned in the last year of reading this blog has been to focus on what will bring me joy and what matters. I think I used to see a crammed closet and an overflowing makeup cabinet as proof of abundance. But once I started to cull my wardrobe and pare down my other possessions, the serenity of less was the real blessing. Fewer high quality items to care for is a major key to efficiency.
As my husband works nights, lunch time is our "main meal". This means that a slow cooker is out of the question, as I would have to get up and start cooking at 3 or 4 in the morning. However. I have discovered the pressure cooker, and I honestly don't know how I ever got on without it. Not only can I make stews and roasts within an hour time-frame that taste as if they were slow-cooked all day, I make up a batch of chicken stock every week (takes less than an hour), which I use to make soups and use in general cooking instead of using cans or boxes of chicken stock. The taste is so incredibly better than commercially produced stuff. I also make up batches of beans (they only take between 3 to 10 minutes, depending on type of bean) and freeze them instead of buying canned. I also have a pressure canner for use in the summer for putting up jars of tomatoes from our garden. These are not like your grandmother's pressure cookers. They have many safety issues addressed, so you don't have to worry about them exploding. Pressure cookers have made my life SO much easier!
Hi Jennifer!
I think your collaboration with Mina is lovely and I am excited to incorporate advice from both of your videos into my daily life. Aesthetically I enjoy the way in which you sped up your typical presentation in order to match more closely with Mina's style, I thought that was graceful of you, and it still remains true to the quality I've come to anticipate each Monday.
The most exciting of your five points for me, was number four. I enjoyed the idea of treating my home like a boutique hotel! It inspired me so that on Monday I raced around to prepare things for when my husband returned home from work. After a short walk around the house he commented on how clean everything looked, and we had such a pleasant evening listening to music instead of having to put the house to rights after the children were in bed. I strive to continue thinking ahead this coming week with planning dinners, and planning mornings before they simply come up on me. I am certain that I will find soon this planning has become part of my normal routine, and as natural to me as the Ten item wardrobe I adopted 2 years ago.
Thank you for the time and effort you put into this blog, it brightens my life and motivates me each Monday.
Kathleen
I absolutely love the fourth tip of treating your home like a boutique hotel, how inspiring! It actually gives me a visual to shoot for every day when I am tidying up!
I finally bit the bullet and curated my first ten item wardrobe for the winter. I am completely sold now. I have had so many people comment on how much they love my wardrobe because not only is it succinct, but I made sure that every item coordinates with every other item in the wardrobe.
I've had a few friends ask me to help them with their spring/summer wardrobe because they love the concept so much. I wrote about it here, and I linked up to your blog, Jennifer! http://perfectlyimperfectclub.com/build-a-wardrobe-that-coordinates/
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