Are You Wearing Stress Makeup?
What is stress makeup?
Have you ever stopped to think the impact your skin has due to stress? The dark circles you get after a sleepless night, working late and struggle to put the kids to bed or the blemishes you get since you break rest to ensure you get up early to cook the perfect meal before taking the kids to school, are all impacting how you look and feel.
Whilst stress will always be a part of our daily routine, finding shortcuts, tips & tricks doesn’t make you a bad mother or a bad wife. It helps you to find more time to create lovely memories with your loved ones and spend more time on yourself versus toiling over a chore that will only stress you.
Tips and Tricks by Real Women
Who better to ask on tips and tricks of managing stress than real working women. So here are a few tips we found interesting.
The cleaning schedule
I break down cleaning tasks into daily or weekly schedules to keep my home organized and also reduce being stressed and overwhelmed trying to do all during the weekends. Eg. Laundry during Tuesday and Friday nights, cleaning garden on Saturday morning etc
Don’t be afraid to ask your employer the opportunity to work from home
When I was overwhelmed with work and managing the home front, I requested my employer for work from home. They did not hesitate a minute to offer this to me. This was the biggest blessing.
Using digital platforms to make life easier
I have used the digital platform in many ways to make my life easier, faster & less stressful. I do all my utility bills payments, kids tuition fee payments, household payments using the digital banking app. In addition, I manage a check list for the week on my digital calendar to give me a heads up & notifications to manage professional & personal life chores.
Meal preparation
Meal prep is important for me to ensure a stress free day. I stock up on supplies every week and make sure I prepare the next day's meal requirements the night before, which makes cooking easy for me.
Negotiated screen time
I provide my kids controlled screen time. During weekdays it’s only 10mins screen time in the morning untill we get ready. No TV at home. The other trade off is that they get to listen to music of their choice at anytime of the day. All these have been discussed, negotiated with them and called out
Making clean up easy
I got laundry mesh bags to separate toys into categories so there's a bag each for-soft toys, dolls, musical instruments, kitchen toys, etc. I keep 2 or 3 bags out at a time and hide the rest. So when she pulls out everything and mixes up the toys, I'm still less stressed because it's just maximum 3 toy bags I have to sort. Every 3-4 months, when I see that she is getting bored with the stuff that are already out, I put away what is already out and take out another set of toy bags, so that she stays interested in all her toys.
Freezing food to save time
I cook the meat needed for few days and put it into separate containers with a quantity sufficient for a single family serve so that I only defrost the required quantity. This means I don’t need to spend time cooking everyday. I also get coconut grated for a week or two and keep it in the freezer. So that I always can easily prepare curries, rotti or sambol.
Easy washing
I started putting my son’s clothes in the washing machine even before he was one month. I used to quickly rinse by hand to remove dirt and put it in the washing machine with a mild disinfectant.
Making shopping fun
I buy household products on a monthly basis and only buy vegetables, meat, fish etc on a weekly basis. I shop with a grocery list and go grocery shopping with my daughter which we both enjoy doing.
