How do you people get motivated?

moo2moo

I start my day with the slow cooker. 5 minutes of throwing ingredients from the fridge into it and thats it. Dinners done. Saves 25 minutes of stirring things and means at the instant the kids start with the "I'm starving" routine and begin cupboard raiding I can put dinner on a plate. Also means dinners there when hubby shows up 3 hours later than expected. The advantage of this is two fold, the slow cooker works better with the cheaper cuts of meat, stewing steak and the like so you also notice an immediate drop in your shopping bill. In winter I also stick Slow Cooker #2 on at bedtime with porridge in for breakfast. Great for hubby before work at 5am and the kids before school.

After that at the point when I really need to go shopping I delay this by 24 hours and use something from the cupboard instead (unless of course we're out of loo roll!). Saves having to do a weeks shop from home challenge, I haven't got the willpower.

There are lots and lots of great OS suggestions but many of them involve having extra hours in your day. Its somewhat easier to add 1 OS idea each week than it is to jump in with both feet first. Start with something that inspires you and give it a whirl. White Vinegar is an interesting place to start. I bet if you look in your cleaning cupboard you have 20 different types of cleaning products. You'd be amazed how few you actually need. You'd get the same result by replacing the vast majority of them with very hot soapy water or white vinegar at a fraction of the price and they take up less space too.

I tend to reward myself too. I'll set out with a list of things I wan to achieve in a wek and 1 extra thing. This weeks was to wash the downstairs carpets on my hands and knees with lots and lots of hot soapy water. Result lovely smelling clean carpets, tighter stomach muscles and a trip to the library for a book which I then spent an entire day reading in the garden. My day off! Although as a full time mum everyday is technically a day off so I tend to choose the sunniest one for me.

icandream

rosieben wrote: »

here you go, its Post # 2164 here

glad it was of use icandream

Rosie - it's a fab post, and it really is on the fridge. Many, many thanks. My first wash with the vinegar went well (no surprise to you, but I thought it would smell!), and I'm now a convert. I now need to investigate a second way to use vinegar!

Mics-chick: it's on the printout but the fridge is downstairs and the computer is upstairs, and I am fundamentally lazy! :rotfl: But if I'd seen your request before Rosie, I would have posted the link. It's given me a lot of motivation, and I plan to work thru, one tip at a time, as soon as I feel I've got to grips with each one. As moo2moo says, I'm setting myself one new OS thing a week. If it goes faster then that, fab. It it doesn't, I'm not, repeat not, going to get stressed about it. (Though I've never looked into slow cookers, and see them being mentioned everywhere, so am intrigued by that.)

Mics_chick

moo2moo wrote: »

I start my day with the slow cooker. 5 minutes of throwing ingredients from the fridge into it and thats it. Dinners done. Saves 25 minutes of stirring things and means at the instant the kids start with the "I'm starving" routine and begin cupboard raiding I can put dinner on a plate. Also means dinners there when hubby shows up 3 hours later than expected. The advantage of this is two fold, the slow cooker works better with the cheaper cuts of meat, stewing steak and the like so you also notice an immediate drop in your shopping bill. In winter I also stick Slow Cooker #2 on at bedtime with porridge in for breakfast. Great for hubby before work at 5am and the kids before school.

What meals do you do in the slow cooker then Moo?
Is it just stews & casseroles or do you do other stuff too???

Mics_chick

rosieben wrote: »

here you go, its Post # 2164 here

glad it was of use icandream

Thanks for that Rosie
I thought it might be you that IC was referring too but I was looking for a thread rather than a post :rolleyes:

rosieben

Some really good points there moo2moo :T ; I like the idea of waiting a day before shopping, that probably saves you a lot of money and time over the year. And cooking real food – with or without a SC – is the most OS thing you can do for your family I think.

Its very important to have some time for ourselves and we need to schedule that time as a normal part of life not as a luxury. Bringing up a family and running a home is hard work and no matter how much we love doing it and how satisfying it is, we need to take a little time out to remember who we are, even if that’s only a half hour now and then

Icandream - I cant tell you how daunting I found this forum at first :eek: so many good ideas, and so many things I wanted to do. But everyone here seemed to be some sort of domestic genius and I felt totally inadequate especially as I was struggling with depression; I started slowly with one thing, and I’m still learning and trying new things, I’m a work in progress!

There are loads of brilliant tips in the OS Index for Cleaning, Laundry or whatever. I know I keep saying this but its true, you’ll be amazed at what you find listed! Follow the blue link at the top of any OS page. I’m off to search now in fact, as I’ve acquired a few part-bottles of hair conditioner - I don't use it but my dd left several part bottles here before she went abroad to live, and my sis has given me a bag full of shampoo and conditioners that she tried and doesn’t like. I’m sure hair conditioner must be good for something!

Have a good day all :hello:

jinny

you can shave your legs using conditioner
use a proper lady shaver though be careful

Mics_chick

rosieben wrote: »

Some really good points there moo2moo :T ; I like the idea of waiting a day before shopping, that probably saves you a lot of money and time over the year. And cooking real food – with or without a SC – is the most OS thing you can do for your family I think.

Its very important to have some time for ourselves and we need to schedule that time as a normal part of life not as a luxury. Bringing up a family and running a home is hard work and no matter how much we love doing it and how satisfying it is, we need to take a little time out to remember who we are, even if that’s only a half hour now and then

Icandream - I cant tell you how daunting I found this forum at first :eek: so many good ideas, and so many things I wanted to do. But everyone here seemed to be some sort of domestic genius and I felt totally inadequate especially as I was struggling with depression; I started slowly with one thing, and I’m still learning and trying new things, I’m a work in progress!

There are loads of brilliant tips in the OS Index for Cleaning, Laundry or whatever. I know I keep saying this but its true, you’ll be amazed at what you find listed! Follow the blue link at the top of any OS page. I’m off to search now in fact, as I’ve acquired a few part-bottles of hair conditioner - I don't use it but my dd left several part bottles here before she went abroad to live, and my sis has given me a bag full of shampoo and conditioners that she tried and doesn’t like. I’m sure hair conditioner must be good for something!

Have a good day all :hello:

I've used hair conditioner instead of fabric conditioner if I ever ran out of it (in the days when I still used it )
I've not used fab conditioner for ages anyway coz I tumble dry nearly everything so it wasn't necessary

Mics_chick

jinny wrote: »

you can shave your legs using conditioner
use a proper lady shaver though be careful

I've done that too

searching_me

i tend to find that if i think of that one person you never wanna be like gives you the strength to keep at it.... i mean me all have moments where as my oh would say lolligag lol but when you have something behind you going "i never wanna be like that" it help you... mine is my mother was ans still is a gambler and so in turn my family never had nothing... so i make sure i do my best to keep on things trust me when you got the push it helps xxx

Gingham_Ribbon

The things that keep me motivated most in OS are my meals. I have become so confident in the kitchen that I enjoy cooking because I know (most of the time) I'm making food that will taste much better than any ready meal or take-away.

But I took it slowly. The best piece of advice I've had on here was to learn a new dish once a week. That's all. Just be OS for one day a week. After a year you'll have learnt 52 new dishes. It didn't take a year - after a few weeks I found it easy to use the new skilss I'd learned and I could start experimenting.

Using vinegar instead of expensive cleaning stuff is easier and quicker than using the manufactured stuff too so that isn't a chore (though actual cleaning is always going to be a pain for me - I don't enjoy it and never will but it has to be done.)

And Twink's hobnobs. They are a surefire way of reminding myself why I love to be OS.