​Not only did I save time, but to a traditional man, this simply was not right – you cant leave the same things hanging on the line for days on end – and it did not look good to the neighbours and was too unconventional – something had to be done, and it was – a clothes dryer was promptly purchased. It felt like such a luxury to have such a piece of equipment in our house – I felt like royalty…but with a twist. We could afford to buy something expensive, but too poor to use it!
At this point I didn’t understand the true efficiency of the machine, so only used it when it had been raining for a few days and the carport line was full. I no longer hung things inside as I now understood the unhealthiness of living inside a hothouse- and simply did not want to continue growing the unwanted organisms of mould and fungus. It wasn’t until one of my boys was stung twice, and hubby was also stung from a wasp inside their clothes that hanging clothing on the carport line stopped. I dreaded the power bill that month, but I needn’t have. I was now using it every second day but the criticism from its use also increased. Even these negative comments stopped however when the expensiveness of the clothes dryer came up for discussion with a visiting electrician who made the comment that one load of clothes in the dryer cost no more than between 30-50 cents!  For some this was the cost of a takeaway hot drink, or a chocolate bar a week – I don’t buy these things so my luxury item became my time.
I now have time to read to my children every day for over 30 minutes, be in the garden, spend time with hubby, visit with my friends and family, have time off. The clothes dryer can spend valuable time doing the unimportant but necessary things of life, while I spend my time doing the truly valuable things that only I can do – building relationships and memories that money cannot buy and a machine cannot do. What is the real cost of saving money when you lose precious quality time with your children? I know what is of more value.

30 minutes later you have finally decided what you are going to wear to an event and the deep voice of your beloved live-in critic starts their appraisal:

“You’re not wearing that are you?”

“That top gapes.”

“You cant wear those shoes!”

“What did you buy that for?”

Finally you have had enough and your fashion esteem has not only gone out the window but you wish you could follow it as the last two attempts at changing into something acceptable has made the whole family late!

What do you do? Do you just resign yourself to the fact that they don’t like what you wear and so decide to wear really outrageous stuff just to prove your individuality, or do you have a fashion parade every time you go out as a family just to make sure they approve? or is there another option? There is!

For those who share a home with a live-in critic you realise after a short space of time, that you can either be in a war zone 24/7 or you can come to the infuriating discovery that sometimes the critic is actually frustratingly right! I read an article on overcoming criticism and their advice was to simply agree with the critic – it takes the enjoyment completely out of the activity for them and the quantity of criticism decreases. So…with this in mind I decided to give it a go with the wardrobe.

Firstly I did my own personal work on my wardrobe overhaul by:

• culling all the clothes that didn’t fit – too small or too big
• culling the ones I knew just didn’t suit – either style or colour
• putting the clothes that I would fight to the death to keep to one side in the wardrobe.
• inviting one of my fashion-savvy friends over who loves helping me with my clothing dilemmas  to go through my wardrobe with me. She did a fabulous job and many more items were culled – I even came to the shocking realisation that my favourite jacket was two sizes too big – after just spouting that this would be the one clothing item I would run in and save if the house was on fire (naturally this would be after the husband, kids, cat, valuable documents etc were safe!)

So, after all the hard culling work was done, I then told hubby that all he had to do was prop himself up with pillows on the bed, relax, and I would give him a fashion parade of my clothes without the time crunch factoring in. It would take approximately 40 minutes and then he was free to go. This activity would save him countless hours of frustration by speeding up the whole process of getting ready – it would also earn him a bucket load of brownie points.

The fun began. I had given him permission to be as blunt as he wanted – i.e. “yes you do look fat in that”. I was expecting to have nothing left in my wardrobe but to my great delight he was actually really constructive. Amazingly there were clothes he did like, and the ones he didn’t were explained with valid reasons. The feminine side of my bloke actually existed! The process took exactly 40 minutes.
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Well, the criticism dramatically lessened as I took to heart the basic reasons he didn’t like certain items i.e. gaped, was impractical (didn’t cover my back properly) etc, and he didn’t want to have to endure another fashion-parade and… each time he doesn’t like something and I don’t love the item I give it away – and he sees his hard earned cash clothing someone else! He’s decided that silence is not only golden but also cheaper!

Mothers dream of having a day off where they can relax knowing that the children are cared for and the only person they have to think about is themselves – Oh blissful thought! Unfortunately for most of us, the person left in charge of the small beings doesn’t always realise that the role of mother involves more than just playing games with the children and watching movies. Normally the task is carried out alongside a never-ending round of housework, meals, phone calls, nappies and other domestic drudgery. The smell of a dirty nappy normally wafts up just when you’re on roll with getting lunch ready, and the phone always goes as an all out war breaks out between the siblings – again when you’re trying to make lunch! So, with all this in mind it is no wonder that the person in charge of the house for the day puts their feet up, ignores the housework (doesn’t even notice its there) and feeds the kids convenience foods from the freezer. 
All this would be manageable, if it wasn’t for the fact that the housework didn’t take a day off – the mother did, and any revitalization she may have gained from the ‘day off’ has to bid her well for two days worth of work facing her the next day.
So what can be done about this?, you may be saying as you fling your hands in the air in desperation. Yes, you do actually need to take a break from the house and the continual responsibility of small people, no one can live on no time off. These are my remedies so far:

1. Try to have the children looked after outside of the house so the mess cant be created there, encourage the other parent to take them out or get someone else to look after them – or a combination of the two.
2. Have the meal idea already planned so the kids will be fed something that is not going to make them diabolical the next day.
3. Get the housework mainly completed before you go out so you don’t have twice as much to do the next day – i.e if you put clean linen on the beds on the day you are going out then do that first – get the kids to pitch in and help get the task done quickly.
4. Get more household appliances to help do your work for you – if the other parent won’t do the work then get a gadget that will – i.e. use the clothes drier either before you go out or after you get back – just imagine you have paid someone to come in to do your work for you since you are having the day off 
5. Set very clear times for when you are leaving the house and coming back so there is no coming in late to take over or expecting you back earlier.
6. You deserve to have time off so demand it – what you are really convinced you need you will make sure will happen – plan the day well in advance and don’t take no for an answer – pay someone if need be – or at least have this as a backup plan and incentive for the other person to save some money by doing it themselves.
7. Make sure that the day will be fun and successful for the person looking after the children – have clothes set out for getting changed into, any medicine needs clearly written out, the menu planned, bed times, food times all clearly stated – there should be no guesswork needed.
8. Make sure the children have had a good night sleep the night before so they are angelic and a pleasure to look after – it is tempting to do the opposite as you don’t have to be the one looking after them, and it would be good for the other person to experience what you have to put up with – but this will not help your cause in the long-run 
9. Bribe the children and other parent with gifts for good behaviour for the day – special treat food is always good – this will also encourage more time off in the future.
10. Lastly, as the children age get them to help more and more with the housework on a daily basis so that when you do have a day off they are helping to hold the fort while you are gone – nothing like a toddler telling their father that, “Mummy doesn’t let us get all the toys out at once”, to help keep things in order 

Go on, take a break – you deserve it!!! 

The first system I have discovered accidentally is that of having 3 laundry baskets and sorting as I take items off the clothes line i.e. I have 1/2 of the clothes basket for one child’s items, the other 1/2 for the other child. Another basket has all the linen etc. I fold big items like towels and bedding as I take it off the clothes line. Once inside I dump each child’s items in a hamper in their bedroom. This process takes out the step where I dump the unfolded/sorted clean laundry onto the couch or bed, and then face a mountainous pile that leaves me feeling completely overwhelmed as it is normally faced just before going to bed because I have forgotten about it – or deliberately avoided it for as long as I can! You also don’t have to dump clean laundry out if you have other things to get out of the machine – because you have another couple of baskets to use.
After using this system I would not go back to the old one – my husband – bless his cotton socks – got a couple of loads of washing off the line for me the other day and just dumped everything into the basket – as is normal! – and I again had to face the mountainous pile that was dumped on my bed as a result – took me three times as long to process and again – was done at the end of a long, hard day.
Love to hear all your ideas