Beauty Tips for your Sweet Home....

Nothing is more relaxing than coming back to a home that is neat and clean.

Everybody has a house to live in but to make a house into a home need consistent efforts. Its not a day's work. You have to nurture your home like a baby. Creativity and interest is all you need to make your house clean and beautiful which gives back immense pleasure and happiness....

So here are some tips which I religiously follow and feel will help you too to make your house a delight to live in. I have added some things which I have incorporated myself under the title 'My Home' after each point to give a real life example.

Expensive is not always rainbows and butterflies.

It is a misconception that you can make your home look beautiful by buying those highly priced vases or wall units from the branded home decor shops. It is your creativity and imagination which can make a 100 Rs. flower vase add that charm & exquisiteness to your home that a costly crystal showpiece can't. Its how you place it.

# My Home

A simple earthen pot filled with water and fresh floating flowers at the entrance of my house. As per Vaastu Shastra, it adds water element to your place and spreads positivity. You can also place two ceramic pots with plants kept on the two sides of the main door. Adds to the greenery.

Have a home for each of your belongings.

Cultivate a habit of placing things back to their home. This is one simple habit, which if followed can make your home organized and systematic with less effort. For this to happen, you need to make sure that there is a proper place allotted to every thing in the house. For eg. Have a separate folder or file for different type of documents as in certificates, bank related documents, your bill etc, a key hanger for all the keys, a laundry bag for all the dirty clothes so that these things are not littered around the house and it is difficult for you to find them when required. This will help you not to panic when there is some unexpected company!

# My Home

A box made as a medical kit for keeping all the medicines and related things at one place in case of an emergency. An instrument box containing the screwdriver, nut-bolts, scissors, pliers etc...

Add a dash of color. Paint one wall and make a style statement!

Are you bored of seeing the monotonous white/creme walls of your house? Want to do something hatke....Spice things up and make a style statement by painting one wall of your room with some bold accent color. Pick the wall that comes first before your eyes when you walk into the room. It is really amazing how one wall can change EVERYTHING. Painting one wall is a cheap and easy task that even you can do in couple of hours by the various painting options available nowadays. And the best thing is, can change the color to give an altogether new look!

# My Home

Painted each wall of a room in bright goldfish orange color As per Vaastu, Orange symbolizes power and spirituality. This color encourages happiness, optimism, healthy relationships, and much more.

Bathroom is as important as your Bedroom.

Bathroom is a place ignored by most of us and there is nothing worse than a stinking bathroom. Waking up to the foul smell when you go there to re-freshen up to begin your day is depressing. Your bathroom should smell good, keep room fresheners, deodorizing sprays handy. Do away with all the empty shampoo bottles, unused towels and dirty clothes. Your bathroom is not a dumping place. Make sure to keep your bathroom dry.  You can use colorful bath curtains to add that sparkle to your bathroom. Color coordinate your bath utilities with the color of tiles. However neat you may keep your home, if the bathroom is shabby...it steals up your brownie points.

# My Home

Have a separate pair of sleepers for bathroom so that there are no wet stains all over the room after coming out from the bathroom. A floor wiper to help to keep the bathroom dry. Color coordination also looks cool.

Kitchen is the heart of a family house.

It is this part of house that needs special attention as this is the place where a meal is prepared to be enjoyed after a day of hard work. So, kitchen has to be clean and hygienic as 'hygiene is two thirds of your health'. Make a habit to clean your gas stove at the end of the day when all the cooking  has been done as this will prevent the growth of bacteria and cockroaches. Also have a electrical chimney fitted which will be a good investment as it saves your kitchen from the oiliness on the walls and to the other rooms. You can also add little bit of decoration to your kitchen to give it a soothing effect. Colorful crockery aesthetically displayed beautifies your kitchen. You can also go for modular kitchen as per your budget as it helps to give your kitchen a very systematic and organized look.

# My Home
Neat and clean view with spacious empty slabs adds that sparkle to the kitchen.

Declutter is the magic word!

Do you have a habit of keeping all your old magazines, clothes and belongings. Due to our busy schedule, we don't have the time to see what is being used and what not, and  over a period of time our house is full with all the unwanted things. When this clutter keeps accumulating, make your house disorganized, its time to get rid of this clutter. Donate old clothes to someone needy, sell old magazines and books in the books market, remove all that is not needed and will not be useful in near future. Decide the size of your furniture according to the size of the room. Over-sized furniture can make your room look very cramped. Placing number of showpieces together can steal the look of all, a beautiful single center piece will get highlighted automatically. Experiment with the placement of your furniture to make your room beautiful and synchronized. Do away with all the old broken things which cannot be repaired and be put to use.

# My Home
Instead of keeping too much decorating stuff and making the place look overdone, keep a single eye catching showpiece to accentuate a specific corner of your house.

Your refrigerator is not a dump-yard...

It is a very common site to see things stuffed up in the fridge and one thing falling in order to find another one. Try to empty your fridge to clean and you will be amazed on seeing the things coming out of it. It will be difficult for you to recall keeping  these things in the fridge. It is very easy for your fridge to become a dump yard of all the left over of the kitchen kept inside with an intention of consuming it at the earliest. But neither it is consumed nor it is thrown away. Fridge is a place to preserve perishable food items along with the excess food to prevent wastage. It is not a storage. It is very important to get it cleaned frequently to maintain its hygiene and increase its longevity.

# My Home

Nowadays refrigerator come with transparent unbreakable shelves and it is prone to scratches from the utensils kept to store food. I have placed surplus dining table mats on each shelf which keeps it free from scratches and is easier for the cleaning of the fridge as I have to just wipe off the mats. It also enhances the interior of the fridge.

Give your home a personal touch....Individuality says a lot.

You can add a hint of you personality to give that interesting facelift to your home.One of the best ways to showcase your personality and decor style is by adding up family photos in ares they're most likely to be seen. Create a photo wall to cherish all your memories as it is said, 'a picture is worth a thousand words'.

# My Home

A family photograph highlighting the center wall of the dining hall and some wonderful moment captured in a wooden frame placed just above the bed adds to the look of the bedroom. Also a nameplate having the first name of both of you on the main door looks unique.

Save time. Keep things organized.

How often you get late to office or for a party just because you are able to find out that specific stuff which you decided to wear, out of the swarm of clothes in your wardrobe or you are not able to find your favorite eyeliner in your over flooding make up kit. Another common scene is of the strewn clothes all over the bed to search for that one dress. It is very important to keep your closet organized to avoid being caught in such situation on a daily basis. Stack all your daily wear clothes in front and all the party wear occasional dresses stacked in the uppermost drawers.You can hang all your stoles and scarves in the hanger so that you don't have to take them all out to find a matching one. Buy saree and blouse covers to keep all your traditional wear nicely tucked in. This gives a neat look to your wardrobe, thus saving those crucial minutes before leaving home for something important

# My Home

Organized all of my belts in a cloth hanger. Have kept small pouch in my big handbag for my cosmetics, keys etc. Help me save on time.

Get your thinking caps on! Be creative...Make more out of less....

It just need little bit of creativity and imagination to get something useful out of useless. Your old torn out jeans can be made into a very big and beautiful bag to carry vegetables or your laundry. Old t-shirts, if properly cut can be used as a very efficient wiping cloth for kitchen due to its absorbent qualities or a dusting cloth. Old transparent jars can be used as a plant holder filled with water and multicolored stones. Your torn silk saree can be utilized for making very elegant cushion covers. Random multicolored thrown out pillows on the couch can jazz up your living room. The list is endless....

# My Home

Due to lack of space to keep the newspaper, I have covered a carton properly to make it a newspaper holder. It saves on my space in the almirah which can be used to store something more useful. Old carton wrapped up with beautiful gift wrapping papers to convert them into side tables for bed. Save on the cost as well as the efforts while shifting  the house.

Last but not the least.....Regular Maintenance.

Your home is probably one of your largest investment. The best way to keep it running smoothly and efficiently is though regular maintenance. No matter how expensive stuff you have decorated your home with, it will not last unless it is maintained properly and taken care of. Your house should not have the look of a hotel which will be very artificial, but it should reflect your character.

Dear readers...Hope these simple tips would help you to make the house of your dreams a beautiful place.   Get your creative thoughts flowing and share your ideas with all of us...I would love to hear what you've  in your mind, so that I too get tips from your advice.

So, which of these ideas have you picked up to revamp your SWEET HOME? 

Maid-O-Mania....

There is no household which has not at some time or other experienced the crisis for a domestic help or in common terms MAID or BAI. It is not possible to manage the entire house all by ourselves and that is why a maid or a help is needed. Ask a lady, how much importance a maid has in her daily life. A 5-minutes of delay than her usual time and you have your pulse racing with the thought of doing the dreadful home tasks of cleaning, mopping, washing all by yourself. It surely gives a headache and a very severe one. 

Till now the maid status was good with me...like I have had 2 maids in almost 2 and a half years. So it was fairly alright for a maid average ratio of one year, but now I have had changed 3 maid in less than a month!!! Its so annoying....First you train them and in less than a month they leave...after spending your time and energy teaching them the work, paying them well and for a mere 100-200 bucks they join elsewhere.

In old times, single maid used to work for years as a strike contrast to today's scenario. Today if a maid completes even one anniversary with your house, feel blessed. The attrition rate in this job profile is 3 times more than that of a software industry. And no retention programs or schemes seem to work in this scenario....as there are always greener pastures on the other side. The quality of their work has drastically come down, with more pay demands and they like to take offs as per their convenience without notification. At least if they notify in advance, we can finish our work in time as per our ease. Its damn frustrating to come home in the evening after a hectic day at work and do the household chores. Gone are the days when one used to explain the work to be done while keeping the maid. Today she will update you with her wishlist before joining namely, her weekly offs, her breakfast needs and choices, whether she likes elaichi or adrak wali chai, about her yearly bonus or new saree requirement, the work which she considers below her standard (like throwing garbage bags) which is not in her job responsibilities. And what an irony, we adjust to every demand of her just when we give a damn to most of our husband's adjustment theories. With her comes the unending, innovating and never thought before 'bahanas' for taking offs. Sometimes I think why I could not think of it whenever I wanted a leave. Yet another habit of these very irritating creatures which gets on my nerve is asking for advance. But what I have learnt from my maidordeals is to always follow the thumb rule of never giving any sort of advance to them or else to forget to get it back, unless for an exceptionally trusted one.  If you are living in a society, all the maids will have a union and they will have fixed amount for a specific set of work...no matter how much you convince she will not settle for a penny less than that. They will talk as if you are not hiring them, but they are doing a favor for you agreeing to come to your house. Funda being that the supply being less than demand, has lead to their dadagiri.

Some of the incidences worth quoting are:

- One of my new maid asking - "Didi, aap abhi bhi kapde se pocha lagati ho, mop nahi hai kya?" Arey mop se lagana hota toh main khud na laga leti, tujhe kyun rakhti.

- Maid ordering - "Didi, yeh jhadoo kharab ho gaya hai, kal naya le aana" 15 din mein kahin jhadoo kharab hota hai.

- "Main Sunday ko nahin aayungi....hum sab friends ghoomne jaate hain" What crap!!!

- Paused work in between six times to attend calls on her ever ringing mobile.....arrggghhhh....ever busy celebrity..

- Balcony is not considered a part of house.

Ohhh God!!!! their never ending tantrums..

The other day when I went to my neighbor to ask that if she knows any maid who can come to my house, then I came to know that this is not happening only with me...this is "Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki or rather "Kahani Har Ghar Ki".

How I wish to have a Robot who would do all the work  for me with no jhik-jhik and nakhras. Just push some buttons and your Mr. Robo is all set to be at your service. The day is not far when these attitude-strick maids will be replaced by the ultra cool Robomaids.
Such things are already in existence......http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/article2851159.ece......http://post.jagran.com/Get-Milagrows-Robots-to-clean-your-home-1328588402...just that it is to be made more common and approachable. Hope my dream comes true....Techno-people...R u listening????