5 Mother's Day Gift Baskets I Would Like To Get

Mother's Day is usually on the second Sunday of May every year. This means that Mother's Day in the year 2015 will be on Sunday, May 10. 2015. My husband and I agreed that while the kids are young, we will not be getting any Mother's Day or Father's Day gifts for each other. In some families, the spouse will organize the gift. In ours, we will wait till the kids are old enough to think about the significance of Mother's Day and get their own gifts for mom. No prizes for the correct guess on who came up with that rule, mom or dad?

So until the kids are older, here are 5 Mother's Day Gift Baskets I'd really like to get. Well, a girl can still dream can't she? Hint. Hint. (To the spouse).

No. 1 . This mom would really like to have a relaxing lavendar spa appreciation gift basket for mother's day with everything lavendar in it. Lavendar body soap, lavendar bubble bath, lavendar lotion, lavendar body spray and a lot of other stuff lavendar. I love purple and I love lavendar. It is so relaxing. Ooohh. Why? It is  because bath time is the only time I can get away from it all, just for a couple of minutes a day so this lavendar bath and body gift basket is perfect for Mother's Day.

Calming Lavender Bath and Body Gift Basket for Her

No. 2. This mom is on a diet but if she weren't she would really like to have a gourmet food basket for mother's day and why this Fanciful Flavors Gourmet Tea and Snacks Tower in particular? The reason is because of the pretty gift boxes with each gift thoughtfully tied in pretty ribbons. I can't resist gift boxes. I have so many of them at home. I use them to organize my stuff so they look pretty. Nevermind that the inside of the box looks like a big mess. No one knows. Shhhh.. I just love little details like the fact that each gift is fancifully tied with individual pretty little bows. I almost forgot about the cookies and tea. Those are a bonus. 

Art of Appreciation Gift Baskets Fanciful Flavors Gourmet Tea and Snacks Tower

No. 3. This mother would like to have an artisan gourmet chocolate gift basket. I wasn't really in love with chocolate but after being married to a chocolate lover for many years, I have been sweetly influenced. Now, it would be perfect for any mother to have a chocolate gift basket filled with artisan chocolate snacks to sit around and have a sweet moment with her loved ones sharing and appreciating this Mother's Day chocolate gift basket together. That would just be splendid.

Deluxe Gourmet Belgian Chocolate Covered Sweets Gift Basket

No. 4. A breakfast in bed for mom! In the form of a country breakfast gift basket with delicious country breakfast goodies in it. Just don't make mom do the cooking after she opens the gift basket. Remember to set aside another day to help mom or make a breakfast for mom. Any day can be a good day for you to tell mom you appreciate her, not only on Mother's Day. Remember that.


Breakfast in Bed for Mom! Valentine's Day Gift Basket for Mom

No. 5. Tea Gift Basket With Infuser Pot especially the infuser pot is what this mom wants for Mother's day. A tea break is excellent to stop and take a breather from mom's tightly scheduled day and a tea basket with an infuser pot is just right for that. This Mother's Day appreciation gift basket includes a mini book entitled "Between Mother and Daughter" so it would be more suitable to be given by a girl to her mother.  Besides the gourmet tea, there are snacks in the baskets that go with the teas too. Just perfect for an afternoon break.

Blue Basil Gifts 'Between Mother and Daughter' Gourmet Mother's Day Tea Gift Basket with Teapot

Now, when will the children be old enough to give me one of these? I might just get one for myself! There is nothing wrong with giving yourself an occasional pat on the back and treat isn't it?

Pin It

8 Tips To Save You Time Doing Housework

Getting Rid Of Clutter And Being More Organized Helps You Save Time

Have You Ever Felt Overwhelmed By Having Too Much To Do And With Too Little Time To Do It All?

1. Don't Do It All By Yourself - Train your children to help around the house. This is one of the best things you can do, for them and for you. Children can help with talking out the trash, hanging out clothes to dry and folding them, sweeping, wiping, picking up toys, cleaning their own rooms. Find age appropriate chores for them. Most kids love to help around the house especially when they are young. So don't waste this window of opportunity to teach them from young. It will be harder for you to try to get them to help around the house or to clean their own rooms if you do not instill this habit of helping around the house from young.

2. Minimize Ironing - Buy crinkle free clothes to reduce ironing time. If you have enough space, don't fold your clothes, hang them. So, they can go straight from the dryer to the hanger to your closet. This will save you a lot of time in ironing and folding.

3. Fold and sort your clothes once a week. - I wash my family's clothing everyday. After they are dry, I put them in a basket then when I have the time, I take out my basket and slowly sort and fold the clothes while watching my favorite Korean Romantic Comedy online. Even if this does not save that much time, it surely makes the chore much more bearable.

4. Use Containers. - Use small baskets and containers to organize everything especially small things like keys, stationery, loose change, socks etc. If you have a place for everything and everything in it's place, you will never have to look for that missing key again and your house will look much more organized and clutter free.

 

Baskets And Containers Help You Keep Things Organized and Easy To Find. They Look Great Too

5. Get Rid Of Clutter - Once in a while you should go through your clothes, books, magazines and other stuff. Give away clothes you have outgrown, donate books and toys that you have not touched in the past 6 months. With less clutter, you will need to spend less time picking up and clearing desktops and shelf space.

6. Clean On The Move - Whenever, I go from one room to another, I will pick up something and put it away somewhere else. For example, I pick up some dirty socks and put them straight into the washing machine. On the way to the washing machine, I see an empty cup and I take it and leave it in the sink for loading into the washer later. On the way back from the kitchen, I take some hangers from the living hall and take them with me to the bedroom and so on and so forth.

7. Clean A Little Each Day - I usually clean a little each day in bouts of 10 minutes or so. I do a lot of writing online, so when I need a little break away from the computer, I may do spot cleaning of a desk for 10 minutes before going back to writing. I clean the bathroom sink each night before I wash my teeth by giving it a quick rub. I clean the bathroom stall before I have my shower. This really saves me time from having to clean a really dirty bathroom because cleaning daily in quick bouts keeps my house clean. Cleaning becomes mere maintenance rather than deep cleaning if you leave it too long in between cleans.

8. Label Everything - Do you know that you take a lot of time each day looking for stuff? If you label everything, you will spend less time looking for lost items. Teach your children to label what is theirs too. It will be a lifelong organization skill they will thank you for.

Teaching Your Kids To Help Around The House Helps Them And You In The Long Run

Pin It

8 Time Saving Tips For Meal Preparation

Many mothers spend a lot of time preparing meals for their loved ones. Even if you don't cook, the responsibility of making sure meals are on the table for everyone is largely on you, the mother of the household. 

Here are 8 Tips To Help You Save Time When Preparing Meals.

1. Cook In Batches. Cook more and freeze leftovers for example stews, fried/baked pastas, pies, sauces etc and serve or use them as another meal.
2. Change Your Cooking Method. Stay away from deep-frying. Steam, stir fry or bake your food. This will cut down your time in cleaning up the stove/kitchen after cooking. It is healthier too.
3. Work Smart! Wrap your oven or oven toaster tray in aluminium foil and you never have to scrub off stains in an oven tray again. Just change the foil. This was something my father taught me. It has saved me so much time.
4. Outsource Or Get Help. Outsource your cooking. If you do not have time to cook yourself, look around for food caterers or other mothers who wouldn't mind cooking extra for you for a small fee. If you have good friends, relatives or neighbours staying nearby, take turns to cook the main meal in big batches and share them so you only need to cook 2 or 3 times a week when it is your turn.
5. Embrace Technology. Use modern gadgets to help you. Dishwashers, Airfryers etc are helpful in reducing time. However, there is a catch. Make use that those appliances are easy to clean. Some kitchen appliances help reduce your cooking time but they take time to disassemble and clean up.
6. Prepare Your Food For Cooking Beforehand. Prepare the food that you want to cook on one or two days of a week. Then store them in the refrigerator in storage containers and take a portion out to cook whenever you need them.
7. Cook Easy Meals. Cook one dish meals whenever you are in a rush. One dish meals are very simple to cook and they can be healthy and nutritious too. You can use the crock pot for your one dish meals. Just put everything in the pot and leave it to simmer till meal time.
8. Plan Ahead. Plan your meals for the entire week and shop for the ingredients once a week. This will save you time thinking of what to cook. You can also cook the same thing for certain days of the week for example pasta on Monday, pies on Tuesday etc. With a fixed meal plan, all you need is go to the same supermarket aisle every time you shop. It really saves on grocery shopping time because all you need to do is buy the same stuff every time.

Tip! Kitchen Timers Not Only Help You In Food Preparation. You Can Use Them To Keep Time For Your 10 Minute Spot Cleaning Efforts

Pin It

One-Stop Shopping To Save Time For Mothers

A new supermarket just opened near my house. Although it does bring convenience nearer to my home, I've noticed that the new supermarket does not have many shoppers. Maybe the things are a bit pricier but more than that, I think people like to save time by doing several things at one time.

You can do that if you go to a large mall where you can shop, meet up with friends, do a little bit of banking, buy stamps at the post office etc. You can buy toys and books for your kids, jewelry, clothing and accessories for yourself, ogle and household items you would like for your home or buy the latest gadget for your man. I think that's it. People like everything to be under one roof.

It is the same with online shopping. With more and more shopping sites opening up, more time will be wasted going to each and every site. I think it would be a good thing indeed to have a one stop shopping destination so you can shop for everything at just one place instead of several. I've just discovered that there is such a thing for Asian shoppers. It is called iprice. 

I love the concept. Better still, I love the time it is going to save me when doing online shopping. 

Malaysia, Singapore and other regional countries get to enjoy this new one-stop center too.

Pin It