A mother who has amassed thousands of followers due to her organisation has shared the seven things she does to save time on cooking and cleaning at home, and why you should do them too.
Steph Pase, 30, from Sydney, has two young children as well as a full-time job, and so she said that anything she can do around the house to maximise the time she spends with her family is important.
‘Life in general can become incredibly busy, overwhelming and sometimes there is simply not enough time in the day,’ Steph wrote on her website.
Her tricks include timing a load of washing for the morning and prepping as much food as possible.
A mother who has amassed thousands of followers thanks to her organisation has shared the seven things she does to save time on cooking and cleaning at home (Steph Pase pictured)
The first thing you need to do to get organised is set a weekly cleaning schedule that suits you and your family (Steph’s home pictured)
Steph said what works for her is a list that includes daily, weekly and monthly cleaning tasks so she never has to think about it (pictured in her kitchen)
1. Set a weekly cleaning schedule
The first thing you need to do to get organised is set a weekly cleaning schedule that suits you and your family.Â
Steph said what works for her is a list that includes daily, weekly and monthly cleaning tasks so she never has to think about it.
‘Personally, I like completing small cleaning tasks each day so I don’t have to spend a whole day each week doing a huge clean,’ Steph said.
Besides the daily tasks which include wiping the kitchen bench and basic tidying, Steph said she sets herself two tasks each day to get done.
This means she is not snowed under with chores by the time it gets to the weekend.
2. Prep your food as much as possibleÂ
Steph’s second tip is one that aligns with many mummy bloggers; she said meal prep saves her so much time and money during the week.
‘Every Sunday, I prep my overnight protein oats for the entire week and refrigerate three servings and freeze the rest,’ she said.
With two young children, Steph added that the mornings can be crazy enough without having to think about making breakfast.
She also pre-chops fruit and vegetables including carrots, capsicum and zucchini for meals during the week.
‘Food preparation can take up a huge chunk of your day, so think where you can save time with this,’ she said.
Steph likes to embrace both planning all of her meals and prepping as many dinners as possible, so she doesn’t have to think about it too much when she gets in (her kitchen pictured)
3. Plan all your meals
It’s not just prepping your food that is vital for success, but also planning.
Steph said this helps both with saving time during the week and staying on track with your budget.
At the weekend, she sits down with a pen and a piece of paper for a moment and plans out everything her family will eat for dinner that week.
She bases her meal planning around the dinners and then she and her partner eat the leftovers for lunch the next day.
Pre-planning also means you only need to do one grocery shop each week, which Steph does online.
This saves her time as she doesn’t need to physically go to the supermarket.Â
If you get in late and never fancy cooking in the evenings, the mum-of-two (pictured) said there is one gadget you can embrace wholeheartedly: your slow cooker
4. Use your slow cooker
If you get in late and never fancy cooking in the evenings, the mum-of-two said there is one gadget you can embrace wholeheartedly: your slow cooker.Â
On her busiest days, Steph said she religiously plans a slow cooker dinner such as a lamb roast, chicken curry or pulled pork.
This means by the time she gets home from the school run, she is ready to set the table and enjoy dinnertime with her family.Â
5. Schedule a load of washing for first thing
Steph is a big fan of scheduling a load of washing for first thing in the morning, because her machine has a ‘delayed start’ function.Â
Several times each week, the mum of two will schedule the washing to start in nine hours time, and so by the time she is up, the washing is done, she can hang it up and it’s done for the day.
If you don’t have the delayed start function, then you could still pop your washing and washing powder inside and just turn it on as soon as you wake up.
Functional and organised spaces will save you a lot of time over the long run, and Steph likes to label tubs (pictured) so she can see what is inside them at a glance
6. Create functional spaces
Functional and organised spaces will save you a lot of time over the long run, and Steph said she puts everything in its own container and then labels items with a label from Little Label Co.
Some of her tubs include ‘Kids’ snacks’, ‘Easy Meal Kits’ and ‘Cans’.Â
‘This means everyone in the home knows where to put what, and it keeps the space clean with zero mess because everything has a place,’ Steph said.
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Some of Steph’s favourite stores for her tubs are IKEA and Kmart, which both have an impressive budget range.
Steph’s seventh and final time-saving tip is that you should always get up one hour before your kids as this means you can get a few personal things done (pictured at home)
7. Get up an hour before the kidsÂ
Steph’s seventh and final time-saving tip is that you should always get up one hour before your kids.
Even if it’s not an hour, Steph said she likes to rise before Willow and Harper, so she can make her kids’ breakfast, answer any urgent emails and hang up the washing.
‘I find being semi-ready before the kids are up makes the mornings run a lot more smoothly,’ she said. Â
To find out more about Steph Pase, you can follow her on Instagram here.Â
