Maidless and (Still) Surviving

Today marks the 15th day that we're maid-less. Hahaha itu pun ada milestone kan? Well, this is not the first time. We've been in this situation before - about a year ago where we were left with no maid for almost one month. But the situation was different then. We were expecting for the replacement maid to come, but there were delays, hence the 'maidless period'. 

But this time around, there is no replacement or even back up plan. We terminated the service and that was it. No plan at all. No preparation. The circumstances that we are facing (which is too complicated to be explained here) has made us to the conclusion that getting a new maid is not an option, at least for now.

How are we doing so far? Well, quite okay if I can say so myself. Our house is still in order: 

• NO piles of dirty dishes and clothes - This is my proudest achievement as it proves that the amount of time and effort that I had spent in front of the kitchen sink and washing machine was worth it..hahahaha
• The floor is still clean despite the fact that it is not as sparkly as before - Well, it was used to be mopped at least once a day, now it has been down to once a week, what do you expect? Hehehe
• But the were some corners in the house that are in serious need of dusting - Well, I could still live with it for the time being...
• Our small lawn needed to be tended - That'll have to wait until MH come back
• And yes, I have 2 baskets full of clothes that need to be ironed - This is somewhat haunting me. So far, we survive on our stock of readily-ironed clothes, but I know that in no time, we'll be running out of this 'privilege' and we will have to tackle the ironing job. 

My main mission after office hours!

Well, house chores are not really a major concern for us so far. Even if we sometimes ran like mad doing the dishes, wiping, scrubbing, and everything in that has 'cleaning purpose' in it that left us so exhausted at the end of the day.

Cheap thrills!!

Our biggest concern about being maidless is about childcare. Both Adeelia and Aydeen had never been to nursery before. Adeelia is already in a kindy, but she’s in school break right now. Alhamdulillah, we managed to find a nursery for immediate placement of both Adeelia and Aydeen. But, both MH and I broke into tears when we first sent them to the nursery. Until now, I secretly cry inside. Because we both know that my kids will be in a whole different situation after this. They were so used to be at their own house where they could open the fridge and eat and drink everything that they want, any time, all the time. They had the freedom to play, explore and did things that they like, any time, all the time. The familiarity. The freedom. Things like that.

I'm trying really hard to take this changes positively. Perhaps, with my kids being at the nursery, they will be more disciplined. They will get used to routines. They will learn to share, to tolerate, to communicate better with other kids. In sha Allah. I was really nervous during the first week. Asking the caretakers how were they behaving, especially Aydeen. Alhamdulillah, so far I received very positive feedback from the caretakers. They are, as they put it 'cerdik-cerdik', Aydeen loves to clean-up, makan tak mahu disuap, he wants to do it himself. Really independent. I pray that they will continue behaving well, dilindungi keselamatan, diberikan kesihatan yang baik dan disayangi semua. Amin...

It was (still) quite challenging to adjust ourselves and our routines to a 'maidless situation'. MH is really helpful, doing his bits to share the workload with me. As for me, I really need to be super-organized and efficient now. Will have to have everything well-planned, can't procrastinate anything. If we missed anything - say one cycle of laundry, it will affect the whole system -- the kids might run out of clean clothes for the nursery, I'll get upset etc. 

On top of that, the adjustment also include arrangement for the kids. One of us REALLY need to make it on time to pick up the kids at the nursery. This is quite challenging as MH does not work normal hours and I sometimes have late meetings or need to attend meetings/programmes outside Putrajaya. So no outstation work for me, for now. 

Well, it takes a lot of work (and sweat!), effort and most importantly PATIENCE in dealing with the sudden change. I know a lot of people including my dear friends who are full-time working moms are doing it as well, and they are doing great. Even sometimes I wonder where do they got so much energy to do it all? But knowing this really keeps me going. If other people can do it, why can't I? Yakin boleh!

Semoga Allah SWT mempermudahkan urusan kami...amin.