Bright Ideas
I was late filing my column this week because I didn’t follow my own advice and the irony is it’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.
Home gatherings and general entertaining will be the way most of us are going to get together with our family and friends over the summer. Even with many of the restrictions lifted I think in the back of our minds we’re all still a little in protection mode.
I’ve often said running your home and life is like running a small business and the first rule of time management is delegation.
On PerfectHousewife, I worked with a contestant called Karen from Cheshire. Her husband hadad a good job, she had 2 small children and rann her PR companyy from home, something we are more used to now than ever. Karen though was exhausted! I arrived one morrning with the crew annd she was in tears staring at a pile of ironing while freaking out about a presentation she needed to finish. My question was “Why don’t you get someone in to do this?” She looked at me in horror saying she feared asking for help was an admission of failure. After tea, tears and a few statements from me like, “Does Richard Branson clean his own trains?” and, “Who on earth makes their own puff pastry?” we found a lovely lady in the village with time on her hands who wanted to earn a little extra cash. Her joy, because she was on her own, was helping others with chores, ironing, taking the dog for a walk, picking kids up from school. Just what Karen needed. We then spent the rest of our time sorting out her home so it was tidy and easy to run, so she could enjoy her job, home and children.
The point of this is delegating whenever you can to those who want to help. There are no o medals in my book fo or being a Mary Martyr. M Take the p ressure off and s uggest that ev veryone contributes. It’s s not an admission of failu ure on your part and it ma akes everyone feel investe ed in the outing.
So why am I late in writing this? Because family are popping over and I’m showing off. I used to cook a lot, then due to a few difficult years and being on my own, I lost my kitchen confidence. But since meeting Mark and lockdown, I’ve regained my inner Nigella. Couple that with unscrewing all the brass knobs off the doors downstairs and getting totally carried away with a tin of Brasso, you get the picture! Love, Anthea X
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