Helena Zelenina
How To Become A Rich Housekeeper
To become rich or to be a housekeeper…
“It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”
Dale Carnegie
To become a rich housekeeper is just three words but I put huge sense in them. Many people think of housekeepers as women who forgot about their being long time ago and are entirely occupied with care of children and family, and yes, of course, in an old washed-off dressing gown, worn-out slippers and with hair-rollers on their head…
Times changed, housekeepers changed too. I can say proudly that I am a professional housekeeper on my belief. Sometimes interesting things happen with me when I am presented to the strangers. It is always interesting to know a sphere in which your interlocutor works, and when I say that I am a housekeeper I see bewilderment on many faces, and to relief the tension I continue: – A rich housekeeper! But nothing changes…
My goal is to tell you about what meanings I put in the concept of housekeeper.
A housekeeper is a person who:
1. Belongs to herself
2. Plans her time
3. Self-improves
4. Harmoniously develops
5. Takes care of her health and appearance
6. Has her own private space
7. Is financially independent
8. Chooses holidays at any time
9. Has an opportunity to have all the opportunities
10. Can afford her many things
11. Is married or alone
12. Has children or is planning to have them
13. Has an opportunity to be with her family not only when she needs it
14. Reaches her children’s knowledge
15. Is amicable
I can continue this long list but I think many of you want to become such a person even just now. It’s not difficult, and I’ll try to state everything simply. And the most important thing is that it must help you, my future rich housekeepers.
I never wanted to be a housekeeper, but when I married a new world was opened before me – the world of family life. I wanted my husband be satisfied with me. I kept the house in ideal order, prepared refined dishes, planted flowers, sewed curtains, and made the house comfortable… There is no need to tell you about it because each woman adoring her husband does all these things. With the advent of the first-born you are lack of time. No matter how you try, it is impossible to have time to do everything you did. Three years dreamily – tiredness, hunger for sleeping, eating normally and losing weight faster.
At that time there was nobody close who could advise me. My husband is a wonderful person but he couldn’t help me because he worked to provide us with everything we needed. I am grateful to him. He allowed me to enjoy maternity.
Soon the child goes to kindergarten. Adaptation, illnesses, visits for doctors seemed to have no end. Moreover, it was practically impossible to find a job because the child was small. And in those moments I began to think what a woman, who must to sit at home with her child some time, should do if she has no help, no work, and no relatives. At that time I felt very sorry because I couldn’t read anything useful – there was nothing to read, nobody wrote a book about the ways of earning money for housekeepers.
Fifteen years passed and I wrote a book to help women, to give them not just an advice but real advice! In fifteen years I got big experience and my first advice – order in everything.
So, let’s pass to our business and will discuss the details later.
Order and cleaning
Look over your house and ask yourself whether you know everything here. Can you, for example, find a particular medicine at night, blindly in the dark? It is a simple test but not everybody copes with it. And if you failed it you need to make the first step – to clean the house. May be you thought now how the cleaning is related to money and I say – directly related. I do it once in a month, I mean general cleaning. Everyday cleaning is not discussed at all. Look in every chink, in every corner to see, keep in mind and evaluate everything, to repair broken things, to throw out unneeded things – it’s simple. But the most important thing is documents, you easily should find any document – account, policy, insurance, etc. Any saving of time is future money.
So, cleaning has been made. That’s good. Now answer the question: How many coats, fur coats, suits, sport clothes, pairs of shoes are there in your wardrobe? You can think I am crazy but it isn’t so. If you want to go towards your aim you should go over your wardrobe again, and I am sure you’ll find this activity interesting. For example, you’ll notice that it’s time to change clothes or find a heap of old shoes which got out of fashion long ago. Also you remember that you didn’t give yourself a treat buying new evening dresses! Good luck! You’ll see how your mood will change!
So, cleaning has been made. That’s good. Now answer the question: How many coats, fur coats, suits, sport clothes, pairs of shoes are there in your wardrobe? You can think I am crazy but it isn’t so. If you want to go towards your aim you should go over your wardrobe again, and I am sure you’ll find this activity interesting. For example, you’ll notice that it’s time to change clothes or find a heap of old shoes which got out of fashion long ago. Also you remember that you didn’t give yourself a treat buying new evening dresses! Good luck! You’ll see how your mood will change!
Kitchen and dining-room
My favorite place in the house is the kitchen. Do you still use a knife? In this case you need a food processor!!!! It was a joke, but a food processor is very helpful! How much time does a woman spend in the kitchen? Let’s count ourselves without usage of statistics.
30 minutes for breakfast, 3 hours for cooking the dinner, 1 hour 30 minutes for good supper with dessert, altogether 5 hours a day multiply on 30 days in a month, receive 150 hours, multiply them on 12 months and receive 1800 hours, so in 10 years in marriage a woman spends 18000 hours in the kitchen, divide it into 24 hours and receive 750 days – so 2 years from 10 a woman spends cooking food. And we know that 1 hour of this activity costs 300 roubles, so we multiply it on 18000 hours and receive 5 400 000 roubles. We could earn this sum of money cooking food if somebody pays you for it, though what was saved is earned. In our case we need to reduce time which we spend in the kitchen because tiredness affects age changes. We don’t want to grow old ahead of time so I tell you what you should have in your kitchen:
1. A combine
2. A mixer
3. A blender
4. A juicer
5. A dishwasher (as an ideal variant)
6. Good knives
7. Paper towels
8. Cooking panel
9. An oven
10. A microwave oven
11. A steamer
12. A coffee machine (for fans of coffee)
13. A refrigerator with a big freezer
14. Electric multi cooker
15. Accessories for table layout
16. A freezer
Ok, nothing was forgotten. All these things were invented by men because they know time price. We should be very grateful to them for it. A man invented pampers if you didn’t know, a washing machine and many other things for making our life easier. Read about it at leisure – it’s very interesting and instructive. They are geniuses, it is impossible to imagine our life without their inventions. We would go to the river in winter to wash clothes…
30 minutes for breakfast, 3 hours for cooking the dinner, 1 hour 30 minutes for good supper with dessert, altogether 5 hours a day multiply on 30 days in a month, receive 150 hours, multiply them on 12 months and receive 1800 hours, so in 10 years in marriage a woman spends 18000 hours in the kitchen, divide it into 24 hours and receive 750 days – so 2 years from 10 a woman spends cooking food. And we know that 1 hour of this activity costs 300 roubles, so we multiply it on 18000 hours and receive 5 400 000 roubles. We could earn this sum of money cooking food if somebody pays you for it, though what was saved is earned. In our case we need to reduce time which we spend in the kitchen because tiredness affects age changes. We don’t want to grow old ahead of time so I tell you what you should have in your kitchen:
1. A combine
2. A mixer
3. A blender
4. A juicer
5. A dishwasher (as an ideal variant)
6. Good knives
7. Paper towels
8. Cooking panel
9. An oven
10. A microwave oven
11. A steamer
12. A coffee machine (for fans of coffee)
13. A refrigerator with a big freezer
14. Electric multi cooker
15. Accessories for table layout
16. A freezer
Ok, nothing was forgotten. All these things were invented by men because they know time price. We should be very grateful to them for it. A man invented pampers if you didn’t know, a washing machine and many other things for making our life easier. Read about it at leisure – it’s very interesting and instructive. They are geniuses, it is impossible to imagine our life without their inventions. We would go to the river in winter to wash clothes…
Return to our kitchen
A test: can you to make a dinner for 10 persons in 40 minutes? Such a surprise! Don’t turn the page, try to deal with it!
And what? Is it Ok? If yes, you are on the way to the dream! And if no, don’t feel upset, you will manage! Otherwise what is this manual for self-tuition for? Look, there is an oven; you can prepare several dishes in it at the same time. While it is heating up we cut all the vegetables from the fridge. We cut meat, pour it with any sauce, season with spices and put it in the oven for 25-30 minutes. So the first course is ready. While it is in the oven we chop the salad (10 min with knife, 2 min in a combine). We can also prepare many tasty and good for health dishes in an electric multi cooker without any energies. Before using any devices it is necessary to read instructions, because they are written by men. My precious husband taught me this rule and it helped me many times. From instructions you know lots of information about the possibilities of household devices.
These devices are necessary. They are our helpers!
And if you haven’t got such devices (or some of them), nothing terrible, you can buy them later, the main thing is that now you know that they are necessary for you.
And what? Is it Ok? If yes, you are on the way to the dream! And if no, don’t feel upset, you will manage! Otherwise what is this manual for self-tuition for? Look, there is an oven; you can prepare several dishes in it at the same time. While it is heating up we cut all the vegetables from the fridge. We cut meat, pour it with any sauce, season with spices and put it in the oven for 25-30 minutes. So the first course is ready. While it is in the oven we chop the salad (10 min with knife, 2 min in a combine). We can also prepare many tasty and good for health dishes in an electric multi cooker without any energies. Before using any devices it is necessary to read instructions, because they are written by men. My precious husband taught me this rule and it helped me many times. From instructions you know lots of information about the possibilities of household devices.
These devices are necessary. They are our helpers!
And if you haven’t got such devices (or some of them), nothing terrible, you can buy them later, the main thing is that now you know that they are necessary for you.
Purchase of products
The next test is purchase of products. What do you buy at the shop? That is the question! First of all, make a list of products which you need to buy. Approximately count how much money you’ll spend and take this sum of money in order not to buy something unnecessary. At the shop if you buy semiproducts look at the realization term, the quality of products and the preparation time. Remember, you will cook for your family! As for me I don’t like semiproducts. If I have time I try to cook healthy food and buy only fresh products. Today it isn’t easy to find fresh products but I know where to buy fresh meat, fish, vegetables and fruits. Also I spend little time for shopping because I always have an accurate list. I’ll open a secret. In the kitchen on my fridge there is a piece of paper. During a week I write down the products which come to the end. It becomes easier to state a value of the next shop visiting. And I always adhere to the rule – buy only necessary things and just a little in reserve…
Reserve
I want to share my experience with you – how to lay the table for 10-15 guests in 40 minutes. As for me I like guests very much!
A good mistress always has dainties in her reserve: cucumbers, tomatoes, sauerkraut and fresh cabbage, pickled mushrooms, canned marrows, frozen berries and greens. All these things I grow in my own vegetable garden. So if in summer you stored up you won’t have any problems with entertainment of guests in winter. Bur the first course is necessary, so chicken meat should be in your reserve. It is dietetic and cooked quickly – 25-30 minutes. For meat we prepare a garnish, for example, potatoes (it is also cooked quickly – 20-30 minutes). If you have ready dough you can make pizza – it is quick, nourishing and tasty, and if you haven’t ready dough you can make it yourself easily.
A good mistress always has dainties in her reserve: cucumbers, tomatoes, sauerkraut and fresh cabbage, pickled mushrooms, canned marrows, frozen berries and greens. All these things I grow in my own vegetable garden. So if in summer you stored up you won’t have any problems with entertainment of guests in winter. Bur the first course is necessary, so chicken meat should be in your reserve. It is dietetic and cooked quickly – 25-30 minutes. For meat we prepare a garnish, for example, potatoes (it is also cooked quickly – 20-30 minutes). If you have ready dough you can make pizza – it is quick, nourishing and tasty, and if you haven’t ready dough you can make it yourself easily.
Wonders
I tested my friends-housekeepers; it was interesting and funny, even instructive. Many of my friends asked me to pay attention to their housekeeping. I didn’t refuse anybody because I wanted to help them very much. Women have lots of troubles but men think that we do nothing at home and don’t think that fresh linen, tasty food and clear house are our labour, time and life!
I would like to see how BY MAGIC THE DIRTY LINEN WENT AND GOT INTO THE WASHING MACHINE, AND THE WASHING MACHINE ITSELF FILLED POWDER, CHOSE THE PROGRAM AND SWITCHED ON, PLATES AND DISHES WASHED THEMSELVES AND ROSE IN A ROW TO DRY! It’s funny; I remembered a cartoon about Feodor’s grief. If imagine that everything occurs by itself it is possible to shoot the movie about the poltergeist, but everything is simple for us, housekeepers – we see what should be done and do it, that is real magic!
All the people get tired. Tiredness and shortage of time are the main scourges in the modern world. How to struggle with them? Many doctors advise to spend as much time as possible for the rest, swimming, sport and other activities. “Oh my God! When?” – cries the mother of three under-age children. She just wants to find some time to sleep!“I don’t even remember when I looked at the mirror last time!” What should she do? Where is the magic gin?
Dear women, I’ve already told you how to find spare time for yourselves. If you don’t remember, return to the beginning of the book and do everything written there. That’s true! I tested it on myself. Now I have spare time!
I would like to see how BY MAGIC THE DIRTY LINEN WENT AND GOT INTO THE WASHING MACHINE, AND THE WASHING MACHINE ITSELF FILLED POWDER, CHOSE THE PROGRAM AND SWITCHED ON, PLATES AND DISHES WASHED THEMSELVES AND ROSE IN A ROW TO DRY! It’s funny; I remembered a cartoon about Feodor’s grief. If imagine that everything occurs by itself it is possible to shoot the movie about the poltergeist, but everything is simple for us, housekeepers – we see what should be done and do it, that is real magic!
All the people get tired. Tiredness and shortage of time are the main scourges in the modern world. How to struggle with them? Many doctors advise to spend as much time as possible for the rest, swimming, sport and other activities. “Oh my God! When?” – cries the mother of three under-age children. She just wants to find some time to sleep!“I don’t even remember when I looked at the mirror last time!” What should she do? Where is the magic gin?
Dear women, I’ve already told you how to find spare time for yourselves. If you don’t remember, return to the beginning of the book and do everything written there. That’s true! I tested it on myself. Now I have spare time!
The family is the whole business
Now imagine that a family is an enterprise! It sounds funny only at first sight. It is a business for those who know what business is. For example, a husband (or a wife) is a manager; a wife (or a husband) is an assistant manager; children (adult) are employees; family friends are partners of the firm. A family has its budget, resources, storage facilities, assignments for the charity, dues, accounts, charges, income, holidays, and sick-lists. You don’t believe?
Budget – income of the members of the family
Resources – products, clothes, shoes, a flat, a house, a villa, a garage
Storage facilities – stores (reserve)
Assignments for the charity – delivery of unnecessary things, help to school (kindergarten) and relatives
Dues – property taxes
Holidays – as you wish
Sick-list – your or your children’s
Plans – purchases, travelling, education (your or your children’s)
Income. In this case, income may consist of author’s emoluments or recompense, competent saving of money, interest on deposits, investments of the saved money… I guess you know or hear some of these terms.
Something like that. Isn’t a firm? I am sure you never looked at your family from this sight.
In the past I was a major manager. It was difficult for me to think in such a way. After a year of working from 7 a.m. till 11 p.m. without any holidays I began to ask myself: Is it ok? Is it right? Do I want to live in such a way? It seemed to me that something was wrong, particularly this:
I didn’t see my daughter! I got up at 5 a.m. – she was yet sleeping, I came home at 11 p.m. – she was already sleeping. She was bringing up by her grandmother. At weekend I also couldn’t spend any time with her because either I was working or I was busy with housekeeping – washing, cleaning, cooking and so on.
I hadn’t any time for my private life and self-developing. I didn’t read books, didn’t visit my friends and relatives, I grew older, got tired and wanted only to sleep.
I left the service despite of high salary. Of course I gained competence and still remembered colleagues with cordiality; we were like a family the whole year. At work we celebrated different holidays, shared our problems, tried to solve them together and helped each other.
One day I decided to stay at home, to bring up my daughter, to see her growing up. I wanted my daughter to see me kind, merry and beautiful but not always tired and exhausted. I wanted to guide her and take away from the kindergarten, to braid her, to play with her in the sandbox and to shake on a swing with her. I was very sorry about losing a year being absent in her life. She was 5 at that time. The only thing which reassured me was the fact that I was trying to do everything for her, I worked to give her everything she needed. I’ll improve everything… and I improve it every day now.
I decided that my family was the firm, so the plan for its prosperity was needed. At present my family and I organize meetings and decide together how to earn and spend money, allot and give an account to each other for spending them. There is an order in everything! Everybody in my family has own purposes and plans. Everybody knows exactly what he wants. My children know why to study, an assistant manager knows who, where, when and what everybody does and asks the manager for advice. We began to understand each other better.
Just imagine – A Council of Directors at the kitchen with their accounts of the done work. Great!
Of course, nothing can be done easily. How to organize your life so as to have a family and money at the same time? First of all, it is necessary to place the priorities. Ask yourself: What is the most important thing in your life? And if you didn’t answer: my family – it means you don’t want to be a housekeeper, most probably you want to be a business lady. That’s ok. Anyway, read further and you’ll know which housekeeper to find so as not to do everything yourself! Of course, you should pay her but you are a business lady so it means you can afford it!
Budget – income of the members of the family
Resources – products, clothes, shoes, a flat, a house, a villa, a garage
Storage facilities – stores (reserve)
Assignments for the charity – delivery of unnecessary things, help to school (kindergarten) and relatives
Dues – property taxes
Holidays – as you wish
Sick-list – your or your children’s
Plans – purchases, travelling, education (your or your children’s)
Income. In this case, income may consist of author’s emoluments or recompense, competent saving of money, interest on deposits, investments of the saved money… I guess you know or hear some of these terms.
Something like that. Isn’t a firm? I am sure you never looked at your family from this sight.
In the past I was a major manager. It was difficult for me to think in such a way. After a year of working from 7 a.m. till 11 p.m. without any holidays I began to ask myself: Is it ok? Is it right? Do I want to live in such a way? It seemed to me that something was wrong, particularly this:
I didn’t see my daughter! I got up at 5 a.m. – she was yet sleeping, I came home at 11 p.m. – she was already sleeping. She was bringing up by her grandmother. At weekend I also couldn’t spend any time with her because either I was working or I was busy with housekeeping – washing, cleaning, cooking and so on.
I hadn’t any time for my private life and self-developing. I didn’t read books, didn’t visit my friends and relatives, I grew older, got tired and wanted only to sleep.
I left the service despite of high salary. Of course I gained competence and still remembered colleagues with cordiality; we were like a family the whole year. At work we celebrated different holidays, shared our problems, tried to solve them together and helped each other.
One day I decided to stay at home, to bring up my daughter, to see her growing up. I wanted my daughter to see me kind, merry and beautiful but not always tired and exhausted. I wanted to guide her and take away from the kindergarten, to braid her, to play with her in the sandbox and to shake on a swing with her. I was very sorry about losing a year being absent in her life. She was 5 at that time. The only thing which reassured me was the fact that I was trying to do everything for her, I worked to give her everything she needed. I’ll improve everything… and I improve it every day now.
I decided that my family was the firm, so the plan for its prosperity was needed. At present my family and I organize meetings and decide together how to earn and spend money, allot and give an account to each other for spending them. There is an order in everything! Everybody in my family has own purposes and plans. Everybody knows exactly what he wants. My children know why to study, an assistant manager knows who, where, when and what everybody does and asks the manager for advice. We began to understand each other better.
Just imagine – A Council of Directors at the kitchen with their accounts of the done work. Great!
Of course, nothing can be done easily. How to organize your life so as to have a family and money at the same time? First of all, it is necessary to place the priorities. Ask yourself: What is the most important thing in your life? And if you didn’t answer: my family – it means you don’t want to be a housekeeper, most probably you want to be a business lady. That’s ok. Anyway, read further and you’ll know which housekeeper to find so as not to do everything yourself! Of course, you should pay her but you are a business lady so it means you can afford it!
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