We all need romance every so often. It is always nice to be reminded of the reasons why we spent the last x-number of years with our partner. For some reason, the first time is always the best. But as everyday-life creeps into our relationships, romance often gets the last place in the queue...

Here is one of my favourite "romantic tricks" the will make your better half remember:

The only piece of equipment you will need for this is a portable CD player. If you and your partner have a favorite song, get a copy of it on CD and take it with you when you go away for a picknick or romantic weekend (preferably without your beloved offsprings:

When you are in a romantic spot, ask your partner if she would like to dance. Place one earpiece in her ear and one in your own and enjoy your private dance floor.

This technique is particularly effective if the romantic spot you have chosen is somewhere where people would not normally dance, for example, the top of the Empire State building at sunset or on top of a mountain during a camping trip.

• Toilet bowl cleaner
  
  
• Toilet bowl brush without metal rings
  
  
• White nylon scrub
  
  
• Stiff bristle brush that looks like a toothbrush. It is ideal for scrubbing around faucets.
  
  
• Paint brush. Use it to dust cobwebs along window frames and doorways etc.
  
  
• Window cleaner
  
  
• Tote tray with dividers
  
  
• Concentrated orange cleaner without petroleum distillates
  
  
• Bar Keepers Friend
  
  
• Rubber Gloves
  
  
• Plastic bag with old but clean terry cloth towels and a few lint free towels for dusting. Tuck in a second plastic bag to store soiled towels as you clean.
  
  
• A large trash bag for emptying the trash.
  

1. Ideally, you should aim to have your entire home cleaned in one day. Should this not be possible due to busy schedules, try and break up your individual tasks so that you can do them when it suits you best (e. g. do the hoovering on one day and the dusting the next). Make sure that you plan your tasks in such a way that you can go from start to finish.
   
   
2. Always start at the top and work your way down to the bottom.
   
   
3. In each room, start at the back and work your way to the front. This way, you prevent yourself from having to drag you equipment over freshly cleaned floors
   
   
4. Once you have established a cleaning routine you are comfortable with, stick with it. Practise makes perfect and if you stick to the same pattern each time, you will automatically speed up.
   
   
5. Make it part of your cleaning-pattern to trash everything you do not need anymore while you are cleaning a room. Empty the trash bin(s) accordingly as you go along.
   
   
6. Try keeping similar actions bundled together (if you spray one object e. g. your sink, you might as well spray all the others in the same room. Each time you put a bottle down only to pick it up again, you are wasting time.
   
   
7. Generally, you should try to do your dusting first and your hoovering last. Any dust raised by you dusting the room can be finally got rid off by finishing off with the hoover or the mop. Always have an extension-lead handy for your hoover. Depending on the size of each floors, your extension-lead should be long enough to hoover one section completely (with the hoover plugged into one socket). This saves you from having to carry your hoover from one room to the other.
   
   
8. Always leave the floors to the very last – this way, you automatically clean all the remains from your previous cleaning-procedures in one go.
   
   
9. When dusting, you have too different options. You can either pick up any objects in your way with one hand and dust with the other, or you have a little basket ready for everything to go in – and you do the dusting off all surfaces in one go. Personally, I prefer option two but I would advise you to try both options and see, which suits you better.
   
   
10. Begin dusting from either the right or the left and work your way around the room dusting window sills and wall hangings as you get to them. Once you have completed a full circle, you know you haven't skipped anything.
    
    
11. Move your furniture towards the centre of the room while you are dusting. Afterwards, hoover
    
    
12. For homes with pets, a pair of new rubber gloves can come in handy. Have them tucked away in your back pocket and, when you come to couches or chairs with pet hair, use the gloves and work you hands in a circular motion moving over the furniture. Toss the rolled up lint onto the floor for the vacuum to pick up.
    
    
13. When cleaning your kitchen, clean one section of cabinets each time paying special attention to door pulls. This will make you yearly “big clean-out” much easier and faster.
    
    
14. To clean all your workspace properly, move appliances to one side then spray the counter, dishwasher, refrigerator or microwave if it is in that immediate area and wipe it thoroughly. If you are living with cats, always keep a spraying bottle with cleaner and a clean towel handy to wipe over the surface again in case the walk over it.
    
    
15. Rooms that are not used on a regular basis (guest-bedrooms, formal dining rooms etc.) may not need to be cleaned as often as rooms that are used daily (kitchen, bathroom). Therefore, you should always clean those rooms after use. The time saved can be allocated for “bigger tasks” such as cupboards or windows).
    
    

Almost everyone needs or wants more money coming in (it just makes life so much easier), and with this desire most would like to start some sort of extra income-producing project.  The trouble is, not many of these people seem able to fit "a second job" into their time schedules.   
It's true that most people are busy, but extra time for some sort of home-based extra income-producing project can almost always be found.  It may mean giving up or changing a few of your favorite pastimes - such as having a couple of beers with the guys or watching TV - but if you score big with your extra income project, you will have all the time you want for doing whatever you want to do.

1. The first thing to do is to sit down with pencil and paper and list your daily schedule.  What time do you wake up?  Then step-by-step, list everything you do each day.  Most people will find that they have about three hours each day that can be utilized in a more constructive or efficient manner.  As we've noted above, you may have to give up the time you waste in your local pub or a few television programs you watch, but it will be worth it in the long run.
2. Efficient time management boils down to planning what you're going to do, and then doing it without backtracking.  Start by making a list of the things you want to do tomorrow, each evening before you go to bed.  Schedule your trips to the store or wherever to coincide with the other things you have to do, and with your trips to or from work.  Organize your trips to take care of as many things as possible while you're out of the house.  Take stock of the time you spend standing around shooting the breeze - especially the time you spend on the telephone - and eliminate all that isn't necessary.
3. Whatever chores you have to do at home, set aside a specific time to do them, and a specific amount of time to devote to them.  For instance, just one hour a day devoted to yard work would probably make your property the envy of all your neighbors.  Don't try to do a week's work in one big flurry.  Whether it's painting your house, fixing leaky faucets, or mowing your lawn and trimming your shrubs, do a part of it, or one particular job each day, and you'll be amazed at your progress.
4. Take care of all your mail the day you receive it.  Don't let those bills and letters pile up on you.  If you're unable to pay a bill immediately, file it in a special place that's visible, and note on the envelope the date you intend to pay it.  Answer your letters the same day you get them.
5. The important thing is to think of time as your most valuable asset, because it is.  So organize!  Decide what you have to do, and what you want to do.  From there, it's just a matter of arranging priorities.
6. Once you start listing and planning what you want to do, and then carry out your plans, you'll find plenty of "extra time" for handling virtually any kind of home-based income-producing project.  People in general may not like routines or schedules, but without some sort of plan as to what is supposed to be done, the world would be mired in mass confusion.
7. Laws, ordinances and regulations are for the purpose of guiding people.  We live according to an accepted plan or way of life, and the better we can organize ourselves, the more productive and happy we become.
8. The secret of all financially successful people is simply that they are organized and do not waste time.  Think about it.  Review your own activities, and then see if you can't find a couple of extra hours in each day for more constructive accomplishments.
9. When you begin planning, and then when you really become involved in an extra in come-producing endeavor, you should work it exactly as you have organized your regular day-to-day activities - on a time-efficient basis.  Do what has to be done immediately.  Don't try to get done in an hour something that's realistically going to take a week.  Plan out on paper what you have to do - what you want to do - and when you are going to do it.  Then get right on each project without procrastination.
10.  Finally, and above all else, when you're organizing your time and your business, be sure to set aside some time for relaxation.  Be sure to schedule time when you and your spouse can be together.  You must not involve yourself in anything to an extent that you exclude other people - particularly your loved ones - from your life.

    Taking stock of the time you waste each day, and from there, reorganizing your activities is what it's all about.  It's a matter of becoming more efficient in the use of your time.  It's really easy to do, and you will not only accomplish a lot more, you will also find greater fulfillment in your life.

Sometimes all of us wonder at the end of the day, where the time went and what we did (or did not) achieve during that day. And what is the secret of all those other women (the one next door to me for example...) who seems to just get everything done so easily... What do those girls do that I haven't figured out yet?
For that purpose, we would like to make this section of our website a source of tips and tricks to handel your day to day planning and reach the goals with less effort. If you are one of those highly organised examples of our kind with outstanding organisational skills WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU...
Let the rest of the (not so organised) part of the world discover some of the secrets that make your life a game where it is effort to anyone else...