Touch. But let's be open-minded for a moment. Observe the male in his natural habitat, and you'll find that he has strategies that allow him to glide through daily routines and rituals that may frustrate and slow you down. Granted, one of his strategies is pretending not to notice piles of dishes in the sink or overflowing garbage pails. However, women may find that they save time and feel less stressed-out if they tackle the following daily tasks and responsibilities like a man.


You overslept, the kids are screaming for breakfast, you have to drop off the car at the mechanic on the way to work and…you're standing in the shower waiting for 5 minutes as your avocado-extract hair conditioner works its magic. Few men understand the mysteries of conditioner, much less use the stuff.

* It is recommended washing and conditioning no more than twice a week. Bonus: If you're not washing your hair, you won't be blow-drying it, either, saving you more precious minutes, not to mention your hair's health. But don't worry; this doesn't mean that you have to go to work with bed head.

* If your hair is fine, have it layered and cut no longer than shoulder length. If your tresses are thick, consider a blunt cut. Getting dressed shouldn't be stressful.

If you can't learn to live with little things like wrinkles and mustard blotches, you can still streamline the process of getting dressed by borrowing a guy's strategy.

* Bend your wardrobe to your will you know how we spend entire afternoons alphabetizing our CDs or sorting nails by size out in the garage? Organizing your wardrobe with equal precision will save you time.

Spend 15 minutes every week to organize the wardrobe. People often forget what they have and keep wearing whatever they can lay their hands on in a hurry from their wardrobe.

* Put like with like Start by grouping skirts, blouses, pants, and saris together in your wardrobe. Then create sub-categories-all black trousers or white blouses should be together, for instance.

* Shop smarter after giving away the clothes you no longer wear, try soul-searching while shopping. Before you buy anything, check the label to see if it requires hand washing or ironing. Then ask yourself if it's worth the hassle. If you're not going to maintain it properly, put it back on the rack. If you are particular about being well-coordinated, keep the final look in mind while buying. Ask yourself, do I have the matching shoes, bags and accessories to go with it. Otherwise, buy and keep them ready.

* Get ready the night before Lay out your clothes and your children's, at night. It will save 20 minutes in the morning when every minute counts.


Employed women spend about 1 hour more per day doing work around the house than employed men do. Although there's no such data available for, the gap is probably much more. Harried wives overstretch themselves and make their husbands feel guilty. But instead of using the chore gap as evidence of our moral failings, why not look to men for inspiration? It's not that they are careless about the appearance of the house. They just...care less.

* Get others to care more Men count on women being more bugged about mess, so turn it around: Rally the troops and make everyone in the household pitch in. You don't need to take on the onus of keeping the house clean. Others in the family should also be involved. But keep your expectations realistic, since your husband and children probably don't understand the finer points of scrubbing and cleaning.

* Develop good defense Tackle housekeeping with the philosophy: The best offence is a good defense. That is, lighten your workload by preventing dirt and grime from accumulating in the first place. Guys drink straight from the bottle to avoid dirtying glasses. Okay, we're not recommending that. But you can cut down on the need to sweep and mop as often by insisting that all family members remove their shoes when they come indoors (Placing doormats outside helps, too). Dry tile with a towel after showering to stop soap scum build-up. And if family members don't comply, threaten to flog them with a back brush!


When women do laundry, they make piles of whites, off-whites, light colors, dark colors, medium colors, stripes, mildly soiled clothes and thoroughly soiled clothes. In addition to detergent, they add bleach, fabric softener and stain remover.

* See past the differences. Here's how men do laundry: Open washing machine and insert huge pile of unsorted clothes and a few gluts of detergent. Turn on machine and return to sofa in front of TV. If they ever pick up the clothes after they've dried they will lie in a heap on the bed. True, the male method isn't foolproof. I have been forced to wear pink underwear after washing a new red shirt with my whites. So maybe you just need to...

* Minimize your sorting you may hesitate to trust Mr. Pink. But according to a bible of all things related to domestic perfection.

* Accept that dirt is dirt Laundry purists will insist that soiled clothes must be segregated from day-to-day duds. While very heavily-soiled clothes (such as a muddy sports uniform) should be rinsed first, then washed separately, it's okay to wash normally soiled clothing with lightly soiled daily wear. A good-quality detergent suspends dirt in the water, preventing it from transferring to other clothes in the wash load.


Too many women take a leisurely stroll on a treadmill, hoist a pair of 2-kilo dumbbells a few times, and hit the showers wondering why they can't shed pounds or build muscle.

Simple food can be good food

Fry some leftover rice, toss a few leaves of lettuce with a chopped tomato, and throw in some leftover chicken. If you think last night's food needs a little flavor, serve it with fresh ghee.

Though this dinner takes minutes to prepare, some people who are in charge of feeding the family (and I'm not pointing any spatulas) have become convinced that every meal has to be cooked from scratch, no shortcuts.

* Cut the frills have you fallen under the spell of cookery shows and glossy cooking magazines? You can save time every day by taking a more practical approach to feeding the clan.

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