Holi is a major festival in India and around the world. This event is popular for friendly street fights, where participants throw coloured powder and spray water at each other. Almost always, everyone ends up covered in coloured pigments from head to toe. Washing off these colours are usually easy, as most are made of natural plant-based compounds like tumeric, neem, dhak and kumkum. However, more people have been using commercial pigments in recent years, which may lead to hard-to-remove stains on clothes and skin. If you're stuck with a stain after the recent Holi celebrations, fret not! Here are some ideas to help relieve or remove them. Use Bleach If your clothes are white, try soaking them in non-chlorine bleach. You'll also want to wash and dry them separately, which prevents the colour from leeching on to other clothes. Use White Vinegar Prepare 2 to 3 liters of cold water, and add half a cup of white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of Ariel in. The acid will pull the stain from your clothes, restoring it back to its original colour. Window Cleaner Use a clear ammonia-based spray-on window cleaner, and leave it there for about 15-20 minutes. After that, blot the stain with a clean cloth, and then rinse and wash as per normal. Lemon Juice The acid in lemon will help remove stains. Start by soaking the stain in lemon juice for 15 minutes, and then scrub gently with your hands. Wash as usual, but separate from the other clothes. Methylated Spirits (Alcohol) Rub some undiluted alcohol onto the stain and rinse thoroughly under running cold water. Wash as usual, and check if the stain is cleared. More Tips Before You Go Before you leave to find vinegar or lemon juice, here are a few more tips to take along with you.
Read also: 10 Essential Services For Expats Living In Singapore
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While moving to a new country is exciting, it also involves major changes to your lifestyle. There’s a lot to do before you settle in, and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the househunting, immigration paperwork and your daily chores. Fortunately, there’s a whole range of commercial services in Singapore that you can help you with the latter. Here are 10 ways to get started. Engage a reliable child care operator to look after your kidsFind a bit of me time for yourself by engaging a trustworthy child care operator to help to take care of your children for a few hours. There’s plenty of options in Singapore, from the infant-care specialists to kindergartens that look after and teach your kids. The government maintains a directory of approved operators who are qualified in early-childhood professional services. This way, you will also have a peace of mind while going about your other chores. Go grocery shopping onlineSome find grocery shopping therapeutic. If you’re not one of these people, then Redmart’s your answer to this problem. Redmart operates entirely online, and delivers groceries right to your doorstep. It’s convenient for you, and saves you the hassle of lugging plastic bags of groceries around every few days. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Redmart also sells fresh produce. It’s a one-stop solution that helps you save many hours each week! Find a place to stay with KribHouse-hunting is a chore, and the Singapore real estate market is both complex and intimidating for the uninitiated. Krib aims to simplify the house-hunting experience by connecting you with the right realtor or landlord, and also gives you an indication if you’re overpaying for a particular place. For the budget-conscious, you can also use Krib to handle all your rental paperwork, saving you hours of independent research into the process. Organise BBQ parties to get to know the neighboursEven though most Singaporeans live side by side in apartments, there is few opportunities for socialising as everyone hurries back and forth to work everyday. By planning a meet-and-greet BBQ party in your condominium’s BBQ pit or the nearby HDB park, you’ll have a chance to properly introduce yourself and learn more about the neighbourhood. BBQ parties are popular among Singaporeans, and you can engage specialised services that cater to these events. BBQ Wholesale and EZ BBQ are among the more popular options these days. Hire domestic help through an online manpower agencyIf housework is too much for you to handle alone, consider hiring a domestic helper for a few hours per week. Sendhelper and Agent Bong can connect you part-time maids, babysitters, cooks and elderly-care helpers. With a clear scope of work and a transparent price-list, using these services also helps reduce your need to manage the helper, while saving you hefty fees involved in hiring a full-time stay-in maid. Speed to work on an express busSkip the rush hour traffic and glum-faced commuters by boarding an express bus. While they’re priced higher than the average public bus service, these buses only pick up passengers from a few stops, and then head straight to the Central Business District in under an hour (at worst). The LTA has a directory of the approved vendors plying these routes, along with their respective rates. For that extra half hour of comfort, plus the joy of waking up later, it may be worth the price! Book a fitness instructor on to goCan’t find time to go to the gym? You can hire a personal fitness instructor to keep you in shape, saving you multiple trips to the gym every week. GoTrainer’s instructors are professional and will meet you at a location of your choice. To save money, you can even find friends or family to train with. It’s probably fun that way too! Engage someone to walk your petsWhile pets make awesome companions, it’s also a heavy responsibility to keep them active and healthy. However, if you’re short on time, consider hiring someone to walk your pet and look after them when you’re busy or out of the country. Pawshake and Dog Walker Singapore are popular choices, and are pet lovers themselves. Who better to take care of your four legged friends, right? Visit the doctor without waiting in lineSingapore has excellent public health-care, with reasonable consultation rates that won’t break your bank. While polyclinics are usually busy looking after the community across Singapore, you don’t have to wait in line for long. On your first trip down to the polyclinic, register with the counter for an online account. This way, you can make a consultation appointment before going down for subsequent visits. You’ll easily save up to an hour each time, and you’ll even get a reminder days before your scheduled visit! Outsource your laundry and dry cleaningWashing, folding and ironing your clothes can be a hassle, and the laundry basket is never empty. Let Keep Calm and Laundry On handle your dreary laundry chores, so you can spend more time with your family and friends. We also handle curtain and carpet cleaning, so you can give your house a regular refresh at reasonable prices. Best of all, you don’t even need to step out of your house - we pick up and deliver your clothes right to your doorstep! While some of these services come with a premium, they will help you save time and ease the burden of daily chores. As you settle into life in Singapore, you’ll find more useful services and lifestyle hacks to make your lifestyle more efficient. Share your ideas here, we want to hear them!
Life in Singapore is often hectic and leaves us with little time for daily chores. If you're feeling overwhelmed by your laundry list of things to do (excuse the pun), we're here to help. Here are some ideas to work towards fuss-free living in Singapore. Tip 1: Beat the crowds by cycling homeIs rush-hour traffic wearing you down? Grab a shared bike from Ofo, oBike or Mobike, hit the bicycle paths along the Park Connector Network, and you'll be home in no time. You'll also feel re-energised after some exercise, as you shake off the office blues while pedalling home. If you rather head back in air-conditioned comfort, consider carpooling using Uberpool or GrabHitch. It's environmentally-friendly, fuss-free, and there's loads of promo codes to help you save money. And you might even make a new friend by the time you reach home! Tip 2: Plan your route before you leaveNo one likes to be trapped in a traffic jam, or be stuck during a train breakdown. A fuss-free lifestyle means getting around easily, avoiding delays and transport hassles if possible. If you're driving, plan your route using Google Maps, and check the road conditions before setting off. For public transport commuters, download the nifty MyTransport app from the Land Transport Authority (LTA). Not only does it show the bus timings and traffic conditions, it also alerts you to any train delays as it happens. Tip 3: Order in and skip the queueNeed to grab bite before heading home? Do it the fuss-free way by ordering from one of the many food-delivery services serving a wide variety of cuisines. Check out FoodPanda, UberEats or Deliveroo for the widest range, or indulge in some comfort food from McDonalds or Pizza Hut. Sometimes, you might chance upon the occasional promo code and score a free meal. Don't delete those marketing emails before going through them! Tip 4: Visit the library from your fingertipsCan't find the time to visit your neighbourhood library? Browse the National Library Board's (NLB) extensive ebook collection from the comfort of your home. If you haven't done so, create an NLB account and login to the ebook resource portal. You can even read it on your mobile phone by downloading the Overdrive app or Adobe Digital Editions app. Tip 5: Shop for groceries on the goMuch like many other daily activities, you may not have time to shop for groceries on a busy day. Make grocery shopping a fuss-free experience by visiting Fairprice Online, Cold Storage or RedMart and ordering your daily necessities there. These services also deliver to your home, so you save on the hassle of carrying back bulky bags of groceries. Tip 6: Brew a cuppa in under 1 minuteGetting to work in the morning is a chore for some. Save some time on brewing the perfect fresh coffee by investing in a Nespresso machine. Instead of fussing over a conventional coffee maker to heat up and drip water through coffee grounds, you'll get your daily cuppa in less than a minute. Tip 7: Maintain a clean desk policyA fuss-free lifestyle means reducing barriers to getting work done, so you stay constantly abreast of your to-do list. A clutter-free desk reduces distractions at work and helps you stay focused on the task at hand. But how does one keep those bulky documents out of sight? Start by taking notes on a notepad app, instead of unsightly yellow post-its stuck all over the place. Work on digital documents, and only print them when you really need a physical copy. And reduce the number of personal items on your desk - like those presents from the Christmas gift-exchange in office years ago. Tip 8: Invest in quality products that you use oftenWhile it's always good to be prudent in spending money, some things are worth investing in. For instance, the office chair that you sit on for hours on end. An ergonomic chair offers great lumbar support, and will probably save you many trips to the chiropractor in the future. The same thing goes for many objects that we use daily. For a fuss-free lifestyle, you may want to invest in a high-end computer, a comfortable pair of spectacles, a warm jacket or even good shoes for walking around town! Tip 9: Engage part-time help for cleaning choresAfter a long tiring week at work, you want a fuss-free weekend to relax. Hire a part-time cleaner to help with your cleaning chores, and spend some time recovering from the stress of daily life. Many options abound, from the traditional cleaning agencies to online services like Sendhelper and Helpling. You can also let a machine take over the job. Home robots like the Roomba will work tirelessly even when you're not at home, ensuring that you come home to a clean home everyday. Tip 10: Outsource your laundry to the professionalsLaundry is a chore that few enjoy. In the sweltering heat of tropical Singapore, we constantly need to change clothes and send them to the washing machine for cleaning. After that, it's off to the dryer, or to hang out in the sun for drying. Once dry, there's still folding and ironing to be done, unless you don't mind walking around in creased and crumpled clothing. Quite easily, the task of washing clothes can take hours every day to complete. Send your laundry to a laundromat and spend more time with your loved ones instead. With affordable prices and door-to-door pickup and delivery, Keep Calm And Laundry On provides professional laundry and dry cleaning services in Singapore. Even better still, new customers enjoy 20% off on the first order! These 10 tips are designed to help ease your burden and enjoy a fuss-free lifestyle, in the face of our ever busy lives. If you found them useful, share them with your friends and share some of your own tips in the comments below!
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October 2018
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