Caitríona Redmond: Homemaking can be thankless — here's how I celebrate little wins

Caitriona Redmond: They don’t all see the work that goes into running the home in the background. Picture: Emily Quinn

I have been harping on about it for weeks, if not months, but I am finally done with back to school, September 2024. Yes, I realise it won’t happen here for just under two weeks but it’s a huge weight off my shoulders.

The free schoolbooks scheme saved me a nice little chunk this year, but that was countered by Transition Year fees and a deposit for a school trip. Still I have to celebrate the small wins because if I don’t give myself a pat on the back, nobody will.

The last item on the list was school shoes and there’s a dress code to adhere to. I knew what size we needed but the thought of trekking to the specific shop with a truculent teen was not exactly joyful. So I took to the internet and scored instead.

Free delivery? Well that has saved me the fuel driving to the shops. The shoes will arrive in time for school.

Everybody in the household likes to have nice clothes, good food to eat, and to feel loved. They don’t all see the work that goes into running the home in the background. That means that when I have a minor or major success they might not appreciate it. The only way to counteract this is to mark my wins myself.

How did I celebrate saving time and money on school shoes? I opted to smugly make myself a cuppa and sit on the sofa for an hour or two with a decent book. While there I swatted all requests for food/stuff/money away and enjoyed the read. I wouldn’t call it so much resting on my laurels as nestling on the cushions.

Homemaking can feel like a thankless role. Funnily enough, now that my husband is the stay-at-home parent, he has a newfound appreciation of everything I had taken responsibility for until he took over. This week marks just about a year since he took on the mantle of VIP (very important parent) and coincidentally the moment his eyes were opened. Even the memory of that day makes me smile for some reason.

Speaking of joy, August marks the start of what I call “birthday season” in our house. Between family members and friends there’s guaranteed to be one celebration or another from now all the way up until December. For years I made elaborately decorated circular cakes and nearly melted in the kitchen in the process. I’ve since changed over to baking traybakes which require less decoration, effort, and are easier to portion. Check out this week’s recipe below for a cake that is a joy to bake and eat.

Pet Food

This week I spent €67.99 on dried dog food. Yes, you read that correctly. It’s a whopping figure for pet food and every time I spend it I wince internally. If I wore pearls I’d be clutching them while dabbing my eyes with a handkerchief. The bag weighs 12kg, so on a per kg basis, I spend €5.67.

Flash the dog has dietary restrictions so can’t stomach run-of-the-mill supermarket dog food. If he could tolerate cheaper food I would save a fortune, even still I save a neat chunk of cash by buying in bulk.

The smallest bag that I can buy weighs 2kg, and costs €16 or €8 per kg. Picking up a bigger bag saves me €27.96 in comparison.

Next time you’re buying dog food see if sizing up the package makes for a significant saving.

Birthday Cake Traybake

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond

Who said a cake had to be circular? Round cakes are notoriously difficult to portion, so why not make this mixture which is designed as a traybake instead

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 25 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 150g butter

• 150g caster sugar

• 3 medium free range eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 150g plain flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• For the bruttercream

• 120g unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 250g icing sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tbsp milk (optional)

Method

1. Preheat your (fan) oven to 170°Ce. Line an 8” x 8” baking tin with greaseproof baking paper.

2. In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs one by one, beating after each addition to make sure they are well combined. If the mixture starts to curdle, add a tablespoon of flour.

4. Pour in the vanilla extract, mix for a minute until it’s mixed into the batter.

5. Finally, add the flour and baking powder, beat lightly until it becomes a pale, smooth mixture. Pour the cake mixture into the pre-lined baking tin, no need to smooth out the edges this will happen naturally during the baking process.

6. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown on top.

7. Whiie the cake is baking make your buttercream icing. Beat together the butter and icing sugar until pale and fluffy.

8. Add the vanilla extract and beat again before icing the cake. If you find that the icing is a little stiff, add 1 tablespoon of milk and beat to make it lighter.

9. Remove cake from the oven and allow to cool before icing with buttercream and sprinkles or jam and toasted coconut.